1INKSCAPE(1) Inkscape Commands Manual INKSCAPE(1)
2
6 Inkscape - an SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) editing program.
7
9 "inkscape [options] [filename ...]"
10 options:
12 -?, --help
14 --usage
15 -V, --version
16 -f, --file=FILENAME
18 -e, --export-png=FILENAME
20 -a, --export-area=x0:y0:x1:y1
21 -C, --export-area-page
22 -D, --export-area-drawing
23 --export-area-snap
24 -i, --export-id=ID
25 -j, --export-id-only
26 -t, --export-use-hints
27 -b, --export-background=COLOR
28 -y, --export-background-opacity=VALUE
29 -d, --export-dpi=DPI
30 -w, --export-width=WIDTH
31 -h, --export-height=HEIGHT
32 -P, --export-ps=FILENAME
34 -E, --export-eps=FILENAME
35 -A, --export-pdf=FILENAME
36 --export-pdf-version=VERSION-STRING
37 --export-latex
38 --export-ps-level={2,3}
40 -T, --export-text-to-path
42 --export-ignore-filters
43 -l, --export-plain-svg=FILENAME
45 -p, --print=PRINTER
47 -I, --query-id=ID
49 -X, --query-x
50 -Y, --query-y
51 -W, --query-width
52 -H, --query-height
53 -S, --query-all
54 -x, --extension-directory
56 --verb-list
58 --verb=VERB-ID
59 --select=OBJECT-ID
60 --shell
62 -g, --with-gui
64 -z, --without-gui
65 --vacuum-defs
67 --no-convert-text-baseline-spacing
68 --g-fatal-warnings
70
72 Inkscape is a GUI editor for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format
73 drawing files, with capabilities similar to Adobe Illustrator,
74 CorelDraw, Xara Xtreme, etc. Inkscape features include versatile
75 shapes, bezier paths, freehand drawing, multi-line text, text on path,
76 alpha blending, arbitrary affine transforms, gradient and pattern
77 fills, node editing, many export and import formats including PNG and
78 PDF, grouping, layers, live clones, and a lot more. The interface is
79 designed to be comfortable and efficient for skilled users, while
80 remaining conformant to GNOME standards so that users familiar with
81 other GNOME applications can learn its interface rapidly.
82 SVG is a W3C standard XML format for 2D vector drawing. It allows
84 defining objects in the drawing using points, paths, and primitive
85 shapes. Colors, fonts, stroke width, and so forth are specified as
86 `style' attributes to these objects. The intent is that since SVG is a
87 standard, and since its files are text/xml, it will be possible to use
88 SVG files in a sizeable number of programs and for a wide range of
89 uses.
90 Inkscape uses SVG as its native document format, and has the goal of
92 becoming the most fully compliant drawing program for SVG files
93 available in the Open Source community.
94
96 -?, --help
97 Show help message
98 -V, --version
100 Show Inkscape version and build date.
101 -a x0:y0:x1:y1, --export-area=x0:y0:x1:y1
103 In PNG export, set the exported area in SVG user units
104 (anonymous length units normally used in Inkscape SVG). The
105 default is to export the entire document page. The point (0,0)
106 is the lower-left corner.
107 -C, --export-area-page
109 In SVG, PNG, PDF, PS, and EPS export, exported area is the
110 page. This is the default for SVG, PNG, PDF, and PS, so you
111 don't need to specify this unless you are using --export-id to
112 export a specific object. In EPS, however, this is not the
113 default; moreover, for EPS, the specification of the format
114 does not allow its bounding box to extend beyond its content.
115 This means that when --export-area-page is used with EPS
116 export, the page bounding box will be trimmed inwards to the
117 bounding box of the content if it is smaller.
118 -D, --export-area-drawing
120 In SVG, PNG, PDF, PS, and EPS export, exported area is the
121 drawing (not page), i.e. the bounding box of all objects of the
122 document (or of the exported object if --export-id is used).
123 With this option, the exported image will display all the
124 visible objects of the document without margins or cropping.
