The GNUstep Suite
The GNUstep suite consists of the core packages, the development tools and some auxiliary libraries. You can see a representation of how they are related on the library map.
The Core
The core packages of libraries and tools are the basis of GNUstep. There are four parts at present: makefiles, base library, GUI library and the back-end. All four are available in the Startup package from the downloads pages.
- GNUstep Makefile Package
- The GNUstep Makefile Package is a configuration
system and set of rules that makes compilation of GNUstep source as easy
as simply listing the files.
- GNUstep Base Library
- Our base library implements the FoundationKit part of
the OpenStep specification.
- GNUstep GUI Library
- This implements the ApplicationKit from the OpenStep spec.
- GNUstep Back-end
- The back-end provides a small set of functions used by the GUI library
to interface to the actual window system (X11, etc). It also has a drawing
engine which emulates common PostScript functions.
Development Tools
- GNU Objective-C Compiler (gcc)
- To produce applications, we compile source code to make executable binaries. The GNU C compiler has supported Objective-C for years, and it has been ported to almost every operating system.
- GNU Debugger (gdb)
- GDB 6.0+ supports debugging Objective-C code natively. See our instructions for Objective-C debugging with gdb
- ProjectCenter
- Good development systems always build on project management. Project Center lets you search, edit, debug and design your applications and libraries with a range of tools.
- GORM
- The Graphical Object Relationship Modeller lets you graphically design a user interface for your application.
Auxiliary Libraries
- GNUstep Database Library Version 2 (GDL2)
- GNUstep Web Applications Framework (GSWeb) (see www.gnustepweb.org)
Other Projects
- Foundation Extensions Library (extensions)
- This library contains some classes and extensions that are not required for GNUstep, but provide some useful functions none the less.
- libFoundation
- An alternate implementation of FoundationKit. libFoundation is more slim than gnustep-base, but still lacks several features of Foundation. It implements some extensions to Foundation that are also available separately for use with gnustep-base.
