2000-04-10 05:12:32 +00:00
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<?xml version="1.0"?>
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2000-07-04 19:53:39 +00:00
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<!DOCTYPE gsdoc PUBLIC "-//GNUstep//DTD gsdoc 0.6.6//EN" "http://www.gnustep.org/gsdoc-0_6_6.xml">
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2000-04-10 05:12:32 +00:00
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<gsdoc base="Base">
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<head>
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<title>GNUstep Base</title>
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<author name="Richard Frith-Macdonald">
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<email address="rfm@gnu.org"/>
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<url url="http://www.gnustep.org/developers/whoiswho.html"/>
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</author>
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2001-03-03 09:58:53 +00:00
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<version>$Revision$</version>
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2001-03-03 09:56:29 +00:00
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<date>$Date$</date>
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2000-04-10 05:12:32 +00:00
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</head>
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<body>
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<chapter>
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<heading>Base</heading>
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<p>
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2000-09-08 18:41:41 +00:00
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The GNUstep base library is a free software package implementing
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the API of the OpenStep Foundation Kit (tm), including later
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additions.
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2000-04-10 05:12:32 +00:00
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</p>
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2000-09-08 18:41:41 +00:00
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<section>
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<heading>Compatibility</heading>
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<p>
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GNUstep is generally compatible with the OpenStep specification and
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with recent developments of the MacOS (cocoa) API. Where MacOS
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deviates from the OpenStep API, GNUstep generally attempts to
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support both versions. In some cases the newer MacOS APIs are
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incompatible with OpenStep, and GNUstep usually supports the richer
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version.
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</p>
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<p>
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In order to deal with compatiblity issues, GNUstep uses two
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mechanisms - it provides conditionally compiled sections of
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the library header files, so that software can be built that
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will conform strictly to a particular API, and it provides
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user default settings to control the behavior of the library
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at runtime.
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</p>
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<subsect>
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<heading>Conditional compilation</heading>
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<p>
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Adding an option to a makefile to define one of the following
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preprocessor constants will modify the API visible to software
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being compiled -
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</p>
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<deflist>
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<term>NO_GNUSTEP</term>
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<desc>
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GNUstep specific extensions to the OpenStep and MacOS cocoa
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APIs are excluded from the headers.
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</desc>
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<term>STRICT_MACOS_X</term>
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<desc>
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Only methods and classes that are part of the MacOS cocoa
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API are made available in the headers.
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</desc>
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<term>STRICT_OPENSTEP</term>
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<desc>
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Only methods and classes that are part of the OpenStep
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specification are made available in the headers.
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</desc>
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</deflist>
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</subsect>
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<subsect>
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<heading>User defaults</heading>
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<deflist>
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2001-11-10 17:25:16 +00:00
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<term>GSLogSyslog</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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Setting the user default <code>GSLogSyslog</code> to
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<code>YES</code> will cause log/debug output to be sent to
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the syslog facility (on systems which support it), rather
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than to the standard error stream. This is useful in
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environments where stderr has been re-used strangely for
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some reason.
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>GSMacOSXCompatible</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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Setting the user default <code>GSMacOSXCompatible</code> to
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<code>YES</code> will cause MacOS compatible behavior to be
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the default at runtime. This default may however be overridden
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to provide more fine grained control of system behavior.
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>GSOldStyleGeometry</term>
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2000-09-08 18:41:41 +00:00
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<desc>
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2001-07-16 19:39:21 +00:00
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<p>
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Specifies whether the functions for producing strings
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describing geometric structures (NSStringFromPoint(),
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NSStringFromSize(), and NSStringFromRect()) should produce
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strings conforming to the OpenStep specification or to
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MacOS-X behavior. The functions for parsing those strings
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should cope with both cases anyway.
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</p>
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</desc>
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2001-11-10 17:25:16 +00:00
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<term>NSWriteOldStylePropertyLists</term>
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2001-07-16 19:39:21 +00:00
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<desc>
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<p>
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Specifies whether text property-list output should be in
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the default MacOS-X format (XML), or in the more human
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readable (but less powerful) original OpenStep format.
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</p>
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<p>
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Reading of property lists is supported in either format,
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but <em>only</em> if GNUstep is built with the libxml
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library (which is needed to handle XML parsing).
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</p>
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<p>
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NB. MacOS-X generates illegal XML for some strings - those
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which contain characters not legal in XML. GNUstep always
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generates legal XML, at the cost of a certain degree of
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compatibility. GNUstep XML property lists use a backslash
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to escape illegal chatracters, and consequently any string
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containing either a backslash or an illegal character will
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be written differently to the same string on MacOS-X.
