FIXME - links of ftp://alpha.gnu.org/ for GNU Emacs pretest has to be fixed

[bpt/emacs.git] / admin / nt / README-ftp-server

		      Precompiled Distributions of
			   Emacs for Windows

			      Version 21.3

			     April 22, 2003
		
  This directory contains source and precompiled distributions for GNU
  Emacs on Windows NT/2000/XP and Windows 95/98/Me.  This port is a part
  of the standard GNU Emacs distribution from the Free Software
  Foundation; the precompiled distributions are provided here for
  convenience since, unlike Unix, the majority of Windows users do not
  have access to a compiler (and, besides, do you really want to compile
  Emacs when you don't have to?).

  If you have access to the World Wide Web, I would recommend pointing
  your favorite web browser to the following document (if you haven't
  already):

	http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html

  The above web document is a far more complete version of this README
  file.  If you don't have access to the Web, however, then read on.


* IMPORTANT LEGAL REMINDER

  If you want to redistribute any of the precompiled distributions of
  Emacs, be careful to check the implications of the GPL.  For instance,
  if you put the emacs-21.3-bin-i386.tar.gz file from this directory on
  an Internet site, you must arrange to distribute the source files of
  the SAME version (i.e. emacs-21.3-src.tar.gz).

  Making a link to our copy of the source is NOT sufficient, since we
  might upgrade to a new version while you are still distributing the
  old binaries.


* Distributions in .tar.gz format

  Emacs is distributed primarily as a set of large gzipped tar files
  (*.tar.gz).  Because Emacs is quite large and therefore difficult to
  download over unreliable connections, it is provided in several
  combinations, ranging from the complete source plus executables, to
  just the minimal amount needed to run without any source, plus a
  couple of optional packages.  Here are the combinations (i386 in the
  name indicates a tarball contains executables compiled for
  Intel-compatible x86 systems):

  + Primary precompiled distribution, including lisp source:

      emacs-21.3-fullbin-i386.tar.gz

  + Minimal precompiled distribution, which excludes lisp source:

      emacs-21.3-bin-i386.tar.gz

    You can download emacs-21.3-lisp.tar.gz to get the lisp source, if
    you later decide you want it - it is useful for understanding how
    packages work, and how they can best be setup or customized.


  NB. If you just want to run Emacs, get one of the distributions above.


  + Bare executables, only useful if you want to get the complete source
    release below, but can't compile Emacs yourself:

      emacs-21.3-barebin-i386.tar.gz  (requires emacs-21.3-src.tar.gz)

  + Undumped executable, only needed for rebuilding Emacs after changing
    certain core lisp files:

      emacs-21.3-undumped-i386.tar.gz

  + Optional package providing the Library of Emacs Input Methods for
    typing non-ascii characters, notably Chinese, Japanese and Korean,
    but also including European and other character sets:

      emacs-21.3-leim.tar.gz

  + The complete official source for Emacs:

      emacs-21.3-src.tar.gz

  + The complete official source for LEIM:

      leim-21.3-src.tar.gz


* Distributions in multi-file .zip format

  A second distribution in the form of multiple small .zip files is also
  provided, for the benefit of people who have unreliable internet
  connections, or who need to copy the distribution onto floppy disks:

      em213b*.zip

  This is equivalent to getting emacs-21.3-bin-i386.tar.gz above.
  The lisp source is available as em213l*.zip.


* Distributions for non-x86 platforms

  I try to make this port available for all platforms supported by
  Windows (it should build on all supported Windows NT/9x platforms).
  However, I do not always have access to non-x86 platforms, and so I
  cannot guarantee to provide precompiled distributions for the other
  platforms myself.  If you find there are no binaries for your
  platform, and you have access to a Microsoft compiler, then you can
  download the source and compile Emacs yourself (and, if you do, please
  consider contributing your executables; send me mail and we can make
  arrangements for making them available on this ftp server.)


* Unpacking distributions

  Programs for handling the distribution file formats can be found in
  the utilities directory: 

    ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/windows/emacs/utilities

  For gzipped tar files, you will need either gunzip.exe and tar.exe
  together, or djtarnt.exe.  djtarnt.exe can also unpack .zip files.  I
  strongly urge you to use these utilities since they were the ones used
  to create the distributions; the most common problem people have in
  trying to get Emacs to run is due to some other utility program
  corrupting the distribution while unpacking.

