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2. Getting and installing AfterStep

2.1 Where do I get AfterStep?

The main AfterStep resources on the net are below.

2.2 What is the latest version of AfterStep?

The latest public version is 1.4.5, released in April 1998. There are patches to this version up to 1.4.5.3. A current development release, 1.4.5.55N6 is also widely available. Please note that development releases may be unstable. In Summer 1998, version 2.0 should be available.

2.3 I receive the message: Cannot open display. What should I do?

AfterStep is an X window manager and cannot be run from the terminal. It must be run through X. The easiest way to do that is to create (or edit) your own .xinitrc file (which contains a list of the programs you wish to load upon startup) and to add the line exec afterstep to the end. This last exec'd line is significant in that it says to shut down X when that program is terminated. Now that you have that file, simply startup X in your customary manner, most likely startx or xinit. Now you're off and running. Good luck!

2.4 How can I install AfterStep without being root?

This is fairly easy. You will have to install all the files under your home directory. The usual recommendation is to use the same directories as suggested in the installation procedure, but replacing /usr/local by your home directory. For example, if you home directory is /home/blah you would use directories like /home/blah/bin, /home/blah/etc, /home/blah/lib, etc.

Compile AfterStep following the standard installation procedure (i.e the one described in the manual) until the install step. Then, do the following (make sure to create the destination directories first if they don't exist. All the source paths are relative to the AfterStep source directory):

  1. Copy afterstep/afterstep to $HOME/bin/.
  2. Copy modules/*/(binaries) to $HOME/bin/.
  3. Copy apps/*/(binaries) to $HOME/bin/.
  4. Copy GNUstep/ to $HOME/.
  5. Edit $HOME/GNUstep/Library/AfterStep/base.* to reflect the above paths in the lines starting with ModulePath and PixmapPath.
  6. Put $HOME/bin in your path.

You should be set. Feel free to modify this procedure according to your particular needs or the particular setup of your machine/account.

2.5 Why do I keep getting compile errors?

The most common reason for problems compiling is that you do not have all the necessary libraries and headers available on your system. This often happens to people who have recently upgraded their distribution of XFree86. The necessary libraries are included in an "optional" file which matches the version of XFree86 in question; the most recent of these is X332prog.tgz (for XFree86 3.3.2). You should be able to find the file you need wherever you obtained your distribution of X.


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