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1 GNU Emacs Installation Guide
2 Copyright (c) 1992, 1994 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
18 BUILDING AND INSTALLATION:
19 (This is for a Unix or Unix-like system. For MSDOS, see below;
20 search for MSDOG. For Windows NT, see the file nt/install.)
21
22 1) Make sure your system has enough swapping space allocated to handle
23 a program whose pure code is 900k bytes and whose data area is at
24 least 400k and can reach 8Mb or more. If the swapping space is
25 insufficient, you will get an error in the command `temacs -batch -l
26 loadup dump', found in `./src/Makefile.in.in', or possibly when
27 running the final dumped Emacs.
28
29 Building Emacs requires about 50 Mb of disk space (including the Emacs
30 sources). Once installed, Emacs occupies about 20 Mb in the file
31 system where it is installed; this includes the executable files, Lisp
32 libraries, miscellaneous data files, and on-line documentation. If
33 the building and installation take place in different directories,
34 then the installation procedure momentarily requires 50+20 Mb.
35
36 2) Consult `./etc/MACHINES' to see what configuration name you should
37 give to the `configure' program. That file offers hints for
38 getting around some possible installation problems.
39
40 3) In the top directory of the Emacs distribution, run the program
41 `configure' as follows:
42
43 ./configure CONFIGURATION-NAME [--OPTION[=VALUE]] ...
44
45 The CONFIGURATION-NAME argument should be a configuration name given
46 in `./etc/MACHINES'. If omitted, `configure' will try to guess your
47 system type; if it cannot, you must find the appropriate configuration
48 name in `./etc/MACHINES' and specify it explicitly.
49
50 If you don't want X support, specify `--with-x=no'. If you omit this
51 option, `configure' will try to figure out for itself whether your
52 system has X, and arrange to use it if present.
53
54 The `--x-includes=DIR' and `--x-libraries=DIR' options tell the build
55 process where the compiler should look for the include files and
56 object libraries used with the X Window System. Normally, `configure'
57 is able to find them; these options are necessary if you have your X
58 Window System files installed in unusual places. These options also
59 accept a list of directories, separated with colons.
60
61 To get more attractive menus, you can specify an X toolkit when you
62 configure Emacs; use the option `--with-x-toolkit=TOOLKIT', where
63 TOOLKIT is `athena' or `motif' (`yes' and `lucid' are synonyms for
64 `athena'). On some systems, it does not work to use a toolkit with
65 shared libraries.
66
67 The `--with-gcc' option specifies that the build process should
68 compile Emacs using GCC. If you don't want to use GCC, specify
69 `--with-gcc=no'. If you omit this option, `configure' will search
70 for GCC in your path, and use it if present.
71
72 You can build Emacs for several different machine types from a single
73 source directory. To do this, you must use a version of `make' that
74 supports the `VPATH' variable, such as GNU `make'. Make separate
75 build directories for the different configuration types, and in each
76 one, run the Emacs `configure' script. `configure' looks for the
77 Emacs source code in the directory that `configure' is in.
78
79 The `--prefix=PREFIXDIR' option specifies where the installation process
80 should put emacs and its data files. This defaults to `/usr/local'.
81 - Emacs (and the other utilities users run) go in PREFIXDIR/bin
82 (unless the `--exec-prefix' option says otherwise).
83 - The architecture-independent files go in PREFIXDIR/share/emacs/VERSION
84 (where VERSION is the version number of Emacs, like `19.27').
85 - The architecture-dependent files go in
86 PREFIXDIR/libexec/emacs/VERSION/CONFIGURATION
87 (where CONFIGURATION is the configuration name, like mips-dec-ultrix4.2),
88 unless the `--exec-prefix' option says otherwise.
89
90 The `--exec-prefix=EXECDIR' option allows you to specify a separate
91 portion of the directory tree for installing architecture-specific
92 files, like executables and utility programs. If specified,
93 - Emacs (and the other utilities users run) go in EXECDIR/bin, and
94 - The architecture-dependent files go in
95 EXECDIR/libexec/emacs/VERSION/CONFIGURATION.
96 EXECDIR/bin should be a directory that is normally in users' PATHs.
97
98 For example, the command
99
100 ./configure mips-dec-ultrix --with-x11
101
102 configures Emacs to build for a DECstation running Ultrix, with
103 support for the X11 window system.
