Re: using terminal

[horrorvacui gmx net]

On 04 Dec 2002 12:00:15 +0000
Rui Homem <m3moh gmx net> wrote:

> hi, my name is Rui and i'm new to this list, so hi to all members.
> well and don't really know if this is the list indicated for me, so if
> some one knows a better place for me to seek help please tell me,
> thanks!
> I'm a student and i'm trying to learn programming with c and gtk.
> Currently i'm trying to write a front-end to goctave, i have tried to
> use Goctave but i got many trouble compiling and i found it was not what
> i was looking for. So i thought i could try to write mi own app and
> learn more about linux programming.
>
> My question is:
> i need a terminal widget, i tried to use zvtterm but i got to many
> trouble for me to solve, so i search for another solution and i found
> vte. Can some one tell me how to work with vte (may be sending me some
> code for me to study it), is there a better solution, where should i
> look for information.

I failed with zvtterm too, choosing vte instead seems to be a wise thing
to do (zvtterm is deprecated anyway). Download vte:

 ftp://ftp.unina.it/pub/linux/GNOME/sources/vte/0.10/vte-0.10.1.tar.bz2
untar and install it - I like installing those things to usr, using the
configure-option:
./configure --prefix=/usr

I haven't got very far with using it, the only snippet of code I've got is
just a primitive creation of the widget and forking of the shell (don't
forget to #include <vte/vte.h>):


 ZvtTerminal *term;

        box=gtk_vbox_new(FALSE, 3);
        term=vte_terminal_new();
        vte_terminal_fork_command(term,
                                NULL, NULL,
                                NULL, NULL,
                                FALSE,
                                TRUE,
                                TRUE);
        gtk_box_pack_start(GTK_BOX (box), term, TRUE, TRUE, 10);
        gtk_widget_show(term);
        gtk_widget_show(box);

...and then you can put the box in a toplevel window, remember to pass gcc
-L/usr/lib -lvte, compile the thing, and hope it works. It does here, but
it looks quite hideous - I'll have to find out how to change the colours
and fonts (that is understand GdkColor and PangoFontDescription, which are
a bit confusing).

I wasn't able to find anything like a tutorial for vte, but the header is
nicely commented, and you can use that instead.

> The second question is:
> where can i find information about creating all that scripts and config
> files that come with the software i download. i know this is a dummy
> question but i cant figure out how to build config files and make files.
> Where can i find the rules for releasing gnome and gtk software if there
> are any?

Look at www.gnu.org - you'll find there rather good tutorials on make,
automake, autoconf...

> Many thanks, and sorry for my bad English and dummy questions, hope that
> someone have the patient to help me!

It's "patience" :-) No problem, if there were no "dummy" questions, I'd
have no questions that I'm able to answer. And don't worry about the
english, it's fine.


-- 
Cheers
Horror Vacui