8 Hours + Jhbuild = Gnome 2.16

Due to the fact that I didn't hose my test system by installing xorg 7.1, I decided to try with gnome 2.16.
A word of caution, you may hose something, and if you are unfamiliar with bash commands you might think twice!
first you need to get jhbuild HERE read the readme
do a make install and try jhbuild sanitycheck to see if it works. if you get any missing deps install them with yast or do a jhbuild bootstrap.
check over your .jhbuildrc file and make any changes you see fit. here's mine
then just run 'jhbuild build' and take a nap

if it pukes with; "Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/root/bin/jhbuild", line 5, in ?
import jhbuild.main
File "/root/cvs/gnome2/jhbuild/jhbuild/main.py", line 26, in ?
import jhbuild.commands
File "/root/cvs/gnome2/jhbuild/jhbuild/commands/__init__.py", line 77, in ?
from jhbuild.commands import base,,, bla bla bla,,,
then do a

export PATH=/opt/gnome2/bin:$PATH
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/gnome2/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

in a terminal and try again.

if it pukes at libgsf drop to a shell (4) do a make install ( trys to link to a lib that hasn't been installed yet DER??) and continue the build ( jhbuild build --start-at=libgsf)

a bit down the pike you will have gnome-control-center puke. it will wife ( wife=complain) about libXxf86misc
Get it here
and in another terminal, do a ./configure --prefix=/opt/gnome2, make make install
I also added /opt/gnome2/lib to the /etc/ld.so.conf file and i did a ldconfig.

epiphany,evolution, and ekiga dont build so I just skipped them.

the fast user switcher, wifes about the gdm.conf file you need to configure it and specify the path (etc/opt/gnome/gdm/gdm.conf)

follow the jhbuild readme to fire it up and your done.