1@node About, White Paper, Top, Top
2@chapter About LibGTop
3
4LibGTop is a library to get system specific data such as CPU and Memory Usage
5and information about running Processes.
6
7On Systems like Solaris or Digital Unix where you need special privileges to
8get those data, it uses a setuid/setgid server to do so.
9
10Even if LibGTop is a part of the GNOME desktop environment
11(@uref{http://www.gnome.org}), the main interface of LibGTop is totally
12independent from any particular desktop environment, so you can also use it
13as a standalone library in any piece of GPLed software.
14
15@menu
16* Availability::                Where to get LibGTop
17* Supported Platforms::         Supported Platforms
18* Mailing List::                Helping with LibGTop development
19* Thanks::                      People who contributed to LibGTop
20@end menu
21
22@node Availability, Supported Platforms, About, About
23@section Availability
24
25The master source of LibGTop is the GNOME CVS tree
26(see @uref{http://www.gnome.org} for details), but you can also get the
27latest release tarballs from
28
29@display
30@uref{ftp://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/libgtop/}
31@end display
32
33@noindent
34or any of its mirror sites.
35
36The latest stable version of LibGTop is 1.0.12 which is also the one that comes
37together with GNOME 1.0. It belongs to @code{LIBGTOP_STABLE_1_0} branch in CVS.
38Actual development occurs in the @code{libgtop-GNOME-2-0-port} which is
39currently versioned 1.90.0.
40
41@node Supported Platforms, Mailing List, Availability, About
42@section Supported Platforms
43
44The stable branch currently supports the following platforms:
45
46@itemize @bullet
47@item All versions of Linux
48
49LibGTop was tested under Linux 2.0.x and 2.2.x on the ix86 and the alpha, but
50it should also work without problems on SparcLinux or Linux 2.4.x.
51
52Note: I'm speaking of the Linux kernel here, not the GNU/Linux operating system.
53
54@item FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD
55
56LibGTop was tested under FreeBSD 2.2.6 and 3.0, NetBSD 1.3.2 and OpenBSD 2.4.
57Support for NetBSD 1.4 was added in LibGTop 1.0.2.
58
59@end itemize
60
61The platforms listed above are known to be stable and working. However, if
62you're using the latest development version, you can use it on the following
63platforms as well:
64
65@itemize @bullet
66@item BSD/OS
67
68There is a port for BSD/OS (aka BSDI) 2.x and 3.x from Timur Bakeyev which
69should also work with 4.x. This isn't tested very well, but it should be
70working.
71
72@item Digital Unix
73
74There is some basic support for Digital Unix (formerly DEC OSF/1) V3.2C, but
75this may still be a bit unstable. I'm currently working on this port as time
76permits so it should be fully supported soon.
77
78@item Solaris
79
80The Solaris port currently works on Solaris 7 and maybe also on other releases.
81Thanks a lot to Drazen Kacar and everyone who helped working on this port. They
82have really done excellent work here and I'm pretty sure that this port will be
83fully functional on most Solaris versions in near future.
84
85@end itemize
86
87@node Mailing List, Thanks, Supported Platforms, About
88@section Mailing List
89
90There is a @email{libgtop-devel-list@@egroups.com} mailing list for people who
91want to help with the development of LibGTop.
92
93It is meant as a low-traffic, but high content-list where we can discuss
94technical details such as adding new sysdeps ports etc.
95
96Especially, I'd like to see people with a deeper knowledge of operating systems
97internals joining my list so we can discuss technical details of the sysdeps
98code.
99
100It is *not* for users that want to know how to compile LibGTop etc.
101
102You can subscribe to this mailing list and view the mailing list archives
103on the LibGTop Page at @uref{http://www.home-of-linux.org/gnome/libgtop}.
104
105@node Thanks,  , Mailing List, About
106@section Thanks
107
108At the place I'd like to thank the following people who contributed to
109LibGTop (listed in chronological order):
110
111@itemize @bullet
112@item Sebastian Wilhelmi who had the initial idea of LibGTop and helped
113me a lot in the early beginning.
114@item Josh Sled for the initial FreeBSD port.
115@item Jeremy Lea for his BSD patches.
116@item Timur Bakeyev for the BSDI port.
117@item Drazen Kacar and the other people on the LibGTop development mailing
118list for the Solaris port.
119@item Kevin Vandersloot for the effort to port to GNOME 2.0.
120@item All people sending me patches, having good ideas, ...
121@item Everyone I have forgotten in this list ...
122@end itemize
123
124