104
105 `configure' doesn't do any compilation or installation
106 itself. It just creates the files that influence those things:
107 `./Makefile', `lib-src/Makefile', `oldXMenu/Makefile',
108 `lwlib/Makefile', `src/Makefile', and `./src/config.h'. For details
109 on exactly what it does, see the section called `CONFIGURATION BY
110 HAND', below.
111
112 When it is done, `configure' prints a description of what it did and
113 creates a shell script `config.status' which, when run, recreates the
114 same configuration. If `configure' exits with an error after
115 disturbing the status quo, it removes `config.status'. `configure'
116 also creates a file `config.cache' that saves the results of its tests
117 to make reconfiguring faster, and a file `config.log' containing compiler
118 output (useful mainly for debugging `configure'). You can give
119 `configure' the option `--cache-file=FILE' to use the results of the
120 tests in FILE instead of `config.cache'. Set FILE to `/dev/null' to
121 disable caching, for debugging `configure'.
122
123 The work of `configure' can be done by editing various files in the
124 distribution, but using `configure' is supposed to be simpler. See
125 the section called "CONFIGURATION BY HAND" below if you want to do the
126 configuration yourself.
127
128 4) Look at `./lisp/paths.el'; if some of those values are not right
129 for your system, set up the file `./lisp/site-init.el' with Emacs
130 Lisp code to override them; it is not a good idea to edit paths.el
131 itself. YOU MUST USE THE LISP FUNCTION `setq' TO ASSIGN VALUES,
132 rather than `defvar', as used by `./lisp/paths.el'. For example,
133
134 (setq news-inews-program "/usr/bin/inews")
135
136 is how you would override the default value of the variable
137 news-inews-program (which is "/usr/local/inews").
138
139 Before you override a variable this way, *look at the value* that the
140 variable gets by default! Make sure you know what kind of value the
141 variable should have. If you don't pay attention to what you are
142 doing, you'll make a mistake.
143
144 Note that, on some systems, the code you place in site-init.el must
145 not use expand-file-name or any other function which may look
146 something up in the system's password and user information database.
147 See `./PROBLEMS' for more details on which systems this affects.
148
149 5) Put into `./lisp/site-init.el' or `./lisp/site-load.el' any Emacs
150 Lisp code you want Emacs to load before it is dumped out. Use
151 site-load.el for additional libraries if you arrange for their
152 documentation strings to be in the etc/DOC file (see
153 src/Makefile.in.in if you wish to figure out how to do that). For all
154 else, use site-init.el.
155
156 If you set load-path to a different value in site-init.el or
157 site-load.el, Emacs will use *precisely* that value when it starts up
158 again. If you do this, you are on your own!
159
160 Note that, on some systems, the code you place in site-init.el must
161 not use expand-file-name or any other function which may look
162 something up in the system's password and user information database.
163 See `./PROBLEMS' for more details on which systems this affects.
164
165 The `site-*.el' files are nonexistent in the distribution. You do not
166 need to create them if you have nothing to put in them.
167
168 6) Refer to the file `./etc/TERMS' for information on fields you may
169 wish to add to various termcap entries. The files `./etc/termcap.ucb'
170 and `./etc/termcap.dat' may already contain appropriately-modified
171 entries.
172
173 7) Run `make' in the top directory of the Emacs distribution to finish
174 building Emacs in the standard way. The final executable file is
175 named `src/emacs'. You can execute this file "in place" without
176 copying it, if you wish; then it automatically uses the sibling
177 directories ../lisp, ../lib-src, ../info.
178
179 Or you can "install" the executable and the other Emacs into their
180 installed locations, with `make install'. By default, Emacs's files
181 are installed in the following directories:
182
183 `/usr/local/bin' holds the executable programs users normally run -
184 `emacs', `etags', `ctags', `b2m', `emacsclient',
185 and `rcs-checkin'.
186
187 `/usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/lisp' holds the Emacs Lisp library;
188 `VERSION' stands for the number of the Emacs version
189 you are installing, like `18.59' or `19.27'. Since the
190 lisp library changes from one version of Emacs to
191 another, including the version number in the path
192 allows you to have several versions of Emacs installed
193 at the same time; this means that you don't have to
194 make Emacs unavailable while installing a new
195 version.
196
197 Emacs searches for its lisp files in
198 `/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp', then in this
199 directory.
200
201 `/usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/etc' holds the Emacs tutorial, the DOC
202 file, the `yow' database, and other
203 architecture-independent files Emacs might need while
204 running. VERSION is as specified for `.../lisp'.
205
206 `/usr/local/com/emacs/lock' contains files indicating who is editing
207 what, so Emacs can detect editing clashes between
208 users.
209
210 `/usr/local/libexec/emacs/VERSION/CONFIGURATION-NAME' contains executable
211 programs used by Emacs that users are not expected to
212 run themselves.
