GTRANSFER(1)

gtransfer is a sample application that demonstrates how to open a geometry database, extract a serialized ("external") representation of selected objects, transfer those objects to a remote host over a network connection, and operate on the received geometry entirely in memory using standard librt(3) routines. The network transport is built on BRL-CAD’s libpkg message-passing library, using a simple protocol patterned after ttcp(1): a connection begins with a greeting, carries a variable number of geometry and argument messages, and ends with a farewell.

gtransfer operates as either a client (the sender, the default) or a server (the receiver, selected with -r).

As a client, it connects to host, reads the database gfile, and sends geometry to the server. If one or more geometry object names are given, only those objects and the combinations and primitives beneath them are sent; otherwise the entire contents of the database are sent.

As a server, it listens for a single client connection, receives the transmitted geometry into an in-memory database, and (when the client requested particular objects) fires a demonstration ray at each named object to show that the received geometry can be ray traced.

gtransfer is provided as a worked example of the libpkg and librt interfaces rather than as a general-purpose production utility.

brlcad(1), fbserv(1), rt(1), librt(3)

BRL-CAD Team

This software is Copyright (c) 2006-2026 United States Government as represented by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

Reports of bugs or problems should be submitted via electronic mail to devs@brlcad.org