Ploticus build instructions


Version 2.41 Mar2009


Manual page for Ploticus_build_instructions(PL) Before you begin please be sure you are familiar with the ploticus copyright and permissions notice.

This page discusses how to download and build ploticus from source code. Note that pre-compiled executables are also available.

Ploticus is easy to build, and non-complex. You'll need gcc and make (or equivalent). The basic distribution includes everything you need to produce graphs in pseudo-GIF, SVG, PostScript and EPS, with no external dependencies. For other capabilities you'll need additional libraries on hand (see below).

Building the software from source code:

  • Download the source code distribution
  • gunzip the file and then tar xf the file
  • Move the pl___src directory to where you want it, then cd src
  • If desired, download any posted bug fixes, and add these files in to the ./src directory.
  • The Makefile is preset to build the pl PNG-producing executable on Linux. For other platforms and configurations, including libploticus, edit the Makefile and follow the simple 3-step install procedure.
  • make clean; make
  • If your build ends unsuccessfully with the message png.h: No such file or directory it means that you don't have libpng installed (see Libraries below), or perhaps you have it but it is not in a place where gcc can find it. If you don't need PNG, you can edit the Makefile and just create a GIF-only build.
  • After a successful build the pl executable will be left in the source directory.. move it into a bin manually, or do make install.
  • If you want to use the ploticus prefabs, set environment variable PLOTICUS_PREFABS to the full pathname of the directory where prefab files reside (./prefabs in the distribution). This allows pl to locate the prefab files, and other included files.
  • See the support page for additional info.



Libraries

The distribution includes everything you need to produce graphs in pseudo-GIF, SVG, PostScript and EPS with no external dependencies. For additional capabilities you'll need certain libraries on hand:


Optional X11 capability requires xlib. xlib is present on most modern unix systems, but may be missing from certain minimalist distributions. A Mandrake user reported success using the Xfree86-devel package. If you wish, all X11 dependencies can be turned off by following the instructions in the Makefile.


Optional PNG image capability requires libpng and zlib. Most linux systems seem to come with these ready to roll.


Optional JPEG capability requires GD 1.84+ and libjpeg.


Optional FreeType2 fonts: you'll need libfreetype.


Optional Shockwave-flash (SWF) capability: you'll need ming SWF library. Ming version 0.2a was used during the original development effort.. there have been reports of a function call incompatibility with later ming versions.


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Copyright Steve Grubb


Ploticus is hosted at http://ploticus.sourceforge.net   Get ploticus data display engine at SourceForge.net. Fast, secure and Free Open Source software downloads


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