LibGGI README
=============

LibGGI, the dynamic GGI (General Graphics Interface) library is a flexible
drawing library.

It provides an opaque interface to the display's acceleration functions. It
was originally intended to allow user programs to interface with KGI, the
GGI Kernel Graphics Interface, but other display types can be easily used by
loading the appropriate "display target" (e.g. X, memory).

LibGGI consists of a main library (libggi.so) and a multitude of
dynamic drivers. The library then loads the necessary "drivers" for the
requested mode, taking hints from the graphics device if necessary. LibGGI
can also load extension libraries, e.g. to provide enhanced 2D and 3D
functions.

Targets
=======

Targets are devices which LibGGI can render to.  See doc/targets.txt for more
details.

	+ fbdev: fbcon framebuffer devices, DirectFB
	+ vcsa: Linux text console

	+ X: X Window System
	+ XF86DGA: XFree86 server Direct Graphics Access

	+ AA: AAlib, an ASCII-Art renderer
	+ GLIDE: 3Dfx
	+ SVGAlib: SUID root console graphics library
	+ Terminfo: GGI textmodes on terminals

	+ MonoText: emulate 8-bit visual on text-only visual (like AAlib)
	+ TrueEmu: emulate true-color (24-bit) on visual of any other depth
	+ PalEmu: emulate indexed-color on true-color visuals.

	+ file: write to a file
	+ memory: off-screen memory
	+ IPC: shared memory segment for inter-process use.

	+ multi: display on multiple targets at once
	+ Tile: display in multiple visuals each showing a component part
	+ Sub-target: Visual-within-a-visual

	+ Tele: remote LibGGI


Requirements
============

* LibGG 0.8 or later (included in LibGII).
* LibGII 0.8 or later.
* Fbcon Linux kernel if using display-fbdev target.
* DirectFB binary drivers for acceleration of fbdev target.
* X Window System if using display-X/Xlib target.
* XFree86 if using display-DGA target.
* VGL library if using display-vgl target.
* other libraries for other targets, such as aalib and SVGAlib.


How to install and use
======================

See the files INSTALL and INSTALL.autoconf for installation instructions.

Demos and some utilities are found in the programs/demos and programs/util
directories respectively. They are built automatically.

LibGGI will automatically default to the most suitable display target (the
method through which LibGGI displays on). However, this can be overridden
using the GGI_DISPLAY environment variable, set to the name of the display
target, plus any additional arguments.  Please see doc/env.txt for more
details on environment variables. You might also want to have a look at
the doc/env.txt file in the LibGII distribution, as LibGGI uses LibGII for
input.

For a list of available targets see the HTML documentation, 
distributed separately, or the display-* manpages or doc/targets.txt. 
If you intend to use any of the Linux console based targets (fbdev, 
SVGAlib, Glide, vcsa) you should also read the section on input-linux-mouse 
or input-linux-evdev in the doc/inputs.txt file in the LibGII distribution.


The GGI mailing lists
=====================

There are several mailing lists available for discussion of GGI-related
topics. Please see http://www.ggi-project.org/contact.html for more info.


GGI resources
=============

Web site: http://www.ggi-project.org/
FTP site: ftp://ftp.ggi-project.org/pub/ggi

XGGI home: http://www.stacken.kth.se/~mackan/ggi/xggi/
(XGGI is an X server which runs on LibGGI)
