* boot-9.scm (duplicate-handlers): Make sure the merge-generics

[bpt/guile.git] / INSTALL

Guile Installation Guide
Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   Permission is granted to anyone to make or distribute verbatim copies
   of this document as received, in any medium, provided that the
   copyright notice and permission notice are preserved,
   and that the distributor grants the recipient permission
   for further redistribution as permitted by this notice.

   Permission is granted to distribute modified versions
   of this document, or of portions of it,
   under the above conditions, provided also that they
   carry prominent notices stating who last changed them,
   and that any new or changed statements about the activities
   of the Free Software Foundation are approved by the Foundation.


Brief Installation Instructions ===========================================

To build Guile on unix, there are two basic steps:

	1. Type "./configure", to configure the package for your system.
	2. Type "make", to build the package.

Generic instructions for configuring and compiling GNU distributions
are included below.  (For instructions how to install SLIB, the scheme
procedure library, see below.)


Guile can use a number of external packages such as `readline' when
they are available.  Guile expects to be able to find these packages
in the default compiler setup, it does not try to make any special
arrangements itself.  For example, for the `readline' package, Guile
expects to be able to find the include file <readline/readline.h>,
without passing any special `-I' options to the compiler.

If you installed an external package, and you used the --prefix
installation option to install it somewhere else than /usr/local, you
must arrange for your compiler to find it by default.  If that
compiler is gcc, one convenient way of making such arrangements is to
use the --with-local-prefix option during installation, naming the
same directory as you used in the --prefix option of the package.  In
particular, it is not good enough to use the same --prefix option when
you install gcc and the package; you need to use the
--with-local-prefix option as well.  See the gcc documentation for
more details.


Special Instructions For Some Systems =====================================

We would like Guile to build on all systems using the simple
instructions above, but it seems that a few systems still need special
treatment.  If you can send us fixes for these problems, we'd be
grateful.

SunOS 4.1: Guile's shared library support seems to be confused, but
    hey; shared libraries are confusing.  You may need to configure
    Guile with a command like:
	./configure --disable-shared
    For more information on `--disable-shared', see below, "Flags
    Accepted by Configure".

HP/UX: GCC 2.7.2 (and maybe other versions) have trouble creating
    shared libraries if they depend on any non-shared libraries.  GCC
    seems to have other problems as well.  To work around this, we
    suggest you configure Guile to use the system's C compiler:
	CC=cc ./configure

NetBSD: Perry Metzger says, "Guile will build under NetBSD only using
    gmake -- the native make will not work.  (gmake is in our package
    system, so this will not be a problem when we packagize 1.3.)"


Flags Accepted by Configure ===============================================

If you run the configure script with no arguments, it should examine
your system and set things up appropriately.  However, there are a few
switches specific to Guile you may find useful in some circumstances.


--enable-maintainer-mode

  If you have automake, autoconf, and libtool installed on your
  system, this switch causes configure to generate Makefiles which
  know how to automatically regenerate configure scripts, makefiles,
  and headers, when they are out of date.  The HACKING file says which
  versions of those tools you will need.


--with-threads  ---  Build with thread support

  Build a Guile executable and library that supports cooperative
  threading.  If you use this switch, Guile will also build and
  install the QuickThreads non-preemptive threading library,
  libqthreads, which you will need to link into your programs after
  libguile.  When you use `guile-config', you will pick up all
  neccessary linker flags automatically.

  Cooperative threads are not yet thoroughly tested; once they are,
  they will be enabled by default.  The interaction with blocking I/O
  is pretty ad hoc at the moment.  In our experience, bugs in the
  thread support do not affect you if you don't actually use threads.


--disable-linuxthreads  ---  Disable pthread compatability hack on Linux

  If you experience problems on GNU/Linux that are related to
  pthreads, you might try this option.  Guile with then not link with
  the pthreads library, but will also not try to be compatible to
  programs that use both libguile and libpthread.


