XCircuit v3.9 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- An X11 drawing program [especially for circuit schematics] (c) 2014 Tim Edwards (see copyright notice in ./COPYRIGHT) August 1993 -- May 2014 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Compilation/Installation notes: (Online version at http://opencircuitdesign.com/xcircuit/install.html) 1) All compile-time features are set during the ./configure process. Run "./configure --help" for a list of configure options. For most users, the relevant options are the following: --with-cairo Enable cairo graphics --with-tcl Configure xcircuit as an extension to Tcl/Tk. Tcl becomes the default interpreter. Option is mutually exclusive with "--with-python". A feature of this version is that the interpreter is available from the calling terminal concurrently with the GUI. Another feature of this version is that the graphics are handled by Tk widgets instead of the troublesome "Xw" widgets in the distribution. As of version 3.1.7 where most of the bugs have been resolved, use of this option is highly encouraged. --with-python Configure xcircuit with the embedded Python interpreter. Option "--with-python" is disabled by default, and has no effect if "--with-tcl" has been selected. The python interface is less well-developed than the Tcl interface. If you do not intend to make use of the interpreter command-line interface, there is probably no reason to select this. --prefix=PREFIX Location to install xcircuit. Defaults to /usr/local/. The executable goes to /usr/local/bin/, man pages to /usr/local/man/man1/, and everything else to /usr/local/lib/xcircuit-VERSION/. Defaults can be separated by explicitly declaring --exec-prefix=DIR, --mandir=DIR, and --libdir=DIR. The following option is experimental at present and will be changed to be enabled by default when the package is deemed stable: --enable-asg Configure XCircuit with the automatic schematic generation (ASG) package. This package allows XCircuit to read SPICE decks and produce schematics from them. Future functions include reading EDIF netlists (from Verilog and/or VHDL), and automatially routing layouts. The following options are probably not worth messing with: --disable-lgf Save space by not compiling the compatibility with "analog" and "diglog" .lgf-format files. --disable-schema Don't compile the schematic capture system. This is a major feature of xcircuit, so disabling it is not recommended. However, you may do so if you anticipate having no need for circuit netlists. There are some other options which can be supplied to the "configure" command-line which should only be needed in rare circumstances. Most users can ignore these. --with-tcl=DIR Tcl can be enabled with "--with-tcl" or "--with-tcl=yes", and the Tcl library and include directories will be automatically searched. For Tcl/Tk installations which cannot be found by the automatic search, DIR should be the directory containing "tclConfig.sh". --with-tk=DIR Enabling Tcl for XCircuit implies "--with-tk". However, for Tk installations which cannot be found by automatic search and which cannot be found by specifying "--with-tcl=DIR", DIR should point to the directory containing "tkConfig.sh". --with-python=DIR If the configure step cannot find a Python interpreter, it can be explicitly referenced. Requires the Python library (libpythonVERSION.a or libpythonVERSION.so) and the python include file Python.h. The Python option uses the Python language as an interpreter for xcircuit. --disable-double-buffer This option is almost wholly deprecated due to the speed of modern processors. However, if you have problems with slow rendering, you might find it useful. --with-xpm=DIR If the configure step cannot find the XPM package, it can be explicitly referenced. The XPM package enables the toolbar and an icon when xcircuit is iconified. --with-gs=DIR If the configure step cannot find ghostscript, it can be explicitly referenced. The Ghostscript option allows any PostScript file to be rendered on the xcircuit background and saved with the xcircuit file. NOTE: When xcircuit went from "imake" to GNU make, the default install directory changed from /usr/local/lib to /usr/local/share/. Since all the other CAD tools xcircuit works with install by default to /usr/local/lib, xcircuit version 3.1 has reverted to /usr/local/lib for reasons of compatibility. See item (4) below, "uninstall". 2) Compile with the usual GNU-compile steps: ./configure make make install The final step must be done as root if you are installing to default locations (/usr/local/lib and /usr/local/bin). XCircuit can be run in test mode before installation (see item (3), below). For the Tcl/Tk version the make steps are the same, assuming that Tcl/Tk libraries and include files can be found on the system. If you specifically *don't* want the Tcl/Tk version, then do: ./configure --without-tcl make make install If you want to test before installing, do the following (csh/tcsh version; see item (3) for changes to line 4 for bash/ksh/sh): ./configure make setenv XCIRCUIT_LIB_DIR ./lib setenv XCIRCUIT_SRC_DIR ./lib/tcl lib/tcl/xcircuit.sh after which, if all goes well, you can do "make install". 3) NOTE: To test xcircuit before installation, set environment variable setenv XCIRCUIT_LIB_DIR ./lib (csh, tcsh) setenv XCIRCUIT_SRC_DIR ./lib/tcl export XCIRCUIT_LIB_DIR=./lib (bash) export XCIRCUIT_SRC_DIR=./lib/tcl before running the xcircuit executable. 4) Uninstall: If you have compiled previous versions of xcircuit, the only thing you need to do to uninstall these versions is to remove the directory tree at /usr/local/share/xcircuit-(version) or /usr/local/lib/xcircuit-(version) for any version numbers which are not current. 5) HP/IRIX users: If the "make" process dies with an error creating the man page, something like /usr/ccs/bin/m4:xcircuit.1.m4:911 more than 4096 chars of argument text be sure to use GNU m4. This can be done during the configure process (using appropriate substitutions) with the following command: M4= ./configure [options] 6) 64-bit system users: Proper compile may require specifically using configure option "--x-libraries=" to point to 64-bit libraries. This has been fixed for the AMD Opteron under Fedora Core; other 64-bit systems are untested. 