Switch to recommended form of GPLv3 permissions notice.
[bpt/emacs.git] / admin / nt / README.W32
CommitLineData
892df15e
JR
1Copyright (C) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
2 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3See the end of the file for license conditions.
4
7ee43737 5 Emacs for Windows
31098a38 6
31098a38 7 This README file describes how to set up and run a precompiled version
7ee43737 8 of GNU Emacs for Windows NT/2000/XP and Windows 95/98/Me. This
72d40630 9 distribution can be found on the ftp.gnu.org server and its mirrors:
31098a38 10
6e3645dc 11 ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/windows/
31098a38
AI
12
13 This server contains other distributions, including the full Emacs
14 source distribution and the lisp source distribution, as well as older
15 releases of Emacs for Windows.
16
17 Answers to frequently asked questions, and further information about
18 this port of GNU Emacs and related software packages can be found via
6e3645dc 19 http:
31098a38
AI
20
21 http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html
31098a38
AI
22
23* Preliminaries
24
25 Along with this file should be six subdirectories (bin, etc, info,
26 lisp, lock, site-lisp). Depending on which distribution you have
27 installed, the lisp subdirectory might contain both the lisp source
28 (*.el) and compiled lisp files (*.elc), or just the compiled lisp
29 files. If you don't have the lisp source files, you can obtain them
30 by downloading the lisp source distribution or the full source
31 distribution from the ftp site mentioned above.
32
33* Setting up Emacs
34
35 To install Emacs, simply unpack all the files into a directory of your
36 choice, but note that you might encounter minor problems if there is a
37 space anywhere in the directory name. To complete the installation
38 process, you can optionally run the program addpm.exe in the bin
39 subdirectory. This will add some entries to the registry that tell
40 Emacs where to find its support files, and put an icon for Emacs in
41 the Start Menu under "Start -> Programs -> Gnu Emacs -> Emacs".
42
43 Some users have reported that the Start Menu item is not created for
44 them. If this happens, just create your own shortcut to runemacs.exe,
45 eg. by dragging it on to the desktop or the Start button.
46
47 Note that running addpm is now an optional step; Emacs is able to
48 locate all of its files without needing the information to be set in
49 the environment or the registry, although such settings will still be
50 obeyed if present. This is convenient for running Emacs on a machine
51 which disallows registry changes, or on which software should not be
52 installed. For instance, you can now run Emacs directly from a CD
53 without copying or installing anything on the machine itself.
54
55* Starting Emacs
56
57 To run Emacs, simply select Emacs from the Start Menu, or invoke
58 runemacs.exe directly from Explorer or a command prompt. This will
59 start Emacs in its default GUI mode, ready to use. If you have never
60 used Emacs before, you should follow the tutorial at this point
61 (select Emacs Tutorial from the Help menu), since Emacs is quite
62 different from ordinary Windows applications in many respects.
63
64 If you want to use Emacs in tty or character mode within a command
65 window, you can start it by typing "emacs -nw" at the command prompt.
66 (Obviously, you need to ensure that the Emacs bin subdirectory is in
67 your PATH first, or specify the path to emacs.exe.) The -nw
68 (non-windowed) mode of operation is most useful if you have a telnet
69 server on your machine, allowing you to run Emacs remotely.
70
ece646ab
JR
71* EXE files included
72
73 Emacs comes with the following executable files in the bin directory.
74
75 + emacs.exe - The main Emacs executable. As this is designed to run
76 as both a text-mode application (emacs -nw) and as a GUI application,
77 it will pop up a command prompt window if run directly from Explorer.
78
79 + runemacs.exe - A wrapper for running Emacs as a GUI application
80 without popping up a command prompt window.
81
82 + emacsclient.exe - A command-line client program that can
83 communicate with a running Emacs process. See the `Emacs Server'
84 node of the Emacs manul.
85
86 + emacsclientw.exe - A version of emacsclient that does not open
87 a command-line window.