--with-modules  ---  Specify statically linked `modules'

  Guile can dynamically load `plugin modules' during runtime, using
  facilities provided by libtool.  Not all platforms support this,
  however.  On these platforms, you can statically link the plugin
  modules into libguile when Guile itself is build.  XXX - how does
  one specify the modules?


--enable-deprecated=LEVEL  ---  Control the inclusion of deprecated features.

  You can select between different behaviours via the LEVEL argument:
  a value of "no" will omit all deprecated features and you will get
  "undefined reference", "variable unbound" or similar errors when you
  try to use them.  All other values will include all deprecated
  features.  The LEVEL argument is used to determine the default value
  for the environment variable GUILE_WARN_DEPRECATED.  See the README
  for more information.

  The default is to get a vague warning at program exit if deprecated
  features were used:

  --enable-deprecated=yes
  --enable-deprecated=summary

  To get a detailed warning at first use of a deprecated feature:

  --enable-deprecated=detailed

  To get no warnings:

  --enable-deprecated=shutup

  To omit deprecated features completely and irrevokably:

  --enable-deprecated=no


--disable-shared  ---  Do not build shared libraries.
--disable-static  ---  Do not build static libraries.

  Normally, both static and shared libraries will be built if your
  system supports them.


--enable-debug-freelist  ---  Enable freelist debugging.

  This enables a debugging version of SCM_NEWCELL(), and also
  registers an extra primitive, the setter
  `gc-set-debug-check-freelist!'.

  Configure with the --enable-debug-freelist option to enable the
  gc-set-debug-check-freelist! primitive, and then use:

  (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #t)  # turn on checking of the freelist
  (gc-set-debug-check-freelist! #f)  # turn off checking

  Checking of the freelist forces a traversal of the freelist and a
  garbage collection before each allocation of a cell.  This can slow
  down the interpreter dramatically, so the setter should be used to
  turn on this extra processing only when necessary.


--enable-debug-malloc  ---  Enable malloc debugging.

  Include code for debugging of calls to scm_must_malloc/realloc/free.

  Checks that

  1. objects freed by scm_must_free has been mallocated by scm_must_malloc
  2. objects reallocated by scm_must_realloc has been allocated by
     scm_must_malloc
  3. reallocated objects are reallocated with the same what string

  But, most importantly, it records the number of allocated objects of
  each kind.  This is useful when searching for memory leaks.

  A Guile compiled with this option provides the primitive
  `malloc-stats' which returns an alist with pairs of kind and the
  number of objects of that kind.


--enable-guile-debug  ---  Include internal debugging functions
--disable-arrays      ---  omit array and uniform array support
--disable-posix       ---  omit posix interfaces
--disable-networking  ---  omit networking interfaces
--disable-regex       ---  omit regular expression interfaces


Cross building Guile  =====================================================

As of guile-1.5.x, the build process uses compiled C files for
snarfing, and (indirectly, through libtool) for linking, and uses the
guile executable for generating documentation.

When cross building guile, you first need to configure, build and
install guile for your build host.

Then, you may configure guile for cross building, eg:

    ./configure --host=i686-pc-cygwin --disable-shared

Two special options for cross building are available:

--with-cc-for-build      --- native C compiler, to be used during build
                             defaults to: `PATH=/usr/bin:$PATH cc'

--with-guile-for-build   --- native Guile executable, to be used during build
                             defaults to: `guile', assuming you just
                             installed this guile natively.


Using Guile Without Installing It =========================================

If you want to run Guile without installing it, set the environment
variable `GUILE_LOAD_PATH' to a colon-separated list of directories,
including the directory containing this INSTALL file.  If you used a
separate build directory, you'll need to include the build directory
in the path as well.

