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This library and all the files enclosed in this package are free software under the terms of the GNU Library General Public License (LGPL). Please refer to the included file COPYING.LIB for the exact terms.

WARNING: This file may be partly outdated. I do update it with the newest information but some sections need some brushing up.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Usage
Where to get the newest HERMES
Prerequisites Where to get NASM (not for Linux anymore!!)
Libraries that use HERMES
How to submit bug reports
1. Introduction

HERMES, named after the messenger of the gods, is a library whose only purpose is to convert graphic data from one pixel format to another in the fastest possible way. It was born out of the PTC library. One day the pixel format routines were removed from PTC and made a library on their own to speed up development and bug fixing and to encourage other people to use these routines and contribute to them.

What we have now is an extremely portable library (it doesn't do any I/O, so it should compile on a GameBoy :) that can be compiled using either a C or a C++ compiler, depending on what code you use it with. It is being developed using both GNU C and GNU C++ in order to ensure maximum compatibility with both languages.

Er, before I forget it, HERMES will also do surface clearing. And it will do it FAST (even with x86 and MMX routines if you're on those platforms)

2. Where to get the newest HERMES

The HERMES homepage is at

http://clanlib.org/hermes

Both stable releases and development versions can be found there. There is also a mailing list for general correspondance and a CVS server that is used for shared development. Have a look. :)

3. Usage

HERMES isn't very useful on its own. It wasn't meant to be, it is developed to be part of bigger graphics libraries. Check out the next point on libraries that use HERMES. Or, alternatively, maybe you wrote your own graphics library that holds an offscreen buffer and wants its contents copied to the screen. Then HERMES is your friend as well.

Maybe you will find Hermes useful in a program of yours.. If so, send me some e-mail, I'll be quite interested to hear what it is :)

The API of Hermes can be found in docs/api.

4. Prerequisites

First of all, you need a compiler. The library has been known to compile on the following, but it should compile on any system with a proper ANSI C compiler:

Linux, RedHat 5.0 with gcc 2.7.2
Linux, RedHat 5.0 with pgcc 1.0.3a
Linux, RedHat 5.1 with egcs 1.0.2
Linux, RedHat 5.1 with pgcc 1.1b
Linux, Mandrake 6.0 with pgcc (egcs 1.1.2)
FreeBSD 2.2.7 with gcc 2.7.2 (read INSTALL.BSD)
Microsoft Window, Visual C++ 6 (read INSTALL.Win32)
DOS, with WATCOM C v11 (read INSTALL.DOS)
DOS, with DJGPP v2 (gcc 2.8.1) (read INSTALL.DOS)
BeOS for Intel, with ? (has been reported to compile)
IRIX 6.3 with gcc 2.7.2 | Support for those had to be suspended
Solaris with gcc 2.7.2 | because of faulty automake / libtool
SunOS with gcc 2.7.2 | that only work with GNU utilities...

If you want assembler routines with Watcom C or Visual C, you need to download and install NASM. Get it from

http://www.cryogen.com/Nasm

The latest version is 0.97. Nasm is freely available and is quite a good assembler.

!!! Please note that NASM is NOT required anymore for assembler support

under Linux or DJGPP !!!

5. Libraries that use HERMES

Prometheus Truecolour (PTC) obviously uses HERMES. You can get this nice C++ library at http://www.gaffer.org/ptc. Or you can download the X11 version at http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/students/c.nentwich/ptc
Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL) uses the MMX assembler routines of HERMES.
ClanLib (http://www.clanlib.org) uses Hermes for format conversion.
It could be you! :) 6. How to submit bug reports

Well, first of all, make sure it really is HERMES's fault, not the fault of the library you are using.

Then go to the Sourceforge Bug Tracker located at:

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=32920&atid=406723

And enter all your information in a "New Bug Submission". (make sure Category is set to Hermes!)