Redhat 8 the hard way... adding GNOME afterwards

[scottprive at earthlink.net (Scott Prive)]

[grumble gumble..]

I need some advice troubleshooting an incomplete or faulty GNOME install.
It's not a huge problem -- I have workarounds, and I could hack my "." files
if needed, but I'd like to fix this 'correctly'.


I installed a barebones (no X11) Redhat 8 on my home server. So far so good.

Then I manually added X11 and gnome rpms. I can start X, and run apps from
the basic xterm. Also, I can ssh -X in and run windowed apps remotely,
including nautilus. gdm starts up automatically and I can login fine.

The problem is I can't get my logins to default to GNOME.

If I type `switchdesk gnome`, switchdesk claims GNOME is not installed. If I
run `switchdesk-gnome` from X11, then select GNOME, it indicates success and
I should restart X. However neither pathway causes GNOME to load. GNOME is
not listed in the gdm options before logging in either.

I have no problem launching nautilus and the gnome kicker. So I really "do"
have gnome2 installed. I must have overlooked some some configuration rpm
(this is exactly why I loved Debian... the package manager takes care of
loose ends).

Anyone know what it is?

(again, not looking for places to hack my config files... I can do this. I'm
assuming that I am missing a package, which for some reason isn't declared
as a dependency anywhere...)

-Scott