125 This is the default export area for EPS. For PNG, it can be
126 used in combination with --export-use-hints.
127 --export-area-snap
129 For PNG export, snap the export area outwards to the nearest
130 integer SVG user unit (px) values. If you are using the default
131 export resolution of 96 dpi and your graphics are pixel-snapped
132 to minimize antialiasing, this switch allows you to preserve
133 this alignment even if you are exporting some object's bounding
134 box (with --export-id or --export-area-drawing) which is itself
135 not pixel-aligned.
136 -b COLOR, --export-background=COLOR
138 Background color of exported PNG. This may be any SVG
139 supported color string, for example "#ff007f" or "rgb(255, 0,
140 128)". If not set, then the page color set in Inkscape in the
141 Document Options dialog will be used (stored in the pagecolor=
142 attribute of sodipodi:namedview).
143 -d DPI, --export-dpi=DPI
145 The resolution used for PNG export. It is also used for
146 fallback rasterization of filtered objects when exporting to
147 PS, EPS, or PDF (unless you specify --export-ignore-filters to
148 suppress rasterization). The default is 96 dpi, which
149 corresponds to 1 SVG user unit (px, also called "user unit")
150 exporting to 1 bitmap pixel. This value overrides the DPI hint
151 if used with --export-use-hints.
152 -e FILENAME, --export-png=FILENAME
154 Specify the filename for PNG export. If it already exists, the
155 file will be overwritten without asking. Use `-' as filename to
156 write the image data to standard output.
157 -f FILENAME, --file=FILENAME
159 Open specified document(s). Option string may be omitted, i.e.
160 you can list the filenames without -f. Use `-' as filename to
161 read the vector data from standard input.
162 -g, --with-gui
164 Try to use the GUI (on Unix, use the X server even if $DISPLAY
165 is not set).
166 -h HEIGHT, --export-height=HEIGHT
168 The height of generated bitmap in pixels. This value overrides
169 the --export-dpi setting (or the DPI hint if used with
170 --export-use-hints).
171 -i ID, --export-id=ID
173 For PNG, PS, EPS, PDF and plain SVG export, the id attribute
174 value of the object that you want to export from the document;
175 all other objects are not exported. By default the exported
176 area is the bounding box of the object; you can override this
177 using --export-area (PNG only) or --export-area-page.
178 -j, --export-id-only
180 For PNG and plain SVG, only export the object whose id is given
181 in --export-id. All other objects are hidden and won't show in
182 export even if they overlay the exported object. Without
183 --export-id, this option is ignored. For PDF export, this is
184 the default, so this option has no effect.
185 -l, --export-plain-svg=FILENAME
187 Export document(s) to plain SVG format, without sodipodi: or
188 inkscape: namespaces and without RDF metadata. Use `-' as
189 filename to write the image data to standard output.
190 -x, --extension-directory
192 Lists the current extension directory that Inkscape is
193 configured to use and then exits. This is used for external
194 extension to use the same configuration as the original
195 Inkscape installation.
196 --verb-list
198 Lists all the verbs that are available in Inkscape by ID. This
199 ID can be used in defining keymaps or menus. It can also be
200 used with the --verb command line option.
201 --verb=VERB-ID, --select=OBJECT-ID
203 These two options work together to provide some basic scripting
204 for Inkscape from the command line. They both can occur as
205 many times as needed on the command line and are executed in
206 order on every document that is specified.
207 The --verb command will execute a specific verb as if it was
209 called from a menu or button. Dialogs will appear if that is
210 part of the verb. To get a list of the verb IDs available, use
211 the --verb-list command line option.
212 The --select command will cause objects that have the ID
214 specified to be selected. This allows various verbs to act
215 upon them. To remove all the selections use
216 "--verb=EditDeselect". The object IDs available are dependent
217 on the document specified to load.
218 Note that the --verb command requires a GUI, and thus cannot be
220 used with the --z option.
221 -p PRINTER, --print=PRINTER
223 Print document(s) to the specified printer using `lpr -P
224 PRINTER'. Alternatively, use `| COMMAND' to specify a
225 different command to pipe to, or use `> FILENAME' to write the
226 PostScript output to a file instead of printing. Remember to
227 do appropriate quoting for your shell, e.g.
