Re: put GNOME in special directories, /usr pollution

[Gleef <dzol virtual-yellow com>]

On Thu, 1 Apr 1999, Andy Tai wrote:
> Hi, I have a question about GNOME installation.  The latest FAQ, item 3.5, 
> describes how to put GNOME in a special directory like /opt/gnome.
> However, it still requires symbol links in /usr/share.  I wonder is it possible
> to put <everything> in a special directory, without ever touching
> the standard directories /usr and /usr/local?  That way I can get GNOME to
> run by just changing PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH without touching
> standard system stuff at all.  This is useful if a single user wants to
> try GNOME in his home directory.
> 
> I know the "trouble makers" are possibly autoconf, automake and libtool, not
> GNOME, but I just want to know if it is possible.

Wheee!  I must have read your message way too quickly the first time.  I
appologize.

The symbolic links referenced in the FAQ are just a convenience, to make
compiling easier, they are by no means the only way of solving the issues
they addres.  The issue is that certain programs (specifically aclocal and
gettext) are usually installed to search for its files in default
directories, but they require files that GNOME tries to install in its own
directory.

The biggest culprit is aclocal.  It needs to be able to find GNOME's m4
files, you can make sure that GNOME's m4 files go in aclocal's default
directory (either /usr/share/aclocal or /usr/local/share/aclocal,
depending on installation), either by linking or copying the files
manually.  Alternately, you can run aclocal with the environment
variable ACLOCAL_FLAGS="-I /opt/gnome/share/aclocal" set and exported.

The other symbolic link is for gettext.  I don't remember the problem I
was running into that was solved by this, but everything gets found
nicely with this link.  Again, the same effect can be had by manually
copying the files.

I will clarify this section of the FAQ.  Sorry for the confusion.

Best of Luck,
-Gleef