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 number of brigdes and interfaces  to
       develop GNUstep programs using other languages like JAVA or Ruby.

       The  GNUstep  core system consists of the following parts, which are jointly refered to as
       gnustep-core :

       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.
              Backends  exist for X11 (one using cairo, one using libart, one using xlib drawing)
              and win32.

       Apart from the above, there exist a number of  addon  libraries,  like  Renaissance  which
       allows  developers to specify an application'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  per  default  is self-contained. That means that all GNUstep applications, tools,
       libraries and add-ons are installed into the GNUstep directory hierarchy.  However  as  of
       gnustep-make-2.0.0  it  is  also  possible  to install everything in compliance with other
       filesystem hierarchies. See the FilesystemLayouts  directory  in  the  source  package  of
       gnustep-make for more information.

       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).

       A complete description of the default GNUstep layout can be found in the filesystem.pdf.

   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  applications through
       services.  They can be reached through the Services menu entry in  an  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/Services
       folders.

       The  make_services  tool  makes  sure  the services are known to other applications when a
       application is newly installed.

   BUNDLES
       A bundle is a collection of resources making up a discrete  package  for  use.  There  are
       currently three types of bundles: applications, frameworks and loadable bundles.

       A  loadable  bundle  is a kind of plug-in. There are two types of loadable bundles, namely
       plug-ins and palettes. The plug-in is noramlly refered to as a bundle, which can make it a
       bit  confusing.  A  plug-in  is  a  bundle that can be loaded by an application to provide
       additional functionality, while a palette is a plug-in for GORM, the interface builder.  A
       palette is used to extend GORM with custom UI objects. Palettes have a .palette extension.

   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.

   DEVELOPER APPLICATIONS
       What would a development environment be without the applications to  create  applications?
       The applications provided by GNUstep for Rapid Application Developement are:

       GORM   GORM  is  the  interface  modeler.  With  GORM you can quickly create the graphical
              interface of your application.

       Project Center
              Project Center is the program where you can develop your  program.  It  offers  you
              automatic  generation  of  GNUmakefiles  , project maintenance and of course a code
              editor.

SEE ALSO

       gcc(1), gdnc(1), gdomap(8), gopen(1), gpbs(1), make(1), openapp(1)

       GNUstep Websites:

       http://www.gnustep.org/
              Official GNUstep website

       http://wiki.gnustep.org/
              GNUstep Wiki (lots of useful information)

       http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gnustep/
              GNUstep Project Page

       http://gnustep.made-it.com/
              GNUstep Documentation Library

       http://www.collaboration-world.com
              Collaboration World, the home of GNUmail

       http://www.gnustep.it/
              The home of GWorkspace, JIGS, Renaissance and programming tutorials.

       Mailinglists

       http://www.gnustep.org/information/gethelp.html
              Mailing lists and mailing list archives.

       IRC

       #GNUstep on FreeNode
              You are invited to join the #GNUstep IRC channel on FreeNode (irc.freenode.net).

HISTORY

       GNUstep was at first a collaboration of two  projects  that  wanted  to  create  a  single
       GNUstep  project  that  complied  to the OpenStep specification provided by NeXT Computer,
       Inc. and SunSoft, Inc. Development of this joint effort started around  1993-1994.  For  a
       more  detailed history description see the GNUstep Documentation Library referenced in the
       SEE ALSO section.

       GNUstep  is  developed  and  maintained  by  a  large  number  of   people.   Please   see
       <http://www.gnustep.org/developers/whoiswho.html> for a list.

AUTHORS

       This  man-page  was first written by Martin Brecher <martin@mb-itconsulting.com> in august
       of 2003.

       In December 2007 it was expanded by Dennis Leeuw <dleeuw@made-it.com> and made  to  comply
       with the gnustep-make-2.0.x releases.