228 inkscape --print='| ps2pdf - mydoc.pdf' mydoc.svg
230 -t, --export-use-hints
232 Use export filename and DPI hints stored in the exported object
233 (only with --export-id). These hints are set automatically
234 when you export selection from within Inkscape. So, for
235 example, if you export a shape with id="path231" as
236 /home/me/shape.png at 300 dpi from document.svg using Inkscape
237 GUI, and save the document, then later you will be able to
238 reexport that shape to the same file with the same resolution
239 simply with
240 inkscape -i path231 -t document.svg
242 If you use --export-dpi, --export-width, or --export-height
244 with this option, then the DPI hint will be ignored and the
245 value from the command line will be used. If you use
246 --export-png with this option, then the filename hint will be
247 ignored and the filename from the command line will be used.
248 -w WIDTH, --export-width=WIDTH
250 The width of generated bitmap in pixels. This value overrides
251 the --export-dpi setting (or the DPI hint if used with
252 --export-use-hints).
253 -y VALUE, --export-background-opacity=VALUE
255 Opacity of the background of exported PNG. This may be a value
256 either between 0.0 and 1.0 (0.0 meaning full transparency, 1.0
257 full opacity) or greater than 1 up to 255 (255 meaning full
258 opacity). If not set and the -b option is not used, then the
259 page opacity set in Inkscape in the Document Options dialog
260 will be used (stored in the inkscape:pageopacity= attribute of
261 sodipodi:namedview). If not set but the -b option is used,
262 then the value of 255 (full opacity) will be used.
263 -P FILENAME, --export-ps=FILENAME
265 Export document(s) to PostScript format. Note that PostScript
266 does not support transparency, so any transparent objects in
267 the original SVG will be automatically rasterized. Used fonts
268 are subset and embedded. The default export area is page; you
269 can set it to drawing by --export-area-drawing. You can specify
270 --export-id to export a single object (all other are hidden);
271 in that case export area is that object's bounding box, but can
272 be set to page by --export-area-page. Use `-' as filename to
273 write the image data to standard output.
274 -E FILENAME, --export-eps=FILENAME
276 Export document(s) to Encapsulated PostScript format. Note that
277 PostScript does not support transparency, so any transparent
278 objects in the original SVG will be automatically rasterized.
279 Used fonts are subset and embedded. The default export area is
280 drawing; you can set it to page, however see --export-area-page
281 for applicable limitation. You can specify --export-id to
282 export a single object (all other are hidden). Use `-' as
283 filename to write the image data to standard output.
284 -A FILENAME, --export-pdf=FILENAME
286 Export document(s) to PDF format. This format preserves the
287 transparency in the original SVG. Used fonts are subset and
288 embedded. The default export area is page; you can set it to
289 drawing by --export-area-drawing. You can specify --export-id
290 to export a single object (all other are hidden); in that case
291 export area is that object's bounding box, but can be set to
292 page by --export-area-page. Use `-' as filename to write the
293 image data to standard output.
294 --export-pdf-version=PDF-VERSION
296 Select the PDF version of the exported PDF file. This option
297 basically exposes the PDF version selector found in the PDF-
298 export dialog of the GUI. You must provide one of the versions
299 from that combo-box, e.g. "1.4". The default pdf export version
300 is "1.4".
301 --export-latex
303 (for PS, EPS, and PDF export) Used for creating images for
304 LaTeX documents, where the image's text is typeset by LaTeX.
305 When exporting to PDF/PS/EPS format, this option splits the
306 output into a PDF/PS/EPS file (e.g. as specified by
307 --export-pdf) and a LaTeX file. Text will not be output in the
308 PDF/PS/EPS file, but instead will appear in the LaTeX file.
309 This LaTeX file includes the PDF/PS/EPS. Inputting
310 (\input{image.tex}) the LaTeX file in your LaTeX document will
311 show the image and all text will be typeset by LaTeX. See the
312 resulting LaTeX file for more information. Also see GNUPlot's
313 `epslatex' output terminal.