213 `VERSION' is the number of the Emacs version you are
214 installing, and `CONFIGURATION-NAME' is the argument
215 you gave to the `configure' program to identify the
216 architecture and operating system of your machine,
217 like `mips-dec-ultrix' or `sparc-sun-sunos'. Since
218 these files are specific to the version of Emacs,
219 operating system, and architecture in use, including
220 the configuration name in the path allows you to have
221 several versions of Emacs for any mix of machines and
222 operating systems installed at the same time; this is
223 useful for sites at which different kinds of machines
224 share the file system Emacs is installed on.
225
226 `/usr/local/info' holds the on-line documentation for Emacs, known as
227 "info files". Many other GNU programs are documented
228 using info files as well, so this directory stands
229 apart from the other, Emacs-specific directories.
230
231 `/usr/local/man/man1' holds the man pages for the programs installed
232 in `/usr/local/bin'.
233
234 If these directories are not what you want, you can specify where to
235 install Emacs's libraries and data files or where Emacs should search
236 for its lisp files by giving values for `make' variables as part of
237 the command. See the section below called `MAKE VARIABLES' for more
238 information on this.
239
240 8) Check the file `dir' in your site's info directory (usually
241 /usr/local/info) to make sure that it has a menu entry for the Emacs
242 info files.
243
244 9) If your system uses lock files to interlock access to mailer inbox files,
245 then you might need to make the movemail program setuid or setgid
246 to enable it to write the lock files. We believe this is safe.
247
248 10) You are done!
249
250
251 MAKE VARIABLES
252
253 You can change where the build process installs Emacs and its data
254 files by specifying values for `make' variables as part of the `make'
255 command line. For example, if you type
256
257 make install bindir=/usr/local/gnubin
258
259 the `bindir=/usr/local/gnubin' argument indicates that the Emacs
260 executable files should go in `/usr/local/gnubin', not
261 `/usr/local/bin'.
262
263 Here is a complete list of the variables you may want to set.
264
265 `bindir' indicates where to put executable programs that users can
266 run. This defaults to /usr/local/bin.
267
268 `datadir' indicates where to put the architecture-independent
269 read-only data files that Emacs refers to while it runs; it
270 defaults to /usr/local/share. We create the following
271 subdirectories under `datadir':
272 - `emacs/VERSION/lisp', containing the Emacs lisp library, and
273 - `emacs/VERSION/etc', containing the Emacs tutorial, the DOC
274 file, and the `yow' database.
275 `VERSION' is the number of the Emacs version you are installing,
276 like `18.59' or `19.0'. Since these files vary from one version
277 of Emacs to another, including the version number in the path
278 allows you to have several versions of Emacs installed at the
279 same time; this means that you don't have to make Emacs
280 unavailable while installing a new version.
281
282 `sharedstatedir' indicates where to put architecture-independent data files
283 that Emacs modifies while it runs; it defaults to
284 /usr/local/com. We create the following
285 subdirectories under `sharedstatedir':
286 - `emacs/lock', containing files indicating who is editing
287 what, so Emacs can detect editing clashes between
288 users.
289
290 `libexecdir' indicates where to put architecture-specific data files that
291 Emacs refers to as it runs; it defaults to `/usr/local/libexec'.
292 We create the following subdirectories under `libexecdir':
293 - `emacs/VERSION/CONFIGURATION-NAME', containing executable
294 programs used by Emacs that users are not expected to run
295 themselves.
296 `VERSION' is the number of the Emacs version you are installing,
297 and `CONFIGURATION-NAME' is the argument you gave to the
298 `configure' program to identify the architecture and operating
299 system of your machine, like `mips-dec-ultrix' or
300 `sparc-sun-sunos'. Since these files are specific to the version
301 of Emacs, operating system, and architecture in use, including
302 the configuration name in the path allows you to have several
303 versions of Emacs for any mix of machines and operating systems
304 installed at the same time; this is useful for sites at which
305 different kinds of machines share the file system Emacs is
306 installed on.
307
308 `infodir' indicates where to put the info files distributed with
309 Emacs; it defaults to `/usr/local/info'.
310
311 `mandir' indicates where to put the man pages for Emacs and its
312 utilities (like `etags'); it defaults to
313 `/usr/local/man/man1'.
314
315 `manext' gives the extension the man pages should be installed with.
316 It should contain a period, followed by the appropriate
317 digit. It defaults to `.1'. For example given the default
318 values for `mandir' and `manext', the Emacs man page would be
319 installed as `/usr/local/man/man1/emacs.1'.
