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[bpt/emacs.git] / INSTALL
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1GNU Emacs Installation Guide
2Copyright (c) 1992 Free software Foundation, Inc.
3
4 Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
5 of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
6 copyright notice and permission notice are preserved,
7 and that the distributor grants the recipient permission
8 for further redistribution as permitted by this notice.
9
10 Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
11 of this document, or of portions of it,
12 under the above conditions, provided also that they
13 carry prominent notices stating who last changed them,
14 and that any new or changed statements about the activities
15 of the Free Software Foundation are approved by the Foundation.
16
17
18BUILDING AND INSTALLATION:
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19(This is for a Unix or Unix-like system. For MSDOS, see below;
20search for MSDOG.)
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21
221) Make sure your system has enough swapping space allocated to handle
23a program whose pure code is 900k bytes and whose data area is at
24least 400k and can reach 8Mb or more. If the swapping space is
25insufficient, you will get an error in the command `temacs -batch -l
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26loadup dump', found in `./src/Makefile.in.in', or possibly when
27running the final dumped Emacs.
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29Building Emacs requires about 30 Mb of disk space (including the Emacs
30sources). Once installed, Emacs occupies about 20 Mb in the file
31system where it is installed; this includes the executable files, Lisp
32libraries, miscellaneous data files, and on-line documentation. If
33the building and installation take place in different directories,
34then the installation procedure momentarily requires 30+20 Mb.
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35
362) Consult `./etc/MACHINES' to see what configuration name you should
37give to the `configure' program. That file sometimes offers hints for
38getting around some possible installation problems.
39
403) In the top directory of the Emacs distribution, run the program
41`configure' as follows:
42
43 ./configure CONFIGURATION-NAME [--OPTION[=VALUE]] ...
44
45The CONFIGURATION-NAME argument should be a configuration name given
46in `./etc/MACHINES'. If omitted, `configure' will try to guess your
47system type by inspecting its environment; if it cannot, you must find
48the appropriate configuration name in `./etc/MACHINES' and specify it
49explicitly.
50
51The `--with-x', `--with-x11', and `--with-x10' options specify which
52window system Emacs should support. If you don't want X support,
53specify `--with-x=no'. If all of these options are omitted,
54`configure' will try to figure out for itself whether your system has
55X11, and arrange to use it if present.
56
57The `--x-includes=DIR' and `--x-libraries=DIR' options tell the build
58process where the compiler should look for the include files and
59object libraries used with the X Window System. Normally, your
60compiler should be able to find these by default; these options should
61only be necessary if you have your X Window System files installed in
62unusual places.
63
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64You can specify toolkit operation when you configure Emacs; use the
65option --with-x-toolkit=athena, --with-x-toolkit=motif, or
66--with-x-toolkit=open-look.
67
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68The `--run-in-place' option sets up default values for the path
69variables in `./Makefile' so that Emacs will expect to find its data
70files (lisp libraries, runnable programs, and the like) in the same
71locations they occupy while Emacs builds. This means that you don't
72have to install Emacs in order to run it; it uses its data files as
73they were unpacked.
74
75The `--with-gcc' option specifies that the build process should
76compile Emacs using GCC. If you don't want to use GCC, specify
77`--with-gcc=no'. If this option is omitted, `configure' will search
78for GCC in your load path, and use it if present.
79
80The `--srcdir=DIR' option specifies that the configuration and build
81processes should look for the Emacs source code in DIR, when DIR is
82not the current directory.
83
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84You can use `--srcdir' to build Emacs for several different machine
85types from a single source directory. Make separate build directories
86for the different configuration types, and in each one, build Emacs
87specifying the common source directory with `--srcdir'.
88
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89The `--prefix=PREFIXDIR' option specifies where the installation process
90should put emacs and its data files. This defaults to `/usr/local'.
91- Emacs (and the other utilities users run) go in PREFIXDIR/bin
92 (unless the `--exec-prefix' option says otherwise).
93- The architecture-independent files go in PREFIXDIR/lib/emacs/VERSION
94 (where VERSION is the version number of Emacs, like `19.7').
95- The architecture-dependent files go in
96 PREFIXDIR/lib/emacs/VERSION/CONFIGURATION
97 (where CONFIGURATION is the configuration name, like mips-dec-ultrix4.2),
98 unless the `--exec-prefix' option says otherwise.