88
89 + addpm.exe - A basic installer that creates Start Menu icons for Emacs.
90 Running this is optional.
91
92 + cmdproxy.exe - Used internally by Emacs to work around problems with
93 the native shells in various versions of Windows.
94
95 + ctags.exe, etags.exe - Tools for generating tag files. See the
96 `Tags' node of the Emacs manual.
97
98 + ebrowse.exe - A tool for generating C++ browse information. See the
99 `Ebrowse' manual.
100
101 + ddeclient.exe - A tool for interacting with DDE servers.
102
103 + hexl.exe - A tool for converting files to hex dumps. See the
104 `Editing Binary Files' node of the Emacs manual.
105
106 + movemail.exe - A helper application for safely moving mail from
107 a mail spool or POP server to a local user mailbox. See the
108 `Movemail' node of the Emacs manual.
109
110 + digest-doc.exe, sorted-doc.exe - Tools for rebuilding the
111 built-in documentation.
112
9ccbb53d
JR
113* Image support
114
115 Emacs has built in support for XBM and PPM/PGM/PBM images, and the
116 libXpm library is bundled, providing XPM support (required for color
30f8b2fa
JR
117 toolbar icons and splash screen). Source for libXpm should be available
118 on the same place as you got this binary distribution from. The version
119 of libXpm bundled with this version of Emacs is 3.5.7, based on x.org's
120 libXpm library from X11R7.3.
9ccbb53d
JR
121
122 Emacs can also support some other image formats with appropriate
123 libraries. These libraries are all available as part of GTK, or from
124 gnuwin32.sourceforge.net. Emacs will find them if the directory they
125 are installed in is on the PATH.
126
127 PNG: requires the PNG reference library 1.2 or later, which will
128 be named libpng13d.dll, libpng13.dll, libpng12d.dll, libpng12.dll
129 or libpng.dll. LibPNG requires zlib, which should come from the same
130 source as you got libpng.
131
132 JPEG: requires the Independant JPEG Group's libjpeg 6b or later,
133 which will be called jpeg62.dll, libjpeg.dll, jpeg-62.dll or jpeg.dll.
134
135 TIFF: requires libTIFF 3.0 or later, which will be called libtiff3.dll
136 or libtiff.dll.
137
138 GIF: requires libungif or giflib 4.1 or later, which will be
139 called giflib4.dll, libungif4.dll or libungif.dll.
140
141
31098a38
AI
142* Uninstalling Emacs
143
144 If you should need to uninstall Emacs, simply delete all the files and
145 subdirectories from the directory where it was unpacked (Emacs does
146 not install or update any files in system directories or anywhere
147 else). If you ran the addpm.exe program to create the registry
148 entries and the Start menu icon, then you can remove the registry
149 entries using regedit. All of the settings are written under the
150 Software\GNU\Emacs key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, or if you didn't have
151 administrator privileges, the same key in HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Just
152 delete the Software\GNU\Emacs key.
153
154 The Start menu entry can be removed by right-clicking on the Task bar
155 and selecting Properties, then using the Remove option on the Start
156 Menu Programs page. (If you installed under an account with
157 administrator privileges, then you need to click the Advanced button
158 and look for the Gnu Emacs menu item under All Users.)
159
160* Troubleshooting
161
162 Unpacking the distributions
163
164 If you encounter trouble trying to run Emacs, there are a number of
165 possible causes. If you didn't use the versions of tar and gunzip (or
166 djtarnt) on the above ftp site, it is possible that the distribution
167 became corrupted while it was being unpacked. Check the following for
168 indications that the distribution was not corrupted:
169
170 * Be sure to disable the CR/LF translation or the executables will
171 be unusable. Older versions of WinZipNT would enable this
172 translation by default. If you are using WinZipNT, disable it.
173 (I don't have WinZipNT myself, and I do not know the specific
174 commands necessary to disable it.)
