For NsCDE to work, essential software is FVWM Window Manager. Almost
all is based on it. Since NsCDE is heavy user of infostore
internal
variables and other new features of FVWM, development has been done on
FVWM versions 2.6.7 and 2.6.8. At this time, this are recommended, if not
mandatory versions of FVWM for NsCDE. Other dependencies, that is,
software used by NsCDE is:
Korn Shell 93. All shell script routines inside configuration, helper scripts and FvwmScript helpers are written with ksh. It is not sure if pdksh can be drop in replacement, but in tests on Arch Linux with mksh it became clear that mksh cannot replace Korn Shell. Korn Shell is available and it is free.
Xorg utils (Fedora/CentOS RPM xorg-x11-utils) - xdpyinfo, xprop ...
Util xdotool - only if FVWM is not patched with WindowName patch for the FvwmButtons
ImageMagick - really needed.
Xscreensaver - optional, but Screen Style Manager will not work without it. Something needs to be installed for locking the screen.
cpp - C preprocessor for xrdb functionality - for X resources integration. Used by xrdb(1).
xorg-x11-server-utils (CentOS, Fedora name) - xrdb, xset, xrefresh mandatory for startup, some style managers and menus.
python-yaml - needed for python part of the color theme management and for Gtk+Qt integration.
PyQt4 or PyQt5 (or possibly python-qt4, python-qt5 ...)
This is unfortunate dependency
which is further dependent on Qt libraries. NsCDE tries to have as
less as possible dependencies, specially indirect (dependencies of
dependent dependencies of dependencies ...). Gtk/Qt integration is
borrowed from CDEtheme Motif/CDE theme project and adapted for use
with FVWM (instead of heavy Xfce dependency) or standalone engine.
In part of the Theme.py
code, some png pixmaps are cut and colored
with functions from this API. With present job and lack of time,
there was no time to do this without PyQt4 or PyQt5 for the first public release.
On CentOS, Fedora, Ubuntu and probably Debian, also on FreeBSD, there should be no problem to install this with package manager, but in tests on Arch Linux, PyQt4 was obsoleted and user will have a hard time getting source from AUR and compiling huge bunch of Qt4 libraries. There is possibility to replace PyQt4 with PyQt5 imports in code and it will work, no matter that it will segfault and core dump on the exit.
Gtk2, Gtk3, Qt4, Qt5, qtconfig-qt4, qt5ct, qt5-qtstyleplugins (optional) There is a great chance this libraries and some usefull programs using them are already installed on user's system. If Gtk and Qt integration is activated in Color Style Manager, there is no point not to have it installed.
Notice about Qt4 and Qt5: qt4-config (or qt-config) and qt5ct: Although colors will be applied, for font setting to take effect, qtconfig-qt4 (or qtconfig) must be run, something changed back and forth, and then applied/saved - no matter that you will see fonts of your choice already selected. This can be considered a bug. Same goes for Qt5.
Notice about Qt5: QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME
environment variable must be
set, and be set to qt5ct
value in order to run qt5ct configurator.
Recommended fonts for as close as possible CDE look are DejaVu Serif for variable, and DejaVu Sans Mono for monospaced fonts. Check should be made if this fonts are installed on the system. For Solaris CDE look, Lucida Sans and monospaced Lucida Sans Typewriter should be installed, selected and used instead. (optional)
Open Motif 2 libraries for some programs, although it is not used in any part of the NsCDE. (optional)
Stalonetray for "tray" facility (optional)
Dunst for notification daemon (optional)
xterm
python3 (FVWM)
python36-pyxdg or python3-pyxdg or ... (FVWM)
libstroke (FVWM)
perl-File-MimeInfo (on some platforms and some fvwm packages)