KUIPC(1)

📦 version 2025.09.18.4, in nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

💅 KUIPC(1) — the CERN KUIP compiler, bestie edition

okay so real quick, this is kuipc(1) from the General Commands Manual — yes that General Commands Manual — and I'm gonna walk you through it like we're texting at 2am 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

kuipc — literally the CERN KUIP compiler. that's the whole name. iconic behavior honestly 👑

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

kuipc [ options ] [ inputfile [ outputfile ] ]

that's it. that's the whole vibe check. options, then maybe an input file, then maybe an output file, in that order, no cap 🎀

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so kuipc — the Kit for a User Interface Package Compiler (say that five times fast, I dare you 😭) — is a tool that makes writing a program's user interface code so much easier. like, it's giving "let me handle the boring part for you."

here's the tea ☕: you feed it a Command Definition File (CDF) that describes all the commands your program needs to understand, and it spits out C or FORTRAN code that makes the appropriate function calls to set up the user interface. then you just compile and link that generated code with the rest of your program. easy. slay ✨

⚠️ important though — since the generated code uses KUIP routines, your program must also be linked against the Packlib library that contains them. don't forget, bestie. it will not work. I'm serious 🙈

now for the file-name lore 📁:

  • if you don't specify an output file, kuipc writes the generated code to a file with the same name as the input file, except the ending .cdf gets replaced by .f or .c as appropriate. cute, right?
  • if you give it neither an input nor an output file, kuipc will just prompt you for them. very "hello? anyone there?" energy 💬
💀 BIG WARNING: kuipc overwrites existing files with no warning. no "are you sure?", no undo, no nothing. so like... double-check your filenames, okay? I'm begging 🙏

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • -c — generate C code. we love a C moment 💖
  • -f — generate FORTRAN code. this one's the default, so if you don't pick anything, this is what you get 🧚
  • -split — output several files, one for each time the >Name control line shows up in the CDF input 🗂️ the names of the output files will correspond to the arguments given on the >Name control lines. very organized. very demure.

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

the KUIP manual, bestie — go read it, it's right here:

http://wwwasdoc.web.cern.ch/wwwasdoc/psdir/kuip.ps.gz

💀 BUGS 💀

okay so this is a known little gremlin 🐛: when you use the -split option, kuipc will still create an output file that it would have made if -split was not used — and that file will be of zero size. so you get a little empty ghost file just vibing there. not me being haunted by a 0-byte file 😭

👑 AUTHOR 👑

this manual page was written by Kevin McCarty <kmccarty@debian.org> for the Debian GNU/Linux system — but it may be used by others, so like, share the love 🫶

and that's the whole page, bestie 💜 this little beauty is dated April 2, 2004, it's KUIPC(1) from the General Commands Manual, and you're officially caught up. mwah 💋✨

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