docs/readme.txt

   1 wxWindows 2.1.14
   2 ----------------
   3
   4 Welcome to wxWindows 2, a sophisticated cross-platform C++
   5 framework for writing advanced GUI applications using (where
   6 possible) the native controls.
   7
   8 In addition to common and advanced GUI facilities such as frames, scrolling
   9 windows, toolbars, tree controls, icons, device contexts, printing,
  10 splitter windows and so on, there are wrappers for common file operations,
  11 and facilities for writing TCP/IP applications, thread handling, and more.
  12 Where certain features are not available on a platform, such as MDI and
  13 tree controls on Unix, they are emulated.
  14
  15 A detailed 1100-page reference manual is supplied in HTML, PDF and
  16 Windows Help form: see the docs hierarchy.
  17
  18 For a quick start, point your Web browser at docs/html/index.htm for a list of
  19 important documents and samples.
  20
  21 Changes in this release
  22 -----------------------
  23
  24 Please see changes.txt for details.
  25
  26 Note that there is a new contrib hierarchy for contributions,
  27 which mirrors the regular wxWindows hierarchy. The Object
  28 Graphics Library and MMedia library have been moved under
  29 contrib, so you may need to change your makefiles or project
  30 files, together with your source files. E.g. change #include "ogl.h"
  31 to #include <wx/ogl/ogl>.
  32
  33 Also VC++ project files and makefiles have been made more
  34 consistent, so some paths and library names have changed.
  35
  36 Platforms supported
  37 -------------------
  38
  39 wxWindows 2 currently supports the following platforms:
  40
  41 - Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98, Windows NT
  42 - Most Unix variants with Motif/Lesstif
  43 - Most Unix variants with GTK+
  44 - Mac (not covered here: please see the wxWindows web site
  45   for details)
  46
  47 Most popular C++ compilers are supported; see the install.txt
  48 file for each platform (available via docs/html/index.htm) for details.
  49
  50 Files
  51 -----
  52
  53 The distribution is available in a number of formats.
  54 The most convenient is the platform-specific distribution,
  55 but the zip set forms a more complete distribution, for example if
  56 you wish to take part in wxWindows development. Also, add-ons
  57 such as OGL may only be available in zip form.
  58
  59 Zip set
  60 -------
  61
  62 Depending on what you downloaded, you may have one or more of
  63 these ports. You may unarchive any or all of the ports into
  64 the same directory hierarchy. The zip archive set comprises the
  65 following, where x is the minor version and y the release number:
  66
  67 wx2_x_y_gen.zip            Generic source code and samples (required)
  68 wx2_x_y_msw.zip            Windows-specific source code
  69 wx2_x_y_mot.zip            Motif-specific source code
  70 wx2_x_y_gtk.zip            GTK-specific source code
  71 wx2_x_y_stubs.zip          Stubs ('empty port') source. Needs
  72                            wx2_x_y_gen.zip/tgz.
  73 wx2_x_y_doc.zip            Documentation source code (not required)
  74 wx2_x_y_hlp.zip            WinHelp documentation
  75 wx2_x_y_pdf.zip            Acrobat PDF documentation
  76 wx2_x_y_htm.zip            HTML documentation
  77 wx2_x_y_vc.zip             MS VC++ 5/6 project files
  78 wx2_x_y_bc.zip             Borland C++ 5 project files
  79 wx2_x_y_cw.zip             Metrowerks CodeWarrior 4.1 project files
  80 jpeg.zip                   Optional JPEG library
  81 tiff.zip                   Optional TIFF library
  82 ogl3.zip                   Optional Object Graphics Library
  83 mmedia.zip                 Optional MMedia class library (Motif, GTK, MSW)
  84 stc.zip                    Optional wxStyledTextCtrl library (Motif, GTK, MSW)
  85 tex2rtf2.zip               Tex2RTF documentation tool
  86
  87 wxWindows for GTK distribution
  88 ------------------------------
  89
  90 wxGTK-2.x.y.tgz            wxGTK source distribution. You will
  91                            need the HTML and/or PDF documentation
  92                            from the zip set (above).
