Openstep Installation Instructions

Openstep Installation Instructions Installation
Openstep Installation Instructions Kit
Openstep Installation Instructions Outdoor
Openstep Installation Instructions Installing

Home | Map | Index | Search

News

Openstep Installation Instructions Installation

Convert to GutenPalm
or to PalmDoc

by Georges Tarbouriech
About the author:

Georges is a long time Unix user (commercial and free). As an old NeXT lover, he isvery fond of free projects using the look and feel of this great OS.

Content:

GNUstep, the open source OpenStep

Abstract:

More than 10 years ago, an incredible machine with an even more incredible OSwas released. It was called NeXT and NeXTStep was the name of the OS. We had neverseen something like that before : it was a very nicely designed machine, witha breathtaking display. The OS was based on BSD 4.2 at the beginning and 4.3 abit later, with a very compact mach kernel. With it, appeared the first graphicaland object oriented development tool : Interface Builder (Thanks to Jean-MarieHullot and Bertrand Serlet for such an unbelievable tool). Commercially speaking,this machine didn't really succeed. Then, NeXT decided to port the framework todifferent OSes such as Sun, for instance. This API was called OpenStep.From there, GNU started a big project, GNUstep, http://www.gnustep.org, to build a free OpenStepimplementation.This article tries to present this great work, even if it is not yetfinished.

To start with...

For GNUstep, you need another great free product : Window Maker. It's a windowmanager a la NeXT. If you don't know it yet, you can take a look at it. At the time of this writing,the latest version is 0.64.0.
This window manager is part of the GNUstep project and you can get it fromhttp://www.windowmaker.org.
Let's add, Window Maker runs on almost every Unix platform, either commercial orfree. It's a bit different as far as GNUstep is concerned. It will run on mostLinux flavors, NetBSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, it is more or less stable dependent onthe OS you run it on. Regarding commercial Unixes, it will run on Solaris, Irix...with more or less stability.
Once your screen looks like NeXTStep, you can go to GNUstep web-site to geteverything you need.
And what do you need ? Obviously, an objective C compiler (remember, it's anobject oriented framework). gcc 2.8 and up will do the trick. Recommended is thelibobjc. Apart from the tools needed to compile, you need GNUstepstuff : that is the base library, at least, the gui library, the X11 backend (xgps orxdps)... and so on.There is a lot you can download, it's up to you : check the list to make yourchoice. For instance, you can get Gorm which is the Interface Builderimplementation (only as CVS), and of course, the examples or the users apps.

To install...

You just have to compile what you downloaded ! Seriously, you should read theREADMEs, the INSTALLs. You also have a GNUstep HOWTO, recommended reading.
After compiling, most of your work will concern environment variables andprograms to launch at startup time (the engine for instance, called gdnc).
As mentioned earlier, you can have two different backends : the X one and thedps one which is the Display PostScript free implementation. This last willprovide much better results but it's much less evolved than the X backend.
According to your OS, check the paths, when defining the environment variables.At least, you must define the GNUSTEP_SYSTEM_ROOT variable and the path to thedifferent scripts or programs.
Once you have finished with this part, you can 'play' with GNUstep.

Examples

There are a lot of examples available from the GNUstep website, either going to the Userapps section or to the download section. They are the best way to get familiarwith GNUstep if you don't know NeXTStep or OpenStep. Most of them are workingexamples and allow to understand the philosophy behind the framework. Looking atthe code will teach you a lot about Objective C. For someone knowing C, ObjectiveC is quite easy to learn, and in any case much easier than C++ (well, this isonly my opinion).
Among these examples, a very nice one is the font panel. It really looks likethe original one. By the way, along this article we'll show screen shots both fromGNUstep and NeXTStep, thus you'll be able to compare. Here is the first example: the font panel from the GNUstep and the one from NeXTStep.
Another interesting example is the Edit app. It isn't fully working but it's anice work rather close to the original.
One of the most teaching example is called GSTest. Running GSTest allows you tounderstand everything about windows, buttons, scroll bars... It's an all in onework ! A look at the source code is better than a book.
Of course, it doesn't mean the other examples have no interest : they do have !
Simply, the author of many apps, Nicola Pero, has done a very great job.
Another great app from the same Nicola, is called Finger. It's a gui for finger(would you have guessed?), ping, traceroute. Here it is :
We could mention many more apps but let's leave the pleasure of discovery to thereader.