314 -T, --export-text-to-path
316 Convert text objects to paths on export, where applicable (for
317 PS, EPS, PDF and SVG export).
318 --export-ignore-filters
320 Export filtered objects (e.g. those with blur) as vectors,
321 ignoring the filters (for PS, EPS, and PDF export). By
322 default, all filtered objects are rasterized at --export-dpi
323 (default 96 dpi), preserving the appearance.
324 -I, --query-id
326 Set the ID of the object whose dimensions are queried. If not
327 set, query options will return the dimensions of the drawing
328 (i.e. all document objects), not the page or viewbox
329 -X, --query-x
331 Query the X coordinate of the drawing or, if specified, of the
332 object with --query-id. The returned value is in px (SVG user
333 units).
334 -Y, --query-y
336 Query the Y coordinate of the drawing or, if specified, of the
337 object with --query-id. The returned value is in px (SVG user
338 units).
339 -W, --query-width
341 Query the width of the drawing or, if specified, of the object
342 with --query-id. The returned value is in px (SVG user units).
343 -H, --query-height
345 Query the height of the drawing or, if specified, of the object
346 with --query-id. The returned value is in px (SVG user units).
347 -S, --query-all
349 Prints a comma delimited listing of all objects in the SVG
350 document with IDs defined, along with their x, y, width, and
351 height values.
352 --shell With this parameter, Inkscape will enter an interactive command
354 line shell mode. In this mode, you type in commands at the
355 prompt and Inkscape executes them, without you having to run a
356 new copy of Inkscape for each command. This feature is mostly
357 useful for scripting and server uses: it adds no new
358 capabilities but allows you to improve the speed and memory
359 requirements of any script that repeatedly calls Inkscape to
360 perform command line tasks (such as export or conversions).
361 Each command in shell mode must be a complete valid Inkscape
362 command line but without the Inkscape program name, for
363 example:
364 file.svg --export-pdf=file.pdf
366 --vacuum-defs
368 Remove all unused items from the "<defs>" section of the SVG
369 file. If this option is invoked in conjunction with
370 --export-plain-svg, only the exported file will be affected.
371 If it is used alone, the specified file will be modified in
372 place.
373 --no-convert-text-baseline-spacing
375 Do not automatically fix text baselines in legacy (pre-0.92)
376 files on opening. Inkscape 0.92 adopts the CSS standard
377 definition for the 'line-height' property, which differs from
378 past versions. By default, the line height values in files
379 created prior to Inkscape 0.92 will be adjusted on loading to
380 preserve the intended text layout. This command line option
381 will skip that adjustment.
382 -z, --without-gui
384 Do not open the GUI (on Unix, do not use X server); only
385 process the files from console. This is assumed for -p, -e,
386 -l, and --vacuum-defs options. It cannot be used in conjunction
387 with the --verb option.
388 --g-fatal-warnings
390 This standard GTK option forces any warnings, usually harmless,
391 to cause Inkscape to abort (useful for debugging).
392 --usage Display a brief usage message.
394
396 The main configuration file is located in
397 ~/.config/inkscape/preferences.xml; it stores a variety of
398 customization settings that you can change in Inkscape (mostly in the
399 Inkscape Preferences dialog). Also in the subdirectories there, you
400 can place your own:
401 $HOME/.config/inkscape/extensions/ - extension effects.
403 $HOME/.config/inkscape/icons/ - icons.
405 $HOME/.config/inkscape/keys/ - keyboard maps.
407 $HOME/.config/inkscape/templates/ - new file templates.
409
411 The program returns zero on success or non-zero on failure.
412 A variety of error messages and warnings may be printed to STDERR or
414 STDOUT. If the program behaves erratically with a particular SVG file
415 or crashes, it is useful to look at this output for clues.
416
418 While obviously Inkscape is primarily intended as a GUI application, it
419 can be used for doing SVG processing on the command line as well.
