docs/readme.txt

   1 wxWindows 2.3.0
   2 ---------------
   3
   4 *** Please note that this is an UNSTABLE DEVELOPMENT SNAPSHOT.
   5 *** Unless you need the new features and bug fixes, you may wish to
   6 *** use the official 2.2.x stable series.
   7
   8 Welcome to wxWindows 2, a sophisticated cross-platform C++
   9 framework for writing advanced GUI applications using (where
  10 possible) the native controls.
  11
  12 In addition to common and advanced GUI facilities such as
  13 frames, scrolling windows, toolbars, tree controls, icons,
  14 device contexts, printing, splitter windows and so on, there are
  15 wrappers for common file operations, and facilities for writing
  16 TCP/IP applications, thread handling, and more. Where certain
  17 features are not available on a platform, such as MDI and tree
  18 controls on Unix, they are emulated.
  19
  20 A detailed 1400-page reference manual is supplied in HTML, PDF
  21 and Windows Help form: see the docs hierarchy.
  22
  23 For a quick start, point your Web browser at docs/html/index.htm
  24 for a list of important documents and samples.
  25
  26 Changes in this release
  27 -----------------------
  28
  29 Please see changes.txt for details.
  30
  31 Platforms supported
  32 -------------------
  33
  34 wxWindows 2 currently supports the following platforms:
  35
  36 - Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98, Windows NT, Windows 2000
  37 - Most Unix variants with Motif/Lesstif
  38 - Most Unix variants with GTK+
  39 - MacOS
  40
  41 Most popular C++ compilers are supported; see the install.txt
  42 file for each platform (available via docs/html/index.htm) for details.
  43 See also http://www.wxwindows.org/platform.htm.
  44
  45 Files
  46 -----
  47
  48 The distribution is available in archive formats appropriate to the
  49 target system. Documentation is available mainly in zip format.
  50 Some add-on libraries (such as the Object Graphics Library) are
  51 available in zip form only. In the following, x.y.z represents
  52 the current version number.
  53
  54 wxWindows for GTK distribution
  55 ------------------------------
  56
  57 wxGTK-x.y.z.tgz                    wxGTK source distribution. You will
  58                                    need the HTML, HTB and/or PDF documentation
  59                                    (see below)
  60 wxGTK-demos-x.y.z.tgz              wxGTK demos source
  61 wxGTK-samples-x.y.z.tgz            wxGTK samples source
  62 wxGTK-x.y.z-0.src.rpm              wxGTK Linux source as an RPM, without manuals
  63 wxGTK-x.y.z-0.i386.rpm             wxGTK Linux binaries as an RPM, without manuals
  64 wxGTK-devel-x.y.z-0.i386.rpm       wxGTK Linux minimum development system as an RPM
  65
  66 wxWindows for Motif distribution
  67 --------------------------------
  68
  69 wxMotif-x.y.z.tgz                  wxMotif source distribution. Contains
  70                                    TIFF, JPEG, Tex2RTF source plus HTML
  71                                    documentation.
  72
  73 wxWindows for MS Windows distribution
  74 -------------------------------------
  75
  76 setup.exe, setup.w*                Setup files (Windows 95/98, NT)
  77                                    in floppy-disk-sized chunks
  78 wxMSW-x.y.z-setup.zip              Zip archive containing the
  79                                    setup files
  80 wxMSW-x.y.z.zip                    Zip archive containing all the
  81                                    files that are in the setup
  82                                    distribution
  83
  84 wxWindows for MacOS distribution
  85 --------------------------------
  86
  87 wxMac-x.y.z.zip                    Zip archive containing all
  88                                    source files (excludes documentation)
  89
  90 As well as the core source, the wxMSW distribution contains:
  91
  92 - Windows HTML Help versions of the documentation (docs/htmlhelp);
  93 - Object Graphics Library, in contrib/src/ogl;
  94 - a Dialog Editor binary;
  95 - a Tex2RTF binary;
  96 - Life! sample binary;
  97 - the JPEG library source;
  98 - the TIFF library source.
