Newby question - GNOME from source w/ existing gtk

[Steve Jorgensen <jorgens coho net>]

Hi,

I'm hoping to get started with some serious GNOME development (specifically 
focusing on gASQL) and I'm trying to figure out the best way to get set up. 
 I've decided I want to install GNOME from source, and I've already found 
the GIG which should be a big help there.  I'm using SuSE 7.3 as my Linux 
distribution because it has given me the least headaches of any distro I've 
wrestled with so far.

Here's my issue:  I purposefully did not install GNOME or anything gnomish 
since I plan to install GNOME from source, but the gtk package was still 
installed.  There were too many important things dependent upon the gtk 
package for me to reasonably omit it.

What's the best way to install Gnome from source in this situation?  I 
assume, since so many things are dependent on the existing gtk package that 
I should probably not touch it so I don't accidentally break something.  I 
guess that means I should install a second copy.  How, then, do I make sure 
that programs installed by SuSE always use the existing gtk, and programs 
installed from source by me always use the gtk that I installed from 
source?

Thanks for any help


P.S.  Since I'm new here, please forgive me if this is the wrong forum for 
this question.  In that case, please direct me to the correct forum.