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GXAnim 0.35 (Bugfix Release)  README File
(c) 1999 by Robert Warren

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Licensing Note

I just wanted to take this moment and mention here that while GXanim is released under
the General Public License (GPL) Agreement, the program on which it depends - Xanim - is
not.  Without getting into politics here, it really doesn't matter to me whether Mark Podlipec 
wishes to GPL Xanim or not - that is his right as the author, to decide the licensing conditions
he wishes to place on the fruit of his labor.  Personally, I appreciate the fact that we have a
Xanim at all.

That having been said, I want to reiterate that GXanim is GPL'ed code; you can read the actual
license agreement in the COPYING file.  GPL licensing conditions therefore apply.

XAnim is copyright 1991-1999 by Mark Podlipec.
GXAnim is copyright 1999 by Robert Warren.
 
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Project Status - May 27 1999

I got sidetracked.  GXAnim has mostly sat around collecting dust over the last three weeks while
I've been busy with personal stuff.  

GXAnim 0.35 is basically a bugfix release: mainly, MPEGs should play now, a compile problem
with RH6 should be resolved and that damned shared memory problem that was tempting me to
tank the whole program finally got fixed.  To the best of my knowledge, the worst of the bugs in
GXAnim are now fixed.

To those folks who have submitted patches in the last two weeks - I'm running *real* behind on
things right now.  I appreciate the support immensely, and I'm in the process of looking over your
work and applying what I can where I can for 0.40, which should be a features release.  

In short, thanks.  And don't be frustrated if you don't see your code in 0.35 - it's probably on it's
way in 0.40.  You guys are great.


My best,

Rob
 
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Building GXanim, development version 0.35 :

Something I feel very strongly about is to not load the user with lots of 
prerequisite libraries; you shouldn't have to go running all over the 
Internet looking for just the right combination of libraries and tools 
simply because I was too lazy to write code.

That having been said..

You need GTK+ 1.2.0, a C compiler, XLib and the usual assortment of libraries.  
Nothing real fancy.  If you have GTK and you were able to get your X server 
running, you probably have all you need.

Of course, you will also need a working Xanim binary loadable from your system path.
Xanim 2.70.70, 2.80.00 and 2.80.10 have all been successfully tested.

1.  Edit "Makefile" to liking.
2.  Type "make" or "make proper".
3.  Type "make install."
4.  If all goes well, the binary will be dropped into directory specified in Makefile.
5.  Execute at your leisure.

Note: "make complete" is the equivalent of "make proper ; make install".


Configuring :

GXAnim now uses an .rc file to specify program configuration; the .rc filename 
defaults to ".gxanimrc" in the user's home directory.  There is actually a two-tiered 
configuration design - the .rc file and native program settings in config.h that take 
effect if no .rc file can be found.  

The following are the config.h settings; read the sample .gxanimrc file included with
this package for information on .rc configuration.


TEST : Boolean value (TRUE/FALSE).  Turns on a primitive feedback mode
which will put the movie file details to the console.  I'm using it internally
to identify the file type and native size parameters.

SYNCFRAME : Boolean value (TRUE/FALSE).  Setting this to TRUE tells 
GXAnim that it can skip frames on the playback if necessary to keep the 
video in sync with the audio track.  Almost always should be TRUE.

PLAY_ON_START : Boolean value (TRUE/FALSE).  Setting this to TRUE
tells GXAnim to automatically start playing a clip if the filename is being
passed in on the command line.

VOLUME : Integer value 0-100.  XAnim's native default setting is 40.  This 
is the default volume level for all movies.

SIZEX, SIZEY : Integer values.  Default size setting for XAnim plays.
Generally ignored if NATIVE is set to TRUE.

SCALE : Integer value.  The default scaling mode.  0 = Normal, 1 = Half, 
2 = Double.
	
REPEAT : Integer value.  The default repeating mode.  0 = Normal end,
1 = Hold on last frame, 2 = Repeat endlessly.

DEFDIR : Kind of important. This is the default directory where GXAnim should 
look for movie files, enclosed in quotes.

XANIMPROG : This is the executable name of your XAnim binary.  This item is included 
to allow you to use different versions of XAnim; I used it to test the recent releases.

RCFILE : This is the name of the .rc file to look for in the user's home directory.  GXAnim
defaults to ".gxanimrc"; it is recommended that this is left alone.

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Final Plea :

Any patches, bug reports or ideas for enhancements would be greatly 
appreciated.  If you found some use for this program, please drop me a line 
at aleris@iag.net; it's always good to know one's children have found 
good homes.

Thanks,

Rob
May 27, 1999

Email : aleris@iag.net
Website : http://www.iag.net/~aleris
AOL IM : Aleris23


