---
name: "xdt-csource"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "xfce4-dev-tools"
version: "4.20.0-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/xdt-csource"
---

# xdt-csource(1)

C code generation utility for arbitrary data

## NAME

xdt-csource - C code generation utility for arbitrary data

## SYNOPSIS

**xdt-csource** \[options\] \[file\]

**xdt-csource** \[options\] --build-list \[\[name\] \[file\]...\]

## DESCRIPTION

**xdt-csource** is a small utility that generates C code containing arbitrary data, useful for compiling texts or other data directly into programs. It supersedes exo-csource.

## INVOCATION

**xdt-csource** either takes as input one file name to generate code for, or, using the **--build-list** option, a list of (*name*, *file*) pairs to generate code for a list of images into named variables.

### Options

**-h**, **--help**

Print brief help and exit.

**-V**, **--version**

Print version information and exit.

**--extern**

Generate extern symbols.

**--static**

Generate static symbols (default).

**--name=identifier**

Specifies the *identifier* name (prefix) for the generated variables (only used if **--build-list** was not specified as well).

**--build-list**

Enables (*name*, *file*) pair parsing mode.

**--strip-comments**

Remove comments from XML files

**--strip-content**

Remove node contents from XML files

**--output=identifier**

Prints the output to *identifier* instead of stdout (only used if **--build-list** was not specified as well).

## SEE ALSO

The **gdk-pixbuf-csource** utility which ships with the Gtk+ distribution, available from **www.gtk.org**\[1\].

## AUTHOR

Original program **exo-csource** was written by Benedikt Meurer \<benny@xfce.org\>. **xdt-csource** supersedes it.

This manual page was provided by the Xfce Development Team \<xfce4-dev@xfce.org\>.

## NOTES

- 1\.

  www.gtk.org

  https://www.gtk.org