Table of contents:

==================

    * Installation from sources

    * More details about ./configure --with-PACKAGE[=OPTION]

    * Platform compiler problems

    * Environment variables

    * How to test gnuplot

    * Installing WPS object for gnuplot on OS/2

    * Compiling Gnuplot with the wxt (wxWidgets) terminal

If you are installing a binary package, you may still want to check out

some sections of this document, particularly the one discussing

environment variables.

Installation from sources

=========================

For the impatient

-----------------

   Configuration options are in the Makefile and in src/term.h, which

selects the set of terminal drivers to be compiled in.  

   The recommended way to configure both of these is the GNU-style

"./configure" script described below and described further in INSTALL.gnu.

This script is provided as part of the distributed source package, but if you

are using sources downloaded directly from a git snapshot you may need to

regenerate it using the preliminary script "./prepare".

  The ./configure script inspects your system to see what support libraries

are available, then modifies the gnuplot Makefile and header file config.h

to use them.  Assuming you have already installed the necessary support

libraries, the process is:

      ./configure              # prepare Makefile and config.h

      make                     # build the program and documentation

      make check               # run unit tests to confirm successful build

      make install             # install the program and documentation

File location defaults

----------------------

PREFIX                          /usr/local

gnuplot                         PREFIX/bin

gnuplot_x11                     PREFIX/libexec/gnuplot/$VERSION

gnuplot_qt                      PREFIX/libexec/gnuplot/$VERSION

gnuplot.1                       PREFIX/man/man1

gnuplot.gih                     PREFIX/share/gnuplot/$VERSION

terminal support files          PREFIX/share/gnuplot/$VERSION/js

                                PREFIX/share/gnuplot/$VERSION/PostScript

                                PREFIX/share/gnuplot/$VERSION/lua

                                PREFIX/share/gnuplot/$VERSION/qt

   The only files where the runtime location is defined at compile time are

gnuplot.gih and show.c. This is important if gnuplot is not installed 

by running 'make install'.

   The default path for the help library, gnuplot.gih, can be controlled in

several different ways:

 o use configure's --with-gihdir option to specify the full path to the

   directory where gnuplot.gih is to be installed, e.g.

   ./configure --with-gihdir=/opt/docs

 o use configure's --datadir= option to specify a version and package

   independent data dir prefix, e.g.

   ./configure --datadir='/opt/docs'

   gnuplot will look for the online help file, gnuplot.gih, in

   /opt/docs/gnuplot/$VERSION.

 o with configure's --prefix= option, eg.

   ./configure --prefix=/gnuplot

   gnuplot will look for the online help file, gnuplot.gih, in

   /gnuplot/share/gnuplot/$VERSION.

   Attention: This option affects the location of *all* installed files!

 o at make time, eg.

   make HELPFILE='/gnuplot/docs/gnuplot.gih'

   gnuplot will look for the online help file /gnuplot/docs/gnuplot.gih.

 o at execution time by specifying the helpfile with the environment

   variable GNUHELP (see "Environment Variables" below).

   The default location of the main executable can be controlled in 

different ways:

 o with configure's --prefix= option, eg.

   ./configure --prefix=/gnuplot

   gnuplot will be installed as /gnuplot/bin/gnuplot.

   Attention: This affects the location of *all* installed files!

 o with configure's --bindir= option, eg.

   ./configure --bindir='/gnuplot/bin'

   gnuplot will be installed as /gnuplot/bin/gnuplot.

 o at make time, eg.

   make bindir='/gnuplot/bin'

   gnuplot will be installed as /gnuplot/bin/gnuplot.

   The default location of the additional executable, like gnuplot_x11, 

can be controlled in different ways:

 o with configure's --prefix= option, eg.

   ./configure --prefix=/gnuplot

   gnuplot_x11 will be installed as /gnuplot/libexec/gnuplot/4.0/gnuplot_x11.

   Attention: This affects the location of *all* installed files!

 o with configure's --libexecdir= option, eg.