  99
 100 Documentation files
 101 -------------------
 102
 103 wxWindows-x.y.z-WinHelp.zip        WinHelp documentation
 104 wxWindows-x.y.z-PDF.zip            Acrobat PDF documentation
 105 wxWindows-x.y.z-HTML.zip           HTML documentation
 106 wxWindows-x.y.z-HTMLHelp.zip       Windows HTML Help documentation
 107 wxWindows-x.y.z-HTB.zip            wxHTML documentation (for
 108                                    use with the helpview utility)
 109 wxWindows-x.y.z-Word.zip           MS Word documentation (currently,
 110                                    database class documentation only)
 111 wxWindows-x.y.z-DocSource.zip      Documentation source code (not required)
 112
 113 Add-ons
 114 -------
 115
 116 wxWindows-x.y.z-cw.zip             Metrowerks CodeWarrior 4.1 project files
 117 wxWindows-x.y.z-wat.zip            Watcom C++ project files
 118 wxWindows-x.y.z-vc.zip             Visual C++ project files (in wxMSW distr.)
 119 wxWindows-x.y.z-bc.zip             Borland C++ project files (in wxMSW distr.)
 120 jpeg.zip                           JPEG library (already included
 121                                    in most distributions)
 122 tiff.zip                           TIFF library (already included
 123                                    in most distributions)
 124 ogl3.zip                           Optional Object Graphics Library
 125 mmedia.zip                         Optional MMedia library (Motif, GTK, MSW)
 126 stc.zip                            Optional wxStyledTextCtrl library
 127                                    (Motif, GTK, MSW)
 128 tex2rtf2.zip                       Tex2RTF documentation tool
 129 wxGTK-gl-x.y.z-0.i386.rpm          add-on OpenGL binary as an RPM
 130
 131 Installation
 132 ------------
 133
 134 wxWindows 2 needs to be compiled before you can test out
 135 the samples or write your own applications.
 136 For installation information, please see the install.txt file
 137 in the individual directories:
 138
 139   docs/msw
 140   docs/gtk
 141   docs/motif
 142   docs/mac
 143
 144 Licence information
 145 -------------------
 146
 147 For licensing information, please see the files:
 148
 149   docs/preamble.txt
 150   docs/licence.txt
 151   docs/licendoc.txt
 152   docs/gpl.txt
 153   docs/lgpl.txt
 154
 155 Although this may seem complex, it is there to allow authors of
 156 proprietary/commercial applications to use wxWindows in
 157 addition to those writing GPL'ed applications. In summary,
 158 the licence is LGPL plus a clause allowing unrestricted
 159 distribution of application binaries. To answer a FAQ, you
 160 don't have to distribute any source if you wish to write
 161 commercial applications using wxWindows.
 162
 163 However, if you distribute wxGTK or wxMotif (with Lesstif) version
 164 of your application, don't forget that it is linked against
 165 GTK+ (or Lesstif) which is covered by LGPL *without* exception
 166 notice. Under Linux systems your app is probably linked
 167 against LGPL glibc as well. Please read carefuly LGPL, section 6.
 168 which describes conditions for distribution of closed source applications
 169 linked against LGPL library. Basically you should link dynamicaly and
 170 include source code of LGPL libraries with your product (unless it is
 171 already present in user's system - like glibc usually is).
 172 If compiled with --enable-odbc (Unix only), wxWindows library will
 173 contain iODBC library which is covered by LGPL.
 174
 175 If you use TIFF image handler, please see src/tiff/COPYRIGHT
 176 for libtiff license details.
 177
 178 If you use JPEG image handler, documentation for your program should
 179 contain following sentence: "This software is based in part on the work of
 180 the Independent JPEG Group". See src/jpeg/README for details.
 181
 182 Documentation
 183 -------------
 184
 185 See docs/bugs.txt for a bug list: this file is new and will initially
 186   be edited by hand, later generated from a web-based bug database.
 187
 188 See docs/html/index.htm for an HTML index of the major documents.
 189
 190 See docs/changes.txt for a summary of changes to wxWindows 2.
 191
 192 See docs/tech for an archive of technical notes.
 193
 194 The Windows help files are located in docs/winhelp.
 195 The PDF help files are located in docs/pdf.
 196
 197 Further information
 198 -------------------
 199
 200 The wxWindows Web site is located at:
 201
 202   http://www.wxwindows.org
 203
 204 The wxGTK Web site (with further wxGTK-specific files and
 205 information) is located at:
 206
 207   http://www.freiburg.linux.de/~wxxt
 208
 209 The main wxWindows ftp site is at:
 210
 211   ftp://www.remstar.com/pub/wxwin
 212
 213 A wxWindows CD-ROM with the latest distribution plus an HTML
 214 front-end and hundreds of MB of compilers, utilities and other
 215 material may be ordered from the CD-ROM page: see the wxWindows
 216 web site.
 217
 218 Good luck!
 219
 220 The wxWindows Team, 12th May, 2001
 221