7) aclocal problems: In case during the make process the system complains about a missing or out of date aclocal, rebuild the configure file with: autoreconf -fi And restart the ./configure command ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shared Python Library: NOTE: The XCircuit build will be *much* smaller if you have a shared python library. However, the build instructions as of Python-2.1c2 don't include instructions for building a shared library under linux. Here's how you do it: 1) In the Makefile: set LDLIBRARY=libpython2.1.so 2) Also in the Makefile: Add a case for libpython$(VERSION).so which looks exactly like the case statement for unixware: linux) \ $(LDSHARED) -o $@ $(LIBRARY_OBJS) \ ;; \ 3) Make until error (can't find libpython2.1.so) 4) Copy or move libpython2.1.so to /usr/local/lib or /usr/lib 5) Run (as root!) ldconfig -v -n /usr/local/lib (or whereever you just put the shared library) and confirm that it found libpython2.1.so. 6) Finish "make" (should run to normal completion). On my system, this is the difference between a 4MB xcircuit executable and a 1.5MB executable. That's a big difference! Of course, Python purists would say I should be embedding xcircuit in python, not the other way around, then what need do I have for a shared library, anyway? Python source (and other information relating to Python) can be found at www.python.org. The Python interpreter is recommended, as XCircuit eventually will rely on Python to handle writing netlists, for flexibility in formatting. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Extras: The file examples/.xcircuitrc shows how to make a home-directory file to alter the behavior of xcircuit on startup. It shows how to change the color scheme, add new fonts, override the default libraries, and change the editing behavior for polygons. Note that if xcircuit is built with embedded Python, the syntax for .xcircuitrc will be Python syntax, and may use any Python commands in addition to the commands which hook into xcircuit functions. The file examples/test.py is a sample Python script which features use of Python to create animated graphics within the xcircuit window, shows how to access on-screen elements and change their properties, and contains convenience function definitions for manipulating xcircuit elements. Other files in the examples directory show how xcircuit can be used to draw various things, from a simple circuit schematic (vcoblock.ps) to an entire publishable-quality page of music (prelude.ps), plus an example of a fancy page border for slide presentations. The files psfiles/signal.lps and psfiles/musiclib.lps are examples of alternate or additional object libraries. The library file lgf.lps is used primarily by the lgf-to-ps conversion routines, but has some different circuit objects in it. The file psfiles/fonttest.ps is a short PostScript program you can use to get your printer to give you the names of all the built-in fonts that it knows about, which is useful because if you add a font name to xcircuit, the spelling has to be exactly correct or else the printer won't recognize it. The file examples/gettext.py is a sample Python script which adds a Python command called "gettext(filename)". gettext(filename) reads in file "filename", which should be an ASCII text file, and turns it into a label in XCircuit positioned at the cursor position. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- X Resources: The Tcl/Tk version of XCircuit does not use the X resources but picks up resources from the file "resource.tcl" in the run-time library path (e.g., /usr/local/lib/xcircuit-3.8/resource.tcl). The resource names are the same as those described below but are specified using the Tk "option add" command. The color scheme of xcircuit has a default setup, but accepts alternate color schemes using the following keywords which can be put in the X Defaults (.Xdefaults, .Xresources) file: Resource name Description Default ------------------- ---------------------------- ------- xcircuit*foreground color of buttons and popups; White xcircuit*background background of buttons & popups; DarkSlateGray xcircuit.foreground drawing area foreground; White xcircuit.background drawing area background; Black xcircuit*gridcolor color of the grid lines; Gray40 xcircuit*snapcolor color of the snap-to points; Red xcircuit*selectcolor color of a selected object; Gold xcircuit*querycolor to differentiate multiple objects; Turquoise xcircuit*axescolor color of the x, y axes; NavajoWhite4 xcircuit*offbuttoncolor text color of an inoperable button; Gray70 xcircuit*auxiliarycolor text cursor and other things Green xcircuit*barcolor color of panning bars Tan A secondary color scheme (for example, black-on-white) can be specified by adding "2" to each of the above resource names. For example: xcircuit*foreground2 color of every object drawn; Black xcircuit*background2 screen background color; White Other resources accepted by xcircuit are: xcircuit*width width of the drawing area (pixels); 600 xcircuit*height height of the drawing area; 500 Normally, you will want to put the defaults in /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults. If you do not have root access, you will want to have them in your own home .Xdefaults file. If the file is not found by xcircuit, the program will use its default color schemes, the main one being black-on-white, and the alternate being white-on-dark-gray. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Altering, Copying, and/or Redistributing XCircuit: XCircuit is distributed under the GNU GPL (General Public Licence). See the file COPYRIGHT in the top-level directory for details. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- XCircuit Home Page: "http://opencircuitdesign.com/xcircuit/" Online tutorial: "http://opencircuitdesign.com/xcircuit/tutorial/tutorial.html" Schematic capture tutorial: "http://opencircuitdesign.com/xcircuit/tutorial/tutorial2.html" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact address (check the website above for a current address): R. Timothy Edwards 22815 Timber Creek Lane Clarksburg, MD 20871 Phone: (301) 528-5030 (home) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------