|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
The Gnuplot Plotting Utility
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
****************************
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
Gnuplot is a command-line driven interactive function plotting utility
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
for linux, OSX, MSWin, VMS, and many other platforms. The software is
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
copyrighted but freely distributed (i.e., you don't have to pay for it).
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
It was originally intended as graphical program to allow scientists
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
and students to visualize mathematical functions and data. Gnuplot
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
supports many different types of terminals, plotters, and printers
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
(including many color devices, and pseudo-devices like LaTeX) and is
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
easily extensible to include new devices.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
The "GNU" in gnuplot is NOT related to the Free Software Foundation,
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
the naming is just a coincidence (and a long story; see the gnuplot FAQ
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
for details). Thus gnuplot is not covered by the GPL (GNU Public License)
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
copyleft, but rather by its own copyright statement, included in all source
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
code files. However, some of the associated drivers and support utilities
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
are dual-licensed.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
Gnuplot handles both curves (2 dimensions) and surfaces (3 dimensions).
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
Surfaces can be plotted as a mesh fitting the specified function, floating
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
in the 3-d coordinate space, or as a contour plot on the x-y plane.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
For 2-d plots, there are also many plot styles including lines, points,
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
boxes, heat maps, stacked histograms, and contoured projections of 3D data.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
Graphs may be labeled with arbitrary labels and arrows, axis labels,
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
a title, date and time, and a key. The interface includes command-line
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
editing and history on most platforms.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
The new gnuplot user should begin by reading the general information
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
available by typing `help` after running gnuplot. Then read about the
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
`plot` command (type `help plot`). The manual for gnuplot (which is a
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
nicely formatted version of the on-line help information) is available
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
as a PDF document, created via LaTeX. Look at the docs/Makefile
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
for other options for formatting the documentation.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
The gnuplot source code and executables may be copied and/or modified
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
freely as long as the copyright messages are left intact.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
Copyright and Porting
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
=====================
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
See the Copyright file for copyright conditions.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
Build instructions are in the INSTALL file. Some additional
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
information needed to port gnuplot to new platforms not covered by
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
GNU autoconf can be found in the PORTING file.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
The code for gnuplot was written with portability in mind, and has been
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
run on an amazing variety of operating systems and hardware over the years.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
However, the current code has not been tested on all those older platforms
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
and some of the conditional code to support quirks of obsolete compilers
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
and OS features has been removed. You can expect that gnuplot will compile
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
more or less out of the box on any system which has the GNU C compiler gcc
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
or other ANSI-compliant C compiler. Some specific [optional] drivers are
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
written in C++ or lua.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
Help and Bug Reports
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
********************
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
Your primary place to go searching for help with gnuplot should
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
be the project's webpage. At the time of this writing, that's
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
http://gnuplot.sourceforge.net
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
It has links to a lot of material, including the project's development
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
page, also at SourceForge:
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnuplot/
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
Note that since gnuplot has nothing to do with the GNU project, please
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
don't ask them for help or information about gnuplot; also, please
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
don't ask us about GNU stuff.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
Please note that all bug reports should include the machine you are
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
using, the operating system and it's version, plotting devices, and
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
the version of gnuplot that you are running. If you could add such
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
information to any messages on the Usenet newsgroup or the other
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
mailing lists and trackers, that'd be nice, too.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
Usenet
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
======
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
Additional help can be obtained from the USENET newsgroup
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
This newsgroup is the first place to ask for routine help. It used to be
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
gatewayed bi-directionally to the info-gnuplot mailing list, but that
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
had to be stopped when we moved the mailing lists off Dartmouth.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
Mailing Lists
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
=============
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
As of gnuplot-4.0, the gnuplot mailing lists have moved away from
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
their old home at Dartmouth College (thanks, guys!) to the project's
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
general new development site provided by SourceForge.net. To
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
subscribe to these new mailing lists, use the Web Interface provided
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
by SourceForge.net:
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=2055
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
The main lists you may be interested in are "gnuplot-info" and
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
"gnuplot-bugs". "gnuplot-info" is for general discussion and
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
questions about how to use the program. But as noted above,
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
using the Usenet newsgroup for this kind of communication is
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
almost certainly better both for you and for us.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
"gnuplot-bugs" is NOT an appropriate place to ask questions on how to
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
solve a gnuplot problem or even to report a bug that you haven't
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
investigated personally. It is far more likely you'll get the help
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
you need for this kind of problem from comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
or the gnuplot-info mailing list.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
Using "gnuplot-bugs" is also slightly disfavoured, because it makes it
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
hard for us to keep track what bugs are currently under investigation,
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
and hard for you to check if maybe the bug you've found has already
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
been reported by somebody else before. We would thus like to ask to
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
you please use the "Bug Tracker" system that is part of gnuplot's
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
development web site at SourceForge.net instead of this mailing list.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
If you found a fix already, pleast post it in "diff -c" or "diff -u"
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
format done against the most current official version of gnuplot or
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
the latest alpha or beta release of the next version. All major
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
modifications should include documentation and, if new features were
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
added, a demo file. Finally, it is much easier to integrate smaller
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
stepwise modifications rather than one gigantic diff file which
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
represented months of changes.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
There are separate tracking systems for Feature Requests and proposed
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
patches that implement new features, also hosted at SourceForge.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
Discussions about plans for new features or other significant changes
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
should be announced and discussed on the developers' mailing list,
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
gnuplot-beta, which is also hosted by SourceForge.net.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
Where to get updates to gnuplot
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
===============================
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
Congratulations on getting this version of gnuplot! Unfortunately, it
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
may not be the most recent version ("you never know where this version
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
has been!"). You can be sure that it IS the most recent version by
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
checking one of the official distribution sites, guaranteed to be kept
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
up to date (of course, if you got this file from one of those sites,
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
you don't need to check!).
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
To hear automatically about future releases (and other gnuplot news),
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
read the newsgroup; see above.
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
----
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
-Thomas Williams-
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
-Alex Woo-
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
-David Denholm-
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
-Lars Hecking-
|
|
Packit |
0986c0 |
-Ethan Merritt-
|