   ./configure --libexecdir='/gnuplot/lib'

   gnuplot_x11 will be installed as /gnuplot/lib/gnuplot/4.0/gnuplot_x11

 o at make time, eg.

   make X11_DRIVER_DIR='/gnuplot/lib/4.0'

   gnuplot_x11 will be installed as /gnuplot/lib/4.0/gnuplot_x11

If you don't install the program at the place chosen by ./configure,

e.g. by overriding the "prefix" at "make install" time, files written

by the `save' command cannot be used as scripts on Un*x platforms, so

this should be avoided.  There is no way to specify the location of

the executables during runtime. Other platforms are not affected by

this.

   The gnuplot demo files are not installed by default, mainly because

there is no universally agreed place where such files should go.

If desired, they should be copied manually to a location of choice.

Unix, configure

---------------

   On Unix, use

$ ./configure

$ make

[ Optionally run demos--see "How to test gnuplot" below. ]

$ make install

   If gcc is installed, it is used by default. A different compiler can be

used by passing its name to configure:

$ ./configure CC=c99

   Any environment settings for CFLAGS are included into the Makefile,

so please make sure that these are really needed.

   There are several options available for configure that you may want

to change.  A complete list of options is available through

$ ./configure --help

   Some options relevant to gnuplot are listed below:

  --prefix=PREFIX         Install architecture-independent files in PREFIX

                          [/usr/local]

  --exec-prefix=EPREFIX	  Install architecture-specific file in EPREFIX

			  [PREFIX]

  --bindir=DIR            user executables in DIR [EPREFIX/bin]

			  The gnuplot binary is installed this directory

  --libexecdir=DIR        program executables in DIR [EPREFIX/libexec]

			  gnuplot_x11 goes into $libexecdir/gnuplot/<version>.

  --datadir=DIR           Read-only architecture-independent data in DIR

                          [PREFIX/share]. The gnuplot help file is installed

                          in this directory.

  --libdir=DIR            object code libraries in DIR [EPREFIX/lib]

  --includedir=DIR        C header files in DIR [PREFIX/include]

  --mandir=DIR            Man documentation in DIR [PREFIX/man]

  --disable-history-file  do not use history file

  --disable-mouse         disable mouse for interactive terminals

  --disable-x11-mbfonts   disable multi-byte font support for x11

  --disable-x11-external  disable drawing to windows belonging to external apps

  --disable-raise-console spacebar in plot window does not raise console

  --disable-wxwidgets     wxWidgets terminal (default enabled)

  --enable-backwards-compatibility       enable deprecated syntax

  --with-bitmap-terminals enable support for HP deskjet era dot matrix printers

			  and *.pbm files

  --with-readline={gnu|bsd|builtin}

			  Override the automatic choice of terminal input modes.

			  See below for more detail.

Options marked with (*) are enabled by default, ie. these features or

packages are used if configure detects them even if the corresponding

option is not specified.  Please note that the `--with-PACKAGE'

options can have additional arguments:

 o `--with-PACKAGE' is equivalent to `--with-PACKAGE=yes'

 o `--with-PACKAGE=no' disables checking for PACKAGE. It has the same

   effect as `--without-PACKAGE'.

 o `--with-PACKAGE=DIR' checks for PACKAGE in DIR

Linux

-----

  ./configure may fail to find lua support if the package configuration tool is

  installed as "lua5.1" or "lua5.3" rather than "lua".  If necessary, you can fix

  this by adding a symlink prior to running ./configure as shown below:

	    ln -s /usr/lib/pkgconfig/lua5.3.pc  /usr/lib/pkgconfig/lua.pc

Mac OSX

-------

Readline issues:

  As I understand the situation, Apple ships OSX with a "fake" libreadline

  shared library. The file /usr/lib/libreadline.dylib is really a symlink to a

  compatibility layer over the BSD libedit library.  But the compatibility isn't

  complete, and in particular it is missing some routines used for readline

  support by gnuplot. The ./configure script should be able to cope with this.

