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This is a high-level guide to how the cairo distribution is organized
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and how to get started hacking on it. Make sure you read through the
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file README before continuing.
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The easiest way to write code in the cairo style is to follow code close
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to the place you are hacking, but if you want a written down set of
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rules, see file CODING_STYLE.
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Files for backends that depend on languages other than C (C++ or
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Objective C for example) may use features specific to those languages.
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For example, "//" comments are allowed, though discouraged, in those files.
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Various ways to get in touch with other cairo developers and maintainers
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have been enumerated at:
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http://cairographics.org/contact/
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Most of that information is also reflected in the following sections.
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There are various mailing lists that are useful when developing cairo
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code. A complete list is always available at:
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http://cairographics.org/lists/
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It is recommended that cairo developers subscribe to all those lists.
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The cairo list by itself generates much more traffic than the others
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combined, so developers and contributors should not be intimidated by
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the -commit and -bugs lists.
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We use a standard bugzilla bug tracking system available at:
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http://bugs.freedesktop.org/
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See file named BUGS for detailed information on reporting bugs. In short,
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for straight bug reports, it's best to report them there such that they
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are not lost or forgotten. For discussion of new features or
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complicated issues, use the mailing list.
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It's a great idea to hang around the cairo IRC channel if you have any
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interest in cairo. We use the #cairo channel on irc.freenode.net.
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Make sure you introduce yourself if your nick is not easy to match to
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the name you use on the mailing list.
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Version Control System
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----------------------
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We use /git/ for version control. See:
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http://cairographics.org/download/
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Add links to some git tutorials or better, right a few paragraphs
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about how to use git to efficiently hack on cairo.
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We use the autotools build system with cairo, but with various
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customizations and advanced features. Reading configure.in is your
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best bet to understanding it, or just ask on IRC.
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To bootstrap the build system run ./autogen.sh. After that the
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regular "./configure; make; make install" sequence can be used.
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See file named INSTALL for more details.
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There is limited support for a win32 build system.
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See README.win32 and Makefile.win32 files in various directories.
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We generate ChangeLog files automatically from the git commit log.
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No manual ChangeLog writing is necessary.
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Copyrights and Licensing
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------------------------
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The cairo library is dual-licensed under LGPL and MPL. See file named
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COPYING for details. The test suites are more liberal. For example,
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GPL code is allowed in the test suites, though it's always better to
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When writing new code, update the file headers to add your (or your
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employers) copyright line and contributor line. If adding new files
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or splitting a file, copy the file header from other files.
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The library source code and headers live in the src/ directory.
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See src/README for more information.
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Regression Test Suite
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---------------------
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Cairo has a fairly extensive regression-testing suite. Indeed, without
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these tests it would be impossible to make a cairo release without
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introducing tens of regressions. We still manage to introduce
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regressions with each release even with the hundreds of tests we already
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The regression test suite is located under the test/ directory.
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See test/README for more information.
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Performance Test Suite
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----------------------
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There is a small performance-testing suite for cairo.
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The performance test suite is located under the perf/ directory.
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See perf/README for more information.
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The cairo-boilerplate is a small private library used by the regression
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and performance test suites. It includes the boilerplace code needed
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to initialize various backends for the test suites, as well as allow
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tweaking some of the internal workings of the backends for more testing.
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The boilerplate code is localted under the boilerplate/ directory.
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See boilerplate/README for more information.
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Cairo uses the gtk-doc system for reference API documentation.
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The reference documentation is located under doc/public.
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See doc/public/README for more information.
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For more documentation including frequently asked questions, tutorials,
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samples, roadmap, todo list, etc visit:
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http://cairographics.org/documentation/
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Some of those should gradually be moved to doc/.
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There are a few useful utilities we have developed that are either
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useful when writing code using cairo, or writing cairo, or useful in
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general. These tools can be found under the util/ directory.
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See util/README for more information.
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Now you are a cairo maintainer, so what? See file named RELEASING.