The big guns

A major revolution brought to us by NeXTStep was Interface Builder. Asits name says, it was a tool to create a gui for your application. But, what atool ! Remember, that was at the end of the 80's : just incredible !
Why was it a revolution : because you were able to build a window with all itsstuff in less than 5 minutes ! That is, a window with its menu, its buttons, itssliders, etc, was created by dragging objects from a palette to this window.Then it was possible to link these objects to other windows or menus orwhatever. A minimal code was generated and you just had to complete it.Obviously, these objects, once created could be reused somewhere else.
Unbelievable at that time !
Since then, many big software editors tried to do the same : in my humbleopinion, they never reached the level of the original.
And now, you can have such a tool for free ! It's called Gorm (GNUstep GraphicsObject Relationship Modeler) and the author is Richard Frith-Macdonald.
Gorm is only available as CVS from the GNUstep website. Version is only 0.1 at thetime of this writing, nevertheless it works even if a lot of functions aremissing. To discover Interface Builder look and feel, Gorm is the right tool.
Here is a very simple (and stupid) example, once again with the equivalent from NeXTStep.
As we said before, this tool and its model Interface Builder are used to createthe graphical part of an application. Of course, it isn't enough to make thisapplication work. You'll have to complete the generated code and manage thedifferent sources as for any application project. Last, you'll have to compileyour work.
Here comes the second big tool, called Project Builder under NeXTStep andProjectCenter under GNUstep. ProjectCenter is the work of Philippe C.D Robertand version number is 0.2. Once again, this tool is a working one despite theversion number. You can manage your project as you would with Project Builderunder NeXTStep. Obviously, there's a lot of work to be done but this one too, isworth downloading.
Here is how it looks like compared to its 'father'.
Using those two tools is rather simple if you know NeXTStep or OpenStep. If younever used them before, you'll have to find the philosophy behind them. A lot ofdocumentation is available and it is recommended reading (not to say compulsoryreading). But once you understood how it works... you can't live without !You've been warned.
We must mention other great things such as GWorkspace or GSBench. The GNU 3DKit isanother wonderful piece of software. It's an API designed to work on top of OpenGL. You'll find itat http://www.nice.ch/~phip/softcorner.html with many other applications.

Utilities

The tools we'll mention here are designed to port apps from OpenStep to GNUstep.But, as a matter of fact, they go much further since they will allow you to portMac OS X apps as well. That's the important point : more on this later !
First, there's a tool called OpenStep2GNUConverter, allowing you to convert aPBProject (Project Builder) to a GNUstep Makefile. That is, you'll be able tocompile an OpenStep project on your Linux box (for instance) .
To compile this project, you'll need another tool called nfmake.
A tool called nib2gmodel allows to convert a nib file(produced with Interface Builder) to its equivalent under GNUstep, named gmodel.
Last but not least, you can get gstep-db, a database library and evenmore, an Oracle adaptor.
NeXTStep and OpenStep used to provide you with adaptors for Sybase andOracle, that is an interface to query databases from these editors. GNUstepoffers you the same for free (under NeXTStep or OpenStep, you needed thedeveloper kit which was quite expensive, but you had the Enterprise ObjectFoundation for free - a lot of examples).
Of course, these tools can be downloaded from the GNUstep website.
Unfortunately I was unable to test all this stuff, since I 'only' got an oldNeXT station and I'm (impatiently) waiting to get Mac OS X at work. But I've been trusting GNUfor about 15 years and I won't change today ! I feel like saying : all thisshould work for sure. Anyway, within a few months I will test all this...

Openstep Installation Instructions Kit

Documentation

If you are interested in developing under this great framework, there's a lot ofdocumentation you can get, as already mentioned. The ease of use is not a legend,but you need some knowledge about the way it works.
From the GNUstep website, you can find many useful links. However, some of themdeserve special attention.
Going to http://www.gnustep.org/resources/documentation.htmlwill provide you with the general GNUstep documentation. You'll find there anObjective C book, installation instructions, FAQ...
There's also a documentation about the GNUstep library.
And even more, you'll findtutorials. Nicola's one is recommended reading. You can then visit http://www.gnustep.it/nicola/Tutorials
Another place to visit is the resources section : there are tons of links toarticles, development sites...
The http://www.gnustep.net/ website is as well of interest.
That is, you can find everything you need to start with GNUstep.

What's NeXT ?

The strange story of NeXT carries on, let's hope with success that time, underthe name of Mac OS X. What a great thing ! What do you think about an OS bornmore than 10 years ago starting a new career ? It was quite ahead, don't youthink ?
But what does that mean for us ? Well, probably a lot of great apps since allthe existing ones can be easily recompiled, and don't forget, Mac OS X and soNeXTStep are Unix systems. That means tons of applications potentiallyavailable, as well for free Unixes. Accordingly, GNUstep is the framework you need...
Let's say it's a dream (sort of) : at least, we would be able to choose thesoftware we want. Unfortunately, there is a bright side anda dark side.