  But you will still be left without some of the functionality of the "real"

  libreadline.  For one thing, libedit doesn't handle UTF-8 input.

  You have several options:

  1) Delete the fake libreadline libraries from OSX and install

  the real gnu libreadline as a system library.

  2) Install the real gnu libreadline into your personal account and

  tell gnuplot to use it:

  ./configure --with-readline=/my/private/readline/installdir

  This may require some playing around with additional -L and -I

  definitions in CFLAGS, and is probably harder than replacing the

  system copy of the library.

  3) Use gnuplot's built-in readline routines.  These now support UTF-8

  input and tab-completion of file names.

  ./configure --with-readline=builtin

wxt terminal:

  Cairo & pango need to be installed first on Mac, 

  I recommend using MacPorts building universal (i386 libraries):

  sudo port install cairo +no_x11 +quartz +universal

  sudo port install pango +no_x11 +quartz +universal

  Next gnuplot may be compiled with shipped with Mac OS X 10.6 SL wxWidgets using:

  ./configure CPPFLAGS='-arch i386' LDFLAGS='-arch i386'

  NOTE: 10.6 SL by default generates x86_64 code, but wxWidgets stable is using

  Carbon API on Mac which is 32-bit only, that makes compiling gnuplot,

  cairo and pango to i386 necessary.

  linux: Some wxWidgets configurations require linking to the X11 library but

  fail to include "-lX11" in the string provided for auto-configuration.

  You may have to add this manually when configuring gnuplot:

      TERMLIBS="-lX11" ./configure

  Note that some people have reported runtime problems with wxgtk 3.0.

  If you have the option of linking to libraries for wxgtk 2.8 instead,

  this may be preferable.  The -lX11 flag is not need in this case.

VMS

---

   We used to test-build gnuplot pre-releases on VMS, but this has not been

the case since about version 4.6.  The old guidelines are included below but

may be of only historical interest. If you have successfully built version 5 

on VMS please drop us a note, particularly if there were any changes you

needed to make it work.  

   John Hasstedt <John.Hasstedt@sunysb.edu> has written configure.vms,

a command file that creates the necessary make and option files to build

gnuplot.  See the file for instructions on using it.  If you have problems

with it, the old build files are still included; instructions for using

them follow.

   On VMS, you can use MMS, MMK, or another make utility, or you can

use BUILDVMS.COM.  The supplied files work with Alpha/VMS V6.2 and

DECC V5.7; you may get warnings or more serious errors depending on

the versions of the C compiler, the C run-time libraries, and VMS on

your system.

  To compile using MMK:

     MMK/DESCRIPTION=MAKEFILE.VMS

  To compile using MMS on VAX:

     MMS/DESCRIPTION=MAKEFILE.VMS

  To compile using MMS on Alpha:

     MMS/DESCRIPTION=MAKEFILE.VMS/MACRO=__ALPHA__=1

  Alternatively, you can use MAKE_VMS.COM.  This command file will run

MMK or MMS to build gnuplot.  If you don't have either one installed, it

will use the command file.  The first parameter on the command line is

the compiler you want to use (default DECC).

  It may sometimes be useful to add  `/IGNORE=WARNING' to the `MMS' call.

  To compile using GNUC or VAXC:

     add /MACRO=GNUC or /MACRO=VAXC to the above command

  To compile with another make utility:

     check the documentation of your utility to specify the description

     file and any necessary macros (__ALPHA__, GNUC, or VAXC)

  Or if you don't have a suitable make:

     @BUILDVMS

  To tell gnuplot where to find the help library:

     $ define gnuplot$help disk:[directory]gnuplot.hlb

  Alternatively, put the help in the main system help library.

MS-Windows

----------

We provide binary packages with an installer or as "portable" versions packed

in zip / 7z format on SourceForge.

