GNOME 3.2 in Gentoo: answers to common general questions

[tetromino]

Could you please post another news saying that this is actually postponed ?

Due to the limitations of the news item format, it unfortunately got displayed on some setups where gnome-3 is not yet available. Gnome-3 is enabled for ~amd64 and ~x86. If you are using stable (for example, ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64"), then you will have to wait; see question 3 in the OP. If you are using another arch (arm, ppc64, etc.), see bug #390345; the gnome team can't do keywording on exotic arches by ourselves because we don't have the appropriate hardware to test on.

However, you are not up-to-date: Gentoo forces any package, which provides support for gtk-2 and gtk-3, using gtk-3 only. This results in:
a) gtk-browsers without flash
b) completely crappy look'n feel for gtk-2 DE's like XFCE

By now, gtk2 should be regarded as legacy; the sooner the world moves to gtk3, the better. Proprietary browser plugins can be run through nspluginwrapper. Look-and-feel is very much a matter of opinion (personally, I love the default gtk3 Adwaita theme from gnome-themes-standard; others swear by zukitwo). As for ebuilds, the recommendation is to avoid a gtk3 USE flag. That means libraries that can use gtk2 or 3 should generally be slotted, and applications that can use gtk2 or 3 should simply pick one gtk version (probably 3). Of course, avoiding a USE flag is not always possible; for example, there are some libraries whose build systems make it annoying to disentangle gtk3 and gtk2 bits, and some applications for which the gtk3 backend has bugs, so gtk2 is used by default, but some users might still want to choose gtk3 for whatever reason (e.g. libreoffice).

It looks like more gnome 3 packages are starting to go stable than are listed in the mask file given by the first post on this thread. Can someone clarify if this is the case and if the mask file needs to be updated to completely mask all of the gnome 3 packages. I do not want gnome 3 crap on my system.

I have noticed this also. The existing "tetromino" mask file is a great thing to have, and I'm grateful it was made. However, these need to be added to it:

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>=gnome-base/gnome-common-3.0
>=gnome-base/gvfs-1.10
>=sys-apps/gnome-disk-utility-3.0.2-r200

No. The gnome-3 packages that have already been marked stable, including the three that you listed, are the ones that are believed to be safe to use with gnome-2. (If they are not, please file a bug, we want to know about it.)

I used the command, but I get "-su: glxinfo: command not found".

You need to install x11-apps/mesa-progs.

[West201]

I used the command, but I get "-su: glxinfo: command not found".

You need to install x11-apps/mesa-progs.

Thanks for your help

[West201]

I want feedback from Gentoo users on Gnome 3. I just installed Gentoo on this desktop 4 days ago, and it still came with Gnome 2. Is the upgrade process relatively safe ? I use alsa audio instead of pulse.

If you are really sure gnome3 is installed, and there are no more peaces from grnome2, it could be gnome3 gets started only in fallback-mode.
Which GPU do you use? Which driver? Does Hardware accellearated 3D work?

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glxinfo | grep -i render

I

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# glxinfo | grep -i render
direct rendering: Yes
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe

I get the output above, is better to just reinstall Gentoo and start with Gnome 3 fresh ?

[tetromino]

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# glxinfo | grep -i render
direct rendering: Yes
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe

I get the output above, is better to just reinstall Gentoo and start with Gnome 3 fresh ?

I believe that gnome-shell-3.2 will refuse to run on llvmpipe (gnome-shell-3.4, which is coming in a few months, will probably support it). For now, you need real hardware opengl drivers. That means x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers (or alternatively, media-libs/mesa with VIDEO_CARDS="nouveau" and gallium architecture enabled, and x11-drivers/xf86-video-nouveau) for nvidia cards; media-libs/mesa with VIDEO_CARDS="radeon" and gallium architecture enabled, and x11-drivers/xf86-video-ati for ati cards (note that x11-drivers/ati-drivers has graphical corruption problems with gnome-shell); or media-libs/mesa with VIDEO_CARDS="intel" with classic architecture enabled, and x11-drivers/xf86-video-intel for intel cards. You will also need to configure your kernel appropriately, depending on which driver you need. After installing the needed driver, don't forget to run "eselect opengl" (and "eselect mesa", for mesa-based drivers) to enable it.

