cairodriver(1)

Cairo DISPLAY DRIVER
Cairo display driver for bitmap or vector output using the Cairo graphics library.

DESCRIPTION
The Cairo driver generates PNG, BMP, PPM, PS, PDF or SVG images by GRASS display commands, using the Cairo graphics library. The image format is selected from the extension of the output file. The Cairo driver is used for GRASS display commands by default if available, otherwise PNG driver is used.

USAGE

  Environment variables
The Cairo driver can be enabled by setting GRASS_RENDER_IMMEDIATE variable, eg.

export GRASS_RENDER_IMMEDIATE=cairo

Several environment variables affect the operation of the Cairo driver:

    •   GRASS_RENDER_WIDTH=xxx
        the width of the image map (default is 640).

    •   GRASS_RENDER_HEIGHT=yyy
        the height of the image map (default is 480).

    •   GRASS_RENDER_BACKGROUNDCOLOR=RRGGBB
        specifies the background color to use in RGB notation (hex or R:G:B values). Named colors are also supported. Default is FFFFFF (white).

    •   GRASS_RENDER_TRANSPARENT=[TRUE|FALSE]
        sets transparent background on (TRUE) or off (FALSE, default).

    •   GRASS_RENDER_ANTIALIAS
        can be default, none, gray, or subpixel, corresponding to cairo_antialias_t

    •   GRASS_RENDER_FILE=filename
        the name and format of the resulting image file, default is map.png.
        The image format is determined from the file extension.
        Supported bitmap formats:

        •   .png - Portable Network Graphics (PNG)

        •   .bmp - Windows Bitmap (BMP, 32-bpp) (these are not readable by some older viewers)

        •   .ppm - Portable Pixmap (PPM + PGM for alpha channel)
    Supported vector formats:

        •   .pdf - Portable Document Format (PDF)

        •   .ps - PostScript (PS)

        •   .svg - Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
    (Note: Some formats may not be available, depending on your platform and the Cairo library that GRASS was built with.)

    •   GRASS_RENDER_FILE_READ
        if TRUE, the Cairo driver will initialize the image from the contents of GRASS_RENDER_FILE.
        (Note: This is only supported for bitmap formats)

    •   GRASS_RENDER_FILE_MAPPED
        if TRUE, the Cairo driver will map GRASS_RENDER_FILE as its framebuffer, rather than using memory.
        (Note: This only works with BMP files.)

    •   GRASS_RENDER_CAIRO_SCREEN
        defines Cairo screen

    •   GRASS_RENDER_CAIRO_VISUAL
        defines Cairo visual

EXAMPLES

  PNG Example
Example: using the driver to generate a PNG file (bash-syntax):

export GRASS_RENDER_IMMEDIATE=cairo
export GRASS_RENDER_FILE=nc_spm.png
export GRASS_RENDER_WIDTH=800
export GRASS_RENDER_HEIGHT=800
export GRASS_RENDER_FILE_READ=TRUE
g.region raster=elevation
d.rast map=elevation
d.vect map=streams width=1 color=blue fcolor=aqua type=area,line
d.vect map=roadsmajor width=2

  PDF Examples
Example: using the driver to generate a PDF vector file with a vector map (bash-syntax):

export GRASS_RENDER_IMMEDIATE=cairo
export GRASS_RENDER_FILE=nc_spm.pdf
export GRASS_RENDER_WIDTH=800
export GRASS_RENDER_HEIGHT=800
g.region vector=roadsmajor
# activate vector font
d.font Vera
d.vect map=roadsmajor layer=1 display=shape attrcolumn=ROAD_NAME lcolor=0:90:255

Example: using the driver to generate a PDF raster file with a raster map (bash-syntax):

export GRASS_RENDER_IMMEDIATE=cairo
export GRASS_RENDER_FILE=nc_spm.pdf
export GRASS_RENDER_WIDTH=800
export GRASS_RENDER_HEIGHT=800
g.region raster=elevation
d.rast map=elevation

  SVG Example
Example: using the driver to generate a SVG vector file with a vector map (bash-syntax):

export GRASS_RENDER_IMMEDIATE=cairo
export GRASS_RENDER_FILE=vectormap.svg
g.region vector=roadsmajor
d.vect map=roadsmajor -c

NOTES
The driver is still in development. Enable it by specifying --with-cairo when configuring GRASS. This requires a reasonably recent version of the Cairo libraries and a working pkg-config.

Antialiasing is enabled by default for bitmap formats. There is currently no way of disabling this.

The resolution of the output images is defined by current region extents. Use g.region -p to get the number of rows and cols and use the environment variables to set the image size. If you would like a larger image, multiply both rows and cols by the same whole number to preserve the aspect ratio.

Cairo supports true vector format output whenever possible. However, if the selected format doesn’t support a necessary feature, Cairo may fall back on rendering a bitmap representation of the image wrapped in the selected vector format.

SEE ALSO
PNG driver, PS driver, HTML driver, variables

d.rast, d.vect, d.mon, d.erase, d.redraw

AUTHOR
Lars Ahlzen <lars (at) ahlzen.com>
and the GRASS Development Team.

SOURCE CODE

Available at: Cairo DISPLAY DRIVER source code (history)

Accessed: Monday May 11 23:14:51 2026

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© 2003-2026 GRASS Development Team, GRASS 8.5.0 Reference Manual