Gir.Core is a C# wrapper for GObject-based libraries like GTK for user interfaces.

This project aims to provide a complete set of APIs for writing rich cross-platform user interfaces and multimedia programs. It is built upon the well-established GObject Introspection framework for language bindings.

• Idiomatic C#: An API which feels natural to C# developers (including the async/await feature).
• Simplicity: Memory management is handled automatically, greatly simplifying the C-API.
• Complete API: Support for the entire GTK and GStreamer stack, enabling feature-rich applications which deeply integrate with the OS.
• Declarative UI: A declarative syntax for creating GTK UIs (See the DeclarativeUI Sample). User interfaces may also be created the traditional way and/or with GtkBuilder XML.
• Extensibility: Allows 3rd party developers to write bindings for other GObject-based libraries, achieving full interoperability between them.

We are currently in a period of heavy iteration over the core internals of the project. The code is under heavy development and not ready for production. There is currently no nuget package available.

Anyone who wants to help is very welcome. If you want to start working on the project, take a look at our Good First Issues or get in touch by starting a Discussion.

We have a matrix room for discussing gir.core. Please join if you'd like to help (or just want to chat!)

https://matrix.to/#/#gircore:matrix.org?via=matrix.org

To build the project locally in debug mode follow these steps. Make sure to initialise submodules with --recursive otherwise the gir-files directory will not be loaded properly.

$ git clone --recursive https://github.com/gircore/gir.core.git
$ cd gir.core/src/Generation/Build
$ dotnet run

If you want to build using Windows please see the accompanying documentation.

There are some options which can be used to influence the code generation:

• --release: Execute the targets with the Release configuration. If not specified the Debug configuration is used.
• --xml-documentation: Generate the xml documentation.
• --generate-comments: Take over comments from gir file into the wrapper code. Be aware of the LGPL license of the comments.
• --targets <targets>: A list of targets to run or list.
• --version <version>: Specify the version number of the build.
• --disable-async: Runs the generator synchronously (useful for debugging if something goes wrong)

To get a full list of available options use --help.

Supported targets are:

• generate: Generates the source code files. Recognizes comments option.
• build: Builds the project with Debug or Release configuration. Recognizes xml-documentation and version option. Depends on generate target.
• integration: Builds the integration library.
• unittest: Execute unit tests with Debug or Release configuration. Depends on build.
• integrationtest: Execute integrations tests with Debug or Release configuration. Depends on unittest.
• systemtest: Execute integration tests that require system services like the DBus System Bus or Wayland Display Server. Depends on integrationtest.
• pack: Packs the libraries into the Nuget folder in the project root. Recognizes version option. Depends on build.
• clean: Cleans samples and build output including generated source code files.
• samples: Builds the sample applications with Debug or Release configuration. Depends on build and integration.

If no target is specified the build target is executed.

If you want to clean your debug build just run:

$ dotnet run -- --targets clean

If you want to generate the xml documentation, build the samples and run the test cases in debug mode just run:

$ dotnet run -- --xml-documentation --targets test samples

If you want to build the wrappers in release mode just run

$ dotnet run -- --release

To use the newly build libraries in your project just add a reference to the csproj file of the project you want to use, e.g:

$ dotnet add reference [RepoPath]/Libs/Gtk/Gtk.csproj

The folder structure in this repository is organized as follows:

• src/Generation/Build: The build tool determines which projects to build and generates the libraries. Everything works automatically.
• src/Generation/GirLoader: A library for reading and resolving GObject Introspection repositories.
• src/Generation/Generator: Code generator generates C# code from GObject Introspection data.
• src/Integration: Optional source generators to reduce boilerplate code in your projects.
• src/Libs: Contains manually written code for libraries. The generator outputs code here.
• src/Samples: Example programs using GTK, GStreamer, and others.
• src/Tests: Unit and Integration tests.
• ext/gir-files: Introspection data from gircore/gir-files.

The code in the library folder is not complete because most of the code is generated when the build tool is run.

Gir.Core is licensed under the terms of the MIT-License. Please see the license file for further information.

The Gir.Core logo is built upon the original GTK logo by Andreas Nilsson which is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License and was relicensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Therefore the Gir.Core logo is licensed under the CC BY-SA 3.0, too.