  93
  94 wxWindows for Motif distribution
  95 --------------------------------
  96
  97 wxMotif-2.x.y.tgz          wxMotif source distribution. You will
  98                            need the HTML and/or PDF documentation
  99    -- OR --                from the zip set (above).
 100
 101 wx2_x_y_gen.zip
 102 wx2_x_y_mot.zip
 103 jpeg.zip
 104 tiff.zip
 105
 106 wxWindows for Windows distribution
 107 ----------------------------------
 108
 109 As well as the core source, the Windows setup contains:
 110
 111 - Windows Help versions of the documentation (docs/winhelp);
 112 - wxGLCanvas (OpenGL integration, in utils/glcanvas);
 113 - OGL 3 (Object Graphics Library, in utils/ogl);
 114 - wxTreeLayout (for tree drawing, in utils/wxtree);
 115 - a Dialog Editor binary;
 116 - the JPEG library.
 117
 118 setup.exe               Setup file (Windows 95/98, NT)
 119 setup.*                 Other setup files
 120
 121 Installation
 122 ------------
 123
 124 wxWindows 2 needs to be compiled before you can test out
 125 the samples or write your own applications.
 126 For installation information, please see the install.txt file
 127 in the individual directories:
 128
 129   docs/msw
 130   docs/gtk
 131   docs/motif
 132
 133 Licence information
 134 -------------------
 135
 136 For licensing information, please see the files:
 137
 138   docs/preamble.txt
 139   docs/licence.txt
 140   docs/licendoc.txt
 141   docs/gpl.txt
 142   docs/lgpl.txt
 143
 144 Although this may seem complex, it is there to allow authors of
 145 proprietary/commercial applications to use wxWindows in
 146 addition to those writing GPL'ed applications. In summary,
 147 the licence is LGPL plus a clause allowing unrestricted
 148 distribution of application binaries. To answer a FAQ, you
 149 don't have to distribute any source if you wish to write
 150 commercial applications using wxWindows.
 151
 152 However, if you distribute wxGTK or wxMotif (with Lesstif) version
 153 of your application, don't forget that it is linked against
 154 GTK+ (or Lesstif) which is covered by LGPL *without* exception
 155 notice. Under Linux systems your app is probably linked
 156 against LGPL glibc as well. Please read carefuly LGPL, section 6.
 157 which describes conditions for distribution of closed source applications
 158 linked against LGPL library. Basically you should link dynamicaly and
 159 include source code of LGPL libraries with your product (unless it is
 160 already present in user's system - like glibc usually is).
 161 If compiled with --enable-odbc (Unix only), wxWindows library will
 162 contain iODBC library which is covered by LGPL.
 163
 164 If you use TIFF image handler, please see src/tiff/COPYRIGHT
 165 for libtiff license details.
 166
 167 If you use JPEG image handler, documentation for your program should
 168 contain following sentence: "This software is based in part on the work of
 169 the Independent JPEG Group". See src/jpeg/README for details.
 170
 171
 172 Documentation
 173 -------------
 174
 175 See docs/bugs.txt for a bug list: this file is new and will initially
 176   be edited by hand, later generated from a web-based bug database.
 177
 178 See docs/html/index.htm for an HTML index of the major documents.
 179
 180 See docs/changes.txt for a summary of changes to wxWindows 2.
 181
 182 See docs/tech for an archive of technical notes.
 183
 184 The Windows help files are located in docs/winhelp.
 185 The PDF help files are located in docs/pdf.
 186
 187 Further information
 188 -------------------
 189
 190 The wxWindows Web site is located at:
 191
 192   http://www.wxwindows.org
 193
 194 The wxGTK Web site (with further wxGTK-specific files and
 195 information) is located at:
 196
 197   http://www.freiburg.linux.de/~wxxt
 198
 199 The main wxWindows ftp site is at:
 200
 201   ftp://www.remstar.com/pub/wxwin
 202
 203 A wxWindows CD-ROM with the latest distribution plus an HTML
 204 front-end and hundreds of MB of compilers, utilities and other
 205 material may be ordered from the CD-ROM page (see the wxWindows
 206 web site) or contact Julian Smart <julian.smart@ukonline.co.uk>.
 207
 208 Good luck!
 209
 210 The wxWindows Team, March 2000
 211