GLE - Graphics Layout Engine

GLE (Graphics Layout Engine) is a graphics scripting language designed for creating publication quality graphs, plots, diagrams, figures and slides. GLE supports various graph types (function plots, histograms, bar graphs, scatter plots, contour lines, color maps, surface plots, ...) through a simple but flexible set of graphing commands. More complex output can be created by relying on GLE's scripting language, which is full featured with subroutines, variables, and logic control. GLE relies on LaTeX for text output and supports mathematical formulae in graphs and figures. GLE's output formats include EPS, PS, PDF, JPEG, and PNG.

This repo contains the source code to build the executable for GLE. The manual and library of GLE routines and sample code that are distributed with the binary packages are contained in separate repositories here: gle-manual and gle-library.

More information and the binary distributions can be found on the GLE website here http://glx.sourceforge.io or using the link below.

Building GLE

GLE can be built on Windows, macOS, and Linux using cmake and system specific compilers: Visual Studio, Xcode, and gcc.

Get the GLE source code

Clone the GLE repository or download and unpack the source code.

Acquire gle-library and gle-manual

For a complete installation with documentation, examples, and include files download (or clone) the gle-library and latest gle-manual.pdf. Place them in separate locations and pass the GLE_EXAMPLES_LIBRARY_PATH and GLE_USER_MANUAL_PATH options in the initial call to cmake. For example -DGLE_EXAMPLES_LIBRARY_PATH=/path/to/gle-library -DGLE_USER_MANUAL_PATH=/path/to/gle-manual.

Building on Linux

Building on linux requires the gcc compiler and the standard C/C++ libraries.

1. Install the needed packages

   Debian & Linux Mint Debian Edition

   Depending on the Debian release, either libjpeg-turbo8-dev or libjpeg62-turbo-dev maybe available. Linux Mint only provides libjpeg62-turbo-dev.

   sudo apt install cmake freeglut3-dev libboost-dev libcairo2-dev libdeflate-dev libgs-dev 
   libjpeg62-turbo-dev liblzma-dev libpixman-1-dev libpng-dev libtiff-dev zlib1g-dev qt6-base-dev 
   libpoppler-dev libpoppler-cpp-dev libpoppler-glib-dev libpoppler-qt6-dev libglib2.0-dev 
   extra-cmake-modules
   

   Ubuntu (22.04 / 24.04)

   sudo apt-get install cmake freeglut3-dev libboost-dev libcairo-dev libdeflate-dev libgs-dev 
   libjpeg-turbo8-dev liblzma-dev libpixman-1-dev libpng-dev libtiff-dev libz-dev qt6-base-dev 
   libpoppler-dev libpoppler-cpp-dev libpoppler-glib-dev libpoppler-qt6-dev libglib2.0-dev 
   extra-cmake-modules
   

   Fedora / RHEL / Rocky / Alma Linux

   sudo dnf install cmake freeglut-devel boost-devel cairo-devel libdeflate-devel ghostscript-devel 
   libjpeg-turbo-devel xz-devel pixman-devel libpng-devel libtiff-devel zlib-devel qt6-qtbase-devel 
   poppler-devel poppler-cpp-devel poppler-glib-devel glib2-devel mesa-libGL-devel 
   extra-cmake-modules
   

   Arch Linux / Manjaro

   sudo pacman -S cmake freeglut boost cairo libdeflate ghostscript libjpeg-turbo xz pixman 
   libpng libtiff zlib qt6-base poppler glib2 
   extra-cmake-modules
   

   openSUSE (Leap / Tumbleweed)

   sudo zypper install cmake freeglut-devel boost-devel cairo-devel libdeflate-devel 
   ghostscript-devel libjpeg8-devel xz-devel pixman-devel libpng-devel libtiff-devel 
   zlib-devel qt6-base-devel poppler-devel poppler-cpp-devel poppler-glib-devel glib2-devel 
   extra-cmake-modules
   

   Gentoo

   sudo emerge dev-util/cmake media-libs/freeglut dev-libs/boost x11-libs/cairo 
   app-text/ghostscript-gpl media-libs/libjpeg-turbo sys-libs/zlib media-libs/libpng 
   media-libs/tiff dev-qt/qtbase app-text/poppler dev-libs/glib
   

2. Run cmake in the gle directory

   cmake -S src -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
   -DGLE_EXAMPLES_LIBRARY_PATH=/path/to/gle-library 
   -DGLE_USER_MANUAL_PATH=/path/to/gle-manual
   

3. Build

   cmake --build build
   

4. Install gle in usr/local/bin

   sudo cmake --install build
   

Installation destinations are FHS compliant starting with version 4.3.9. Binaries will be placed in /usr/local/bin. Font, config files, and includes will be in /usr/local/share/gle-graphics and documentation in /usr/local/share/doc/gle-graphics. This can be altered with CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX and DEVELOPER_INSTALLATION options (see below). For example, to install in /usr instead of /usr/local pass -DMAKE_INSTAL_PREFIX=/usr to the initial cmake call.