Without suitable opengl support, you are better off sticking with whatever you are using currently, or switching to kde or xfce4. Gnome-3's fallback mode is not very pleasant.

Unless you want to switch to a different architecture (e.g. x86 → amd64), have somehow seriously screwed up your system (e.g. by rebuilding core packages with a broken compiler), or accidentally deleted your /var/db/pkg directory, reinstalling Gentoo, although potentially an interesting experience, will probably not be useful.

[West201]

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# glxinfo | grep -i render
direct rendering: Yes
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe

I get the output above, is better to just reinstall Gentoo and start with Gnome 3 fresh ?

I believe that gnome-shell-3.2 will refuse to run on llvmpipe (gnome-shell-3.4, which is coming in a few months, will probably support it). For now, you need real hardware opengl drivers. That means x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers (or alternatively, media-libs/mesa with VIDEO_CARDS="nouveau" and gallium architecture enabled, and x11-drivers/xf86-video-nouveau) for nvidia cards; media-libs/mesa with VIDEO_CARDS="radeon" and gallium architecture enabled, and x11-drivers/xf86-video-ati for ati cards (note that x11-drivers/ati-drivers has graphical corruption problems with gnome-shell); or media-libs/mesa with VIDEO_CARDS="intel" with classic architecture enabled, and x11-drivers/xf86-video-intel for intel cards. You will also need to configure your kernel appropriately, depending on which driver you need. After installing the needed driver, don't forget to run "eselect opengl" (and "eselect mesa", for mesa-based drivers) to enable it.

Without suitable opengl support, you are better off sticking with whatever you are using currently, or switching to kde or xfce4. Gnome-3's fallback mode is not very pleasant.

Unless you want to switch to a different architecture (e.g. x86 → amd64), have somehow seriously screwed up your system (e.g. by rebuilding core packages with a broken compiler), or accidentally deleted your /var/db/pkg directory, reinstalling Gentoo, although potentially an interesting experience, will probably not be useful.

Thanks I'll stay with Gnome 2 in the mean while. I do dual boot with Fedora 16, and I believe it uses Gnome 3.2, and it works perfectly. I used to use Ubuntu 11.10/Linux Mint 12 and they also use Gnome 3 and it would not work at all (panels would crash or disappear). I like how other distro users claim Gentoo is not safe, when infact it's one of the most stable distros. The developers really have good judgement and common sense when choosing appropriate packages. Thanks Again !

[d2_racing]

Hi, I would like to know what is the best method to install Gnome Shell Extensions ?

Do I need to install the Gentoo packages or I need to go there to install them manually :

https://extensions.gnome.org/

Thanks

[tetromino]

Hi, I would like to know what is the best method to install Gnome Shell Extensions ?

Depends on what you want to do.

If you want to install a single extension for a single user account, then https://extensions.gnome.org is almost certainly the easiest method. Of course, it's then your responsibility to keep the extension updated (which in gnome-3.2 means periodically uninstalling and reinstalling it).

If you want to install commonly used extensions in /usr/share so that they are available for all users on a machine, and to keep them automatically updated, you will probably prefer the extension pack ebuilds available in portage (gnome-extra/gnome-shell-extensions and gnome-extra/gnome-shell-frippery). The downside is that these extension pack ebuilds provide a total of around 20 extensions—as compared to >100 on extensions.gnome.org.

[d2_racing]

Hi tetromino, thanks for the info

I'm gonna stick with the package then.

