---
name: "grcompiler"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "grcompiler"
version: "5.2.1-1+b1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/grcompiler"
---

# grcompiler(1)

Compile GDL into a TrueType Font

## NAME

grcompiler - Compile GDL into a TrueType Font

## SYNOPSIS

FC**grcompiler**F\[0\]  \[FC**-c**F\[0\]\] \[FC**-d**F\[0\]\] \[FC**-D**F\[0\]\] \[FC**-g**F\[0\]\] \[FC**-n**F\[0\] *number*\] \[FC**-v**F\[0\] *number*\] \[FC**-w**F\[0\] *number*\] \[FC**-wall**F\[0\]\] \[FC**-q**F\[0\]\] gdl-file font-file \[output-file\] \[output-fontname\]

## DESCRIPTION

Grcompiler compiles a Graphite Description Language description of the smarts for a font along with a TrueType Font to create a graphite font with graphite tables in it.

- FC**-c**F\[0\]

  Enable compression of Graphite tables.  This forces a version 5.0 Silf and version 3.0 Glat.

- FC**-d**F\[0\]

  Generate XML debugger file.

- FC**-D**F\[0\]

  Generate all debugger files.

- FC**-g**F\[0\]

  Permit and ignore invalid glyph definitions.

- FC**-n**F\[0\] FCnumberF\[0\]

  Set name table start location.

- FC**-q**F\[0\]

  Quiet mode (no messages except on error).

- FC**-v**F\[0\] FCnumberF\[0\]

  Set Silf table version number.

- FC**-w**F\[0\] FCnumberF\[0\]

  Ignore warning with the given number. This option may be repeated.

- FC**-wall**F\[0\]

  Display all warnings.

## ENVIRONMENT

grcompiler makes use of the following environment variables

- GDLPP

  Specifies the command to execute to run the GDL preprocessor

## FILES

- gdlerr.txt

  Warnings and errors are output to this file.

- dbg\_classes.txt

  Debug file that specifies the classes stored in the font in terms of their GDL source and containing glyph ids in hex.

- dbg\_cmap.txt

  Debug file giving Unicode to glyph mapping of all the glyphs in the font and vice versa.

- dbg\_enginecode.txt

  Debug file containing the action code and constraint code associated with each pass and rule in a pass.

- dbg\_fsm.txt

  Debug file that gives the finite state machines of each pass and the rules referenced. For each pass, a mapping is given between glyph and column number.

- dbg\_glyphattrs.txt

  Debug file containing all the glyph attributes and their names, along with values specified for each glyph.

- dbg\_parsetree.txt

  Debug file giving the complete parse tree of the GDL source file.

- dbg\_ruleprec.txt

  Debug file that lists the rules in precedence order (order in which they will be tested) for each pass.

- $\_temp.gdl

  Debug file containing the output of gdlpp

## AUTHOR

Graphite project ⟨http://graphite.sil.org⟩

SIL International \<FCgraphite\_nrsi@sil.orgF\[0\]\>