99
100The `--exec-prefix=EXECDIR' option allows you to specify a separate
101portion of the directory tree for installing architecture-specific
102files, like executables and utility programs. If specified,
103- Emacs (and the other utilities users run) go in EXECDIR/bin, and
104- The architecture-dependent files go in
105 EXECDIR/lib/emacs/VERSION/CONFIGURATION.
106EXECDIR/bin should be a directory that is normally in users' PATHs.
107
108For example, the command
109
110 ./configure mips-dec-ultrix --with-x11
111
112configures Emacs to build for a DECstation running Ultrix, with
113support for the X11 window system.
114
115The `configure' program does not accept abbreviations for its
116options.
117
118Note that `configure' doesn't do any compilation or installation
119itself. It just creates the files that influence those things:
120`./Makefile', `build-install', and `./src/config.h'. For details on
121exactly what it does, see the section called `CONFIGURATION BY HAND',
122below.
123
124When it is done, `configure' prints a description of what it did and
125leaves a copy in the file `config.status'. That file is also a shell
126script which, when run, recreates the same configuration; it contains
127the verbal description as a comment. If `configure' exits with an
128error after disturbing the status quo, it removes `config.status'.
129
130The work of `configure' can be done by editing various files in the
131distribution, but using `configure' is supposed to be simpler. See
132the section called "CONFIGURATION BY HAND" below if you want to do the
133configuration yourself.
134
1354) Look at `./lisp/paths.el'; if some of those values are not right
136for your system, edit the file `./lisp/site-init.el' containing Emacs
137Lisp code to override them; you probably don't want to edit paths.el
138itself. YOU MUST USE THE LISP FUNCTION `setq' TO ASSIGN VALUES,
139rather than `defvar', as used by `./lisp/paths.el'. For example,
140
141 (setq news-inews-program "/usr/bin/inews")
142
143is how you would override the default value of the variable
144news-inews-program (which is "/usr/local/inews").
145
146Note that, on some systems, the code you place in site-init.el must
147not use expand-file-name or any other function which may look
148something up in the system's password and user information database.
149See `./PROBLEMS' for more details on which systems this affects.
150
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1515) Put into `./lisp/site-init.el' or `./lisp/site-load.el' any Emacs
152Lisp code you want Emacs to load before it is dumped out. Use
153site-load.el for additional libraries if you arrange for their
154documentation strings to be in the etc/DOC file (see
155src/Makefile.in.in if you wish to figure out how to do that). For all
156else, use site-load.el.
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157
158Note that, on some systems, the code you place in site-init.el must
159not use expand-file-name or any other function which may look
160something up in the system's password and user information database.
161See `./PROBLEMS' for more details on which systems this affects.
162
163This file is nonexistent in the distribution. You do not need to
164create it if you have nothing to put in it.
165
1666) Refer to the file `./etc/TERMS' for information on fields you may
167wish to add to various termcap entries. The files `./etc/termcap.ucb'
168and `./etc/termcap.dat' may already contain appropriately-modified
169entries.
170
1717) Run `make' in the top directory of the Emacs distribution to finish
172building Emacs in the standard way. The final executable file will be
173named `src/emacs'. If you want to have Emacs's executable programs
174and data files installed as well, run `make install'.
175
176By default, Emacs installs its files in the following directories:
177
178`/usr/local/bin' holds the executable programs users normally run -
179 `emacs', `etags', `ctags', `b2m', and `emacsclient'.
180
181`/usr/local/lib/emacs/VERSION/lisp' holds the Emacs Lisp library;
182 `VERSION' stands for the number of the Emacs version
183 you are installing, like `18.59' or `19.0'. Since the
184 lisp library changes from one version of Emacs to
185 another, including the version number in the path
186 allows you to have several versions of Emacs installed
187 at the same time; this means that you don't have to
188 make Emacs unavailable while installing a new
189 version.
190
191 Emacs searches for its lisp files in
192 `/usr/local/lib/emacs/site-lisp', then in this
193 directory.
194
195`/usr/local/lib/emacs/VERSION/etc' holds the Emacs tutorial, the DOC
196 file, the `yow' database, and other
197 architecture-independent files Emacs might need while
198 running. VERSION is as specified for `.../lisp'.
199
200`/usr/local/lib/emacs/lock' contains files indicating who is editing
201 what, so Emacs can detect editing clashes between
202 users.
203
204`/usr/local/lib/emacs/VERSION/CONFIGURATION-NAME' contains executable
205 programs used by Emacs that users are not expected to
206 run themselves.
