dia: a [can be] command-driven diagram tool

[trochee]

The Dia program. Nice visio-killer.

Killer feature: I can edit with all the widgets and mouse controls, but there's a commandline export function.

dia --log-to-stderr --export-to-format=eps architecture.dia

Thus I can store a single source .dia file in source control, and have an automatic script build my slide/latex diagrams. Automation is my friend.

Previous diagram tools (visio, acrobat illustrator, etc) may offer a few additional bells and whistles, but this one feature alone is a huge win for me.

Comments

[xaosenkosmos.livejournal.com]

Ah, memories. I remember fighting with dia to draw knotwork like it was yesterday. Not like it was five years ago, when the damned thing would crash pretty much at random. But it was.

The good old days of sawfish and excessive themes...

[evan.livejournal.com]

Dudes, you need to check out inkscape. It's like dia but crazy sweet.

Their screenshots page doesn't do it justice -- they recently changed everything around and made it 10x as awesome.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_dkg_/]

i have to agree. inkscape is absolutely incredible. but there are still some things that it's nice to use dia for. For example, i don't think inkscape shares dia's extendable toolboxes of icons and widgets, or any way you can bind nodes and edges together.

But in general, inkscape far outshines dia, definitely. their xml selector/editor dialog alone makes me want to send them beer.