# GLib

GLib is the low-level core library that forms the basis for projects such
as GTK and GNOME. It provides data structure handling for C, portability
wrappers, and interfaces for such runtime functionality as an event loop,
threads, dynamic loading, and an object system.

The official download locations are:
  <https://download.gnome.org/sources/glib>

The official web site is:
  <https://www.gtk.org/>

## Installation

See the file ‘[INSTALL.md](INSTALL.md)’. There is
[separate and more in-depth documentation](./docs/win32-build.md) for building
GLib on Windows.

## Supported versions

Only the most recent unstable and stable release series are supported. All
older versions are not supported upstream and may contain bugs, some of
which may be exploitable security vulnerabilities.

See [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md) for more details.

## Documentation

API documentation is available online for GLib for the:
 * [GLib](https://docs.gtk.org/glib/)
 * [GObject](https://docs.gtk.org/gobject/)
 * [GModule](https://docs.gtk.org/gmodule/)
 * [GIO](https://docs.gtk.org/gio/)

## Discussion

If you have a question about how to use GLib, seek help on [GNOME’s Discourse
instance](https://discourse.gnome.org/tags/glib). Alternatively, ask a question
on [StackOverflow and tag it `glib`](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/glib).

## Reporting bugs

Bugs should be [reported to the GNOME issue tracking system](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/glib/issues/new).
You will need to create an account for yourself. You may also submit bugs by
e-mail (without an account) by e-mailing <incoming+gnome-glib-658-issue-@gitlab.gnome.org>,
but this will give you a degraded experience.

Bugs are for reporting problems in GLib itself, not for asking questions about
how to use it. To ask questions, use one of our [discussion forums](#discussion).

In bug reports please include:

* Information about your system. For instance:
  * What operating system and version
  * For Linux, what version of the C library
  * And anything else you think is relevant.
* How to reproduce the bug.
  * If you can reproduce it with one of the test programs that are built
  in the `tests/` subdirectory, that will be most convenient.  Otherwise,
  please include a short test program that exhibits the behavior.
  As a last resort, you can also provide a pointer to a larger piece
  of software that can be downloaded.
* If the bug was a crash, the exact text that was printed out
  when the crash occurred.
* Further information such as stack traces may be useful, but
  is not necessary.

## Contributing to GLib

Please follow the [contribution guide](./CONTRIBUTING.md) to know how to
start contributing to GLib.

Patches should be [submitted as merge requests](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/glib/-/merge_requests/new)
to gitlab.gnome.org. If the patch fixes an existing issue, please refer to the
issue in your commit message with the following notation (for issue 123):
```
Closes: #123
```

Otherwise, create a new merge request that introduces the change. Filing a
separate issue is not required.