We currently support and test building with the following compilers and

Makefiles:

    Mingw-w64/MSYS2: config/mingw/Makefile

    Microsoft Visual C++: config/msvc/Makefile

    OpenWatcom: config/watcom/Makefile

    Cygwin: config/cygwin/Makefile

These Makefiles contain a configuration section which you have to

adopt to your actual setup.  Further building instructions are given in Makefiles.

For MSYS2/Mingw-w64 you can find detailed instructions at

https://sourceforge.net/p/gnuplot/support-requests/199/

Some of the Makefiles include an "install" target (e.g. config/mingw/Makefile).

In order to build the help file you require the "Microsoft HTML Help 1.4

SDK", which is freely downloadable here:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=154968

MSDOS

-----

Using DJGPP (32-bit DOS port of GNU CC)

  Basically the same as Unix+configure. Andris Pavenis <pavenis@lanet.lv>

  has contributed a shell script which makes the whole process even easier:

  just run djconfig.sh, and then make.

  Only if you don't have a complete Unix toolset installed with your

  DJGPP, it is recommended to use makefile.dj2 instead:

      copy makefile.dj2 makefile

      make

[NOTE: the 16-bit DOS versions of gnuplot no longer work.  gnuplot has

outgrown this platform.]

OS/2

----

To compile under OS/2 (2.x and above) you need the development suite EMX 0.9

(including gcc). You should also have GNU Make and IBM's IPFC  (Information

Presentation Facility Compiler, available from the Developer's Toolkit;

nowadays it's accessible through an IBM website for free!).

At the beginning of makefile.os2 you will find a configuration section where

you have to adjust all settings which control the build process. Most important

is probably to select the terminal devices which should be supported. You can

create a version offering PM graphics as well as X11 support (to use with

XFree86). Support for these two terminals is provided by additional

executables.

Be sure to enable only those devices for which you have the necessary software

already installed. Also ensure that the libraries and the sources are all

compiled (not) using the '-Zmt' flags.

Executing 

    make -f makefile.os2

should create a default build while

    make -f makefile.os2 help

will show you all pre-defined targets.

See other sections of the manuals for more information about installing/using

gnuplot on OS/2.

More details about ./configure --with-PACKAGE[=OPTION]

======================================================

Every `--with-PACKAGE' option sets a `with_package' variable in configure.

Depending on how `--with-PACKAGE' was invoked, there are only three different

possible values for the `with_package' variable:

 Option                   $with_package

----------------------------------------

(not specified)           yes or no; default set in configure

--with-package            yes

--with-package=yes        yes

--with-package=no         no

--with-package=DIR        DIR

--without-package         no

In gnuplot, the following --with-PACKAGE options are available. The

--with-PACKAGE=DIR form is always required if a package is installed in a

non-default location that is not searched by the preprocessor or linker.

  --with-readline

   Use whatever readline support is detected automatically, either an

   external library or gnuplot's built-in version. This is the default.

  --with-readline=builtin

   Use gnuplot's own builtin readline routines even if a GNU or BSD readline

   library is detected.

  --without-readline

   (same as --with-readline=no) Do not use any readline processing.

  --with-readline=gnu

   Use the GNU readline library instead of gnuplot's builtin readline.

  --with-readline[=DIR]

   Use the GNU readline library instead of gnuplot's builtin readline.

   This form is required if GNU readline is not installed in a default

   location.

  --with-gd[=DIR]

   Thomas Boutell's gd library is needed to support jpeg and gif output.

   It is also one of several options for producing png output.

   This option is on by default, i.e. configure will check if the library exists,

   and use it if found.

Platform compiler problems

==========================

This section addresses trouble shooting and testing issues. Userland questions

are answered in the FAQ.

Platform and compiler notes

---------------------------

   Generally, if you think that configure has made a mistake in detecting

platform features, you should consider that a bug either in GNU autoconf

or in gnuplot's use of it, which you should report.  As a workaround

you can override such faulty tests in a site-wide collection

of preset configure test results, or manually override them after running

configure.

