Building GRAL from source code
==============================
The source package contains all files necessary to build GRAL from scratch using
the `Gradle <http://www.gradle.org>`__ software project management and
comprehension tool. Like ``Makefile`` files the ``build.gradle`` files are used by
Gradle to generate various distribution or documentation files.

Building a JAR file of the library core
---------------------------------------
In case you just want to build the core of the library to get started execute
the following command in the ``gral-core`` directory::

  $ gradle assemble

This will generate a JAR archive named ``gral-core`` in the ``build/libs`` directory.
This JAR file can be added to the class path of your application.

Building a JAR file of the examples
-----------------------------------
In case you just want to build the core of the library to get started execute
the following command in the ``gral-examples`` directory::

  $ gradle assemble

This will generate a JAR archive for the examples in the ``build/libs`` directory
which can be used together with the library core to run example applications.

Building the distribution archives
----------------------------------
In order to build package archives like the ones available for download you have
to execute the following command in the project's parent directory::

  $ gradle distTar

This will create a distributions folder in the build directory of both gral-core
and gral-examples containing the files ``gral-core-<version>.tar.bz2`` or
``gral-examples-<version>.tar.bz2,`` respectively.

Building the documentation
--------------------------
The GRAL Gradle project offers three sources for documentation:

1. The JavaDoc files that can be generated with::

     $ gradle javadoc

2. The reports found in ``build/reports`` containing a project various
   information like test results, test coverage, etc. To build these files
   just execute::

     $ gradle report

3. A book-like documentation in the reStructuredText format is available in the
   file ``documentation_en.rst``.

Using GRAL in an IDE
====================
The Gradle project can also be used in your favorite development environment like
Eclipse or NetBeans. For further information look at the following descriptions
on the Gradle website `http://www.gradle.org/tooling`

Once you have installed an appropriate Gradle plug-in for your IDE you will be
able to import the GRAL project found in this folder.