207 `VERSION' is the number of the Emacs version you are
208 installing, and `CONFIGURATION-NAME' is the argument
209 you gave to the `configure' program to identify the
210 architecture and operating system of your machine,
211 like `mips-dec-ultrix' or `sparc-sun-sunos'. Since
212 these files are specific to the version of Emacs,
213 operating system, and architecture in use, including
214 the configuration name in the path allows you to have
215 several versions of Emacs for any mix of machines and
216 operating systems installed at the same time; this is
217 useful for sites at which different kinds of machines
218 share the file system Emacs is installed on.
219
220`/usr/local/info' holds the on-line documentation for Emacs, known as
221 "info files". Many other GNU programs are documented
222 using info files as well, so this directory stands
223 apart from the other, Emacs-specific directories.
224
225`/usr/local/man/man1' holds the man pages for the programs installed
226 in `/usr/local/bin'.
227
228If these directories are not what you want, you can specify where to
229install Emacs's libraries and data files or where Emacs should search
230for its lisp files by giving values for `make' variables as part of
231the command. See the section below called `MAKE VARIABLES' for more
232information on this.
233
2348) Check the file `dir' in your site's info directory (usually
235/usr/local/info) to make sure that it has a menu entry for the Emacs
236info files.
237
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2389) If your system uses lock files to interlock access to mailer inbox files,
239then you might need to make the program arch-lib/movemail setuid or setgid
240to enable it to write the lock files. We believe this is safe.
241
24210) You are done!
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243
244
245MAKE VARIABLES
246
247You can change where the build process installs Emacs and its data
248files by specifying values for `make' variables as part of the `make'
249command line. For example, if you type
250
251 make install bindir=/usr/local/gnubin
252
253the `bindir=/usr/local/gnubin' argument indicates that the Emacs
254executable files should go in `/usr/local/gnubin', not
255`/usr/local/bin'.
256
257Here is a complete list of the variables you may want to set.
258
259`bindir' indicates where to put executable programs that users can
260 run. This defaults to /usr/local/bin.
261
262`datadir' indicates where to put the architecture-independent
263 read-only data files that Emacs refers to while it runs; it
264 defaults to /usr/local/lib. We create the following
265 subdirectories under `datadir':
266 - `emacs/VERSION/lisp', containing the Emacs lisp library, and
267 - `emacs/VERSION/etc', containing the Emacs tutorial, the DOC
268 file, and the `yow' database.
269 `VERSION' is the number of the Emacs version you are installing,
270 like `18.59' or `19.0'. Since these files vary from one version
271 of Emacs to another, including the version number in the path
272 allows you to have several versions of Emacs installed at the
273 same time; this means that you don't have to make Emacs
274 unavailable while installing a new version.
275
276`statedir' indicates where to put architecture-independent data files
277 that Emacs modifies while it runs; it defaults to
278 /usr/local/lib as well. We create the following
279 subdirectories under `statedir':
280 - `emacs/lock', containing files indicating who is editing
281 what, so Emacs can detect editing clashes between
282 users.
283
284`libdir' indicates where to put architecture-specific data files that
285 Emacs refers to as it runs; it too defaults to `/usr/local/lib'.
286 We create the following subdirectories under `libdir':
287 - `emacs/VERSION/CONFIGURATION-NAME', containing executable
288 programs used by Emacs that users are not expected to run
289 themselves.
290 `VERSION' is the number of the Emacs version you are installing,
291 and `CONFIGURATION-NAME' is the argument you gave to the
292 `configure' program to identify the architecture and operating
293 system of your machine, like `mips-dec-ultrix' or
294 `sparc-sun-sunos'. Since these files are specific to the version
295 of Emacs, operating system, and architecture in use, including
296 the configuration name in the path allows you to have several
297 versions of Emacs for any mix of machines and operating systems
298 installed at the same time; this is useful for sites at which
299 different kinds of machines share the file system Emacs is
300 installed on.
301
302`infodir' indicates where to put the info files distributed with
303 Emacs; it defaults to `/usr/local/info'.
304
305`mandir' indicates where to put the man pages for Emacs and its
306 utilities (like `etags'); it defaults to
307 `/usr/local/man/man1'.
308
309`manext' gives the extension the man pages should be installed with.
310 It should contain a period, followed by the appropriate
311 digit. It defaults to `.1'. For example given the default
312 values for `mandir' and `manext', the Emacs man page would be
313 installed as `/usr/local/man/man1/emacs.1'.
