GARGOYLE(6) Games Manual GARGOYLE(6)

gargoyle — interactive fiction player ⟨https://github.com/garglk/garglk⟩

gargoyle [story]

gargoyle -d --dump-config

gargoyle -e --edit-config

gargoyle -m --migrate-config

gargoyle -p --paths [story]

gargoyle -t --themes

gargoyle is an interactive fiction player that supports all the major interactive fiction formats, including:

If story is provided, it will be played. Otherwise, a file chooser will be displayed so a story can be selected.

The following options are available:

, --dump-config
Dump the default config file to standard output.
, --edit-config
Open Gargoyle's configuration file in a text editor, first creating it if necessary.
, --migrate-config
Search for a move a legacy configuration file to the preferred location. In general, on Unix systems, this will mean renaming $HOME/.garglkrc to $HOME/.config/garglk.ini.
, --paths
Display a list of configuration file paths as well as theme paths that will be used at runtime. If story is provided, game-specific configuration paths will be included.
, --themes
Display a list of available color themes.

gargoyle is highly configurable, although all configuration is done through a text-based configuration file. To edit the configuration file, use ⟨control-comma⟩ while Gargoyle is running (⟨command-comma⟩ on Mac), which will open the configuration file in a text editor. The configuration file can also be edited directly. The following locations are tried in order:

In addition, game-specific and directory-specific overrides are available. For game-specific overrides, the game extension is removed and replaced with ini. For example, zork1.z3 becomes zork1.ini. If this file exists, it will be treated as a configuration file. For directory-specific overrides, if the file garglk.ini exists in the same directory as the game, it will be treated as a configuration file.

Finally, it is possible for a global configuration file to be installed. This is often the file /etc/garglk.ini, but this is configurable at build time, and may also be disabled.

To see exactly which locations are being used, pass the -p or --paths flag to gargoyle. Note that this will not include game- or directory-specific configuration files.

Configuration files are additive: first, the global configuration file is parsed. Next, the user's configuration file (such as $HOME/.config/garglk.ini) is parsed, with all of its provided options replacing whatever was specified in the global configuration file. Finally, if there is a directory-specific and/or game-specific configuration file, their options will replace any existing options. Configuration files need not provide all options. This allows, for example, a game to select only the colors to be used, while respecing all of the user's other choices.

Tor Andersson
Ben Cressey
Chris Spiegel ⟨cspiegel@gmail.com⟩

November 24, 2022 Debian