Incremental install
 

Hi,

I have been considering upgrading to Gnome 2.3 desktop. I couldn't find pre-built packages for Gnome2.3 anywhere on the net. So, I decided I will give it a shot by compiling myself. There are 64 packages to be built and installed in a specific order. Now that's too much for one day, I guess.

Is it possible to, let's say, compile and install one by one, let's say, 5 a day in that order? Would I be able to use existing desktop and programs before I finish with this thing? What happens to my settings, panels, window manager and existing session information after I install the last package? Is it possible to restore if something screws up?

Thanks for your time. I would appreciate if someone could help this newbie out.

did you think of considering apt-get and let it install everything for you and take care of all the dependancies, just to save you the time !?

Can you please explain a little bit? How does apt-get work? Where does it get the packages from? I mean I couldn't even find Gnome 2.2/2.3 packages on the net, and you are talking about a tool which can do it all? Please provide some details.

Thanks for your response.

well hopefully someone can pick up on this, cause i am very tired and have to get to bed, but you'll have to tell your distro and someone will tell you how to go about it...

distro is Red Hat 8 updated regularly from redhat site.

somebody please help.

anybody?

any help with gnome 2.3 install will be really appreciated.

I just need to know if this incremental install will work. Someone please help.

Ok, first rule of asking questions. Google first. http://www.google.com/linux?hl=en&lr...=Google+Search
Second rule of asking questions. Refrain from using "Someone please help."

I'm no expert (i'm quite a newb) but at least pretend to try looking yourself before you ask. That way we all get home in time for dinner.

P.S. There's a great website about the hows and whys of asking questions of hackers... i'll look for it for you, but most of the moderators/aged veterans have a link in their sig.

::edit::
Found the link!
Please give a thorough read. Thx.

1. How do you know I didn't google first? I did google a LOT. Its just that I am straightforward with my language, doesn't mean that my questions are junk or I haven't looked. Thanks for the guide link, I will have a look at it.

2. "someone please help" means I am asking for help. If people here are too smart to help newbies then bad luck for me.

I think lesson learned. Self-help. Over the weekend, I will do the incremental install in three installments and figure it out myself.

Thanks DrOzz for your response.

Assuming you have Debian, just type (in a console as root) apt-get update gnome

If you are a Red Hat or Mandy user, download the program APT4RPM (don't know offhand where it is, but have a search for it on this site loads of people have put in links for it) Once it is installed, continue as for Debian. Useful tip: type in apt-get install synaptic this gives you a really good gui for APT.


Next - have fun, kick back, relax. And remember - a good way to stop misunderstandings is to briefly say what you have done before aking the question - we can see what steps you've already gone through and can either say where you have made a mistake or can point you in a different direction.

Here's a thought - go to www.gnome.org and you will see that 2.2 is available for download and the next release will be 2.4. Could that be why you can't get 2.3? Oh yeah, update your profile to say what your distro is and what your machine/connection spec is - saves you having to continually repeat it in posts.

XavierP, thanks for the useful info.

I got apt4rpm from sourceforge.net, built and installed it. No errors during install process. It did install "aptate" which doesn't have any option like "install" and erorrs out even with --debug flag.

There is no program like apt-get installed anywhere.

What went wrong here?

use su

ie open a console
su <enter>
type in password
type in apt-get install synaptic (or whatever)

Because apt installs, it needs root or superuser access.

If it still doesn't work, could you copy and paste your error messages?

Xavier, its not the su. I figured I had installed the server part of it and client part of it wouldn't install because I didn't have the devel version of librpm. So, I gave up on apt4rpm. another day!

So finally, I installed gnome 2.3.3 manually and got it working with some minor issues(considering its off unstable branch, I am surprised its working as well as it is). Incremental install works in three phases. gnome libs, gnome core, addendum.

Thanks for all your help.

No problem. Keep trying, though, it is an excellent program and takes away a lot of the hassle of installing and upgrading.

Oh yeah!! tell me about it. I have been installing gnome 2.3 for last two days manually resolving dependencies, compiling/installing. apt4rpm is a must have. Next weekend.

I actually was kinda desperate for gnome 2.3, so didn't want to waste too much time on side issues.

Resolved most of the issues I had. gnome 2.3 is great!! it rocks.