gdev – GNU Development Automation Tool
======================================

gdev is a tool designed to assist in the creation, configuration,
building, testing, documentation, and distribution of software
projects following the GNU Coding Standards.  It provides a unified and
consistent interface for initializing new projects, generating standard
GNU directory structures, preparing Autotools input files, coordinating
build operations, and interacting with version control systems.

gdev aims to reduce the amount of manual work required to set up and
maintain portable software developed in C and other languages supported
by the GNU system.  It does not replace Autoconf, Automake, Libtool,
or related utilities; instead, it builds upon them to offer a simpler,
more accessible workflow for both new and experienced developers.

This package is free software; see the section “License” below.


OVERVIEW
--------

The gdev tool offers the following facilities:

  • Creation of new project skeletons following the GNU directory
    layout (src/, include/, tests/, doc/, m4/, build-aux/, etc.).

  • Generation of initial Autoconf and Automake files
    (configure.ac, Makefile.am) suitable for programs or libraries.

  • Integration with pkg-config for discovery and management of
    external dependencies.

  • Build management through Autotools and make.

  • Support for optional test frameworks and documentation systems,
    including Texinfo, man pages, and other GNU documentation formats.

  • Version control integration with Git and optional support for
    decentralized sharing through peer-to-peer networks.

  • Facilities for publishing, mirroring, and distributing source
    trees across traditional servers and decentralized transports.

  • An extensible command hierarchy that enables additional
    high-level operations to be added for other programming languages
    or build systems used within the GNU project.

gdev is intended to be useful both for creating new projects and for
maintaining existing projects that follow the GNU style.  It is written
with portability and clarity in mind.


REQUIREMENTS
------------

The following tools are required or strongly recommended:

  • A POSIX-compliant shell.
  • Autoconf.
  • Automake.
  • Libtool (optional, for libraries).
  • pkg-config.
  • make.
  • Git (optional).
  • Texinfo (optional, for documentation).

Some features depend on additional GNU packages.  gdev will operate
correctly even if optional tools are not installed, although certain
functions will not be available.


INSTALLATION
------------

To build and install gdev, use the standard GNU installation procedure:

    ./configure
    make
    make install

You may specify installation directories through standard configure
options such as --prefix.  For more information, consult the output of

    ./configure --help


USAGE
-----

To create a new GNU-style project directory:

    gdev init PROJECT-NAME

To generate Autotools input files or refresh them after modifications:

    gdev buildconf

To run the standard build procedure:

    gdev build

To run the test suite:

    gdev test

To generate documentation (if present):

    gdev doc

To manage version control or publish to remote repositories:

    gdev vcs COMMAND
    gdev publish

Additional commands and options are described in the manual.


DIRECTORY STRUCTURE
-------------------

A project created with gdev typically contains:

    PROJECT/
      src/         Source files in C or other languages.
      include/     Public header files.
      tests/       Optional test programs.
      doc/         Texinfo and other documentation formats.
      m4/          Autoconf macro files.
      build-aux/   Helper scripts used by Autotools.
      configure.ac Autoconf input file.
      Makefile.am  Automake input file.
      README       Project overview.
      NEWS         User-visible changes.
      AUTHORS      List of authors and contributors.
      ChangeLog    Record of code changes.
      COPYING      License file.

This structure follows the conventions described in the GNU Coding
Standards.


REPORTING BUGS
--------------

Bug reports, patches, and feature suggestions are welcome.  Please send
them to the project's issue tracker or to the appropriate mailing list
as documented on the project web page.

Patches should be formatted using "git format-patch" or "diff -u".


COPYRIGHT
---------

Copyright (C) 2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This file is part of gdev.

gdev is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your
option) any later version.

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

A copy of the GNU General Public License is included in the file
COPYING.