| 1 | Emacs for Windows |
| 2 | |
| 3 | This README file describes how to set up and run a precompiled version |
| 4 | of GNU Emacs for Windows NT/2000/XP and Windows 95/98/Me. This |
| 5 | distribution can be found on the ftp.gnu.org server and its mirrors: |
| 6 | |
| 7 | ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/windows/ |
| 8 | |
| 9 | This server contains other distributions, including the full Emacs |
| 10 | source distribution and the lisp source distribution, as well as older |
| 11 | releases of Emacs for Windows. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | Answers to frequently asked questions, and further information about |
| 14 | this port of GNU Emacs and related software packages can be found via |
| 15 | http: |
| 16 | |
| 17 | http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html |
| 18 | |
| 19 | * Preliminaries |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Along with this file should be six subdirectories (bin, etc, info, |
| 22 | lisp, lock, site-lisp). Depending on which distribution you have |
| 23 | installed, the lisp subdirectory might contain both the lisp source |
| 24 | (*.el) and compiled lisp files (*.elc), or just the compiled lisp |
| 25 | files. If you don't have the lisp source files, you can obtain them |
| 26 | by downloading the lisp source distribution or the full source |
| 27 | distribution from the ftp site mentioned above. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | * Setting up Emacs |
| 30 | |
| 31 | To install Emacs, simply unpack all the files into a directory of your |
| 32 | choice, but note that you might encounter minor problems if there is a |
| 33 | space anywhere in the directory name. To complete the installation |
| 34 | process, you can optionally run the program addpm.exe in the bin |
| 35 | subdirectory. This will add some entries to the registry that tell |
| 36 | Emacs where to find its support files, and put an icon for Emacs in |
| 37 | the Start Menu under "Start -> Programs -> Gnu Emacs -> Emacs". |
| 38 | |
| 39 | Some users have reported that the Start Menu item is not created for |
| 40 | them. If this happens, just create your own shortcut to runemacs.exe, |
| 41 | eg. by dragging it on to the desktop or the Start button. |
| 42 | |
| 43 | Note that running addpm is now an optional step; Emacs is able to |
| 44 | locate all of its files without needing the information to be set in |
| 45 | the environment or the registry, although such settings will still be |
| 46 | obeyed if present. This is convenient for running Emacs on a machine |
| 47 | which disallows registry changes, or on which software should not be |
| 48 | installed. For instance, you can now run Emacs directly from a CD |
| 49 | without copying or installing anything on the machine itself. |
| 50 | |
| 51 | * Starting Emacs |
| 52 | |
| 53 | To run Emacs, simply select Emacs from the Start Menu, or invoke |
| 54 | runemacs.exe directly from Explorer or a command prompt. This will |
| 55 | start Emacs in its default GUI mode, ready to use. If you have never |
| 56 | used Emacs before, you should follow the tutorial at this point |
| 57 | (select Emacs Tutorial from the Help menu), since Emacs is quite |
| 58 | different from ordinary Windows applications in many respects. |
| 59 | |
| 60 | If you want to use Emacs in tty or character mode within a command |
| 61 | window, you can start it by typing "emacs -nw" at the command prompt. |
| 62 | (Obviously, you need to ensure that the Emacs bin subdirectory is in |
| 63 | your PATH first, or specify the path to emacs.exe.) The -nw |
| 64 | (non-windowed) mode of operation is most useful if you have a telnet |
| 65 | server on your machine, allowing you to run Emacs remotely. |
| 66 | |
| 67 | * Uninstalling Emacs |
| 68 | |
| 69 | If you should need to uninstall Emacs, simply delete all the files and |
| 70 | subdirectories from the directory where it was unpacked (Emacs does |
| 71 | not install or update any files in system directories or anywhere |
| 72 | else). If you ran the addpm.exe program to create the registry |
| 73 | entries and the Start menu icon, then you can remove the registry |
| 74 | entries using regedit. All of the settings are written under the |
| 75 | Software\GNU\Emacs key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, or if you didn't have |
| 76 | administrator privileges, the same key in HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Just |
| 77 | delete the Software\GNU\Emacs key. |
| 78 | |
| 79 | The Start menu entry can be removed by right-clicking on the Task bar |
| 80 | and selecting Properties, then using the Remove option on the Start |
| 81 | Menu Programs page. (If you installed under an account with |
| 82 | administrator privileges, then you need to click the Advanced button |
| 83 | and look for the Gnu Emacs menu item under All Users.) |
| 84 | |
| 85 | * Troubleshooting |
| 86 | |
| 87 | Unpacking the distributions |
| 88 | |
| 89 | If you encounter trouble trying to run Emacs, there are a number of |