The bright side

Let's take an example : today, according to the OS you use, you don't have muchchoice concerning web browsers. It's either Netscrape (and its derivatives) orExploder, that is two gas factories and a match box, security holes, and soon. Mac OS X will provide you with OmniWeb : this is a really great web browser.Using it under NeXTStep is a pleasure, even if it's a rather old version.
It's that sort of browser you can dream of today, when you use Unix or M$ things. Theonly 'thin' web browsers today can be found under so called alternative OSes :such as NetPositive under BeOS or AWeb, for instance, under AmigaOS. Ofcourse, Opera seems attractive, but till now, I'm not quite convinced (but thisis only my opinion). What I mean here, is Mac OS X and so GNUstep will provideus with 'new' tools, often better than the ones we can use today. We did benefitfrom such tools about ten years ago... with NeXTStep !
Of course, this is true for many other types of software and not only forweb browsers.
Going to http://www.omnigroup.com/ will show you abunch of available tools.
The main difference between GNUstep and Mac OS X comes from the fact thatX-Window is used for GNUstep but not under Mac OS X.That was already a complaint aboutNeXTStep. That's where GNUstep becomes so important : it allows you to use theseapps under X. This is probably one of the main strong points of this project : thosepeople really did a great job.

The dark side

We can fear the arrival of Exploder and some otherspieces of s...oftware from the same editor under Mac OS X. This is a bitfrightening ! If these 'apps' are Mac OS X native ones, we can expect the worst.That is, the insidious entry of the Redmond army into the free Unix world. Ofcourse, here free doesn't mean gratis since we are talking about M$ thieves,but... If you want to know the applications under development for Mac OS X, just havea look at http://www.apple.com/macosx/applications/
Let's say, it's the pessimistic way of thinking : wait and see !

However, lets not forget that GNUstep is particularly designed for development. Once itwill become a bit more achieved, you'll be able to develop applications theeasy way, like it was under NeXTStep. GNUstep is much more than a singleframework, we could say it's a big IDE (Integrated Development Environment). Themost important point seems that these apps will be easily portable, to Mac OS X, forinstance.
By the way, let's not forget the Apple's open source, Darwin. More on the subjectat http://www.opensource.apple.com//
Obviously, there's much more to say about GNUstep but it's beyond the scope ofthis article. The goal was to make you feel like trying this great product, andwhy not, participating in this big project.

And the band plays on

One of my greatest pleasure concerning free software comes from these projectstrying to 'repair' the big commercial mistakes. NeXTStep was for me a truerevolution. I'm the very happy owner of a 10 years old workstation, and don'tbelieve it's covered with dust : I use it almost everyday despite its 68040/25Mhz CPU. Fortunately (or unfortunately), many people seem to think the same.Thanks to the GNUstep team, to the Window Maker team to provide us with such agreat work.
The incredible thing about NeXTStep comes from the fact that manyeditors tried to 'clone' it... and they did succeed where the model failed.Once again, we must mention the Redmond Kingdom : have you ever noticed theW95 windows and their gadgets ? Well, have a look at the NeXTStep screen shotsabove. NeXTStep first appeared in 1987 in USA and around 1990 in Europe. As its namesays, the thing from M$ appeared more than five years later. The leaflets flyingbetween two folders, invented in the surrounds of Seattle, were present underNeXTStep 2.1, that is around 1991...
Nevertheless, for once, they didn't copy in Redmond ! No, they did much better :they 'bought' people from NeXT... I suppose for many, many bucks. Never mind,but that's not fair, is it ?
This to say NeXTStep never left people indifferent, what is an understatement.
GNU is the absolute reference concerning free software and it deserves to be.The whole world owes GNU a lot : every OS has been able to benefit from theirwork. Their compilers are probably the best ones ever seen, whatever the OS.That's true for many other tools. Even more, their projects are often (if notalways) as great as their tools. GNUstep is one of them. By the way, NeXTStephad a GNU directory...
If you are like me, not very fond of the well known (free or commercial) Unixdesktop environments, tryGNUstep, you'll love it ! Even more, you won't be able to work without.
Enjoy !
What a great time we're living in!

Talkback form for this article

Openstep Installation Instructions Outdoor

Every article has its own talkback page. On this page you can submit a comment or look at comments from other readers:

Openstep Installation Instructions Installing

talkback page

Webpages maintained by the LinuxFocus Editor team
© Georges Tarbouriech, FDL
LinuxFocus.org
Click here to report a fault or send a comment to LinuxFocus

2001-04-27, generated by lfparser version 2.13