  Open a command prompt (MSDOS) window.  Decide on a directory in which
  to place Emacs.  Move the distribution to that directory, and then
  unpack it as follows.

  If you have the gzipped tar version, use gunzip to uncompress the tar
  file on the fly, and pipe the output through tar with the "xvf" flags
  to extract the files from the tar file:

    % gunzip -c some.tar.gz | tar xvf -

  You may see messages from tar about not being able to change the
  modification time on directories, and from gunzip complaining about a
  broken pipe.  These messages are harmless and you can ignore them.  On
  Windows NT, unpacking tarballs this way leaves them in compressed
  form, taking up less space on disk.  Unfortunately, on Windows 95 and
  98, a large temporary file is created, so it is better to use the
  djtarnt.exe program, which performs the equivalent operation in one
  step:

    % djtarnt -x some.tar.gz

  You may be prompted to rename or overwrite directories when using
  djtarnt: simply type return to continue (this is harmless).

  If you have the multi-file .zip distribution, use djtarnt to unpack
  all of the .zip files:

    % djtarnt -x *.zip

  Once you have unpacked a precompiled distribution of Emacs, it should
  have the following subdirectories:

	bin	etc	info	lisp	lock	site-lisp

  If your utility failed to create the lock directory, then you can
  simply create it by hand (it is initially empty).

  One final step is needed only when installing from the multi-file .zip
  distribution, in order to recreate emacs.exe from its fragments (it is
  too big to fit on a floppy even when zipped):

    % cd emacs-21.3\bin
    % stitch


* Unpacking with other tools

  If you do use other utility programs to unpack the distribution, check
  the following to be sure the distribution was not corrupted:

  + Be sure to disable the CR/LF translation or the executables will be
    unusable.  Older versions of WinZipNT would enable this translation
    by default.  If you are using WinZipNT, disable it.  (I don't have
    WinZipNT myself, and I do not know the specific commands necessary
    to disable it.)

  + Check that filenames were not truncated to 8.3.  For example, there
    should be a file lisp/abbrevlist.el; if this has been truncated to
    abbrevli.el, your distribution has been corrupted while unpacking
    and Emacs will not start.

  + I've been told that some utilities (WinZip again?) don't create the
    lock subdirectory.  The lock subdirectory needs to be created.

  + I've also had reports that the "gnu-win32" port of tar corrupts the
    executables.  Use the version of tar or djtarnt in the utilities
    directory instead.

  If you believe you have unpacked the distributions correctly and are
  still encountering problems, see the section on Further Information
  below.


* Compiling from source

  If you would like to compile Emacs from source, download the source
  distribution, unpack it in the same manner as a precompiled
  distribution, and look in the file nt/INSTALL for detailed directions.
  You can either use the Microsoft compiler included with Visual C++, or
  GCC 2.95 or later with MinGW support, to compile the source.  The port
  of GCC included in Cygwin is supported, but check the nt/INSTALL file
  if you have trouble since some builds of GNU make aren't supported.


* Further information

  If you have access to the World Wide Web, I would recommend pointing
  your favorite web browser to following the document (if you haven't
  already):

	http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html

  This document serves as an FAQ and a source for further information
  about the Windows port and related software packages.

  In addition to the FAQ, there is a mailing list for discussing issues
  related to the Windows port of Emacs.  For information about the
  list, see this Web page:

	http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-emacs-windows

  To ask questions on the mailing list, send email to
  help-emacs-windows@gnu.org.  (You don't need to subscribe for that.)
  To subscribe to the list or unsubscribe from it, fill the form you
  find at http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-emacs-windows as
  explained there.

  Another valuable source of information and help which should not be
  overlooked is the various Usenet news groups dedicated to Emacs.
  These are particuarly good for help with general issues which aren't
  specific to the Windows port of Emacs.  The main news groups to use
  for seeking help are:

	gnu.emacs.help
	comp.emacs

  There are also fairly regular postings and announcements of new or
  updated Emacs packages on this group:

	gnu.emacs.sources

  Enjoy!

  Andrew Innes
  (andrewi@gnu.org)