code.delx.au - gnu-emacs/blob - nt/README.W32

   1 Copyright (C) 2001-2011  Free Software Foundation, Inc.
   2 See the end of the file for license conditions.
   3
   4                            Emacs for Windows
   5
   6   This README file describes how to set up and run a precompiled
   7   version of GNU Emacs for Windows.  This distribution can be found on
   8   the ftp.gnu.org server and its mirrors:
   9
  10         ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/windows/
  11
  12   This server contains other distributions, including the full Emacs
  13   source distribution and a barebin distribution which can be installed
  14   over it, as well as older releases of Emacs for Windows.
  15
  16   Answers to frequently asked questions, and further information about
  17   this port of GNU Emacs and related software packages can be found via
  18   http:
  19
  20         http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/
  21
  22 * Preliminaries
  23
  24   Along with this file should be six subdirectories (bin, etc, info,
  25   lisp, leim, site-lisp).  If you have downloaded the barebin
  26   distribution, then it will contain only the bin directory and the
  27   built in documentation in etc/DOC-X, the rest of the subdirectories
  28   are in the src distribution, which the barebin distribution is
  29   designed to be used with.
  30
  31 * Setting up Emacs
  32
  33   To install Emacs, simply unpack all the files into a directory of
  34   your choice, but note that you might encounter minor problems if
  35   there is a space anywhere in the directory name.  To complete the
  36   installation process, you can optionally run the program addpm.exe
  37   in the bin subdirectory.  This will put an icon for Emacs in the
  38   Start Menu under "Start -> Programs -> Gnu Emacs".
  39
  40   Some users have reported that the Start Menu item is not created for
  41   them.  If this happens, just create your own shortcut to runemacs.exe,
  42   eg. by dragging it on to the desktop or the Start button.
  43
  44   Note that running addpm is now an optional step; Emacs is able to
  45   locate all of its files without needing any information to be set in
  46   the environment or the registry, although such settings will still
  47   be obeyed if present.  This is convenient for running Emacs on a
  48   machine which disallows registry changes, or on which software
  49   should not be installed.  For instance, you can now run Emacs
  50   directly from a CD or USB flash drive without copying or installing
  51   anything on the machine itself.
  52
  53 * Starting Emacs
  54
  55   To run Emacs, simply select Emacs from the Start Menu, or invoke
  56   runemacs.exe directly from Explorer or from a command prompt.  This
  57   will start Emacs in its default GUI mode, ready to use.  If you have
  58   never used Emacs before, you should follow the tutorial at this
  59   point (select Emacs Tutorial from the Help menu), since Emacs is
  60   quite different from ordinary Windows applications in many respects.
  61
  62   If you want to use Emacs in tty or character mode within a command
  63   window, you can start it by typing "emacs -nw" at the command prompt.
  64   (Obviously, you need to ensure that the Emacs bin subdirectory is in
  65   your PATH first, or specify the path to emacs.exe.)  The -nw
  66   (non-windowed) mode of operation is most useful if you have a telnet
  67   server on your machine, allowing you to run Emacs remotely.
  68
  69 * EXE files included
  70
  71   Emacs comes with the following executable files in the bin directory.
  72
  73   + emacs.exe - The main Emacs executable.  As this is designed to run
  74     as both a text-mode application (emacs -nw) and as a GUI application,
  75     it will pop up a command prompt window if run directly from Explorer.
  76
  77   + runemacs.exe - A wrapper for running Emacs as a GUI application
  78     without popping up a command prompt window.
  79
  80   + emacsclient.exe - A command-line client program that can
  81     communicate with a running Emacs process.  See the `Emacs Server'
  82     node of the Emacs manual.
  83
  84   + emacsclientw.exe - A version of emacsclient that does not open
  85     a command-line window.
  86
  87   + addpm.exe - A basic installer that creates Start Menu icons for Emacs.
  88     Running this is optional.
  89
  90   + cmdproxy.exe - Used internally by Emacs to work around problems with
  91     the native shells in various versions of Windows.
  92
  93   + ctags.exe, etags.exe - Tools for generating tag files.  See the
  94     `Tags' node of the Emacs manual.
  95
  96   + ebrowse.exe - A tool for generating C++ browse information.  See the
  97     `Ebrowse' manual.
  98
  99   + ddeclient.exe - A tool for interacting with DDE servers.
 100
 101   + hexl.exe - A tool for converting files to hex dumps.  See the
 102     `Editing Binary Files' node of the Emacs manual.
 103
 104   + movemail.exe - A helper application for safely moving mail from
 105     a mail spool or POP server to a local user mailbox.  See the
 106     `Movemail' node of the Emacs manual.
 107
 108 * Image support
 109
 110   Emacs has built in support for XBM and PPM/PGM/PBM images, and the
 111   libXpm library is bundled, providing XPM support (required for color
 112   toolbar icons and splash screen).  Source for libXpm should be available
 113   on the same place as you got this binary distribution from.  The version
 114   of libXpm bundled with this version of Emacs is 3.5.7, based on x.org's
 115   libXpm library from X11R7.3.