314
315`prefix' doesn't give a path for any specific part of Emacs; instead,
316 its value is used to determine the defaults for all the
317 architecture-independent path variables - `datadir',
318 `statedir', `infodir', and `mandir'. Its default value is
319 `/usr/local'; the other variables add on `lib' or `man' to it
320 by default.
321
322 For example, suppose your site generally places GNU software
323 under `/usr/users/software/gnusoft' instead of `/usr/local'.
324 By including
325 `prefix=/usr/users/software/gnusoft'
326 in the arguments to `make', you can instruct the build process
327 to place all of the Emacs data files in the appropriate
328 directories under that path.
329
330`exec_prefix' serves the same purpose as `prefix', but instead
331 determines the default values for the architecture-dependent
332 path variables - `bindir' and `libdir'.
333
334The above variables serve analogous purposes in the makefiles for all
335GNU software; here are some variables specific to Emacs.
336
337`lispdir' indicates where Emacs installs and expects its lisp
42db5687 338 library. Its default value, based on `datadir' (see above),
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339 is `/usr/local/lib/emacs/VERSION/lisp' (where `VERSION' is as
340 described above).
341
342`locallisppath' indicates where Emacs should search for lisp files
343 specific to your site. It should be a colon-separated list of
344 directories; Emacs checks them in order before checking
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345 `lispdir'. Its default value, based on `datadir' (see above),
346 is `/usr/local/lib/emacs/site-lisp'.
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347
348`lisppath' is the complete list of directories Emacs should search for
349 its lisp files; its default value is the concatenation of
350 `lispdir' and `locallisppath'. It should be a colon-separated
351 list of directories; Emacs checks them in the order they
352 appear.
353
354`etcdir' indicates where Emacs should install and expect the rest of
355 its architecture-independent data, like the tutorial, DOC
356 file, and yow database. Its default value, based on `datadir'
357 (which see), is `/usr/local/lib/emacs/VERSION/etc'.
358
359`lockdir' indicates the directory where Emacs keeps track of its
360 locking information. Its default value, based on `statedir'
361 (which see), is `/usr/local/lib/emacs/lock'.
362
363`archlibdir' indicates where Emacs installs and expects the
364 executable files and other architecture-dependent data it uses
365 while running. Its default value, based on `libdir' (which
366 see), is `/usr/local/lib/emacs/VERSION/CONFIGURATION-NAME'
367 (where VERSION and CONFIGURATION-NAME are as described above).
368
369Remember that you must specify any variable values you need each time
370you run `make' in the top directory. If you run `make' once to build
371emacs, test it, and then run `make' again to install the files, you
372must provide the same variable settings each time. To make the
373settings persist, you can edit them into the `Makefile' in the top
374directory, but be aware that running the `configure' program erases
375`Makefile' and rebuilds it from `Makefile.in'.
376
377The top-level Makefile stores the variable settings it used in the
378Makefiles for the subdirectories, so you don't have to specify them
379when running make in the subdirectories.
380
381
382CONFIGURATION BY HAND
383
384Running the `configure' program performs the following steps.
385
3861) Copy `./src/config.h.in' to `./src/config.h'.
387
3882) Consult `./etc/MACHINES' to see what configuration name you should
389use for your system. Look at the code of the `configure' script to
390see which operating system and architecture description files from
391`src/s' and `src/m' should be used for that configuration name. Edit
392`src/config.h', and change the two `#include' directives to include
393the appropriate system and architecture description files.
394
3952) Edit `./src/config.h' to set the right options for your system. If
396you need to override any of the definitions in the s/*.h and m/*.h
397files for your system and machine, do so by editing config.h, not by
398changing the s/*.h and m/*.h files. Occasionally you may need to
399redefine parameters used in `./lib-src/movemail.c'.
400
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4013) If you're going to use the make utility to build Emacs, you will
402still need to run `configure' first, giving theappropriate values for
403the variables in the sections entitled "Things `configure' Might Edit"
404and "Where To Install Things." Note that you may only need to change
405the variables `prefix' and `exec_prefix', since the rest of the
406variables have reasonable defaults based on them. For each Makefile
407variable of this type, there is a corresponding configure option; for
408example, to change the location of the lock directory, you might use
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42db5687 410 ./configure --lockdir=/nfs/emacslock
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411
4124) If you're going to use the build-install script to build Emacs,
42db5687 413copy `./build-ins.in' to `./build-install', and edit the
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414definitions found at the top of the script.
