C GUI Calculator

A GUI-based calculator developed in C using GTK.

Project maintained by rafisarkar0128 Hosted on GitHub Pages — Theme by mattgraham

🧮 C GUI Calculator – System Requirements

This document outlines the requirements, dependencies, and tools needed to build and run the C GUI Calculator project, a cross-platform calculator built using C and GTK+ 3.

🎯 Overview

The C GUI Calculator requires:

A C compiler
GTK+ 3 development libraries
Supporting build tools

📋 System Requirements

Minimum Hardware

RAM: 2GB (4GB recommended for development)
Storage: 500MB free space
Architecture: x86_64 (64-bit) or x86 (32-bit)

Supported Operating Systems

Linux: Ubuntu 18.04+, Debian 10+, Fedora 30+, CentOS 8+, Arch Linux
Windows: Windows 10/11 (with MSYS2 or MinGW)
macOS: macOS 10.14 (Mojave) or later

📦 Core Dependencies

Component	Version	Purpose	Status
gcc	7.0+	GNU Compiler Collection for compiling C source code	✅ Required
pkg-config	0.29+	Manages compiler/linker flags for libraries	✅ Required
GTK+ 3	3.22+	GUI toolkit for creating the calculator interface	✅ Required
GLib	2.56+	Low-level system library (included with GTK+)	✅ Required
make	4.0+	Build automation tool	📋 Optional
git	2.0+	Version control system	📋 Optional

🖥️ Platform-Specific Installation Instructions

Linux

Ubuntu/Debian/Mint

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install gcc pkg-config libgtk-3-dev build-essential

Fedora/RHEL/CentOS

# Fedora/RHEL 8+
sudo dnf update -y
sudo dnf groupinstall "Development Tools" -y
sudo dnf install gcc pkgconf-pkg-config gtk3-devel

# CentOS/RHEL 7
sudo yum groupinstall "Development Tools"
sudo yum install gcc pkgconfig gtk3-devel

Arch/Manjaro

sudo pacman -Syu
sudo pacman -S base-devel gtk3 pkg-config

Windows

MSYS2 (Recommended)

Download and install MSYS2 from msys2.org
Open the MSYS2 MinGW 64-bit terminal
Run:

pacman -Syu
pacman -S base-devel mingw-w64-x86_64-gcc mingw-w64-x86_64-pkg-config mingw-w64-x86_64-gtk3

Important: Always use the MSYS2 MinGW 64-bit terminal, not the default MSYS2 terminal.

Alternative Methods

Visual Studio with vcpkg:

git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg.git
cd vcpkg
./bootstrap-vcpkg.bat
./vcpkg install gtk:x64-windows

Code::Blocks with MinGW:
1. Download Code::Blocks with MinGW from codeblocks.org
2. Install GTK+ 3 development libraries manually
3. Configure include/library paths in project settings

macOS

Homebrew (Recommended)

Install Homebrew if not present:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Install required packages:

xcode-select --install
brew install gcc pkg-config gtk+3
brew install --cask xquartz

Log out and back in (or restart) after installing XQuartz
Launch XQuartz before running the calculator

MacPorts (Alternative)

sudo port install gcc12 pkgconfig gtk3
sudo port select --set gcc mp-gcc12

🧪 Verification Steps

After installation, verify your environment:

# Check compiler
gcc --version                    # Should show GCC 7.0+

# Check pkg-config
pkg-config --version             # Should show 0.29+

# Check GTK+ 3
pkg-config --exists gtk+-3.0 && echo "✅ GTK+ 3 found" || echo "❌ GTK+ 3 missing"
pkg-config --modversion gtk+-3.0 # Should show 3.22+

# Test compilation
echo '#include <gtk/gtk.h>\nint main(){return 0;}' > test_gtk.c
gcc test_gtk.c $(pkg-config --cflags --libs gtk+-3.0) && echo "✅ GTK+ compilation works"
rm test_gtk.c a.out 2>/dev/null

⚠️ Common Issues & Solutions

Issue	Solution
“Package gtk+-3.0 was not found”	Install GTK+ development packages for your OS
“pkg-config: command not found”	Install pkg-config package for your OS
GTK+ app doesn’t display on macOS	Install and launch XQuartz (X11)
Wrong MSYS2 environment on Windows	Use MinGW64 terminal, verify prompt shows “MINGW64” not “MSYS”

📘 Notes & Resources

For Beginners

Ubuntu/Debian users: The build-essential package includes GCC and other essential tools
First-time developers: Consider installing VS Code with C/C++ extensions
Git users: Install git to clone the repository: sudo apt install git (Linux) or brew install git (macOS)

Platform-Specific

Linux: GTK+ 3 works with both Wayland and X11 display servers
Windows: Ensure MinGW64 bin directory is in PATH, runtime may require GTK+ DLLs in same directory
macOS: XQuartz is required for GTK+; don’t mix Homebrew and MacPorts