   Example:

configure was for some reason unable to detect the memset() function, but

you are sure it is ok to use on your platform.  To fix that, you'll have

to edit the generated config.h and change the line 

	/* #undef HAVE_MEMSET */ 

to

	#define HAVE_MEMSET 1

   Note that changing such defines from outside config.h, eg. via

'make DEFS=-DHAVE_MEMSET' is wrong, because config.h will usually

override such changes.  Also note that this change will be lost 

whenever you re-run configure.

 - gcc -ansi

   If you wish to compile with gcc -ansi (CC='gcc -ansi -pedantic'

  ./configure), additional platform specific defines may be necessary

  to include non-ANSI function prototypes. E.g. on Solaris,

  -D__EXTENSIONS__ is needed. Otherwise, non-declared functions not

  returning int will be assumed to return int, with possibly

  dangerous consequences. Especially scpecfun.c is vulnerable here.

 - SunOS / Solaris

  There are known issues with regard to compiler support for Booleans.

  You may have to tweak gnuplot's definition of TBOOLEAN.

  The plugin demo Makefile may also require editing as noted in comments.

Environment variables

=====================

See 'help environment'.

If the environment variable GNUTERM is found, it is used as the

terminal type.  Otherwise, in some cases the variable TERM will be

used, or the hardware may be detected automatically.  If all else

fails, a compile-time default will be used.

The PC version looks for the environment variable GNUPLOT to contain

the name of the directory from which to load the initialization file

GNUPLOT.INI and also to be used as the home directory in ~

substitution.  See the help on 'start_up' for more information.

If defined, the environment variable GNUHELP is used for the name of

the .gih help file, otherwise HELPFILE (defined in makefile or

command.c) is used.

The VMS version looks for the logical name GNUPLOT$HELP to locate the

help library.

The usual system-wide environment variable is used to locate a command

line shell to be used for executing commands and starting sub-shells.

On all versions of Windows and OS/2 the variable looked at is COMSPEC.

Other platforms will consult SHELL.

The x11 and qt terminals each require an auxilliary program (gnuplot_x11

gnuplot_qt) to manage the displayed plots.  These are installed by 

default in /usr/local/libexec/gnuplot/<version>/ but this default can be

overridden by the environmental variable GNUPLOT_DRIVER_DIR.

GDFONTPATH is the directory where the libgd terminals (jpeg png gif)

search for fonts.  You should set it to directory where files like 

arial.ttf and Symbol.pfa exist.

GNUPLOT_DEFAULT_GDFONT is the default font to be used by the png and

jpeg terminal types. This must either be a full path to the font file

or the face name of a font found in the GDFONTPATH search path.

GNUPLOT_FONTPATH is used by the postscript driver as search path for

postscript (Adobe Type 1 and Type 2) fonts.

GNUPLOT_PS_DIR is used by the postscript driver to use external prologue

files. Depending on the build process, gnuplot contains either a builtin

copy of those files or simply a default hardcoded path. Use this variable

to test the postscript terminal with custom prologue files.

GNUPLOT_LIB may be used to define additional search directories for

data and command files. The variable may contain a single directory

name, or a list of directories separated by a platform-specific path

separator, eg. ':' on Unix, or ';' on DOS/Windows/OS2 platforms.

The contents of GNUPLOT_LIB are appended to the `loadpath`

variable but are not saved with the `save` and `save set` commands.

GNUFITLOG holds the name of a file that saves fit results. The default

is fit.log. If the name ends with a "/" or "\", it is treated as a

directory name, and "fit.log" will be created as a file in that directory.

The CGI drivers need the CGIPATH environment variable to set the path

to the CGI agents, and the CGIDISP and/or CGIPRNT environment variables

to the CGI agents, and the CGIDISP and/or CGIPRNT environment variables

to set the output devices.