[lauritx]

Today i used first time gnome-screenshot and when you close it it stays up and cpu usage promps tu 91%. In top program there reads gnome-screensho ? I think there should read gnome-screenshot. I i first tried "killall gnome-screenshot" this didnt work. then i enter "gnome screensho" and then process died?

[tetromino]

Today i used first time gnome-screenshot and when you close it it stays up and cpu usage promps tu 91%. In top program there reads gnome-screensho ? I think there should read gnome-screenshot. I i first tried "killall gnome-screenshot" this didnt work. then i enter "gnome screensho" and then process died?

It's a known bug in x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers, probably something wrong with the way the drivers attempt to detect multithreaded opengl use in applications. As a workaround, you can launch gnome-screensaver from the terminal as

$ __GL_SINGLE_THREADED=1 gnome-screenshot

(Note that setting __GL_SINGLE_THREADED=1 globally is not recommended since it can hurt graphics performance.)

[lauritx]

Today i used first time gnome-screenshot and when you close it it stays up and cpu usage promps tu 91%. In top program there reads gnome-screensho ? I think there should read gnome-screenshot. I i first tried "killall gnome-screenshot" this didnt work. then i enter "gnome screensho" and then process died?

It's a known bug in x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers, probably something wrong with the way the drivers attempt to detect multithreaded opengl use in applications. As a workaround, you can launch gnome-screensaver from the terminal as

$ __GL_SINGLE_THREADED=1 gnome-screenshot

(Note that setting __GL_SINGLE_THREADED=1 globally is not recommended since it can hurt graphics performance.)

Ok thanks. Idont need it so often.

[Leio]

Regarding GNOME 3 stabilization (and therefore when GNOME 2 likely becomes de facto unmaintained) we started a wiki page to try to track the regressions over GNOME 2, so that we can make a well informed decision on when we can introduce GNOME 3 to the stable tree. This list is at http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/GNOME/GNOME3_Stable - you can add your own items there in a separate section for consideration, or e-mail gnome at gentoo dot org if you don't want to bother with a wiki account (in which case please prefix the e-mail subject for easier distinguishing by us, like "gnome3 stabilization: <short desc of your item>").

[epsilon72]

On that page it says "No proper replacement for the concept of the "Desktop" (Finding & Reminding) "

Is this referring to showing files on the desktop (with Nautilus) or the traditional Desktop metaphor in general?

[Leio]

On that page it says "No proper replacement for the concept of the "Desktop" (Finding & Reminding) "

Is this referring to showing files on the desktop (with Nautilus) or the traditional Desktop metaphor in general?

I'm not sure. This initial list is from nirbheek - I'll work through the list with him and others soon and clarify things, and consider the items added by you fine folks then as well. I _think_ that item had more to do with things like "recent files" available in gnome-panel (afaik in gnome-shell you only find them if you know to type some part of the filename or so), and such things.

[epsilon72]

I don't know how quickly (if ever) the GNOME devs will implement a lot of the requested features...but in the meantime, a lot of them are available as extensions.

Recent items list: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/72/recent-items/

That website has some very useful extensions, bringing some much needed customizability to gnome-shell. (Unfortunately, it seems to be missing a search function...so you'll have to use google with site:extensions.gnome.org)

[feiticeir0]

Hi !

I've read this post, even the gnome upgrade guide (there's nothing there on "how to upgrade"), but still, no gnome 3 nor portage is asking me to upgrade gnome...

I'm i doing something wrong ?

If i try to upgrade gnome,

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emerge -av gnome

 * IMPORTANT: 5 news items need reading for repository 'gentoo'.
 * Use eselect news to read news items.


