GNOME (for GNU Network Object Model Environment) is a computer desktop environment for UNIX and UNIX-like operating systems. It is the official desktop of the GNU Project.

Origin

The GNOME project was started in August 1997 by Miguel de Icaza and Federico Mena as an attempt to provide a free software desktop for the GNU/Linux operating system.

GNOME screenshot showing Rhythmbox (music), gthumb (image manager), Abiword, and the Nautilus file manager viewing available network shares. GNOME desktop using the Bengali language

At the time, the only serious alternative for the non-technical user was KDE. However, KDE was built on top of the Trolltech's Qt toolkit -- a piece of software that did not use a free software license and was incompatible with the GNU General Public License (GPL), as used by the KDE project and some of the software ported to it. This problem was partially resolved by the release of Qt under the Q Public License (QPL) -- a free software license, although still incompatible with the GPL; and finally resolved by licensing Qt under both the QPL and the GPL. An approach known as dual-licensing. The licensing of Qt is still controversial for many people because the GPL imposes restrictions on the licensing of code linking to it, such as the KDE framework and any applications written for it.

In place of the Qt tookit, the GIMP Toolkit (GTK+) was chosen as the base of the GNOME desktop. GTK+ uses the GNU Lesser Public License (LGPL), a free software license that allows software linking to it, such as applications written for GNOME, to use any license. The GNOME desktop itself is licensed under the LGPL for its libraries, and GPL for applications that are part of the GNOME project itself.

The GNOME desktop is written in the C programming language. A number of language bindings are available, allowing GNOME applications to be written in a variety of languages, such as C++, Java, Ruby, C#, Python, Perl and many others.

Aims

According to the GNOME website,

The GNOME project provides two things: The GNOME desktop environment, an intuitive and attractive desktop for end-users, and the GNOME development platform, an extensive framework for building applications that integrate into the rest of the desktop.

The GNOME desktop puts heavy emphasis on simplicity, usability and making things "just work". As a consequence of this, two things are given prominence in GNOME development:

• Accessibility — designing and building a desktop and applications that can be used by everyone, regardless of technical skill or physical disability
• Internationalisation — ensuring that the desktop and applications are available in many languages

Organisation

Like most free software the GNOME project is loosely organised. Discussion regarding GNOME development occurs on a number of mailing lists that are open to anyone. In August 2000 the GNOME Foundation was set up to deal with administrative tasks, press interest and to act as a contact point for companies interested in developing GNOME software.

Platforms

Although originally a GNU/Linux desktop, GNOME now runs on most Unix-like systems (*BSD variants, AIX, IRIX, HP-UX), and in particular it has been adopted by Sun Microsystems as the standard desktop for its Solaris platform, replacing the ageing CDE. Sun Microsystems has also released a business desktop under the name Java Desktop System — a SuSE Linux system base with a GNOME desktop. There is also a port of GNOME to Cygwin, allowing it to run on Microsoft Windows. GNOME is also available in a number of LiveCD Linux distributions — these allow a computer to boot directly from a compact disc without removal or changes to a pre-existing operating system, such as Microsoft Windows.

Architecture

The GNOME desktop is built from a large number of different projects. A few of the major ones are listed below:

• ATK — an accessibility toolkit.
• Bonobo — a compound document technology.
• GObject — an object oriented framework for the C programming language
• GConf — for storing application settings.
• GNOME VFS — a virtual filesystem.
• GNOME Keyring — a security system.
• GNOME Print — for printing documents from GNOME applications.
• GStreamer — a multimedia framework for GNOME applications.
• GTK+ — a widget toolkit.
• Cairo — a sophisticated 2D graphics library.
• Human Interface Guidelines — research and documentation done by Sun Microsystems on building easy-to-use GNOME applications.
• LibXML — an XML library designed for GNOME.
• ORBit — a CORBA ORB for software componentry.
• Pango — a library for layout and rendering of internationalized text.
• Metacity — a window manager.

Applications

See List of GNOME applications for a more complete list. Applications based on GNOME include the following:

• Abiword — a word processor.
• Anjuta — a software integrated development environment.
• Dia — an application for creating structured drawings.
• Epiphany — a web browser. Epiphany replaced Galeon as the default browser starting with GNOME 2.4.
• Evolution — for contacts/time management and e-mail.
• Gaim — an instant messenger.
• GEdit — a text editor.
• The Gimp — an advanced image editor.
• Gnucash — for personal/small business accounting.
• Gnumeric — a spreadsheet.
• GnomeMeeting — for telephony and voice over IP.
• Gnome Speech — for voice control of GNOME and screen reading.
• Inkscape — a vector drawing application.
• Nautilus — a file manager.
• Pan — a newsreader.
• Rhythmbox — a music-management application similar to Apple iTunes.

Versions

Each of the parts making up the GNOME project (see Architecture) has its own version number and release schedule. However, individual module maintainers coordinate their efforts to create a full GNOME stable release on a roughly six-month schedule. The releases listed in the table below are classed as stable. Unstable releases for testers and developers are not listed, nor are bugfix releases for individual modules.

See also

• X11
• Freedesktop.org
• The Linux Documentation Project
• GNOME LiveCDs:
  • Gnoppix
  • Morphix
  • Ubuntu Linux
• List of open-source software packages
• List of Unix programs

External links

Official sites

• Official GNOME website (http://www.gnome.org/)
• Learn how to use GNOME (http://www.gnome.org/learn/)
• The GNOME Foundation (http://foundation.gnome.org)
• The GNOME Documentation Project (http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gdp/)

GNOME versions

• Release announcements for versions 1.0.53 (http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-announce-list/1999-October/msg00020.html), 1.2 (http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-announce-list/2000-May/msg00062.html), 1.4 (http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-announce-list/2001-April/msg00005.html),
• Start pages for versions 2.0 (http://www.gnome.org/start/2.0/), 2.2 (http://www.gnome.org/start/2.2/), 2.4 (http://www.gnome.org/start/2.4/), 2.6 (http://www.gnome.org/start/2.6/), 2.8 (http://www.gnome.org/start/2.8/)

Third-party sites

• GnomeFiles — GNOME/GTK+ Software Repository (http://www.gnomefiles.com)
• A GNOME news site (http://www.gnomedesktop.org/)
• GNOME Journal (http://www.gnomejournal.org/) — an online magazine devoted to the GNOME Desktop
• The Story of the GNOME project (http://primates.ximian.com/~miguel/gnome-history.html) written by Miguel de Icaza
• Using GNOME: A wikibook guide to GNOME (http://wikibooks.org/wiki/Using_GNOME)