Setting Up the EnvironmentMany .NET developers are familiar with the Microsoft .NET CLR installation. Just download the SDK (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9B3A2CA6-3647-4070-9F41-A333C6B9181D&displaylang=en) and double-click the exe. However, most developers do not realize that installing Mono on Linux is just as easy! This section will discuss setting up Mono on Linux and how that compares to setting up Microsoft's .NET CLR on Windows.The first thing required here is a Linux operating system distribution. Mandrake 9.2 is a good client-focused distribution of Linux. After visiting http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/ftp.php3 or any of the mirror servers, downloading the ISO files, and burning the CD-ROMs, just run the rather intuitive installation. You can see in Figure 11-2 the supported operating systems for the version of Mono used in this example. Figure 11-2. Mono Installs for Various Operating Systems.[View full size image] ![]() Setting Up Mono and XSPAfter downloading Mono and XSP, setting them up (Figure 11-3) on Mandrake is as easy as double-clicking the installation RPM package. Figure 11-3. Setting Up Mono.Chapter 4's discussion on the GAC points out, Microsoft actually recommends private deployment unless you have a really good reason to use the GAC. Side-by-side execution is still achievable on Mono or Microsoft .NET with the correct directory structure naming, strong naming, and the use of the <codeBase> config file element. So Mono on Linux is not all that different if you keep these few things in mind. It really is just as easy to install and run on Linux even if you develop on and are more familiar with Windows!Downloading and building XSP was very straightforward (much like the steps for building Mono on a non-supported OS). XSP automatically listens on port 8080, which was just fine with Mandrake 9.2. Npgsql and many other useful assemblies were already installed with the Mono 0.28 distribution. |