| 90 | possible causes. If you didn't use the versions of tar and gunzip (or |
| 91 | djtarnt) on the above ftp site, it is possible that the distribution |
| 92 | became corrupted while it was being unpacked. Check the following for |
| 93 | indications that the distribution was not corrupted: |
| 94 | |
| 95 | * Be sure to disable the CR/LF translation or the executables will |
| 96 | be unusable. Older versions of WinZipNT would enable this |
| 97 | translation by default. If you are using WinZipNT, disable it. |
| 98 | (I don't have WinZipNT myself, and I do not know the specific |
| 99 | commands necessary to disable it.) |
| 100 | |
| 101 | * Check that filenames were not truncated to 8.3. For example, |
| 102 | there should be a file lisp\abbrevlist.elc; if this has been |
| 103 | truncated to abbrevli.elc, your distribution has been corrupted |
| 104 | while unpacking and Emacs will not start. |
| 105 | |
| 106 | * Users have said that some utilities (WinZip again?) don't create |
| 107 | the lock subdirectory. You can create the lock directory by hand |
| 108 | (it is normally empty). |
| 109 | |
| 110 | * Users have also reported that the gnu-win32 tar corrupts the |
| 111 | executables. Use the version of tar or djtarnt on the ftp.gnu.org |
| 112 | site instead. |
| 113 | |
| 114 | If you believe you have unpacked the distributions correctly and are |
| 115 | still encountering problems, see the section on Further Information |
| 116 | below. |
| 117 | |
| 118 | Virus scanners |
| 119 | |
| 120 | Some virus scanners interfere with Emacs' use of subprocesses. If you |
| 121 | are unable to use subprocesses and you use Dr. Solomon's WinGuard or |
| 122 | McAfee's Vshield, turn off "Scan all files" (WinGuard) or "boot sector |
| 123 | scanning" (McAfee exclusion properties). |
| 124 | |
| 125 | * Further information |
| 126 | |
| 127 | If you have access to the World Wide Web, I would recommend pointing |
| 128 | your favorite web browser to following the document (if you haven't |
| 129 | already): |
| 130 | |
| 131 | http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html |
| 132 | |
| 133 | This document serves as an FAQ and a source for further information |
| 134 | about the Windows port and related software packages. |
| 135 | |
| 136 | In addition to the FAQ, there is a mailing list for discussing issues |
| 137 | related to the Windows port of Emacs. For information about the |
| 138 | list, see this Web page: |
| 139 | |
| 140 | http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-emacs-windows |
| 141 | |
| 142 | To ask questions on the mailing list, send email to |
| 143 | help-emacs-windows@gnu.org. (You don't need to subscribe for that.) |
| 144 | To subscribe to the list or unsubscribe from it, fill the form you |
| 145 | find at http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-emacs-windows as |
| 146 | explained there. |
| 147 | |
| 148 | Another valuable source of information and help which should not be |
| 149 | overlooked is the various Usenet news groups dedicated to Emacs. |
| 150 | These are particuarly good for help with general issues which aren't |
| 151 | specific to the Windows port of Emacs. The main news groups to use |
| 152 | for seeking help are: |
| 153 | |
| 154 | gnu.emacs.help |
| 155 | comp.emacs |
| 156 | |
| 157 | There are also fairly regular postings and announcements of new or |
| 158 | updated Emacs packages on this group: |
| 159 | |
| 160 | gnu.emacs.sources |
| 161 | |
| 162 | * Reporting bugs |
| 163 | |
| 164 | If you encounter a bug in this port of Emacs, we would like to hear |
| 165 | about it. First check the FAQ on the web page above to see if the bug |
| 166 | is already known and if there are any workarounds. Then check whether |
| 167 | the bug has something to do with code in your .emacs file, e.g. by |
| 168 | invoking Emacs with the "-q --no-site-file" options. |
| 169 | |
| 170 | If you decide that it is a bug in Emacs that might be specific to the |
| 171 | Windows port, send a message to the "help-emacs-windows@gnu.org" |
| 172 | mailing list describing the bug, the version of Emacs that you are |
| 173 | using, and the operating system that you are running on (Windows NT, |
| 174 | 2000, 95, 98, etc. including service pack level if known). If the bug |
| 175 | is related to subprocesses, also specify which shell you are using |
| 176 | (e.g., include the values of `shell-file-name' and |
| 177 | `shell-explicit-file-name' in your message). |
| 178 | |
| 179 | If you think the bug is not specific to the Windows port of Emacs, |
| 180 | then it is better to mail the bug report to "bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org" so |
| 181 | that it will be seen by the right people. If Emacs has been set up to |
| 182 | send mail, you can use the command M-x report-emacs-bug to create and |
| 183 | send the bug report, but in some cases there is a function to report |
| 184 | bugs in a specific package; e.g. M-x gnus-bug for Gnus, M-x |
| 185 | c-submit-bug-report for C/C++/Java mode, etc. |
| 186 | |
| 187 | Enjoy! |