320
321 `prefix' doesn't give a path for any specific part of Emacs; instead,
322 its value is used to determine the defaults for all the
323 architecture-independent path variables - `datadir',
324 `sharedstatedir', `infodir', and `mandir'. Its default value is
325 `/usr/local'; the other variables add on `lib' or `man' to it
326 by default.
327
328 For example, suppose your site generally places GNU software
329 under `/usr/users/software/gnusoft' instead of `/usr/local'.
330 By including
331 `prefix=/usr/users/software/gnusoft'
332 in the arguments to `make', you can instruct the build process
333 to place all of the Emacs data files in the appropriate
334 directories under that path.
335
336 `exec_prefix' serves the same purpose as `prefix', but instead
337 determines the default values for the architecture-dependent
338 path variables - `bindir' and `libexecdir'.
339
340 The above variables serve analogous purposes in the makefiles for all
341 GNU software; here are some variables specific to Emacs.
342
343 `lispdir' indicates where Emacs installs and expects its lisp
344 library. Its default value, based on `datadir' (see above),
345 is `/usr/local/lib/emacs/VERSION/lisp' (where `VERSION' is as
346 described above).
347
348 `locallisppath' indicates where Emacs should search for lisp files
349 specific to your site. It should be a colon-separated list of
350 directories; Emacs checks them in order before checking
351 `lispdir'. Its default value, based on `datadir' (see above),
352 is `/usr/local/lib/emacs/site-lisp'.
353
354 `lisppath' is the complete list of directories Emacs should search for
355 its lisp files; its default value is the concatenation of
356 `lispdir' and `locallisppath'. It should be a colon-separated
357 list of directories; Emacs checks them in the order they
358 appear.
359
360 `etcdir' indicates where Emacs should install and expect the rest of
361 its architecture-independent data, like the tutorial, DOC
362 file, and yow database. Its default value, based on `datadir'
363 (which see), is `/usr/local/lib/emacs/VERSION/etc'.
364
365 `lockdir' indicates the directory where Emacs keeps track of its
366 locking information. Its default value, based on `sharedstatedir'
367 (which see), is `/usr/local/lib/emacs/lock'.
368
369 `archlibdir' indicates where Emacs installs and expects the
370 executable files and other architecture-dependent data it uses
371 while running. Its default value, based on `libexecdir' (which
372 see), is `/usr/local/lib/emacs/VERSION/CONFIGURATION-NAME'
373 (where VERSION and CONFIGURATION-NAME are as described above).
374
375 Remember that you must specify any variable values you need each time
376 you run `make' in the top directory. If you run `make' once to build
377 emacs, test it, and then run `make' again to install the files, you
378 must provide the same variable settings each time. To make the
379 settings persist, you can edit them into the `Makefile' in the top
380 directory, but be aware that running the `configure' program erases
381 `Makefile' and rebuilds it from `Makefile.in'.
382
383 The top-level Makefile stores the variable settings it used in the
384 Makefiles for the subdirectories, so you don't have to specify them
385 when running make in the subdirectories.
386
387
388 CONFIGURATION BY HAND
389
390 Instead of running the `configure' program, you have to perform the
391 following steps.
392
393 1) Copy `./src/config.h.in' to `./src/config.h'.
394
395 2) Consult `./etc/MACHINES' to see what configuration name you should
396 use for your system. Look at the code of the `configure' script to
397 see which operating system and architecture description files from
398 `src/s' and `src/m' should be used for that configuration name. Edit
399 `src/config.h', and change the two `#include' directives to include
400 the appropriate system and architecture description files.
401
402 2) Edit `./src/config.h' to set the right options for your system. If
403 you need to override any of the definitions in the s/*.h and m/*.h
404 files for your system and machine, do so by editing config.h, not by
405 changing the s/*.h and m/*.h files. Occasionally you may need to
406 redefine parameters used in `./lib-src/movemail.c'.
407
408 3) Create src/Makefile and lib-src/Makefile from the corresponding
409 `Makefile.in.in' files. First copy `Makefile.in.in' to `Makefile.in',
410 then edit in appropriate substituions for the @...@ constructs,
411 and then copy the shell commands near the end of `configure'
412 that run cpp to construct `Makefile'.
413
414 4) Create `Makefile' files in various other directories
415 from the corresponding `Makefile.in' files. This isn't so hard,
416 just a matter of substitution.
417
418 The `configure' script is built from `configure.in' by the `autoconf'
419 program. You need version 2.0 or newer of `autoconf' to rebuild `configure'.
420
421 BUILDING GNU EMACS BY HAND
422
423 Once Emacs is configured, running `make' in the top directory performs
424 the following steps.
