############################################################################### xmfract version 1.4 - a freeware fractal generation program. Copyright (C) 1995 Darryl House and the Stone Soup Group. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Some source code for this program is covered by additional copyrights. See the copyright notices in the source files for more information. You should have received a machine-readable and/or hard copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. ############################################################################### Please carefully read the "COMPILATION AND INSTALLATION" section below for important information about the configuration options for your site. This is xmfract 1.4, an X11R[5/6] Motif program based upon a popular DOS freeware program named Fractint. It is a true graphic user interface quite different from that program. The program will calculate, display and manipulate over 90 discrete fractal types with very fast algorithms. Other features include zooming, animation (color cycling), color editing, spherical projection, and an amazing wealth of parameters. There are too many features to list here. Also included are dozens of ancillary files such as color map files, parameter files, formula files, and an extensive on-line help system. System requirements: The program is known run to under the following operating systems: OSF/1 (with Motif 1.2) Solaris 2.x (with Motif 1.2) Linux 1.94 or later (with XFree 3.1 and Motif 1.2) HPUX (with Motif 1.2) Motif 1.2 or greater is required for this program. Motif 1.1 will not work with this program. The program has been tested under the following window managers: mwm olwm olvwm twm tvtwm vuewm Required utilities: The GNU utility "autoconf" is required to configure the program. The GNU utility "gunzip" and the Unix or GNU utility "tar" are required to unpack the archive. Recommended utilities: The GNU C compiler "gcc", while not required, is recommended. Disk requirements: 2MB of space is required to download the source archive. The compiled program (stripped and optimized) requires 1MB of space. The ancillary files (see below) require 1.5MB of space. The amount of space required to compile the program will vary, depending on the compiler used, the compilation flags that are set, and whether the ancillary files are stored in the same file system as the source (the default configuration). About 20MB of space is recommended for the most convenient method of compilation and storage. Bugs fixed and enhancements since version 1.1: - Added GNU "autoconf" capability with configuration files and scripts. - All dialogs have been extensively generalized. There are now no specific widget positioning or sizing parameters, allowing the use of any font or window manager. - Added platform-dependent conditions for some system library functions and definitions. - Deleted the call to MrmInitialize() and deleted the reference to the Mrm library in the Makefiles. - Conditionally compile and/or include the Xmu library and calls to register the event handlers for "editres". - The zoom box problems reported in the previous version have been fixed. - The two pop-up menus have been replaced by option menus. - Fixed various widget heirarchy and memory allocation errors. - Function prototypes have been generalized. - varargs vs. stdarg handling has been generalized. - Added signal handling for Linux platforms. - Added Brighter and Darker buttons to the color editor. - Added a Fractint-like 'z' key function for parameters. - Added an Image Refresh Rate option. - Added a parameter forwarding option. - Added the Fractint zoombox pan capability. - Added a Fractint-like color editor freestyle capability. - Added palette randomization functions and an associated dialog. - Enhanced the handling of formula, ifs, and lsystem fractal types. - Enhanced the initialization file and environment variable handling. - Added more preset window sizes. - Updated this file and the on-line help files. - Fixed all reported bugs. - Added an icon. Table of Contents: 1: COMPILATION AND INSTALLATION (An expanded version of this file is embedded in the source archive) =========================================================================== 1: COMPILATION AND INSTALLATION Unpack the archive with gunzip and tar: prompt% gunzip xmfract.beta.tar.gz prompt% tar xvf xmfract.beta.tar prompt% rm xmfract.beta.tar This will leave a directory named xmfract_1.4 that contains the source archive and configuration files. Also included are dozens of ancillary files used at runtime (*.par, *.frm, *.map, etc.), and a directory containing the on-line help files. Type "man editres" for more information about editres. If it is not installed on your system, it is of no concern to this program. Editres is a resource editor that is useful for debugging and figuring out the names of specific widgets, which is also handy for customizing the X resource file. All you need to know about your system is where the Motif include and library directories are, and whether you have (and wish to use) the Xmu library for editres. Autoconf will try to figure out the rest. By default (configurable -- these are just defaults): The program will be installed in /usr/local/bin The ancillary files will be installed in /usr/local/xmfract The help files will be installed in /usr/local/xmfract/help TO CONFIGURE THE PROGRAM FOR YOUR SITE: The pertinent options for "configure" are: (type ./configure -help for syntax information and more options) --prefix (or make install prefix=) This changes the /usr/local prefix for everything. --exec-prefix (or make install exec_prefix=) This changes just the /usr/local prefix for the xmfract executable. "make install bindir=" has the same effect -- the program will be installed as /xmfract "make install libdir=" changes the installation path for the ancillary files. They will be installed in and the help files will be installed in /help "make install helpdir=" will change the path to the help files. --with-editres Enables the editres protocol and includes the Xmu libraries. --with-motif="motif_includes=DIR motif_libraries=DIR" Tells the Makefiles where it can find the Motif directories. For example, on a system where Motif is installed in the directory /usr/lib/motif_1.2, then motif_includes=DIR becomes motif_includes=/usr/lib/motif_1.2/include Please note that there are a puzzling combination of dashes, underscores and quotation marks in the arguments -- take care to get it correct, and use full path names, not relative paths. Type "./configure [options]" Type "make install [options]" If you are using a BSD compiler, you will probably get a gazillion warnings about "& before array or function" that will be safely ignored. Initialization: 1. - Xmfract may obtain initialization information from many sources, including the command line, the environment, and two different names for initialization files. Choose whichever of these options is most convenient for you: a: If you use this method, no modification of any initialization file is necessary (yet not disallowed). Set an environment variable XMFRACTDIR or FRACTDIR that points to wherever you have placed the ancillary files (*.map, *.par, etc.). Then rename the file "xmfract.ini" to ".xmfractrc" (note the leading "dot") and place it in your home directory. -- or -- b: Add a line to the top of the "xmfract.ini" that points to wherever you have placed the ancillary files. This must be a full-pathed name of a directory (relative paths or variables are not (yet) supported). i.e. fractdir=/usr/local/xmfract Note that there are no spaces before or after the "=", nor is the path surrounded by quotation marks. Place this file in your home directory or the directory from which you intend to run xmfract. In either case, if you have placed the help files in any directory other than /help, then add a line to whichever file you are using for initialization (xmfract.ini or .xmfractrc) that points to wherever you have placed the help files. 2. - The program contains internal default fallback X resources, so an app-defaults file is not necessary, but it may be useful for customizing the program's appearance and behaviour. If desired, rename the X resource file from Xmfract.ad to Xmfract and place it where your system's resource files are stored, or your home directory. Review the comments at the top of the resource file for more information about customizing resources. For Linux systems, this will probably be required because XFree has a problem dealing with tear-off menus in many versions of Motif. Set the tearOffModel resource to TEAR_OFF_DISABLED for Linux systems, if you experience problems with tear-off menus. Xmfract does not need to be re-compiled when any resource is changed.