Manually Install Gnome 3 Extensions

From Wired How-To Wiki

With Gnome 3 and Unity both making their debut on Ubuntu, some may find it hard to decide between which GUI to use as their primary. Gnome 3 exhibits an unprecedented graphic design, but is lacking many features that Unity is rich in. However, since it's release, some new features have been packaged by the Gnome team and labeled as ?extensions.? Unfortunately, these extensions are not available upon install, and cannot be simply downloaded and installed automatically within Gnome. With a little work in the terminal, you can manually install and incorporate extensions into Ubuntu's interface.

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You will need

• Ubuntu 11.04
• An internet connection
• The gnome-common package
• Updated repositories (you can update your repository list by typing: sudo apt-get update into the terminal)

Install the git application

This is an application for controlling and accessing ?git repositories.? Type the following into the Linux terminal:

sudo apt-get install git

Make a copy of the file repository

Now we'll be able to make a copy of the file repository where the extension data is stored and use it to install whatever extension we want. Use the git clone feature by typing the following:

git clone git://git.gnome.org/gnome-shell-extensions

Navigate into the cloned directory

Type:

cd gnome-shell-extensions

Before the next step, be sure that you have gnome-common installed by typing:

sudo apt-get install gnome-common

Install an extension

Now, you're ready to install an extension. For demonstration purposes, the code will show how to install the dock extension, but in order to install any other extension, just replace dock with the extension name, found at http://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell/Extensions.

To compile the extension type the following:

./autogen.sh ?prefix=$HOME/.local ? enable-extensions=?dock?

After we have it compiled, we'll install it by typing:

make install

Check metadata

Now that the extension is installed, the only thing we need to do is ensure all of the metadata is correct. Navigate to the folder you installed the extension into by typing:

cd .local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/dock@gnome-shell-extensions.gnome.org

Once you're in the folder, you'll want to edit the metadata document so that the ?shell-version? value matches the version of your Gnome shell. If you don't know what version you have, you can find it by navigating to System Settings > System Info. Since we'll be overwriting a crucial file, we'll execute the command as a superuser:

sudo gedit metadata.json

Navigate to the line labeled ?shell-version? and change the value to the Gnome version you located earlier. Save the changes (you'll only be able to do this if you used the sudo command), and exit. Finally, to apply the changes, restart the shell by pressing ALT + F2, entering the letter r, and pressing Enter. When the shell restarts, you'll see your new dock (or whatever extension you decided to install).

This page was last modified 21:11, 20 May 2011 by howto_admin. Based on work by jyakku.

Source: http://feeds.wired.com/~r/howtowiki/~3/9dLc2stRzLc/Manually_Install_Gnome_3_Extensions

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