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Cairo - Multi-platform 2D graphics library
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http://cairographics.org
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Cairo is a 2D graphics library with support for multiple output
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devices. Currently supported output targets include the X Window
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System, quartz, win32, and image buffers, as well as PDF, PostScript,
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and SVG file output. Experimental backends include OpenGL (through
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glitz), XCB, BeOS, OS/2, and DirectFB.
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Cairo is designed to produce consistent output on all output media
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while taking advantage of display hardware acceleration when available
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(for example, through the X Render Extension).
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The cairo API provides operations similar to the drawing operators of
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PostScript and PDF. Operations in cairo include stroking and filling
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cubic Bézier splines, transforming and compositing translucent images,
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and antialiased text rendering. All drawing operations can be
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transformed by any affine transformation (scale, rotation, shear,
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Cairo has been designed to let you draw anything you want in a modern
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2D graphical user interface. At the same time, the cairo API has been
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designed to be as fun and easy to learn as possible. If you're not
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having fun while programming with cairo, then we have failed
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somewhere---let us know and we'll try to fix it next time around.
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Cairo is free software and is available to be redistributed and/or
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modified under the terms of either the GNU Lesser General Public
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License (LGPL) version 2.1 or the Mozilla Public License (MPL) version
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Where to get more information about cairo
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=========================================
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The primary source of information about cairo is:
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http://cairographics.org/
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The latest versions of cairo can always be found at:
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http://cairographics.org/download
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Documentation on using cairo and frequently-asked questions:
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http://cairographics.org/documentation
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http://cairographics.org/FAQ
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Mailing lists for contacting cairo users and developers:
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http://cairographics.org/lists
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Roadmap and unscheduled things to do, (please feel free to help out):
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http://cairographics.org/roadmap
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http://cairographics.org/todo
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The set of libraries needed to compile cairo depends on which backends
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are enabled when cairo is configured. So look at the list below to
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determine which dependencies are needed for the backends of interest.
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For the surface backends, we have both "supported" and "experimental"
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backends. Further, the supported backends can be divided into the
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"standard" backends which can be easily built on any platform, and the
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"platform" backends which depend on some underlying platform-specific
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system, (such as the X Window System or some other window system).
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As an example, for a standard Linux build, (with image, png, pdf,
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PostScript, svg, and xlib surface backends, and the freetype font
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backend), the following sample commands will install necessary
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apt-get install libpng12-dev libz-dev libxrender-dev libfontconfig1-dev
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yum install libpng-devel zlib-devel libXrender-devel fontconfig-devel
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(Those commands intentionally don't install pixman from a distribution
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package since if you're manually compiling cairo, then you likely want
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to grab pixman from the same place at the same time and compile it as
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Supported, "standard" surface backends
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------------------------------------
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image backend (required)
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------------------------
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pixman >= 0.10.0 http://cairographics.org/releases
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png support (can be left out if desired, but many
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----------- applications expect it to be present)
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libpng http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/libpng.html
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zlib http://www.gzip.org/zlib
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zlib http://www.gzip.org/zlib
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Supported, "platform" surface backends
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-----------------------------------
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X11 http://freedesktop.org/Software/xlibs
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Xrender >= 0.6 http://freedesktop.org/Software/xlibs
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MacOS X >= 10.4 with Xcode >= 2.4
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Microsoft Windows 2000 or newer[*].
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Font backends (required to have at least one)
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---------------------------------------------
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freetype font backend
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---------------------
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freetype >= 2.1.9 http://freetype.org
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fontconfig http://fontconfig.org
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MacOS X >= 10.4 with Xcode >= 2.4
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Microsoft Windows 2000 or newer[*].
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[*] The Win32 backend should work on Windows 2000 and newer
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(excluding Windows Me.) Most testing has been done on
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Windows XP. While some portions of the code have been
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adapted to work on older versions of Windows, considerable
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work still needs to be done to get cairo running in those
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Cairo can be compiled on Windows with either the gcc
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toolchain (see http://www.mingw.org) or with Microsoft
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Visual C++. If the gcc toolchain is used, the standard
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build instructions using configure apply, (see INSTALL).
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If Visual C++ is desired, GNU make is required and
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Makefile.win32 can be used via 'make -f Makefile.win32'.
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The compiler, include paths, and library paths must be set
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up correctly in the environment.
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MSVC versions earlier than 7.1 are known to miscompile
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parts of cairo and pixman, and so should be avoided. MSVC
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7.1 or later, including the free Microsoft Visual Studio
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Express editions, produce correct code.
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Experimental surface backends
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-----------------------------
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glitz >= 0.4.4 http://freedesktop.org/Software/glitz
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XCB http://xcb.freedesktop.org
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No dependencies in itself other than an installed BeOS system, but cairo
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requires a font backend. See the freetype dependency list.
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Cairo should run on any recent version of OS/2 or eComStation, but it
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requires a font backend. See the freetype dependency list. Ready to use
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packages and developer dependencies are available at Netlabs:
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ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/cairo
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See the INSTALL document for build instructions.
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Cairo was originally developed by Carl Worth <cworth@cworth.org> and
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Keith Packard <keithp@keithp.com>. Many thanks are due to Lyle Ramshaw
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without whose patient help our ignorance would be much more apparent.
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Since the original development, many more people have contributed to
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cairo. See the AUTHORS files for as complete a list as we've been able