diff -urN nedit-5.4RC1.orig/makefiles/Makefile.linux nedit-5.4RC1/makefiles/Makefile.linux
--- nedit-5.4RC1.orig/makefiles/Makefile.linux	2003-05-20 02:27:56.000000000 +0200
+++ nedit-5.4RC1/makefiles/Makefile.linux	2003-10-08 18:16:45.000000000 +0200
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # $Id: Makefile.linux,v 1.11 2003/05/20 00:27:56 n8gray Exp $
-CC=cc
-AR=ar
+CC      = gcc
+AR      = ar
 
 # For editres, add -DEDITRES to CFLAGS and -lXmu to LIBS
 # If using a Motif 2.1 compatible library (LessTif, OM) add
@@ -17,11 +17,9 @@
 # To test if the Motif library exports the runtime version
 # add -DHAVE__XMVERSIONSTRING to CFLAGS
 #
-CFLAGS=-O -I/usr/X11R6/include -DUSE_DIRENT -DUSE_LPR_PRINT_CMD
-
-ARFLAGS=-urs
-
-LIBS= -L/usr/X11R6/lib -Wl,-Bstatic -lXm -Wl,-Bdynamic -lXp -lXpm -lXext -lXt -lSM -lICE -lX11 -lm
+CFLAGS  = $(E_CFLAGS) -I/usr/X11R6/include -DUSE_DIRENT -DUSE_LPR_PRINT_CMD
+LIBS    = $(E_LDFLAGS) -L/usr/X11R6/lib -lXm -lXp -lXext -lXt -lSM -lICE -lX11 -lm
+ARFLAGS = -urs
 
 include Makefile.common
 
diff -urN nedit-5.4RC1.orig/source/preferences.c nedit-5.4RC1/source/preferences.c
--- nedit-5.4RC1.orig/source/preferences.c	2003-06-16 10:56:28.000000000 +0200
+++ nedit-5.4RC1/source/preferences.c	2003-10-08 17:58:59.000000000 +0200
@@ -318,14 +318,14 @@
 #ifndef VMS
 #ifdef linux
     {"shellCommands", "ShellCommands", PREF_ALLOC_STRING, "spell:Alt+B:s:EX:\n\
-    cat>spellTmp; xterm -e ispell -x spellTmp; cat spellTmp; rm spellTmp\n\
+    cat>spellTmp; xterm -e aspell -c -x spellTmp; cat spellTmp; rm spellTmp\n\
     wc::w:ED:\nwc | awk '{print $1 \" lines, \" $2 \" words, \" $3 \" characters\"}'\n\
     sort::o:EX:\nsort\nnumber lines::n:AW:\nnl -ba\nmake:Alt+Z:m:W:\nmake\n\
     expand::p:EX:\nexpand\nunexpand::u:EX:\nunexpand\n",
     &TempStringPrefs.shellCmds, NULL, True},
 #elif __FreeBSD__
     {"shellCommands", "ShellCommands", PREF_ALLOC_STRING, "spell:Alt+B:s:EX:\n\
-    cat>spellTmp; xterm -e ispell -x spellTmp; cat spellTmp; rm spellTmp\n\
+    cat>spellTmp; xterm -e aspell -c -x spellTmp; cat spellTmp; rm spellTmp\n\
     wc::w:ED:\nwc | awk '{print $2 \" lines, \" $1 \" words, \" $3 \" characters\"}'\n\
     sort::o:EX:\nsort\nnumber lines::n:AW:\npr -tn\nmake:Alt+Z:m:W:\nmake\n\
     expand::p:EX:\nexpand\nunexpand::u:EX:\nunexpand\n",
@@ -886,6 +886,8 @@
     {"shell", "Shell", PREF_STRING,
 #if defined(__MVS__) || defined(__EMX__)
     	"/bin/sh",
+#elif defined(_GENTOO_)
+	"/bin/bash",
 #else
         "/bin/csh",
 #endif