For example, suppose the Guile distribution unpacked into a directory
called `/home/jimb/guile-snap' (so the full name of this INSTALL file
would be `/home/jimb/guile-snap/INSTALL').  Then you might say, if
you're using Bash or any other Bourne shell variant,

  export GUILE_LOAD_PATH=/home/jimb/guile-snap

or if you're using CSH or one of its variants:

  setenv GUILE_LOAD_PATH /home/jimb/guile-snap

You will additionally need to set your `LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH' environment
variable to the directory in which the compiled SRFI support modules
are created if you want to use the modules for SRFI-4, SRFI-13 or
SRFI-14 support.  Similar to the example above, this will be,

  export LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH=/home/jimb/guile-snap/srfi/.libs

or if you're using CSH or one of its variants:

  setenv LTDL_LIBRARY_PATH /home/jimb/guile-snap/srfi/.libs


Installing SLIB ===========================================================

In order to use SLIB from Guile you basically only need to put the
`slib' directory _in_ one of the directories on Guile's load path.

The standard installation is:

  1. Obtain slib from http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/~jaffer/SLIB.html

  2. Put it in Guile's data directory, that is the directory printed when
     you type

       guile-config info pkgdatadir

     at the shell prompt.  This is normally `/usr/local/share/guile', so the
     directory will normally have full path `/usr/local/share/guile/slib'.

  3. Start guile as a user with write access to the data directory and type

       (use-modules (ice-9 slib))

     at the Guile prompt.  This will generate the slibcat catalog next to
     the slib directory.

SLIB's `require' is provided by the Guile module (ice-9 slib).

Example:

  (use-modules (ice-9 slib))
  (require 'primes)
  (prime? 7)


Generic Instructions for Building Auto-Configured Packages ================

   The `configure' shell script attempts to guess correct values for
various system-dependent variables used during compilation.  It uses
those values to create a `Makefile' in each directory of the package.
It may also create one or more `.h' files containing system-dependent
definitions.  Finally, it creates a shell script `config.status' that
you can run in the future to recreate the current configuration, a file
`config.cache' that saves the results of its tests to speed up
reconfiguring, and a file `config.log' containing compiler output
(useful mainly for debugging `configure').

   If you need to do unusual things to compile the package, please try
to figure out how `configure' could check whether to do them, and mail
diffs or instructions to the address given in the `README' so they can
be considered for the next release.  If at some point `config.cache'
contains results you don't want to keep, you may remove or edit it.

   The file `configure.in' is used to create `configure' by a program
called `autoconf'.  You only need `configure.in' if you want to change
it or regenerate `configure' using a newer version of `autoconf'.

The simplest way to compile this package is:

  1. `cd' to the directory containing the package's source code and type
     `./configure' to configure the package for your system.  If you're
     using `csh' on an old version of System V, you might need to type
     `sh ./configure' instead to prevent `csh' from trying to execute
     `configure' itself.

     Running `configure' takes awhile.  While running, it prints some
     messages telling which features it is checking for.

  2. Type `make' to compile the package.

  3. Optionally, type `make check' to run any self-tests that come with
     the package.

  4. Type `make install' to install the programs and any data files and
     documentation.

  5. You can remove the program binaries and object files from the
     source code directory by typing `make clean'.  To also remove the
     files that `configure' created (so you can compile the package for
     a different kind of computer), type `make distclean'.  There is
     also a `make maintainer-clean' target, but that is intended mainly
     for the package's developers.  If you use it, you may have to get
     all sorts of other programs in order to regenerate files that came
     with the distribution.

Compilers and Options
=====================

   Some systems require unusual options for compilation or linking that
the `configure' script does not know about.  You can give `configure'
initial values for variables by setting them in the environment.  Using
a Bourne-compatible shell, you can do that on the command line like
this:
     CC=c89 CFLAGS=-O2 LIBS=-lposix ./configure

Or on systems that have the `env' program, you can do it like this:
     env CPPFLAGS=-I/usr/local/include LDFLAGS=-s ./configure

Compiling For Multiple Architectures
====================================

   You can compile the package for more than one kind of computer at the
same time, by placing the object files for each architecture in their
own directory.  To do this, you must use a version of `make' that
supports the `VPATH' variable, such as GNU `make'.  `cd' to the
directory where you want the object files and executables to go and run
the `configure' script.  `configure' automatically checks for the
source code in the directory that `configure' is in and in `..'.

