1.4.1 Problems compiling (loading shared libs)

If you get something like

plmerge: error while loading shared libraries:
libgnustep-base.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

or this:

Making all for service example...
make[2]: *** [example.service/Resources/Info-gnustep.plist] Error 1
make[1]: *** [example.all.service.variables] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/multix/gnustep-gui-0.8.6/Tools'
make: *** [internal-all] Error 2

This means your GNU make is being overly protective. When you try to become root (e.g. to install something), certain environment variables like LD_LIBRARY_PATH are unset in order to reduce the possibility of a security breach. If you are becoming root to install something, you need to exec the GNUstep.sh file as root, just as you do when you login. Although for simplicity, you can also try this:

make LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

You could also be having problems with gcc. gcc 2.96 does not work (Mandrake 8.1, perhaps others). Use a different compiler, like gcc 3.x.