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[wxWidgets.git] / docs / readme.txt

wxWindows 2.1.14
----------------

Welcome to wxWindows 2, a sophisticated cross-platform C++
framework for writing advanced GUI applications using (where
possible) the native controls.

In addition to common and advanced GUI facilities such as frames, scrolling
windows, toolbars, tree controls, icons, device contexts, printing,
splitter windows and so on, there are wrappers for common file operations,
and facilities for writing TCP/IP applications, thread handling, and more.
Where certain features are not available on a platform, such as MDI and
tree controls on Unix, they are emulated.

A detailed 1100-page reference manual is supplied in HTML, PDF and
Windows Help form: see the docs hierarchy.

For a quick start, point your Web browser at docs/html/index.htm for a list of
important documents and samples.

Changes in this release
-----------------------

Please see changes.txt for details.

Note that there is a new contrib hierarchy for contributions,
which mirrors the regular wxWindows hierarchy. The Object
Graphics Library and MMedia library have been moved under
contrib, so you may need to change your makefiles or project
files, together with your source files. E.g. change #include "ogl.h"
to #include <wx/ogl/ogl>.

Also VC++ project files and makefiles have been made more
consistent, so some paths and library names have changed.

Platforms supported
-------------------

wxWindows 2 currently supports the following platforms:

- Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98, Windows NT
- Most Unix variants with Motif/Lesstif
- Most Unix variants with GTK+
- Mac (not covered here: please see the wxWindows web site
  for details)

Most popular C++ compilers are supported; see the install.txt
file for each platform (available via docs/html/index.htm) for details.

Files
-----

The distribution is available in a number of formats.
The most convenient is the platform-specific distribution,
but the zip set forms a more complete distribution, for example if
you wish to take part in wxWindows development. Also, add-ons
such as OGL may only be available in zip form.

Zip set
-------

Depending on what you downloaded, you may have one or more of
these ports. You may unarchive any or all of the ports into
the same directory hierarchy. The zip archive set comprises the
following, where x is the minor version and y the release number:

wx2_x_y_gen.zip            Generic source code and samples (required)
wx2_x_y_msw.zip            Windows-specific source code
wx2_x_y_mot.zip            Motif-specific source code
wx2_x_y_gtk.zip            GTK-specific source code
wx2_x_y_stubs.zip          Stubs ('empty port') source. Needs
                           wx2_x_y_gen.zip/tgz.
wx2_x_y_doc.zip            Documentation source code (not required)
wx2_x_y_hlp.zip            WinHelp documentation
wx2_x_y_pdf.zip            Acrobat PDF documentation
wx2_x_y_htm.zip            HTML documentation
wx2_x_y_vc.zip             MS VC++ 5/6 project files
wx2_x_y_bc.zip             Borland C++ 5 project files
wx2_x_y_cw.zip             Metrowerks CodeWarrior 4.1 project files
jpeg.zip                   Optional JPEG library
tiff.zip                   Optional TIFF library
ogl3.zip                   Optional Object Graphics Library
mmedia.zip                 Optional MMedia class library (Motif, GTK, MSW)
stc.zip                    Optional wxStyledTextCtrl library (Motif, GTK, MSW)
tex2rtf2.zip               Tex2RTF documentation tool

wxWindows for GTK distribution
------------------------------

wxGTK-2.x.y.tgz            wxGTK source distribution. You will
                           need the HTML and/or PDF documentation
                           from the zip set (above).

wxWindows for Motif distribution
--------------------------------

wxMotif-2.x.y.tgz          wxMotif source distribution. You will
                           need the HTML and/or PDF documentation
   -- OR --                from the zip set (above).

wx2_x_y_gen.zip
wx2_x_y_mot.zip
jpeg.zip
tiff.zip

wxWindows for Windows distribution
----------------------------------

As well as the core source, the Windows setup contains:

- Windows Help versions of the documentation (docs/winhelp);
- wxGLCanvas (OpenGL integration, in utils/glcanvas);
- OGL 3 (Object Graphics Library, in utils/ogl);
- wxTreeLayout (for tree drawing, in utils/wxtree);
- a Dialog Editor binary;
- the JPEG library.

setup.exe               Setup file (Windows 95/98, NT)
setup.*                 Other setup files

Installation
------------

wxWindows 2 needs to be compiled before you can test out
the samples or write your own applications.
For installation information, please see the install.txt file
in the individual directories:

  docs/msw
  docs/gtk
  docs/motif

Licence information
-------------------

For licensing information, please see the files:

  docs/preamble.txt
  docs/licence.txt
  docs/licendoc.txt
  docs/gpl.txt
  docs/lgpl.txt

Although this may seem complex, it is there to allow authors of
proprietary/commercial applications to use wxWindows in
addition to those writing GPL'ed applications. In summary,
the licence is LGPL plus a clause allowing unrestricted
distribution of application binaries. To answer a FAQ, you
don't have to distribute any source if you wish to write
commercial applications using wxWindows. 

However, if you distribute wxGTK or wxMotif (with Lesstif) version
of your application, don't forget that it is linked against
GTK+ (or Lesstif) which is covered by LGPL *without* exception
notice. Under Linux systems your app is probably linked
against LGPL glibc as well. Please read carefuly LGPL, section 6.
which describes conditions for distribution of closed source applications
linked against LGPL library. Basically you should link dynamicaly and
include source code of LGPL libraries with your product (unless it is
already present in user's system - like glibc usually is).
If compiled with --enable-odbc (Unix only), wxWindows library will 
contain iODBC library which is covered by LGPL.

If you use TIFF image handler, please see src/tiff/COPYRIGHT
for libtiff license details.

If you use JPEG image handler, documentation for your program should
contain following sentence: "This software is based in part on the work of
the Independent JPEG Group". See src/jpeg/README for details.


Documentation
-------------

See docs/bugs.txt for a bug list: this file is new and will initially
  be edited by hand, later generated from a web-based bug database.

See docs/html/index.htm for an HTML index of the major documents.

See docs/changes.txt for a summary of changes to wxWindows 2.

See docs/tech for an archive of technical notes.

The Windows help files are located in docs/winhelp.
The PDF help files are located in docs/pdf.

Further information
-------------------

The wxWindows Web site is located at:

  http://www.wxwindows.org

The wxGTK Web site (with further wxGTK-specific files and
information) is located at:

  http://www.freiburg.linux.de/~wxxt

The main wxWindows ftp site is at:

  ftp://www.remstar.com/pub/wxwin

A wxWindows CD-ROM with the latest distribution plus an HTML
front-end and hundreds of MB of compilers, utilities and other
material may be ordered from the CD-ROM page (see the wxWindows
web site) or contact Julian Smart <julian.smart@ukonline.co.uk>.

Good luck!

The wxWindows Team, March 2000