If creating dynamically linked executables, it may be necessary to add

flags to the LIBS variable in Makefile to make sure gnuplot finds all

required libraries at runtime.  Systems like SunOS and Solaris use -R

to specify the runtime library search path, whereas OSF/Dec Unix, Irix

and Linux use -rpath. If this is not possible, the LD_LIBRARY_PATH

environment variable should be set.  Generally it's recommended to

install shared libraries only in places that are already searched by

the linker without such options.  LD_LIBRARY_PATH is the second-best

choice.

How to test gnuplot

===================

The demo files distributed with the program source act also as unit

tests for various gnuplot syntax, plotting, and terminal features.

Output can be compared to the on-line demo output collection on the

gnuplot web site.

All command line examples below assume Unix Bourne shell syntax.

   Individual demo files can be run interactively by eg.

$ cd gnuplot/demo

$ gnuplot simple.dem

    or

$ GNUPLOT_DRIVER_DIR=../src ../src/gnuplot simple.dem

and gnuplot prompts the user to "Hit return to continue" to cycle through

all the plots (the GNUPLOT_DRIVER_DIR= part is only required if you are

using the X11 or BeOS plotting device and the gnuplot_x11/gnuplot_be binary

has not been installed yet, or if you want to test the external binaries you

just compiled at the same time).

   To run the demos in a specified file without interaction, one can use

$ gnuplot simple.dem 

$ GNUPLOT_DRIVER_DIR=../src ../src/gnuplot simple.dem 

   To run all demos non-interactively, use

$ gnuplot all.dem 

$ GNUPLOT_DRIVER_DIR=../src ../src/gnuplot all.dem 

   For convenience, the special make target 'check' will run the above

   if you run it from the demo directory of the source tree:

$ make check

   To use a different plotting device than the default, use eg.

$ GNUTERM=dumb make check

or

gnuplot> set term dumb

gnuplot> load 'all.dem'

   To test the capabilities of the terminal you are using, there is the

'test' command:

gnuplot> test

   `test` creates a display of line and point styles and other useful things

appropriate for the terminal you are using.

Installing WPS object for gnuplot on OS/2

=========================================

GNUPLOT can be run from the command line of an OS/2 session, or can be set up

as a program object in the WPS.

GNUPLOT starts up as a command line session which accepts the usual GNUPLOT 

input. The Presentation Manager (PM) window for graphics display is only opened

when the first 'plot' or 'splot' command is entered.

If GNUPLOT is set up as a program object, it can be configured for 'drag and 

drop' in the usual way, by specifying '%*' as the program parameter.

The PM window has facilities for printing the plot, for changing the fonts 

used in the plot, and so on. These of course are handled through the usual 

PM interface. In addition, you can 'drop' a font onto the window to change 

the font.

The usual GNUPLOT commands can also be used to produce output on supported

devices.

Settings and the positions and sizes of the windows can be saved in the file

gnushell.ini. This file is saved in the program's working directory; several

different directories can be set up (as program objects) with different 

options, if you wish.

PM terminal is fully mouse-capable. Type 'm' to switch the mouse on/off (see

'help mouse' for more details), or 'h' for the full list of current hotkeys

(see also 'help bind').

Compiling Gnuplot with the wxWidgets terminal

==============================================

The `wxt` terminal provides an interactive windowed output. The code is

cross-platform and can be compiled as soon as the following requirements are

met:

First, this terminal is based on the wxWidgets library. This library can be

found on http://www.wxwidgets.org. It comes in different flavours corresponding

to the underlying API : Microsoft Windows ("wxMSW"), GTK+ ("wxGTK"), X11

("wxX11"), MacOS ("wxMAC"), etc.

Then, the terminal needs the Cairo library (no specific backend is required)

which can be found on http://www.cairographics.org, and the Pango library,

which can be found on http://www.pango.org and need to be compiled with its

Cairo backend.

On Unix, use the usual `./configure; make; make install' build process to

compile this terminal. On Windows, please use the MinGW/MSYS makefile, namely

config/makefile.mgw. MinGW and MSYS can be found on http://www.mingw.org.