.\" Licensed under version 3 of the GNU General Public License.
.\" Written by Lance Arsenault
.TH QUICKPLOT_SHELL 1 "Quickplot Version @VERSION@: @RELEASE_DATE@"
.SH NAME
quickplot_shell \- a remote command line shell for quickplot
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B "Usage: quickplot_shell [PID]|[-h|--help]|[QUICKPLOT_OPTIONS]"
.br
.SH DESCRIPTION
\fBQuickplot\fR
is an interactive 2D plotter.  It's primary focus is to
interactively display 2D plots.  \fBquickplot_shell\fR connects
to a running Quickplot
program.
\fBquickplot_shell\fR provides a command line interface for
most of the graphical user interfaces that are in the
Quickplot program.
\fBquickplot_shell\fR reads and writes to standard input and
standard output respectively.
When standard input is a tty device \fBquickplot_shell\fR
enables readline tab completion and history.
If you would like to save your Quickplot shell history
between sessions just create a .quickplot_history in your home
directory with a command like `touch ~/.quickplot_history'.
.PP
If the argument option \fBPID\fR is not given,
\fBquickplot_shell\fR will launch Quickplot as
a new process and connect to that new process.  In this case
Quickplot will be started with \fBQUICKPLOT_OPTIONS\fR
if any are given.
.PP
If \fBPID\fR is given, \fBquickplot_shell\fR will connect
to a running Quickplot
program with process ID \fBPID\fR.
.PP
\fBquickplot_shell\fR sets up two named pipes, signals the running
Quickplot program and writes commands and reads responses
to and from the pipe.  The named pipes will be unlinked as
soon as they are connected, and hence will be removed automatically
when the two programs are no longer running.
.PP
\fBquickplot_shell\fR, the remote Quickplot shell,
acts just like running
\fBquickplot\fR \fB--shell\fR, a local Quickplot shell,
but \fBquickplot_shell\fR
runs as a separate process and talks to the Quickplot program
using pipes, where as \fBquickplot\fR \fB--shell\fR runs one
process with both the GUI and the shell with no pipes.
You may connect any number of remote Quickplot shells to a Quickplot
program.
.br
.TP
\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR
display help and exit
.br
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR quickplot (1)
.br
.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1998-2011  Lance Arsenault
.PP
Quickplot is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published
by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License,
or (at your option) any later version.
.PP
Quickplot is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
General Public License for more details.
.PP
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with Quickplot.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

.SH AUTHOR
.PP
Lance Arsenault <lanceman@users.sourceforge.net>
.br
Send bug reports or comments to the above address.
.br
For more information, see the Quickplot homepage at 
.br
<@PACKAGE_URL@>.