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</p>
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</desc>
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2000-09-08 18:41:41 +00:00
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</deflist>
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</subsect>
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2001-01-25 08:05:52 +00:00
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<subsect>
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<heading>Environment variables</heading>
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<p>
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There are some environment variables used by GNUstep base, where
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there would be problems onbtaining data from the defaults asystem.
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</p>
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<deflist>
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<term>CRASH_ON_ABORT</term>
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<desc>
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2001-08-01 05:53:13 +00:00
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<p>
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The default exception handler will either cause the program to
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simply terminate, or to crash - leaving a core dump. The
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standard behavior is to leave a core dump if the library was
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built for debugging, and to simply exit if it was not.
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</p>
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2001-01-25 08:05:52 +00:00
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<p>
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The CRASH_ON_ABORT environment variable can be used to
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override this behavior. If this is defined to <em>NO</em>,
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<em>FALSE</em>, or <em>0</em> then the program will simply
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exit when an exception occurs. Any other value of the
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variable will cause the program to generate a core dump.
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</p>
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</desc>
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2001-08-01 05:53:13 +00:00
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<term>GNUSTEP_STRING_ENCODING</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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This is used to specify the default encoding for 8-bit
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strings. It defaults to NSISOLatin1StringEncoding, but
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may be any of the 8-bit encodings supported by your system
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(excluding multi-byte encodings).
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>GNUSTEP_HOST_CPU</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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Used in place of GNUSTEP_TARGET_CPU if the other is missing.
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>GNUSTEP_HOST_DIR</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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Used in place of GNUSTEP_TARGET_DIR if the other is missing.
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>GNUSTEP_HOST_OS</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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Used in place of GNUSTEP_TARGET_OS if the other is missing.
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>GNUSTEP_LOCAL_ROOT</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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Used to specify the GNUstep root directory for local
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(non-system) resources. Typically all locally produced
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or contributed software is installed relative to this.
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>GNUSTEP_NETWORK_ROOT</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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Used to specify the GNUstep root directory for local
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(non-system) resources that are intended to be shared
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across a local network. Typically this is an NFS exported
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directory shared by many machines. It provides an
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alternative to GNUSTEP_LOCAL_ROOT.
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>GNUSTEP_SYSTEM_ROOT</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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Used to specify the GNUstep system root directory ... all
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system libraries, tools, applications, headers, resources
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in general are located relative to this.
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>GNUSTEP_USER_ROOT</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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Used to specify the GNUstep directory in which resources
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specific to the current user are located.
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>GNUSTEP_TARGET_CPU</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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Overrides the default value of the machine (hardware)
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name used on this system.
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>GNUSTEP_TARGET_DIR</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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Overrides the default path used to locate subdirectories
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for GNUstep binaries withing bundles and applications.
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This is normally equivalent to a path made up of the
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GNUSTEP_TARGET_CPU and GNUSTEP_TARGET_OS
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>GNUSTEP_TARGET_OS</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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Overrides the default value of the operating system
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name used on this system.
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>GNUSTEP_TZ</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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Used to specify the timezone to be used if there is no
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timezone specified in the user defaults system.
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The preferred
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mechanism is to use the 'Local Time Zone' value from the
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user defaults system.
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>HOMEDRIVE</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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Used on windoze to locate the home directory.
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>HOMEPATH</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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Used on windoze to locate the home directory.
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>LANGUAGES</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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If there is no NSLanguages user default set, and there is
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no language infromation available in the native system locale
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mechanism, then this environment variable is used to provide
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a list of the languages that the user prefers to use.
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languages listed in this variable must be separated by
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semicolons.
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>LOGNAME</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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This is used as the default value for the current user
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(as returned by the NSUserName() functions). If it is not
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specified, or contains an illegal value, other methods are
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used to get the user name.
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>LIBRARY_COMBO</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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Used to override the default value of the combination
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of standard libraries used to build binaries. This
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value locates the final subdirectory used to locate binaries.
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</p>
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</desc>
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<term>TZ</term>
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<desc>
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<p>
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Used to specify the timezone to be used if there is no
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timezone specified by any other mechanism. The preferred
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mechanism is to use the 'Local Time Zone' value from the
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user defaults system.
