<refentry id="gtk-running" revision="10 Jan 2002"><refmeta><refentrytitle>Running GTK+ Applications</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum><refmiscinfo>GTK Library</refmiscinfo></refmeta><refnamediv><refname>Running GTK+ Applications</refname><refpurpose>How to run and debug your GTK+ application</refpurpose></refnamediv><refsect1><title>Running and debugging GTK+ Applications</title><refsect2><title>Common commandline options</title><para>All GTK+ applications support a number of standard commandlineoptions. These are removed from <literal>argv</literal> by <linklinkend="gtk-init">gtk_init()</link>. Modules may parse and removefurther options. The <link linkend="x11-cmdline">X11</link> and<link linkend="win32-cmdline">Windows</link> GDK backends parsesome additional commandline options.</para><formalpara><title><systemitem>--gtk-module <replaceable>module</replaceable></systemitem></title><para>A list of modules to load in addition to those specified in the <envar>GTK_MODULES</envar> environment variable and the <literal>gtk-modules</literal> setting.</para></formalpara><formalpara><title><systemitem>--g-fatal-warnings</systemitem></title><para>Make GTK+ abort on all warnings. This is useful to stop on the firstwarning in a debugger, if your application is printing multiplewarnings.  It's almost always best to start debugging with the firstwarning that occurs.</para></formalpara><formalpara><title><systemitem>--gtk-debug <replaceable>options</replaceable></systemitem></title><para>A list of <link linkend="GTK-Debug-Options">debug options</link> to turn on in addition to those specified in the <envar>GTK_DEBUG</envar> environment variable. This option is only available if GTK+ has been configured with<option>--enable-debug=yes</option>.</para></formalpara><formalpara><title><systemitem>--gtk-no-debug <replaceable>options</replaceable></systemitem></title><para>A list of <link linkend="GTK-Debug-Options">debug options</link> to turn off.This option is only available if GTK+ has been configured with<option>--enable-debug=yes</option>.</para></formalpara><para>The following options are really used by GDK, not by GTK+, but welist them here for completeness nevertheless.</para><formalpara><title><systemitem>--class <replaceable>class</replaceable></systemitem></title><para>Sets the program class; see <link linkend="gdk-set-program-class"><function>gdk_set_program_class</function>()</link>. </para></formalpara><formalpara><title><systemitem>--name <replaceable>name</replaceable></systemitem></title><para>Sets the program name.</para></formalpara><formalpara><title><systemitem>--gdk-debug <replaceable>options</replaceable></systemitem></title><para>A list of <link linkend="GDK-Debug-Options">debug options</link> to turn on in addition to those specified in the <envar>GDK_DEBUG</envar> environment variable. This option is only available if GTK+ has been configured with<option>--enable-debug=yes</option>.</para></formalpara><formalpara><title><systemitem>--gdk-no-debug <replaceable>options</replaceable></systemitem></title><para>A list of <link linkend="GDK-Debug-Options">debug options</link> to turn off.This option is only available if GTK+ has been configured with<option>--enable-debug=yes</option>.</para></formalpara></refsect2><refsect2><title>Environment variables</title><para> GTK+ inspects a number of environment variables in addition to standardvariables like <envar>LANG</envar>, <envar>PATH</envar>, <envar>HOME</envar> or <envar>DISPLAY</envar>; mostly to determine paths to look for certain files. The <link linkend="x11-envar">X11</link>, <link linkend="win32-envar">Windows</link> and <link linkend="fb-envar">Framebuffer</link> GDK backends use someadditional environment variables.</para><formalpara id="GTK-Debug-Options">  <title><envar>GTK_DEBUG</envar></title>  <para>  If GTK+ has been configured with <option>--enable-debug=yes</option>,  this variable can be set to a list of debug options, which cause GTK+  to print out different types of debugging information.  <variablelist>    <varlistentry>      <term>misc</term>      <listitem><para>Miscellaneous information</para></listitem>    </varlistentry>    <varlistentry>      <term>plugsocket</term>      <listitem><para>Cross-process embedding</para></listitem>    </varlistentry>    <varlistentry>      <term>text</term>      <listitem><para>Text widget internals</para></listitem>    </varlistentry>    <varlistentry>      <term>tree</term>      <listitem><para>Tree widget internals</para></listitem>    </varlistentry>    <varlistentry>      <term>updates</term>      <listitem><para>Visual feedback about window updates</para></listitem>    </varlistentry>    <varlistentry>      <term>keybindings</term>      <listitem><para>Keybindings</para></listitem>    </varlistentry>    <varlistentry>      <term>multihead</term>      <listitem><para>Working on multiple displays</para></listitem>    </varlistentry>    <varlistentry>      <term>modules</term>      <listitem><para>Loading of modules</para></listitem>    </varlistentry>    <varlistentry>      <term>geometry</term>      <listitem><para>Size allocation</para></listitem>    </varlistentry>  </variablelist>  The special value <literal>all</literal> can be used to turn on all debug options.  </para></formalpara><formalpara>  <title><envar>GTK_MODULES</envar></title>  <para>    A list of modules to load.  </para></formalpara><formalpara>  <title><envar>GTK_PATH</envar></title>  <para>    Specifies a list of directories to search when GTK+ is looking for    dynamically loaded objects such as the modules specified by    <envar>GTK_MODULES</envar>, theme engines, and input method    modules. If the path to the dynamically loaded object is given    as an absolute path name, then GTK+ loads it directly. Otherwise,    GTK+ goes in turn through the directories in GTK_PATH, followed    by the directory <filename>.gtk-2.0</filename> in the user's home    directory, followed by the system default directory,     which is <filename><replaceable>libdir</replaceable>/gtk-2.0/modules</filename>.    (If <envar>GTK_EXE_PREFIX</envar> is defined, <replaceable>libdir</replaceable> is     <filename>$GTK_EXE_PREFIX/lib</filename>. Otherwise it is the libdir    specified when GTK+ was configured, usually    <filename>/usr/lib</filename>, or    <filename>/usr/local/lib</filename>.)    For each directory in this list, GTK+ actually looks in a    subdirectory    <filename><replaceable>directory</replaceable>/<replaceable>version</replaceable>/<replaceable>host</replaceable>/<replaceable>type</replaceable></filename>    Where <replaceable>version</replaceable> is derived from the    version of GTK+ (use <literal>pkg-config    --variable=gtk_binary_version gtk+-2.0</literal> to determine this from a    script), <replaceable>host</replaceable> is the architecture on    which GTK+ was built. (use <literal>pkg-config    --variable=gtk_host gtk+-2.0</literal> to determine this from a    script), and <replaceable>type</replaceable> is a directory    specific to the type of modules; currently it can be    <literal>modules</literal>, <literal>engines</literal> or    <literal>immodules</literal> corresponding to the three types of    modules above. Either <replaceable>version</replaceable>,    <replaceable>host</replaceable>, or both may be omitted. GTK+ looks    first in the most specific directory, then in directories with    fewer components.    The components of GTK_PATH are separated by the ':' character on    Linux and Unix, and the ';' character on Windows.  </para></formalpara><formalpara>  <title><envar>GTK_IM_MODULE</envar></title>  <para>    Specifies an IM module to use in preference to the one determined    from the locale.   </para></formalpara><formalpara id="im-module-file">  <title><envar>GTK_IM_MODULE_FILE</envar></title>  <para>    Specifies the file listing the IM modules to load. This environment    variable overrides the <literal>im_module_file</literal> specified in     the RC files, which in turn overrides the default value     <filename><replaceable>sysconfdir</replaceable>/gtk-2.0/gtk.immodules</filename>    (<replaceable>sysconfdir</replaceable> is the sysconfdir specified when GTK+ was configured,      usually <filename>/usr/local/etc</filename>.)  </para></formalpara><formalpara>  <title><envar>GTK2_RC_FILES</envar></title>    <para>    Specifies a list of RC files to parse instead of the default ones;    see <link linkend="gtk-Resource-Files">Resource Files</link>.  </para></formalpara><formalpara>  <title><envar>GTK_EXE_PREFIX</envar></title>  <para>    If set, GTK+ uses <filename>$GTK_EXE_PREFIX/lib</filename> instead of     the libdir configured when GTK+ was compiled.  </para></formalpara><formalpara>  <title><envar>GTK_DATA_PREFIX</envar></title>  <para>    If set, makes GTK+ use <filename>$GTK_DATA_PREFIX</filename>    instead of the prefix configured when GTK+ was compiled.  </para></formalpara><para>The following environment variables are used by GdkPixbuf, GDK orPango, not by GTK+ itself, but we list them here for completenessnevertheless.</para><formalpara>  <title><envar>GDK_PIXBUF_MODULE_FILE</envar></title>  <para>    Specifies the file listing the GdkPixbuf loader modules to load.     This environment variable overrides the default value     <filename><replaceable>sysconfdir</replaceable>/gtk-2.0/gdk-pixbuf.loaders</filename>    (<replaceable>sysconfdir</replaceable> is the sysconfdir specified when	  GTK+ was configured, usually <filename>/usr/local/etc</filename>.)  </para> </formalpara><formalpara id="GDK-Debug-Options">  <title><envar>GDK_DEBUG</envar></title>  <para>  If GTK+ has been configured with <option>--enable-debug=yes</option>,  this variable can be set to a list of debug options, which cause GDK  to print out different types of debugging information.  <variablelist>    <varlistentry>      <term>misc</term>      <listitem><para>Miscellaneous information</para></listitem>    </varlistentry>    <varlistentry>      <term>events</term>      <listitem><para>Show all events received by GDK</para></listitem>    </varlistentry>    <varlistentry>      <term>dnd</term>      <listitem><para>Information about drag-and-drop</para></listitem>    </varlistentry>    <varlistentry>      <term>xim</term>      <listitem><para>Information about XIM support</para></listitem>    </varlistentry>  </variablelist>  The special value <literal>all</literal> can be used to turn on all debug options.  </para></formalpara><formalpara>  <title><envar>XDG_DATA_HOME</envar>, <envar>XDG_DATA_DIRS</envar></title>  <para>    GTK+ uses these environment variables to locate icon themes    and MIME information. For more information, see     <ulink url="http://freedesktop.org/Standards/icon-theme-spec">Icon Theme Specification</ulink>,    the <ulink url="http://freedesktop.org/Standards/shared-mime-info-spec">Shared MIME-info Database</ulink>     and the <ulink url="http://freedesktop.org/Standards/basedir-spec">Base Directory Specification</ulink>.  </para></formalpara></refsect2></refsect1></refentry>