[[Image(source:/www/logo-caca.png, align=right, border=2, alt="libcaca logo")]]
== Introduction ==
libcaca is a graphics library that outputs text instead of pixels, so that it can work on older video cards or text terminals. It is not unlike the famous [http://aa-project.sourceforge.net/aalib/ AAlib] library, with the following improvements:
* Unicode support
* 2048 available colours (some devices can only handle 16)
* dithering of colour images
* advanced text canvas operations (blitting, rotations)
Libcaca works in a text terminal (and should thus work on all Unix systems including Mac OS X) using the S-Lang or ncurses libraries. It also works natively on DOS and Windows.
Libcaca was written by Sam Hocevar and Jean-Yves Lamoureux. It is free software, and can be used, modified and distributed under the terms of the [http://sam.zoy.org/wtfpl/ Do What The Fuck You Want To Public License].
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== News ==
* '''18 May 2008''': [wiki:zzuf zzuf] 0.11
* '''1 Apr 2008''': libcaca to be [http://blog.thebehrens.net/2008/04/01/new-highly-portable-canvas-backend/ OpenOffice.org’s official multiplatform rendering backend]
* '''24 Feb 2008''': we are now using Trac!
* '''24 Jan 2008''': [/labs/img2oric.html img2oric], the first Caca Labs piece of research software
* '''28 Nov 2007''': [wiki:libcaca libcaca] 0.99.beta13
* '''24 Oct 2007''': Report on [/cacacon07/ CacaCon’07], the first international libcaca conference.
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* '''30 Sep 2007''': [wiki:libcaca libcaca] 0.99.beta12
* '''16 Nov 2006''': [wiki:libcaca libcaca] 0.99.beta11
* '''16 Nov 2006''': [wiki:toilet TOIlet] 0.1
* '''12 Nov 2006''': [wiki:libcaca libcaca] 0.99.beta10
* '''6 Nov 2006''': [wiki:libcaca libcaca] 0.99.beta9
* '''22 Oct 2006''': [wiki:libcaca libcaca] 0.99.beta8
* '''4 Oct 2006''': [wiki:libcaca libcaca] 0.99.beta7
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[[Image(source:/www/img/sample.png, align=right, border=2)]]
== Screenshots ==
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Change those fucking screenshots to proper Trac stuff when 0.11 is in Debian:
[[Image(source:/www/img/tn-stitch-80x45.jpeg, link=/img/stitch-80x45.png)]]
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Here are a few libcaca screenshots.
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cacaview
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cacaball
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cacaplas
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TrueColor
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Unicode
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swallowing applications
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canvas rotation
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See also the various export formats, generated from an old ANSI file: PNG (through TGA), HTML, SVG, PostScript.
== Why? ==
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Que dites-vous ?... C’est inutile ?... Je le sais !
Mais on ne se bat pas dans l’espoir du succès !
Non ! non, c’est bien plus beau lorsque c’est inutile !
-- Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac
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I am perfectly aware that libcaca is the waste of time it looks to be. No need to tell me about that. I urge you to read Théophile Gautier’s preface to ''Mademoiselle de Maupin'', which also gives an excellent explanation for the name “libcaca”:
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Il n’y a rien de vraiment beau que ce qui ne peut servir à rien ; tout ce
qui est utile est laid ; car c’est l’expression de quelque besoin ; et ceux
de l’homme sont ignobles et dégoûtants, comme sa pauvre et infirme nature. -
L’endroit le plus utile d’une maison, ce sont les latrines.
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As for the name “libcucul”, please refer to the pioneer of modernist Polish fiction:
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Mais contre le cucul, il n’y a pas de refuge. Courez après moi
si vous voulez, je m’enfuis la gueule entre les mains. Et voilà,
tralala, Zut à celui qui le lira !
-- Witold Gombrowicz, Ferdydurke
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