425
426 1) Run `make src/paths.h' in the top directory. This produces
427 `./src/paths.h' from the template file `./src/paths.h.in', changing
428 the paths to the values specified in `./Makefile'.
429
430 2) Go to directory `./lib-src' and run `make'. This creates
431 executables named `ctags' and `etags' and `wakeup' and `make-docfile'
432 and `digest-doc' and `test-distrib'. And others.
433
434 3) Go to directory `./src' and Run `make'. This refers to files in
435 the `./lisp' and `./lib-src' subdirectories using names `../lisp' and
436 `../lib-src'.
437
438 This creates a file `./src/emacs' which is the runnable Emacs,
439 which has another name that contains a version number.
440 Each time you do this, that version number increments in the last place.
441
442 It also creates a file in `./etc' whose name is `DOC' followed by the
443 current Emacs version. This file contains documentation strings for
444 all the functions in Emacs. Each time you run make to make a new
445 emacs, a new DOC file with a new name is made. You must keep the DOC
446 file for an Emacs version as long as you keep using that Emacs
447 version.
448
449
450 INSTALLATION BY HAND
451
452 The steps below are done by running `make install' in the main
453 directory of the Emacs distribution.
454
455 1) Copy `./lisp' and its subdirectories, `./etc', and the executables
456 in `./lib-src' to their final destinations, as selected in `./src/paths.h'.
457
458 Strictly speaking, not all of the executables in `./lib-src' need be copied.
459 - The programs `cvtmail', `emacsserver', `fakemail', `hexl',
460 `movemail', `profile', `rcs2log', `timer', `vcdiff', `wakeup',
461 and `yow' are used by Emacs; they do need to be copied.
462 - The programs `etags', `ctags', `emacsclient', `b2m', and `rcs-checkin'
463 are intended to be run by users; they are handled below.
464 - The programs `make-docfile' and `test-distrib' were
465 used in building Emacs, and are not needed any more.
466 - The programs `digest-doc' and `sorted-doc' convert a `DOC' file into
467 a file for users to read. There is no important reason to move them.
468
469 2) Copy the files in `./info' to the place specified in
470 `./lisp/site-init.el' or `./lisp/paths.el'. Note that if the
471 destination directory already contains a file named `dir', you
472 probably don't want to replace it with the `dir' file in the Emacs
473 distribution. Instead, you should make sure that the existing `dir'
474 file contains an appropriate menu entry for the Emacs info.
475
476 3) Create a directory for Emacs to use for clash detection, named as
477 indicated by the PATH_LOCK macro in `./src/paths.h'.
478
479 4) Copy `./src/emacs' to `/usr/local/bin', or to some other directory
480 in users' search paths. `./src/emacs' has an alternate name
481 `./src/emacs-EMACSVERSION'; you may wish to make a symbolic link named
482 `/usr/local/bin/emacs' pointing to that alternate name, as an easy way
483 of installing different versions.
484
485 You can delete `./src/temacs'.
486
487 5) Copy the programs `b2m', `emacsclient', `ctags', `etags', and
488 `rcs-checkin' from `./lib-src' to `/usr/local/bin'. These programs are
489 intended for users to run.
490
491 6) Copy the man pages in `./etc' for emacs, ctags, and etags into the
492 appropriate man directories.
493
494 7) The files in the `./src' subdirectory, except for `emacs', are not
495 used by Emacs once it is built. However, it is very desirable to keep
496 the source on line for debugging.
497
498
499 PROBLEMS
500
501 See the file PROBLEMS in this directory for a list of various
502 problems sometimes encountered, and what to do about them.
503
504
505 Installation on MSDOG (a.k.a. MSDOS)
506
507 To install on MSDOG, you need to have the GNU C compiler for MSDOG
508 (also known as djgpp), GNU Make, rm, mv, chmod, and sed.
509
510 Some users report that running Emacs 19.29 requires qdpmi memory
511 management. We do not know why this is so, since 19.28 did not need
512 it. If we find out what change introduced this requirement, we will
513 try to eliminate it. It is possible that this problem happens only
514 when there is not enough physical memory on the machine.
515
516 To build and install Emacs, type these commands:
517
518 config msdos
519 make install
520
521 To save disk space, Emacs is built with the idea that you will execute
522 it from the same place in the file system where you built it. As the
523 /usr/local/ subtree does not exist on most MSDOG systems, the
524 executables are placed in /emacs/bin/.
525
526 MSDOG is a not a multitasking operating system, so Emacs features such
527 as asynchronous subprocesses that depend on multitasking will not
528 work. Synchronous subprocesses do work.