1libdfui v4.0 README 2=================== 3 4$Id: README,v 1.3 2005/03/21 03:26:57 cpressey Exp $ 5 6What is libdfui? 7---------------- 8 9libdfui is a LIBrary for DragonFly User Interfaces. It provides a highly 10abstract user interaction interface with which an application program 11(termed the backend) can communicate with a user via a concreate user 12interface terminal program (termed the frontend.) The frontend and the 13backend can communicate over several kinds of transport layers (TCP 14and Named Pipes.) The protocol is abstract enough so that the 15frontend can occupy nearly any medium (GUI, addressable text console, 16teletype, voice synthesis/recognition, etc) with little to no `fudging' 17of the semantics (i.e. the structure and nature of the information that 18the backend wishes to present and/or acquire.) 19 20What is the current state of the project? 21----------------------------------------- 22 23EXPERIMENTAL. libdfui's application programming interface may change at 24any time. If you use libdfui in a project, be prepared to chase API changes. 25libdfui 4.0 is not expected to be backwards-compatible with previous 26versions. While many functions may be the same, some have changed. 27 28How do I build and install libdfui? 29----------------------------------- 30 31On a BSD-based system, go into the libdfui source directory and type: 32 33 make 34 35Once built, it can be installed by typing (as root): 36 37 make install 38 39Directions may differ for other systems. 40 41An alternative method is to build libdfui using the ports system and 42install it using the package system. 43 44How do I use libdfui from a program? 45------------------------------------ 46 47libdfui requires libaura, but is not statically linked with it, so any 48consumers of libdfui will also need to link to libaura. 49 50You can give gcc the following sort of command line flags to tell it to 51link your program with libdfui: 52 53 gcc foo.c -o foo -L/usr/local/lib -laura -ldfui 54 55See the libdfui source code for the list of available functions and what 56they do. 57