xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its"

      type="topic"

      id="tech-gio">

  <info>

    <link type="guide" xref="tech" group="gio"/>

    <revision pkgversion="3.0" date="2011-04-05" status="review"/>

    <credit type="author copyright">

      <name>Shaun McCance</name>

      <email its:translate="no">shaunm@gnome.org</email>

      <years>2011</years>

    </credit>

    <credit type="copyright editor">

      <name>Federico Mena Quintero</name>

      <email its:translate="no">federico@gnome.org</email>

      <years>2013</years>

    </credit>

    <include href="cc-by-sa-3-0.xml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>

    <desc>File and URI handling, asynchronous file operations, volume

    handling</desc>

  </info>

<title>GIO Files</title>

GIO provides APIs for asynchronously reading and writing files and

other streams. Files are referenced by URIs (uniform resource locators), and backends can

provide access to more than just local files. When running under the

GNOME desktop, GIO uses GVFS to allow access to files over SFTP, FTP,

WebDAV, SMB, and other popular protocols. This transparent network

file access is free to all applications using GIO.

The GIO file APIs were designed to be used in event-driven graphical

interfaces. The non-blocking, asynchronous design means your user interface

doesn't hang while waiting for a file. There are also synchronous versions

of the APIs available, which are sometimes more convenient for worker

threads or processes.

GIO also provides routines for managing drives and volumes, querying

file types and icons, and finding applications to open files.

<list style="compact">

  <item>
<link href="http://developer.gnome.org/gio/stable/">GIO Reference Manual</link>
</item>

</list>

</page>