Building on Windows

Building on windows requires Visual Studio, cmake, and vcpkg to be installed.

1. Install the ECM package

   vcpkg install ecm
   

2. Install ghostpdl library

   Visit ghostpdl GitHub page and clone the repo or download and unpack the source code. Only the ghostpdl headers are needed to build GLE. Building ghostpdl is not required.

3. Run cmake in the gle directory

   cmake -B build -S src
   -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=<VCPKGROOT>/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake
       -DVCPKG_TARGET_TRIPLET=x64-windows-release
       -DGHOSTPDL_ROOT=/path/to/ghostpdl
       -DGLE_EXAMPLES_LIBRARY_PATH="/path/to/gle-library"
       -DGLE_USER_MANUAL_PATH="/path/to/gle-manual"
       -DECM_DIR="<VCPKGROOT>/installed/x64-windows/share/ECM"
   

   Replace <VCPKGROOT> with the location of vcpkg. This will run vcpkg and download and build the needed libraries. Be patient it will take some time.

4. Build

   cmake --build build --config Release
   

5. Install gle in C:\Program Files\gle-graphics

   cmake --install build --config Release
   

All gle files will be installed to C:\Program Files\gle-graphics by default. Add C:\Program Files\gle-graphics\bin to your PATH environment variable. The installation location can be changed by setting CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFEX on the initial cmake call. Filetype associations (.gle to qgle) will be created if INSTALL_CREATE_FILETYPE_ASSOCIATION is set ON in initial cmake call.

Building on macOS

Building on macOS requires XCode, cmake, and Homebrew to be installed.

1. Install the needed packages

   brew install --quiet boost cairo ghostscript jpeg-turbo 
   libdeflate libpng libtiff pixman qt zstd poppler glib extra-cmake-modules
   

2. Run cmake in the gle directory

   cmake -S src -B build
       -DGLE_EXAMPLES_LIBRARY_PATH="/path/to/gle-library"
       -DGLE_USER_MANUAL_PATH="path/to/gle-manual"
   

3. Build

   cmake --build build --config Release
   

4. Install gle in /usr/local/bin

   cmake --install build --config Release
   

All gle files will be installed similar to Linux. The installation location can be changed by setting CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFEX on the initial cmake call. For example, to install in /usr instead of /usr/local pass -DMAKE_INSTAL_PREFIX=/usr to the initial cmake call. Filetype associations (.gle to qgle) will be created if INSTALL_CREATE_FILETYPE_ASSOCIATION is set ON in initial cmake call.

Post Installation Configuration and Testing

Install Needed Software

To run GLE these software packages required:

1. LaTeX - A powerful document preparation system widely used for technical and scientific writing.

   • Windows: visit MikTeX. Download and install the latest version.
   • Linux: sudo apt install texlive texlive-latex-extra texlive-science dvipng latexmk.
   • macOS: brew install texlive

2. GhostScript - PS/PDF interpreter.

   • Windows: Visit Ghostscript. Download and install the latest version.
   • Linux: sudo apt install ghostscript.
   • macOS: brew install ghostscript

Finding Dependencies

After installation run:

gle -finddeps

to have GLE search for it dependency files such as GhostScript and LaTeX.

To test the installation run:

gle -info

the output should look something like this on Windows:

GLE version:             4.3.9
Build date:              Nov 5 2025 14:44:22
GLE_TOP:                 C:\Program Files\gle-graphics
GLE_BIN_DIR:             C:\Program Files\gle-graphics\bin
GLE_USRLIB:              
GLERC (global):          C:\Program Files\gle-graphics\glerc
GLERC (user):            C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\gle-graphics\.glerc
inittex.ini:             C:\Program Files\gle-graphics\inittex.ini
GhostScript:             C:\Program Files\gs\gs10.06.0\bin\gswin64c.exe
GS library:              C:\Program Files\gs\gs10.06.0\bin\gsdll64.dll
Bitmap import:           JPEG, PNG, TIFF, GIF
Cairo rendering support: Yes
Poppler PDF support:     Yes

and this on Linux/macOS:

GLE version:             4.3.9
Build date:              Nov 5 2025 19:28:28
GLE_TOP:                 /usr/local/share/gle-graphics
GLE_BIN_DIR:             /usr/local/bin
GLE_USRLIB:
GLERC (global):          /usr/local/share/gle-graphics/glerc
GLERC (user):            /home/<username>/.glerc
inittex.ini:             /usr/local/share/gle-graphics/inittex.ini
GhostScript:             /usr/bin/gs
GS library:              /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgs.so
Bitmap import:           JPEG, PNG, TIFF, GIF
Cairo