LIBGED(3)

Link with -lged.

The public interface is organized across the headers included by ged.h, including ged/defines.h, ged/database.h, ged/commands.h, ged/objects.h, ged/view.h, and ged/debug.h.

LIBGED provides the procedural basis for the geometry editing capabilities available in BRL-CAD. It exposes the commands used to create, query, edit, and display geometry, and is the shared engine behind interactive front ends such as mged(1) and archer(1). The library is tightly coupled to librt for geometric representation and analysis, and it assumes the libdm interface for commands that manipulate geometric views.

Commands follow a consistent "action noun" (verb-noun) pattern, support both short and long option flags, and provide automatic help generation. They are invoked through an argc/argv interface, which makes them equally accessible from C code and from scripting languages bound to the API.

Because command inputs pass through string processing, calling LIBGED commands programmatically incurs overhead and forgoes some compiler checking compared with calling lower-level librt routines directly. Where a lower-level interface exists, C and C++ developers are encouraged to use it; LIBGED is most valuable as the command surface for interactive and scripted workflows.

The complete API, including data structures and function signatures, is documented in the headers noted above and in the Doxygen-generated reference for the LIBGED module.

brlcad(1), mged(1), archer(1), librt(3), libdm(3), libbv(3), libanalyze(3)

The BRL-CAD Doxygen API reference provides the authoritative, up-to-date description of all public LIBGED routines.

BRL-CAD Team

This software is Copyright (c) 2008-2026 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