415
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416The `configure' script is built from `configure.in' by the `autoconf'
417program. However, since Emacs has configuration requirements that
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418autoconf can't meet, `configure.in' uses an marriage of custom-baked
419configuration code and autoconf macros. New versions of autoconf
420could very well break this arrangement, so it may be wise to avoid
421rebuilding `configure' from `configure.in' when possible.
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422
423
424BUILDING GNU EMACS BY HAND
425
426Once Emacs is configured, running `make' or running the shell script
427`build-install' in the top directory performs the following steps.
428
4291) Run `make src/paths.h' in the top directory. This produces
430`./src/paths.h' from the template file `./src/paths.h.in', changing
431the paths to the values specified in `./Makefile'.
432
4332) Cd to `./lib-src' and run `make'. This creates executables named
434`ctags' and `etags' and `wakeup' and `make-docfile' and `digest-doc'
435and `test-distrib'. And others.
436
4373) Cd to `./src' and Run `make'. This refers to files in the `./lisp'
438and `./lib-src' subdirectories using names `../lisp' and
439`../lib-src'.
440
441This creates a file `./src/emacs' which is the runnable Emacs,
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442assigning it a new build version number by incrementing the build
443version stored in `./lisp/version.el'.
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444
445It also creates a file in `./etc' whose name is `DOC' followed by the
446current Emacs version. This file contains documentation strings for
447all the functions in Emacs. Each time you run make to make a new
448emacs, a new DOC file with a new name is made. You must keep the DOC
449file for an Emacs version as long as you keep using that Emacs
450version.
451
452
453INSTALLATION BY HAND
454
455The steps below are done by the shell script `build-install' or by
456running `make install' in the main directory of the Emacs
457distribution.
458
4591) Copy `./lisp' and its subdirectories, `./etc', and the executables
460in `./lib-src' to their final destinations, as selected in `./src/paths.h'.
461
462Strictly speaking, not all of the executables in `./lib-src' need be copied.
463- The programs `cvtmail', `emacsserver', `env', `fakemail', `hexl',
464 `movemail', `timer', `vcdiff', `wakeup', and `yow' are used by
465 Emacs; they do need to be copied.
466- The programs `etags', `ctags', `emacsclient', `b2m', and `rcs2log'
467 are intended to be run by users; they are handled below.
468- The programs `make-docfile', `make-path', and `test-distrib' were
469 used in building Emacs, and are not needed any more.
470- The programs `digest-doc' and `sorted-doc' convert a `DOC' file into
471 a file for users to read. There is no important reason to move them.
472
4732) Copy the files in `./info' to the place specified in
474`./lisp/site-init.el' or `./lisp/paths.el'. Note that if the
475destination directory already contains a file named `dir', you
476probably don't want to replace it with the `dir' file in the Emacs
477distribution. Instead, you should make sure that the existing `dir'
478file contains an appropriate menu entry for the Emacs info.
479
4803) Create a directory for Emacs to use for clash detection, named as
481indicated by the PATH_LOCK macro in `./src/paths.h'.
482
4834) Copy `./src/emacs' to `/usr/local/bin', or to some other directory
484in users' search paths. `./src/emacs' has an alternate name
485`./src/emacs-EMACSVERSION'; you may wish to make a symbolic link named
486`/usr/local/bin/emacs' pointing to that alternate name, as an easy way
487of installing different versions.
488
489You can delete `./src/temacs'.
490
4915) Copy the programs `b2m', `emacsclient', `ctags', `etags', and
492`rcs2log' from `./lib-src' to `/usr/local/bin'. These programs are
493intended for users to run.
494
4956) Copy the man pages in `./etc' for emacs, ctags, and etags into the
496appropriate man directories.
497
4987) The files in the `./src' subdirectory, except for `emacs', are not
499used by Emacs once it is built. The source would be handy for
500debugging.
501
502
503PROBLEMS
504
505See the file PROBLEMS in this directory for a list of various
506problems sometimes encountered, and what to do about them.
507
508
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509Installation on MSDOG (a.k.a. MSDOS)
510
511To install on MSDOG, you need to have the GNU C compiler (also known
512as djgpp), GNU Make, rm, mv, chmod, and sed. Type these commands:
513
514config msdos
515make install
516
517To save disk space, Emacs is built in-place. As the /usr/local/
518subtree does not exist on most MSDOG systems, the executables are
519placed in /emacs/bin/.
520
521MSDOG is a not a multi-tasking operating system, so Emacs features
522that depend on multitasking will not work. Synchronous subprocesses
523do work.