175
176 * Check that filenames were not truncated to 8.3. For example,
177 there should be a file lisp\abbrevlist.elc; if this has been
178 truncated to abbrevli.elc, your distribution has been corrupted
179 while unpacking and Emacs will not start.
180
181 * Users have said that some utilities (WinZip again?) don't create
182 the lock subdirectory. You can create the lock directory by hand
183 (it is normally empty).
184
185 * Users have also reported that the gnu-win32 tar corrupts the
186 executables. Use the version of tar or djtarnt on the ftp.gnu.org
187 site instead.
188
189 If you believe you have unpacked the distributions correctly and are
190 still encountering problems, see the section on Further Information
191 below.
192
193 Virus scanners
194
195 Some virus scanners interfere with Emacs' use of subprocesses. If you
196 are unable to use subprocesses and you use Dr. Solomon's WinGuard or
197 McAfee's Vshield, turn off "Scan all files" (WinGuard) or "boot sector
198 scanning" (McAfee exclusion properties).
199
200* Further information
201
202 If you have access to the World Wide Web, I would recommend pointing
203 your favorite web browser to following the document (if you haven't
204 already):
205
206 http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html
207
208 This document serves as an FAQ and a source for further information
209 about the Windows port and related software packages.
210
211 In addition to the FAQ, there is a mailing list for discussing issues
72d40630
EZ
212 related to the Windows port of Emacs. For information about the
213 list, see this Web page:
214
6e3645dc 215 http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-emacs-windows
72d40630
EZ
216
217 To ask questions on the mailing list, send email to
218 help-emacs-windows@gnu.org. (You don't need to subscribe for that.)
219 To subscribe to the list or unsubscribe from it, fill the form you
6e3645dc 220 find at http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-emacs-windows as
72d40630 221 explained there.
31098a38
AI
222
223 Another valuable source of information and help which should not be
224 overlooked is the various Usenet news groups dedicated to Emacs.
225 These are particuarly good for help with general issues which aren't
226 specific to the Windows port of Emacs. The main news groups to use
227 for seeking help are:
228
229 gnu.emacs.help
230 comp.emacs
231
232 There are also fairly regular postings and announcements of new or
233 updated Emacs packages on this group:
234
235 gnu.emacs.sources
236
237* Reporting bugs
238
239 If you encounter a bug in this port of Emacs, we would like to hear
240 about it. First check the FAQ on the web page above to see if the bug
241 is already known and if there are any workarounds. Then check whether
242 the bug has something to do with code in your .emacs file, e.g. by
243 invoking Emacs with the "-q --no-site-file" options.
244
245 If you decide that it is a bug in Emacs that might be specific to the
7ee43737 246 Windows port, send a message to the "help-emacs-windows@gnu.org"
31098a38
AI
247 mailing list describing the bug, the version of Emacs that you are
248 using, and the operating system that you are running on (Windows NT,
7ee43737
AI
249 2000, 95, 98, etc. including service pack level if known). If the bug
250 is related to subprocesses, also specify which shell you are using
251 (e.g., include the values of `shell-file-name' and
252 `shell-explicit-file-name' in your message).
31098a38
AI
253
254 If you think the bug is not specific to the Windows port of Emacs,
7ee43737 255 then it is better to mail the bug report to "bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org" so
31098a38
AI
256 that it will be seen by the right people. If Emacs has been set up to
257 send mail, you can use the command M-x report-emacs-bug to create and
258 send the bug report, but in some cases there is a function to report
259 bugs in a specific package; e.g. M-x gnus-bug for Gnus, M-x
260 c-submit-bug-report for C/C++/Java mode, etc.
261
678c6e62 262 Enjoy!
892df15e
JR
263
264\f
265This file is part of GNU Emacs.
266
267GNU Emacs is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
268it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
269the Free Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option)
270any later version.
271
272GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
273but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
274MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
275GNU General Public License for more details.
276
277You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
278along with GNU Emacs; see the file COPYING. If not, write to the
279Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
280Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.