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</p>
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</desc>
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|
|
2001-01-25 08:05:52 +00:00
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|
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</deflist>
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|
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|
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</subsect>
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2000-09-08 18:41:41 +00:00
|
|
|
</section>
|
2000-04-10 05:12:32 +00:00
|
|
|
<section>
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2000-09-15 19:56:39 +00:00
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|
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<heading>The Foundation classes</heading>
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2000-04-10 05:12:32 +00:00
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<list>
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<item><uref url="NSArchiver.html">NSArchiver</uref></item>
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<item><uref url="NSArray.html">NSArray</uref></item>
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<item><uref url="NSAssertionHandler.html">NSAssertionHandler</uref></item>
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<item><uref url="NSAttributedString.html">NSAttributedString</uref></item>
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<item><uref url="NSAutoreleasePool.html">NSAutoreleasePool</uref></item>
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<item><uref url="NSBundle.html">NSBundle</uref></item>
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<item><uref url="NSCalendarDate.html">NSCalendarDate</uref></item>
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<item><uref url="NSCharacterSet.html">NSCharacterSet</uref></item>
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<item><uref url="NSCoder.html">NSCoder</uref></item>
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<item><uref url="NSConditionLock.html">NSConditionLock</uref></item>
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<item><uref url="NSConnection.html">NSConnection</uref></item>
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<item><uref url="NSCountedSet.html">NSCountedSet</uref></item>
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<item><uref url="NSDate.html">NSDate</uref></item>
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<item><uref url="NSDateFormatter.html">NSDateFormatter</uref></item>
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<item><uref url="NSDecimalNumber.html">NSDecimalNumber</uref></item>
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<item><uref url="NSDecimalNumberHandler.html">NSDecimalNumberHandler</uref></item>
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<item><uref url="NSDeserializer.html">NSDeserializer</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSDictionary.html">NSDictionary</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSDirectoryEnumerator.html">NSDirectoryEnumerator</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSDistantObject.html">NSDistantObject</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSDistantObjectRequest.html">NSDistantObjectRequest</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSDistributedLock.html">NSDistributedLock</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSDistributedNotificationCenter.html">NSDistributedNotificationCenter</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSEnumerator.html">NSEnumerator</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSException.html">NSException</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSFileHandle.html">NSFileHandle</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSFileManager.html">NSFileManager</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSFormatter.html">NSFormatter</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSHost.html">NSHost</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSInvocation.html">NSInvocation</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSLock.html">NSLock</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSMethodSignature.html">NSMethodSignature</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSMutableArray.html">NSMutableArray</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSMutableAttributedString.html">NSMutableAttributedString</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSMutableCharacterSet.html">NSMutableCharacterSet</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSMutableData.html">NSMutableData</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSMutableDictionary.html">NSMutableDictionary</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSMutableSet.html">NSMutableSet</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSMutableString.html">NSMutableString</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSNotification.html">NSNotification</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSNotificationCenter.html">NSNotificationCenter</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSNotificationQueue.html">NSNotificationQueue</uref></item>
|
2000-10-21 07:43:57 +00:00
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSNull.html">NSNull</uref></item>
|
2000-04-10 05:12:32 +00:00
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSNumber.html">NSNumber</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSNumberFormatter.html">NSNumberFormatter</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSObject.html">NSObject</uref></item>
|
2001-08-20 10:22:29 +00:00
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSPipe.html">NSPipe</uref></item>
|
2000-04-10 05:12:32 +00:00
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSPort.html">NSPort</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSPortCoder.html">NSPortCoder</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSPortMessage.html">NSPortMessage</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSPortNameServer.html">NSPortNameServer</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSProcessInfo.html">NSProcessInfo</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSProtocolChecker.html">NSProtocolChecker</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSProxy.html">NSProxy</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSRecursiveLock.html">NSRecursiveLock</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSRunLoop.html">NSRunLoop</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSScanner.html">NSScanner</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSSerializer.html">NSSerializer</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSSet.html">NSSet</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSString.html">NSString</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSTask.html">NSTask</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSThread.html">NSThread</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSTimeZone.html">NSTimeZone</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSTimer.html">NSTimer</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSURL.html">NSURL</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSURLHandle.html">NSURLHandle</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSUnarchiver.html">NSUnarchiver</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSUndoManager.html">NSUndoManager</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSUserDefaults.html">NSUserDefaults</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSValue.html">NSValue</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
</list>
|
|
|
|
|
</section>
|
2001-03-03 09:56:29 +00:00
|
|
|
<section>
|
2001-04-10 03:27:01 +00:00
|
|
|
<heading>The OpenStep functions and types</heading>
|
2001-03-03 09:56:29 +00:00
|
|
|
<list>
|
|
|
|
|
<item><uref url="NSFunctions.html">Functions</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
</list>
|
|
|
|
|
</section>
|
2000-09-15 19:56:39 +00:00
|
|
|
<section>
|
|
|
|
|
<heading>The GNUstep extension classes</heading>
|
|
|
|
|
<list>
|
2000-10-26 22:43:56 +00:00
|
|
|
<item><uref url="GSMime.html">GSMime</uref></item>
|
2000-09-15 19:56:39 +00:00
|
|
|
<item><uref url="GSXML.html">GSXML</uref></item>
|
|
|
|
|
</list>
|
|
|
|
|
</section>
|
2000-04-10 05:12:32 +00:00
|
|
|
</chapter>
|
|
|
|
|
</body>
|
|
|
|
|
</gsdoc>
|
