GNUSTEP(7) GNUstep System Manual GNUSTEP(7)
NAME
GNUstep - A free implementation of the OpenStep standard
DESCRIPTION
GNUstep provides an Object-Oriented application development framework
and toolset for use on a wide variety of computer platforms. GNUstep
is based on the original OpenStep specification provided by NeXT, Inc.
(now Apple).
GNUstep is written in Objective-C, an object-oriented superset of the C
programming language, similar to SmallTalk. However there exist a num-
ber of brigdes and interfaces to develop GNUstep programs using other
languages like JAVA or Ruby.
The GNUstep Core System
The GNUstep core system consists of the following parts:
gnustep-make
A set of scripts and makefiles that heavily ease the
creation and maintenance of software projects.
gnustep-base
The FoundationKit libraries for non-GUI tools providing
everything from string and array classes, filemanager
classes to distributed objects.
gnustep-gui
The ApplicationKit containing widgets, workspace classes
and means for applications to interact with the user.
This is the frontend of GNUstep's GUI part.
gnustep-back
This is the backend of GNUstep's GUI part which does the
actual rendering and event handling. It acts as a layer
between gnustep-gui and the operating/drawing system. Back-
ends exist for X11 (one using libart, one using xlib draw-
ing) and win32.
Apart from the above, there exist a number of addon libraries,
like Renaissance which allows developers to specify an applica-
tion's user interface in xml. For database access, there is
gdl2 - the GNUstep Database Library. Please refer to the
GNUstep website for more information.
GNUstep is self-containing. That means that all GNUstep applica-
tions, tools, libraries and add-ons are installed into the
GNUstep directory hierarchy. There are four domains which are
searched for files: the System domain, which should only contain
the core system files, the Local domain which stores all that
has later been installed on the system, the Network domain which
should be used for importing data from a remote system, and the
User domain which resides in the user's home directory (mostly
~/GNUstep). See the filesystem.texi document for more informa-
tion.
Some Basic Terms:
Tools and Applications
In the world of GNUstep the term tool refers to command line programs
whereas applications are fully fledged GUI programs. Naturally, tools
reside in the domains' Tools folder, applications can be found in the
domains' Applications folder.
Applications are either launched using the openapp command or from the
Workspace.
Services
In GNUstep applications globally offer functionality to other applica-
tions through services application's main menu. Apart from services
offered by applications, there may be programs whose sole purpose is
the offering of services. They can be found in the domains' Libary/Ser-
vices folders.
The Workspace
The central place of the user interface is the Workspace or Workspace
Manager which acts as an interface between the user and parts of the
system like files, processes, etc. The GWorkspace application provides
this functionality in GNUstep. See the GWorkspace website for more
details.
Getting More Help
Most discussion and support is taking place on the GNUstep mailinglists
<http://www.gnustep.org/information/gethelp.html>. Additionally, most
larger projects have their own mailing lists. Consult the appropriate
websites for details.
Alternatively you are invited to join the #GNUstep IRC channel on
FreeNode (irc.freenode.net).
SEE ALSO
gcc(1), gdnc(1), gdomap(8), gopen(1), gpbs(1), make(1), openapp(1)
GNUstep Websites:
Official GNUstep website <http://www.gnustep.org/> - GNUstep Wiki (lots
of useful information) <http://wiki.gnustep.org/> - GNUstep Project
Page <http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gnustep/> - GNUstep Community
Page <http://www.gnustep.net/> - GNUstep Documentation Library
<http://gnustep.made-it.com/> - GNUstep Build Guide
<http://gnustep.made-it.com/BuildGuide/>
Collaboration World <http://www.collaboration-world.com/> - GNUstep.de
<http://www.gnustep.de/> - GNUstep.it <http://www.gnustep.it/> -
GNUstep.us <http://www.gnustep.us/> - GWorkspace Website
<http://www.gnustep.it/enrico/gworkspace/>
Mailinglists:
<http://www.gnu.org/software/gnustep/information/gethelp.html> -
Archives can be found at <http://mail.gnu.org/archive/html/>
AUTHORS
GNUstep is developed and maintained by a large number of people. Please
see <http://www.gnustep.org/developers/whoiswho.html> for a list.
GWorkspace is developed by Enrico Sersale. Please see the GWorkspace
Website for details.
This man page was written by Martin Brecher <martin@mb-itconsult-
ing.com>.
GNUstep August 2003 GNUSTEP(7)
