POTRACE - transform bitmaps into vector graphics README for Windows _________________________________________________________________ This file contains instructions specific to the pre-compiled Windows distribution of Potrace. Please see the general README file and the man page for general information on usage, how to compile Potrace, etc. INSTALLATION for Windows 95/98/2000/NT/XP/Vista/7/whatever: =========================================================== Download the file potrace-XXX.win32.zip (or potrace-XXX.win64.zip if you want the 64-bit version). Unpack it with your favorite unzipping tool, such as unzip, 7-Zip, WinZip, or just right-clicking on the file. If you have "tar" and "gunzip" installed, you may also get the tar.gz file instead of the zip file. The distribution includes the executable programs potrace.exe and mkbitmap.exe. You need to move these files to a place where Windows looks for programs, for example C:\WINDOWS. Alternatively, you can amend your PATH environment variable, by adding something like the following line to C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT: PATH=%PATH%;C:\DIRECTORY\WHERE\FILES\ARE Note: as of version 1.6, the Potrace Windows distribution is built using MinGW and not Cygwin. It is no longer necessary to install a separate DLL file with Potrace. RUNNING: ======== For non-Windows specific usage information, see the file README. Potrace on Windows runs in much the same way as under Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. You must run Potrace from the command line (also known as the MSDOS Prompt). File names can be given in Unix style or Windows style, thus the following will both work: potrace h:/data/file.txt potrace h:\data\file.txt Wildcards can also be used, as in: potrace h:\data\*.* potrace h:/data/*.* Earlier versions of Potrace had some problems when wildcards and backslashes were mixed; these problems seem to have been solved by the switch from Cygwin to MinGW. Another problem that some users have reported is that the generated ".ps" and ".eps" were not executable under Windows (i.e., one could not simply display these files by typing their name on the MSDOS Prompt, as should normally be the case if a default application for PostScript files has been configured). I was never able to replicate this problem, but I believe that it has also been solved by the switch to MinGW.