README

Graphical User Interfaces, The UNIX Way
=======================================

Pipeglade is a helper program that displays graphical user interfaces
for other programs. It renders the GUI definition found in a
GtkBuilder file (created using the Glade Interface Designer), and
communicates with the main program solely via pipes or fifos.

Visit http://pipeglade.boundp.org


INSTALLATION
============

GTK+ v3.2 or newer and libxml2 are required.  Prerequisite Debian
packages are pkg-config, libgtk-3-dev, and libxml2-dev.

  make

should build a usable binary.

  make prefix=/some/dir mandir=/another/dir install

installs the pipeglade binary in /some/dir/bin/ and its manual page in
/another/dir/man1/.  Default prefix is /usr/local/.  Default mandir is
$(prefix)/man.

To get rid of the installation, call

  make uninstall

or

  make prefix=/some/dir mandir=/another/dir uninstall

respectively.


TESTS AND FIRST STEPS
=====================

  ./pipegladetest.sh

runs all of pipeglade's tests, some of which require human
assistance.  Subsets of these tests can be run by

  ./pipegladetest.sh automatic

or

  ./pipegladetest.sh interactive

The GtkBuilder file for the test GUI, pipeglade.ui, is also used in
the demonstration script

  ./echo.sh,

which redirects the messages initiated by user activity on the GUI
back into a text area of the same GUI.  Another example,

  ./clock.sh,

uses the GtkBuilder file clock.ui to display an analog clock, and

  ./calc.sh

harnesses dc(1) to provide an RPN desk calculator.

There are three other example GtkBuilder files.  To see how they look
like, call

  ./pipeglade -u simple_dialog.ui

or

  ./pipeglade -u simple_open.ui.

The third one, bad_window.ui, is for testing, and is intentionally
broken.


SUCCESSFUL BUILDS
=================

Debian wheezy, GTK+ 3.4.2
Debian Jessie, GTK+ 3.14.5
Debian Stretch, GTK+ 3.22.11
FreeBSD 10.1, GTK+ 3.14.5
FreeBSD 10.2, GTK+ 3.16.6
FreeBSD 10.3, GTK+ 3.18.8
Arch Linux, GTK+ 3.18.5