420 Open an SVG file in the GUI:
422 inkscape filename.svg
424 Print an SVG file from the command line:
426 inkscape filename.svg -p '| lpr'
428 Export an SVG file into PNG with the default resolution of 96 dpi (one
430 SVG user unit translates to one bitmap pixel):
431 inkscape filename.svg --export-png=filename.png
433 Same, but force the PNG file to be 600x400 pixels:
435 inkscape filename.svg --export-png=filename.png -w600 -h400
437 Same, but export the drawing (bounding box of all objects), not the
439 page:
440 inkscape filename.svg --export-png=filename.png --export-area-drawing
442 Export to PNG the object with id="text1555", using the output filename
444 and the resolution that were used for that object last time when it was
445 exported from the GUI:
446 inkscape filename.svg --export-id=text1555 --export-use-hints
448 Same, but use the default 96 dpi resolution, specify the filename, and
450 snap the exported area outwards to the nearest whole SVG user unit
451 values (to preserve pixel-alignment of objects and thus minimize
452 aliasing):
453 inkscape filename.svg --export-id=text1555 --export-png=text.png --export-area-snap
455 Convert an Inkscape SVG document to plain SVG:
457 inkscape filename1.svg --export-plain-svg=filename2.svg
459 Convert an SVG document to EPS, converting all texts to paths:
461 inkscape filename.svg --export-eps=filename.eps --export-text-to-path
463 Query the width of the object with id="text1555":
465 inkscape filename.svg --query-width --query-id text1555
467 Duplicate the object with id="path1555", rotate the duplicate 90
469 degrees, save SVG, and quit:
470 inkscape filename.svg --select=path1555 --verb=EditDuplicate --verb=ObjectRotate90 --verb=FileSave --verb=FileClose
472
474 DISPLAY to get the default host and display number.
475 TMPDIR to set the default path of the directory to use for temporary
477 files. The directory must exist.
478 INKSCAPE_PROFILE_DIR to set the path of the directory to use for the
480 user profile.
481
483 To load different icons sets instead of the default
484 $PREFIX/share/inkscape/icons/icons.svg file, the directory
485 $HOME/.config/inkscape/icons/ is used. Icons are loaded by name (e.g.
486 fill_none.svg), or if not found, then from icons.svg. If the icon is
487 not loaded from either of those locations, it falls back to the default
488 system location.
489 The needed icons are loaded from SVG files by searching for the SVG id
491 with the matching icon name. (For example, to load the "fill_none"
492 icon from a file, the bounding box seen for SVG id "fill_none" is
493 rendered as the icon, whether it comes from fill_none.svg or
494 icons.svg.)
495
497 The canonical place to find Inkscape info is at
498 <https://www.inkscape.org/>. The website has news, documentation,
499 tutorials, examples, mailing list archives, the latest released version
500 of the program, bugs and feature requests databases, forums, and more.
501
503 potrace, cairo, rsvg, batik, ghostscript, pstoedit.
504 SVG compliance test suite:
506 <https://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/WG/wiki/Test_Suite_Overview>
507 SVG validator: <https://validator.w3.org/>
509 Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 Specification W3C Recommendation 16
511 August 2011 <https://www.w3.org/TR/SVG11/>
512 Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.2 Specification W3C Working Draft 13
514 April 2005 <https://www.w3.org/TR/SVG12/>
515 Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 2 Specification W3C Candidate
517 Recommendation 15 September 2016 <https://www.w3.org/TR/SVG2/>
518 Document Object Model (DOM): Level 2 Core W3C Recommendation 13
520 November 2000 <https://www.w3.org/TR/DOM-Level-2-Core/>
521
523 To learn Inkscape's GUI operation, read the tutorials in Help >
524 Tutorials.
525 Apart from SVG, Inkscape can import (File > Import) most bitmap formats
527 (PNG, BMP, JPG, XPM, GIF, etc.), plain text (requires Perl), PS and EPS
528 (requires Ghostscript), PDF and AI format (AI version 9.0 or newer).
