BLine-GUI

BLine is an open-source path generation and tracking suite designed for holonomic drivetrains (swerve, mecanum, etc.) made by students for students. It's built around simplicity and performance in time-constrained environments where quick iteration and rapid empirical testing prove advantageous.

📚 Documentation — full guides, tutorials, and reference.

☕ BLine-Lib — the BLine Java library.

💬 Chief Delphi Thread — discussion, feedback, and announcements.

Installation

Prebuilt Binaries (Recommended)

Download the latest release for your platform from the Releases page.

Windows

Choose one of the following:

Installer (Recommended)

1. Download BLine-{version}-Setup.exe
2. Run the installer and follow the wizard
3. Launch BLine from the Start Menu

Portable (No Installation)

1. Download BLine-{version}-Windows-Portable.zip
2. Extract anywhere
3. Run BLine.exe

No Python installation required—everything is bundled!

Linux

AppImage (All Distributions)

1. Download BLine-x86_64.AppImage
2. Make it executable:

   chmod +x BLine-x86_64.AppImage

3. Run it:

   ./BLine-x86_64.AppImage

No installation or dependencies required!

macOS

macOS builds are not currently available as prebuilt binaries. See Install from Source below.

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Install from Source

If you prefer to install via Python package or need the latest development version:

Quick Install (all platforms):

pipx install git+https://github.com/edanliahovetsky/BLine-GUI.git

Then run bline from anywhere. Don't have pipx? See platform-specific instructions below.

Windows

Using pipx (Recommended)

# Install pipx (one-time setup)
pip install pipx
pipx ensurepath

# Restart your terminal, then install BLine
pipx install git+https://github.com/edanliahovetsky/BLine-GUI.git

Troubleshooting: If you get a PySide6 build error, install Python 3.11 or 3.12 from python.org and specify it:

py -3.12 -m pip install --upgrade pip pipx
py -3.12 -m pipx ensurepath
py -3.12 -m pipx install git+https://github.com/edanliahovetsky/BLine-GUI.git

Using pip

# Create a folder for BLine
mkdir %USERPROFILE%\BLine
cd %USERPROFILE%\BLine

# Create a virtual environment and install
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate
pip install git+https://github.com/edanliahovetsky/BLine-GUI.git

# Run BLine
bline

macOS

Using Homebrew (Recommended)

# Install Homebrew if needed
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

# Install pipx and BLine
brew install pipx
pipx ensurepath
pipx install git+https://github.com/edanliahovetsky/BLine-GUI.git

Using pip

# Create a folder for BLine
mkdir -p ~/Applications/BLine
cd ~/Applications/BLine

# Create a virtual environment and install
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install git+https://github.com/edanliahovetsky/BLine-GUI.git

# Run BLine
bline

Linux

Using pipx (Recommended)

# Install pipx
# Debian/Ubuntu:
sudo apt install pipx

# Fedora:
sudo dnf install pipx

# Arch:
sudo pacman -S python-pipx

# Install BLine
pipx ensurepath
pipx install git+https://github.com/edanliahovetsky/BLine-GUI.git

Troubleshooting: If you get a PySide6 build error, specify Python 3.11 or 3.12:

pipx install --python python3.12 git+https://github.com/edanliahovetsky/BLine-GUI.git

Using pip

# Create a folder for BLine
mkdir -p ~/Applications/BLine
cd ~/Applications/BLine

# Create a virtual environment and install
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install git+https://github.com/edanliahovetsky/BLine-GUI.git

# Run BLine
bline

Quick Start

Binary installation: Launch BLine from your Start Menu (Windows), Applications folder, or run the executable directly.

Python package installation: Run bline from any terminal. To create a desktop shortcut with the BLine icon, run bline --create-shortcut.

For guides on path elements, constraints, the GUI interface, and more, see the Documentation.

Development

For contributors who want to work on BLine itself:

Requirements

• Python 3.11+
• PySide6 (installed automatically via requirements.txt)

Setup

git clone https://github.com/edanliahovetsky/BLine-GUI.git
cd BLine-GUI
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python main.py

Alternatively, run ./scripts/dev_env.sh to create the virtualenv, install dependencies, and launch the GUI in one step.

Development Workflow

Common tasks are provided via the Makefile:

Command	Description
make install	Install dependencies into .venv
make run	Launch the GUI
make fmt	Run Black + Ruff formatting
make lint	Run Ruff and MyPy
make test	Execute the pytest suite

Project Layout

• main.py — Application entry point
• models/ — Path data structures and simulation logic
• ui/ — Qt widgets (canvas, sidebar, dialogs, main window)
• utils/ — Project persistence, undo stack, helpers
• example_project/ — Sample configs and paths for experimentation

Tests & CI

Unit tests live under tests/ and focus on the pure-Python logic in models/ and utils/. GitHub Actions runs ruff, black --check, mypy, and pytest on every push and pull request.

License

BSD 3-Clause License — See LICENSE file.