Dependencies

Hotwire requires Python >= 2.4, PyGTK at a minimum.

Linux/Unix

On Unix systems you will want your operating system's packages of the Python bindings for gconf, gnomevfs, vte, dbus, gtksourceview, though Hotwire should work (with reduced functionality) without them.

Fedora 7/8

yum install gnome-python2-gnomevfs python-dbus gnome-python2-desktop gnome-python2-gconf  vte pygtksourceview

Debian/Ubuntu

apt-get install python-vte python-dbus python-gnome2 python-pygtksourceview

Windows and MacOS X

See HotwireWindows and HotwireMacOSX respectively.

Source Code Using Subversion

svn checkout http://hotwire-shell.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ hotwire

See Source page for more information on checking out the code, and SVNBook for information about working with a Subversion source tree.

Source Code Using Git

The Hotwire author has found git-svn to be extremely useful for doing Hotwire development using Git, but maintaining the canonical source in SVN.

Running Hotwire from source

Run this command from the source tree after having checked out from Subversion or unpacking the Zip file:

python ui/hotwire

That's it! There is no compilation process, everything should work uninstalled.

Using Hotwire to hack Hotwire

Use the ''-n'' option to tell Hotwire to create a new instance:

python ui/hotwire -n

Creating a GNOME panel launcher

If you want to run Hotwire from your Subversion checkout, the best thing to do is to create a GNOME Panel launcher for it (or equivalent for other desktop environment). Here are some instructions for GNOME:

• Right click on the panel, select Add to Panel. Choose Custom Application Launcher. In the Name field, put Hotwire. In the Command field, put python /path/to/hotwire/ui/hotwire. Change /path/to/hotwire to the name of your Hotwire checkout directory. You should now be able to click on it to launch Hotwire uninstalled.

What to hack on?

ExtendingHotwire explains how to create an extension in your home directory. To modify the core, you might look at issues tagged with "HotwireLoveBug" for a bug that a new developer could start on.

See also RoadMap for some longer-term projects.