529 Inkscape exports 32-bit PNG images (File > Export PNG Image) as well as
531 AI, PS, EPS, PDF, DXF, and several other formats via File > Save as.
532 Inkscape can use the pressure and tilt of a graphic tablet pen for
534 width, angle, and force of action of several tools, including the
535 Calligraphic pen.
536 Inkscape includes a GUI front-end to the Potrace bitmap tracing engine
538 (<http://potrace.sf.net>) which is embedded into Inkscape.
539 Inkscape can use external scripts (stdin-to-stdout filters) that are
541 represented by commands in the Extensions menu. A script can have a GUI
542 dialog for setting various parameters and can get the IDs of the
543 selected objects on which to act via the command line. Inkscape comes
544 with an assortment of effects written in Python.
545
547 To get a complete list of keyboard and mouse shortcuts, view
548 doc/keys.html, or use the Keys and Mouse command in Help menu.
549
551 Many bugs are known; please refer to the website
552 (<https://www.inkscape.org/>) for reviewing the reported ones and to
553 report newly found issues. See also the Known Issues section in the
554 Release Notes for your version (file `NEWS').
555
557 This codebase owes its existence to a large number of contributors
558 throughout its various incarnations. The following list is certainly
559 incomplete, but serves to recognize the many shoulders on which this
560 application sits:
