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.

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

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

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 requires the gcc compiler and the standard C/C++ libraries.

1. Install the needed packages

   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
   

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 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.

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.

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

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 rendering support: Yes
Poppler PDF support:     Yes

GLE will search the path pointed to by environment variable GLE_USRLIB for include files. Set it to a location where you store your include files. GLE also searches for include files in the current script directory, GLE_BIN_DIR, and GLE_TOP/gleinc by default. GLE_USRLIB will be searched after these locations.

GLE automatically searches and finds GLE_TOP when it starts but setting it as an environment variable can be helpful.

Cpack can be utilized to create distributable packages. The gle-manual and gle-library repos should be checked out and built to get included in the package. Windows platform utilizes NSIS for self installing exe building. Debain packages can be created and require dpkg-dev to be installed on the local machine.

windows:

cd build && cpack -G "NSIS;ZIP;7Z"

linux

cd build && cpack -G "DEB;ZIP;7Z;TGZ"

macOS

cd build && cpack -G "DragNDrop;ZIP;7Z;TGZ"

Several GitHib actions exist that build the binaries and distributable packages for all three platforms. The build artifacts can be found under the Actions tab and then navigate to the appropriate action.

The action "Create Release" will create a release with a tag from the version number contained in CMakeLists.txt file. It also will trigger the build and package actions for all three operating systems. After running this action it is important to bump the version number in CMakeLists.txt file.