The idl tool can be run directly, and a manual page is provided to give an overview of the different options and operating modes. To view the manual page on a system where the software has been centrally installed, use the following command:
man idl
To view the manual page directly from the top level of the idl4re software distribution, use the following command:
man -l docs/idl.1
Although the idl tool can be run to generate compilable source files, it is much more convenient to invoke it from within a build system. See the L4Re Support document for details of using the tool within the L4Re build system.