561 Maximilian Albert, Joshua A. Andler, Tavmjong Bah, Pierre Barbry-Blot,
563 Jean-François Barraud, Campbell Barton, Bill Baxter, John Beard, John
564 Bintz, Arpad Biro, Nicholas Bishop, Joshua L. Blocher, Hanno Böck,
565 Tomasz Boczkowski, Henrik Bohre, Boldewyn, Daniel Borgmann, Bastien
566 Bouclet, Hans Breuer, Gustav Broberg, Christopher Brown, Marcus
567 Brubaker, Luca Bruno, Brynn (brynn@inkscapecommunity.com), Nicu
568 Buculei, Bulia Byak, Pierre Caclin, Ian Caldwell, Gail Carmichael, Ed
569 Catmur, Chema Celorio, Jabiertxo Arraiza Cenoz, Johan Ceuppens,
570 Zbigniew Chyla, Alexander Clausen, John Cliff, Kees Cook, Ben Cromwell,
571 Robert Crosbie, Jon Cruz, Aurélie De-Cooman, Kris De Gussem, Milosz
572 Derezynski, Daniel Díaz, Bruno Dilly, Larry Doolittle, Nicolas Dufour,
573 Tim Dwyer, Maxim V. Dziumanenko, Johan Engelen, Miklos Erdelyi, Ulf
574 Erikson, Noé Falzon, Frank Felfe, Andrew Fitzsimon, Edward Flick,
575 Marcin Floryan, Fred, Ben Fowler, Cedric Gemy, Steren Giannini, Olivier
576 Gondouin, Ted Gould, Toine de Greef, Michael Grosberg, Bryce
577 Harrington, Dale Harvey, Aurélio Adnauer Heckert, Carl Hetherington,
578 Jos Hirth, Hannes Hochreiner, Thomas Holder, Joel Holdsworth,
579 Christoffer Holmstedt, Alan Horkan, Karl Ove Hufthammer, Richard
580 Hughes, Nathan Hurst, inductiveload, Thomas Ingham, Jean-Olivier
581 Irisson, Bob Jamison, Ted Janeczko, Marc Jeanmougin, jEsuSdA, Lauris
582 Kaplinski, Lynn Kerby, Niko Kiirala, James Kilfiger, Nikita Kitaev,
583 Jason Kivlighn, Adrian Knoth, Krzysztof Kosiński, Petr Kovar, Benoît
584 Lavorata, Alex Leone, Julien Leray, Raph Levien, Diederik van Lierop,
585 Nicklas Lindgren, Vitaly Lipatov, Ivan Louette, Fernando Lucchesi
586 Bastos Jurema, Pierre-Antoine Marc, Aurel-Aimé Marmion, Colin
587 Marquardt, Craig Marshall, Ivan Masár, Dmitry G. Mastrukov, David
588 Mathog, Matiphas, Patrick McDermott, Michael Meeks, Federico Mena,
589 MenTaLguY, Aubanel Monnier, Vincent Montagne, Tim Mooney, Derek P.
590 Moore, Chris Morgan, Peter Moulder, Jörg Müller, Yukihiro Nakai, Victor
591 Navez, Christian Neumair, Nick, Andreas Nilsson, Mitsuru Oka, Vinícius
592 dos Santos Oliveira, Martin Owens, Alvin Penner, Matthew Petroff, Jon
593 Phillips, Zdenko Podobny, Alexandre Prokoudine, Jean-René Reinhard,
594 Alexey Remizov, Frederic Rodrigo, Hugo Rodrigues, Juarez Rudsatz,
595 Xavier Conde Rueda, Felipe Corrêa da Silva Sanches, Christian Schaller,
596 Marco Scholten, Tom von Schwerdtner, Danilo Šegan, Abhishek Sharma,
597 Shivaken, Michael Sloan, John Smith, Boštjan Špetič, Aaron Spike,
598 Kaushik Sridharan, Ralf Stephan, Dariusz Stojek, Martin Sucha, ~suv,
599 Pat Suwalski, Adib Taraben, Hugh Tebby, Jonas Termeau, David Turner,
600 Andre Twupack, Aleksandar Urošević, Alex Valavanis, Joakim Verona,
601 Lucas Vieites, Daniel Wagenaar, Liam P. White, Sebastian Wüst, Michael
602 Wybrow, Gellule Xg, Daniel Yacob, David Yip, Masatake Yamato, Moritz
603 Eberl, Sebastian Faubel
604 This man page was put together by Bryce Harrington
606 <bryce@bryceharrington.org>.
607
609 The codebase that would become Inkscape began life in 1999 as the
610 program Gill, the GNOME Illustrator application, created by Raph
611 Levien. The stated objective for Gill was to eventually support all of
612 SVG. Raph implemented the PostScript bezier imaging model, including
613 stroking and filling, line cap style, line join style, text, etc.
614 Raph's Gill page is at <http://www.levien.com/svg/>. Work on Gill
615 appears to have slowed or ceased in 2000.
616 The next incarnation of the codebase was to become the highly popular
618 program Sodipodi, led by Lauris Kaplinski. The codebase was turned
619 into a powerful illustration program over the course of several year's
620 work, adding several new features, multi-lingual support, porting to
621 Windows and other operating systems, and eliminating dependencies.
622 Inkscape was formed in 2003 by four active Sodipodi developers, Bryce
624 Harrington, MenTaLguY, Nathan Hurst, and Ted Gould, wanting to take a
625 different direction with the codebase in terms of focus on SVG
626 compliance, interface look-and-feel, and a desire to open development
627 opportunities to more participants. The project progressed rapidly,
628 gaining a number of very active contributors and features.
629 Much work in the early days of the project focused on code
631 stabilization and internationalization. The original renderer
632 inherited from Sodipodi was laced with a number of mathematical corner
633 cases which led to unexpected crashes when the program was pushed
634 beyond routine uses; this renderer was replaced with Livarot which,
635 while not perfect either, was significantly less error prone. The
636 project also adopted a practice of committing code frequently, and
637 encouraging users to run developmental snapshots of the program; this
638 helped identify new bugs swiftly, and ensure it was easy for users to
639 verify the fixes. As a result, Inkscape releases have generally earned
640 a reputation for being robust and reliable.
641 Similarly, efforts were taken to internationalize and localize the
643 interface, which has helped the program gain contributors worldwide.
644 Inkscape has had a beneficial impact on the visual attractiveness of
646 Open Source in general, by providing a tool for creating and sharing
647 icons, splash screens, website art, and so on. In a way, despite being
648 "just an drawing program", Inkscape has played an important role in
649 making Open Source more visually stimulating to larger audiences.
650
652 Copyright (C) 1999–2018 by Authors.
653 Inkscape is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
655 under the terms of the GPL version 2 or later.
6560.92.4 2019-07-25 INKSCAPE(1)