Annotation of /trunk/thuban/libraries/pyshapelib/README


Python bindings for Shapelib
============================

These are three python modules for shapelib:

   shapelib     read/write shapefiles

   dbflib       read/write dbf files

   shptree      quadtree for shapes

Shapelib is a free software library for reading and writing ESRI shape
files and can be found at http://gdal.velocet.ca/projects/shapelib. 

The bindings were partly created with SWIG, a tool that can generate
wrappers of C and C++ libraries for a variety of scripting languages.
It's homepage is http://www.swig.org.

The bindings themselves don't have a homepage at the moment, but the
source tarballs/zip files can be downloaded from
http://ftp.intevation.de/users/bh/pyshapelib/


Requirements
------------

To compile the bindings, you need shapelib 1.2.9 or newer and Python 2.0
or newer.

SWIG is not required. The files generated by SWIG are contained in the
archive. If you modify shapelib.i or dbflib.i and need to recreate the
generated files, you need SWIG 1.3 Alpha 5.  It's unlikely that other
versions will work.

You also need Python, of course.  If you installed prebuilt packages
such as RPMs of some Linux distributions, please make sure that the
development package is also installed.


License
-------

The shapelib python bindings are covered by the LGPL. See COPYING for
more information.


Compilation and Installation
----------------------------

Pyshapelib uses the python distutils which come with Python 2.0 or newer
and are also available separately from python.org for older versions.

To compile the bindings, unpack the archive under the shapelib archive
or move the directory there if you've already unpacked it.  The setup
script expects to find the shapelib files in the parent directory.  Then
run

    python setup.py build

to build the bindings. The result can be found under the (new) build
subirectory.

To install run

    python setup.py install

which will install the bindings into python's site-packages directory.
You can use the intall command's --prefix option to select a different
installatin directory. 

For more information about the setup.py script, invoke it with the
--help option:

    python setup.py --help


Documentation
-------------

There's no real documentation for the python bindings themselves, but
there's a simple demo/test script called pytest.py.

The change history is recorded in NEWS and in detail in ChangeLog.


Contact Information
-------------------

pyshapelib is currently being developed as part of the interactive
viewer for geographic data Thuban, so the best way to reach the
developers is to post on the Thuban mailing lists.

Thuban:
   http://thuban.intevation.org/

Thuban mailing lists:
   http://thuban.intevation.org/mailinglist.html
1	jan	1611
2			Python bindings for Shapelib
3			============================
4
5	bh	2215	These are three python modules for shapelib:
6	jan	1611
7	bh	2215	shapelib read/write shapefiles
8
9			dbflib read/write dbf files
10
11			shptree quadtree for shapes
12
13	jan	1611	Shapelib is a free software library for reading and writing ESRI shape
14			files and can be found at http://gdal.velocet.ca/projects/shapelib.
15
16	bh	2215	The bindings were partly created with SWIG, a tool that can generate
17			wrappers of C and C++ libraries for a variety of scripting languages.
18			It's homepage is http://www.swig.org.
19	jan	1611
20	bh	2226	The bindings themselves don't have a homepage at the moment, but the
21			source tarballs/zip files can be downloaded from
22			http://ftp.intevation.de/users/bh/pyshapelib/
23	jan	1611
24
25			Requirements
26			------------
27
28	bh	2226	To compile the bindings, you need shapelib 1.2.9 or newer and Python 2.0
29			or newer.
30	jan	1611
31			SWIG is not required. The files generated by SWIG are contained in the
32	bh	2215	archive. If you modify shapelib.i or dbflib.i and need to recreate the
33			generated files, you need SWIG 1.3 Alpha 5. It's unlikely that other
34			versions will work.
35	jan	1611
36	bh	2215	You also need Python, of course. If you installed prebuilt packages
37			such as RPMs of some Linux distributions, please make sure that the
38	jan	1611	development package is also installed.
39
40
41			License
42			-------
43
44			The shapelib python bindings are covered by the LGPL. See COPYING for
45			more information.
46
47
48			Compilation and Installation
49			----------------------------
50
51			Pyshapelib uses the python distutils which come with Python 2.0 or newer
52			and are also available separately from python.org for older versions.
53
54			To compile the bindings, unpack the archive under the shapelib archive
55	bh	2215	or move the directory there if you've already unpacked it. The setup
56			script expects to find the shapelib files in the parent directory. Then
57			run
58	jan	1611
59			python setup.py build
60
61			to build the bindings. The result can be found under the (new) build
62			subirectory.
63
64			To install run
65
66			python setup.py install
67
68			which will install the bindings into python's site-packages directory.
69			You can use the intall command's --prefix option to select a different
70			installatin directory.
71
72			For more information about the setup.py script, invoke it with the
73			--help option:
74
75			python setup.py --help
76
77
78			Documentation
79			-------------
80
81			There's no real documentation for the python bindings themselves, but
82			there's a simple demo/test script called pytest.py.
83
84			The change history is recorded in NEWS and in detail in ChangeLog.
85	bh	2226
86
87			Contact Information
88			-------------------
89
90			pyshapelib is currently being developed as part of the interactive
91			viewer for geographic data Thuban, so the best way to reach the
92			developers is to post on the Thuban mailing lists.
93
94			Thuban:
95			http://thuban.intevation.org/
96
97			Thuban mailing lists:
98			http://thuban.intevation.org/mailinglist.html
Name	Value
svn:eol-style	native
svn:keywords	Author Date Id Revision