libglade, Gtk+, GNU autotools: by example

The Pitch

This is a guide to example code, not a full-fledged tutorial. It might serve as a template for creating a GPL/libglade/Gtk+ distributable application. The GNU autotools are used for all configuration management.

At first, the GNU autotools may seem daunting and like overkill for all but the largest project. Their use becomes essential, however, when compiling all but the simplest hello world program, not to mention installing and distributing software.

Getting Started

Step 1: download the tutorial and build it, following the instructions in README.

The Code

Step 2: Look at these files in your favorite editor.

File	Description
configure.ac	used by autoconf to generate 'configure' script
Makefile.am	used by automake to generate Makefile
src/Makefile.am	used by automake to generate Makefile for src/ dir
src/main.c	C source code, contains main() function
src/callbacks.c	functions called by Gtk+ framework during program execution
src/callbacks.h	prototypes for functions in callbacks.c
src/libgladeTest.glade	libglade interface definition file -- open it with Glade
src/libgladeTest.gladep	Glade project file

Most of the interesting stuff happens in src/libgladeTest.glade. For instance, this is where callbacks get connected to events, causing something useful to happen when you run the program and select Edit -> Preferences. This file is meant to be maintained in Glade (v2.0 or higher). If you are running Fedora Core 2, the RPM package is called 'glade2', and the binary is 'glade-2'. Explore the GUI in Glade.

If you wanted to create a distribution from scratch, it could be done using only the files listed in the table above. Copy these directories and files into a new directory, then run 'touch NEWS README AUTHORS ChangeLog' and 'autoreconf -is'. To create a distribution tarball, run 'make distcheck'.

Where do I start when making my own project?

Step 3: Try starting your own project!

See the "Other Resources" section of this document for some good Hello World examples in both the GNU Autotools and Gtk+/libglade.

Other Resources:

Keith Sharp's email that fired me up on this in the first place
autotut: Using GNU auto{conf,make,header}
'info standards' contains the GNU coding standards
"Designing a GTK+ interface graphically with Glade and libglade", from IBM Linux developerworks
A nice, simple, friendly GNU Autotools Hello World example
a libglade example from Google Groups
The complete GTK+ 2.0 Tutorial
The Official GNOME 2 Developer's Guide, By Matthias Warkus

Go Home | Blog | Photos

Last Updated $Date: 2005-05-31 20:24:30 -0700 (Tue, 31 May 2005) $
$Revision: 1339 $$Author: adamm $