These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies... done!
[ebuild   R    ] gnome-base/gnome-2.32.1-r1  USE="cdr cups dvdr ldap policykit -accessibility -mono" 0 kB

Total: 1 package (1 reinstall), Size of downloads: 0 kB

Would you like to merge these packages? [Yes/No]

and if i do emerge -av =gnome-3.2.1, i get :

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The following keyword changes are necessary to proceed:
#required by gnome-base/gnome-extra-apps-3.2.1, required by gnome-base/gnome-3.2.1[extras], required by @selected, required by @world (argument)
=gnome-extra/gnome-utils-3.2.1 ~amd64
#required by gnome-extra/gnome-system-monitor-3.2.1, required by gnome-base/gnome-extra-apps-3.2.1, required by gnome-base/gnome-3.2.1[extras], required by @selected, required by @world (argument)
=x11-libs/libwnck-3.2.1 ~amd64
#required by app-editors/gedit-3.2.6[python], required by gnome-base/gnome-core-apps-3.2.1, required by gnome-base/gnome-3.2.1, required by @selected, required by @world (argument)
=x11-libs/gtksourceview-3.2.3 ~amd64
#required by gnome-extra/gnome-contacts-3.2.2, required by gnome-base/gnome-core-apps-3.2.1, required by gnome-base/gnome-3.2.1, required by @selected, required by @world (argument)
=gnome-base/gnome-desktop-3.2.1 ~amd64
#required by gnome-base/gnome-extra-apps-3.2.1, required by gnome-base/gnome-3.2.1[extras], required by @selected, required by @world (argument)
=gnome-extra/gconf-editor-3.0.1 ~amd64
#required by gnome-base/gnome-fallback-3.2.1, required by gnome-base/gnome-3.2.1[fallback], required by @selected, required by @world (argument)
=x11-misc/notification-daemon-0.7.3 ~amd64
#required by media-gfx/shotwell-0.11.6, required by gnome-base/gnome-extra-apps-3.2.1[shotwell], required by gnome-base/gnome-3.2.1[extras], required by @selected, required by @world (argument)
=media-libs/libraw-0.14.5 ~amd64
#required by gnome-base/gnome-core-apps-3.2.1, required by gnome-base/gnome-3.2.1, req
(and the list goes on...)

I've installed Gentoo in this machine this weekend and portage has installed gnome 2... and i've sync portage today....

any hint ?

[d2_racing]

I'm sure that you are running with the Stable arch.

[feiticeir0]

I'm sure that you are running with the Stable arch.

Yes i am !

Should i not ?

But, isn't gnome 3 marked as stable ?

Thank you!

[epsilon72]

I'm sure that you are running with the Stable arch.

Yes i am !

Should i not ?

But, isn't gnome 3 marked as stable ?

Thank you!

Not in Gentoo, for now at least. If you want to use it, you'll have to add all of GNOME 3 to your package.keywords file or use ~arch.

[feiticeir0]

Well, i've added the gnome overlay from layman and there came a warning saying that gnome 3 was stable in portage and if i've added gnome overlay because of that, to remove it and use the portage version...

That's why i've posted the question here in the first place... I've missread the warning !

Thank you all for the replys . I'll add the packages to the package.keywords file and try.

I'm sorry all for this, but i've haven't seen in any place saying that the gnome 3 was still masked and/or unstable...

I think it should be some kind of information in the pages about gnome 3 upgrade guide to warn people that gnome 3 is still not stable!

Thank you all !

[altima]

wonderful! I am not a user of Gnome DE any more!
hail to the *box WMs!

[patrix_neo]

wonderful! I am not a user of Gnome DE any more!
hail to the *box WMs!

ncursors ftw!

[Icer]

Thanks for the package.mask file. I had to downgrade to gnome 2.x to get a working desktop again. I spent many hours figuring out what is wrong when the gnome 3 was showing the 'oh no' screen or outright refusing to show anything but black screen. Seems that the maturity level of the gnome 3 is really poor. Though maybe part of the problem is the ati-driver from AMD.

[d2_racing]

Did you try the opensource driver for your Radeon ?

[Icer]

Did you try the opensource driver for your Radeon ?

No. Though I suppose it would work. I did not want to try it right now. Gnome 2 seems to work ok now.