   If you have to use a `make' that does not supports the `VPATH'
variable, you have to compile the package for one architecture at a time
in the source code directory.  After you have installed the package for
one architecture, use `make distclean' before reconfiguring for another
architecture.

Installation Names
==================

   By default, `make install' will install the package's files in
`/usr/local/bin', `/usr/local/man', etc.  You can specify an
installation prefix other than `/usr/local' by giving `configure' the
option `--prefix=PATH'.

   You can specify separate installation prefixes for
architecture-specific files and architecture-independent files.  If you
give `configure' the option `--exec-prefix=PATH', the package will use
PATH as the prefix for installing programs and libraries.
Documentation and other data files will still use the regular prefix.

   In addition, if you use an unusual directory layout you can give
options like `--bindir=PATH' to specify different values for particular
kinds of files.  Run `configure --help' for a list of the directories
you can set and what kinds of files go in them.

   If the package supports it, you can cause programs to be installed
with an extra prefix or suffix on their names by giving `configure' the
option `--program-prefix=PREFIX' or `--program-suffix=SUFFIX'.

Optional Features
=================

   Some packages pay attention to `--enable-FEATURE' options to
`configure', where FEATURE indicates an optional part of the package.
They may also pay attention to `--with-PACKAGE' options, where PACKAGE
is something like `gnu-as' or `x' (for the X Window System).  The
`README' should mention any `--enable-' and `--with-' options that the
package recognizes.

   For packages that use the X Window System, `configure' can usually
find the X include and library files automatically, but if it doesn't,
you can use the `configure' options `--x-includes=DIR' and
`--x-libraries=DIR' to specify their locations.

Specifying the System Type
==========================

   There may be some features `configure' can not figure out
automatically, but needs to determine by the type of host the package
will run on.  Usually `configure' can figure that out, but if it prints
a message saying it can not guess the host type, give it the
`--host=TYPE' option.  TYPE can either be a short name for the system
type, such as `sun4', or a canonical name with three fields:
     CPU-COMPANY-SYSTEM

See the file `config.sub' for the possible values of each field.  If
`config.sub' isn't included in this package, then this package doesn't
need to know the host type.

   If you are building compiler tools for cross-compiling, you can also
use the `--target=TYPE' option to select the type of system they will
produce code for and the `--build=TYPE' option to select the type of
system on which you are compiling the package.

Sharing Defaults
================

   If you want to set default values for `configure' scripts to share,
you can create a site shell script called `config.site' that gives
default values for variables like `CC', `cache_file', and `prefix'.
`configure' looks for `PREFIX/share/config.site' if it exists, then
`PREFIX/etc/config.site' if it exists.  Or, you can set the
`CONFIG_SITE' environment variable to the location of the site script.
A warning: not all `configure' scripts look for a site script.

Operation Controls
==================

   `configure' recognizes the following options to control how it
operates.

`--cache-file=FILE'
     Use and save the results of the tests in FILE instead of
     `./config.cache'.  Set FILE to `/dev/null' to disable caching, for
     debugging `configure'.

`--help'
     Print a summary of the options to `configure', and exit.

`--quiet'
`--silent'
`-q'
     Do not print messages saying which checks are being made.  To
     suppress all normal output, redirect it to `/dev/null' (any error
     messages will still be shown).

`--srcdir=DIR'
     Look for the package's source code in directory DIR.  Usually
     `configure' can determine that directory automatically.

`--version'
     Print the version of Autoconf used to generate the `configure'
     script, and exit.

`configure' also accepts some other, not widely useful, options.