We recommend building Gnome using Garnome. If you really, really want to 
compile everything manually, though, here's the order in which you need 
to build the various components:


libxml2, libgpg-error, libgcrypt, libxslt, gnome-common, intltool, 
rarian, gtk-doc, glib, libIDL, ORBit2, fontconfig, cairo, pango, 
gnome-doc-utils, atk, shared-mime-info, gtk+, gconf, libbonobo, gail, 
at-spi, gnome-mime-data, desktop-file-utils, libdaemon, dbus, dbus-glib, 
dbus-python, pygobject, pycairo, libglade, pygtk, avahi, libvolume_id, 
hal, gamin, gnome-vfs, audiofile, esound, libart_lgpl, libgnome, 
libgnomecanvas, libbonoboui, hicolor-icon-theme, icon-naming-utils, 
gnome-icon-theme, gnome-keyring, libgnomeui, gnome-menus, alacarte, 
libtasn1, opencdk, gnutls, libsoup, mozilla, evolution-data-server, 
libgtop, startup-notification, gtk-engines, gnome-themes, gnome-desktop, 
bug-buddy, metacity, libgsf, libcroco, libgnomecups, libgnomeprint, 
libgnomeprintui, librsvg, eel, nautilus, libxklavier, libgnomekbd, 
gstreamer, liboil, gst-plugins-base, libwnck, gnome-panel, 
gnome-control-center, gnome-speech, dasher, pyorbit, gnome-python, 
gtksourceview-1.0, nautilus-cd-burner, gst-plugins-good, libmusicbrainz, 
iso-codes, totem, gnome-media, gnome-python-desktop, deskbar-applet, 
pwlib, opal, ekiga, eog, enchant, epiphany, poppler, evince, gtkhtml, 
evolution, evolution-exchange, evolution-webcal, 
fast-user-switch-applet, file-roller, gcalctool, gconf-editor, gdm2, 
gtksourceview, pygtksourceview, gedit, gucharmap, system-tools-backends, 
gnome-applets, gnome-backgrounds, gnome-games, gnome-keyring-manager, 
gnome-netstatus, gnome-nettool, libcolorblind, gnome-mag, 
gnome-power-manager, gnome-screensaver, gnome-session, libsigc++2, 
glibmm, cairomm, gtkmm, gnome-system-monitor, liboobs, 
gnome-system-tools, vte, gnome-terminal, gnome-user-docs, gnome-utils, 
gnome-volume-manager, gok, libgail-gnome, orca, seahorse, sound-juicer, 
tomboy, vino, yelp, zenity, pessulus, sabayon, devhelp, glade3, 
accerciser, gnome-devel-docs