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IMC(1)				 Image Compiler 			  IMC(1)

NAME
     imc - Image Compiler (v4.3)

SYNOPSIS
     imc [-h] [-v] [-q quality] [inputfile] -o outputfile {-I includedir}*

     or in a URL, as CGI script:

     imc?file=inputfile[&quality=quality]{&include=includedir}*

DESCRIPTION
     This  program  accepts drawing commands from a file or from standard input.
     The output of the program is a either a PNG, GIF or JPG image (GIF and  JPG
     if supported by the installed libgd and GD perl module).  If imc is used in
     a URL as CGI script, the image will be output to the browser.

     The  input  file  can also be automatically piped through a C pre-processor
     first, if one is available.

REQUIREMENTS
     imc needs Perl version 5.003, patchlevel 23, or higher  (version  5.004  is
     recommended).   Also  the	GD  module, version 1.18 or higher, is required.
     For JPG input/output, version 1.26 or higher  is  required.   For	GIF  in-
     put/output, version 2.15 or higher is required.

ARGUMENTS
     The  following  arguments	are accepted when run from the command line (the
     arguments can be specified in random order):

     -h     prints a help text, then quits

     -v     prints version info, then quits

     -q quality
	    the quality parameter in case of JPG output (ignored for PNG or  GIF
	    output)

     inputfile
	    the  name  of the input file with drawing commands (if no input file
	    is given, standard input is used)

     -o outputfile
	    the name of the output file (the file to generate); this is the only
	    mandatory argument; the output type (PNG, GIF  or  JPG)  is  deduced
	    from the extension of the file (.png, .gif or .jpg)

     -I includedir
	    the  name  of an include directory to be fed to the C pre-processor;
	    several include directories may be specified

     In a URL, the inputfile and, optionally, some includedirs have to be given.
     Also the quality can be passed, for JPG output.

SYNTAX
     The supported syntax is described in the imc Reference Manual, which is in-
     cluded in the distribution (in text and HTML format).   Releases  with  the
     same major version number have a backward compatible syntax.

HISTORY
     imc  came	out  of  a  kind  of contest started by my sysadmin at work.  He
     wanted a program that would allow him to generate web pages that show vari-
     ous things of interest about the system (system location, disk usage, ...),
     preferably in a graphical way.

     HTML itself has some restrictions on the placement of text and graphics  on
     a	page,  so  he came up with the idea of generating a GIF file from a text
     file with drawing commands, which could then be included in an  HTML  page.
     The rest, as they say, is history...

     Since  there were patent issues in using GIF files, the GD library switched
     over to PNG instead, and so did this program (since release 4.0).	Now that
     the patent issues are not there anymore, the GD library (and this	program,
     since release 4.3) has re-added GIF support.

COPYRIGHT
     imc is Copyright (C) 1998, 1999, 2002 Peter Verthez

     This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it un-
     der  the  terms  of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
     Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any  later  ver-
     sion.

     This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
     ANY  WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FIT-
     NESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more
     details.

     You should have received a copy of the GNU  General  Public  License  along
     with  this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
     Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.

BUGS
     Bugs should be reported to the address given  below.   Please  include  the
     version  number  of the program that you are using (or better yet: only re-
     port bugs on the latest version; see the README file on how to get the lat-
     est version).

AUTHOR
     Peter Verthez <Peter.Verthez@advalvas.be>

				  3 April 2005				  IMC(1)

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