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This file is part of Logtalk https://logtalk.org/
SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 1998-2026 Paulo Moura pmoura@logtalk.org
SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

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CUSTOMIZATION INSTRUCTIONS

This file contains detailed instructions for customizing your Logtalk installation and working environment. Customization is usually done on a per-user basis by editing a settings file in the user home folder or in the Logtalk user folder (its path is stored on the LOGTALKUSER environment variable; this folder can be (re)created by running the logtalk_user_setup shell script; on Windows systems, you can use the installer and choose the corresponding install option). The default path for the Logtalk user folder is:

• POSIX systems
  $HOME/logtalk
• Windows
  My Documents\Logtalk

The Logtalk user folder is updated when you update Logtalk. Therefore, it shouldn't be used to store your Logtalk application's source code.

Defining a default Prolog backend compiler

Users of POSIX systems may use the logtalk_backend_select shell script to define an alias, logtalk, for one of the provided backend Prolog compiler integration scripts.

Setting library paths

In Logtalk, a library is simply a directory containing source files. Library paths can be declared using the logtalk_library_path/2 dynamic and multifile predicate. This allows compiling and loading of libraries and library files using the library names instead of the full library paths. It also makes it easier to relocate libraries.

Inside your Logtalk user folder, you will find a paths folder containing a sample file which, when loaded, defines the library paths for the standard library, developer tools, contributions, and supplied examples. For details, see the paths/NOTES.md file.

Library paths for your own source files directories are preferably defined in your settings file, described next.

Customizing Logtalk settings

Logtalk interfaces with a specific backend Prolog compiler using an adapter file that can be found on the adapters folder in the Logtalk installation folder. These adapter files define default values of the flags that are used by Logtalk when compiling source files (for a full description of these flags, consult the Writing, Running, and Debugging Logtalk Programs section of the User Manual).

The default compiler flag settings are appropriated for the development (but not necessarily for the deployment) of applications. Check the example settings on the samples/settings-sample.lgt for configuration suggestions. Check also the scripts/embedding/settings-embedding-sample.lgt file.

You may customize the Logtalk compiler flags and add your own library paths by coping or renaming the samples/settings-sample.lgt file to settings.lgt and editing it. The settings.lgt file can be saved to your $LOGTALKUSER directory, to your home directory, and other locations. See the comments in the sample file for details. For application specific settings, save the settings.lgt file in the application root directory and start Logtalk from that directory. Settings in this file override the default values in the adapter files. Some default flag values that you may want to change include:

• report
  for less verbose startup and compilation reports

• scratch_directory
  to move compiler generated temporary files out of the way or to collect them in a single place for embedding Logtalk applications

• portability
  essential if you're writing portable Logtalk applications

Check the adapters/NOTES.md file for Prolog specific compatibility notes. Some backend Prolog compilers don't support all the possible compilation flags values. In addition, some backend Prolog compilers provide limited support for settings files in some operating-systems.

Detailed information on all compiler flags can be found in the User Manual section on installing Logtalk.

Settings files can be debugged by compiling them with the logtalk_compile/1-2 built-in predicates.

Customizing documentation processing support

Inside your Logtalk user folder, you will find a tools/lgtdoc/xml folder containing a set of shell scripts, CSS and XSLT style-sheets, and DTD and XML Schema files for processing the XML documenting files that are generated from the source data collected when compiling source files. You may want to customize the CSS and XSLT files to modify the layout or style of the resulting reStructuredText/Markdown/XML/PDF/(X)HTML files or to write new scripts and transformations to generate other formats. You may also edit the file custom.ent in order to specify XML entities for your personal data that can be used with the Logtalk documenting directives. For details, see the tools/lgtdoc/NOTES.md file.

Adding Logtalk support to text editors and IDEs

Inside your Logtalk user folder, you will find a coding folder, containing support files for several text editors, which add support for syntax highlighting and other text editing services for Logtalk source files. Support for several syntax highlighters (used e.g. in web pages, wikis, and issue trackers) is also included. For details, see the coding/NOTES.md file.