BRLCAD-LAUNCHER(1)

NAME

brlcad-launcher - discover and start BRL-CAD applications

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SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
OPTIONS
EXAMPLES
SEE ALSO
AUTHOR
COPYRIGHT
BUG REPORTS

SYNOPSIS

brlcad-launcher [options]

The brlcad-launcher command presents the installed BRL-CAD applications in a small graphical or text menu. It is intended as a portable front door to tools such as mged(1), Archer, and RtWizard, particularly on systems where users expect a single application entry point.

Menu entries are discovered at run time from installed launcher manifests. The launcher reports unavailable applications, starts a selected application as an independent process, and remains available for additional selections. It also provides an entry for a command shell configured to use the installed BRL-CAD tools.

The graphical interface uses BRL-CAD’s framebuffer library and does not depend on Qt or Tcl/Tk. If no graphical framebuffer is available, the launcher falls back to the console menu. The text interface is also suitable for headless sessions.

OPTIONS

-t, --text: Force the console menu.
-g, --gui: Request the graphical menu. If it cannot be opened, report the problem and use the console menu.
-l, --list: List discovered applications and their availability, then exit.
-h, --help: Print command usage and exit.

EXAMPLES

Example 1. List the discovered applications

brlcad-launcher --list

Prints the manifest entries, executable names, descriptions, and whether each application is installed.

Example 2. Use the text menu

brlcad-launcher --text

Starts the console interface even when a graphical framebuffer is available.