 116
 117   Emacs can also support some other image formats with appropriate
 118   libraries.  These libraries are all available as part of GTK
 119   download for Windows (http://www.gtk.org/download-windows.html), or
 120   from the GnuWin32 project.  Emacs will find them if the directory
 121   they are installed in is on the PATH.
 122
 123       PNG: requires the PNG reference library 1.4 or later, which will
 124       be named libpng14.dll or libpng14-14.dll.  LibPNG requires zlib,
 125       which should come from the same source as you got libpng.
 126       Starting with Emacs 23.3, the precompiled Emacs binaries are
 127       built with libpng 1.4.x and later, and are incompatible with
 128       earlier versions of libpng DLLs.  So if you have libpng 1.2.x,
 129       the PNG support will not work, and you will have to download
 130       newer versions.
 131
 132       JPEG: requires the Independant JPEG Group's libjpeg 6b or later,
 133       which will be called jpeg62.dll, libjpeg.dll, jpeg-62.dll or jpeg.dll.
 134
 135       TIFF: requires libTIFF 3.0 or later, which will be called libtiff3.dll
 136       or libtiff.dll.
 137
 138       GIF: requires libungif or giflib 4.1 or later, which will be
 139       called giflib4.dll, libungif4.dll or libungif.dll.
 140
 141    If you have image support DLLs under different names, customize the
 142    value of `dynamic-library-alist'.
 143
 144    In addition, Emacs can be compiled to support SVG.  This precompiled
 145    distribution has not been compiled that way, since the SVG library
 146    or one or more of its extensive dependencies appear to be
 147    unreliable under Windows.  See nt/INSTALL in the src distribution if
 148    you wish to compile Emacs with SVG support.
 149
 150 * Uninstalling Emacs
 151
 152   If you should need to uninstall Emacs, simply delete all the files
 153   and subdirectories from the directory where it was unpacked (Emacs
 154   does not install or update any files in system directories or
 155   anywhere else).  If you ran the addpm.exe program to create the
 156   registry entries and the Start menu icon, then you can remove the
 157   registry entries using regedit.  All of the settings are written
 158   under the Software\GNU\Emacs key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, or if you
 159   didn't have administrator privileges when you installed, the same
 160   key in HKEY_CURRENT_USER.  Just delete the whole Software\GNU\Emacs
 161   key.
 162
 163   The Start menu entry can be removed by right-clicking on the Task bar
 164   and selecting Properties, then using the Remove option on the Start
 165   Menu Programs page.  (If you installed under an account with
 166   administrator privileges, then you need to click the Advanced button
 167   and look for the Gnu Emacs menu item under All Users.)
 168
 169 * Troubleshooting
 170
 171   Unpacking the distributions
 172
 173   If you encounter trouble trying to run Emacs, there are a number of
 174   possible causes.  Check the following for indications that the
 175   distribution was not corrupted by the tools used to unpack it:
 176
 177     * Be sure to disable CR/LF translation or the executables will
 178       be unusable.  Older versions of WinZipNT would enable this
 179       translation by default.  If you are using WinZipNT, disable it.
 180       (I don't have WinZipNT myself, and I do not know the specific
 181       commands necessary to disable it.)
 182
 183     * Check that filenames were not truncated to 8.3.  For example,
 184       there should be a file lisp\abbrevlist.elc; if this has been
 185       truncated to abbrevli.elc, your distribution has been corrupted
 186       while unpacking and Emacs will not start.
 187
 188   If you believe you have unpacked the distributions correctly and are
 189   still encountering problems, see the section on Further Information
 190   below.
 191
 192   Virus scanners
 193
 194   Some virus scanners interfere with Emacs' use of subprocesses.  If you
 195   are unable to use subprocesses and you use Dr. Solomon's WinGuard or
 196   McAfee's Vshield, turn off "Scan all files" (WinGuard) or "boot sector
 197   scanning" (McAfee exclusion properties).
 198
 199 * Further information
 200
 201   If you have access to the World Wide Web, I would recommend pointing
 202   your favorite web browser to the following document (if you haven't
 203   already):
 204
 205         http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/
 206
 207   This document serves as an FAQ and a source for further information
 208   about the Windows port and related software packages.
 209
 210   In addition to the FAQ, there is a mailing list for discussing issues
 211   related to the Windows port of Emacs.  For information about the
 212   list, see this Web page:
 213
 214         http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-emacs-windows
 215
 216   To ask questions on the mailing list, send email to
 217   help-emacs-windows@gnu.org.  (You don't need to subscribe for that.)
 218   To subscribe to the list or unsubscribe from it, fill the form you
 219   find at http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-emacs-windows as
 220   explained there.
 221
 222   Another valuable source of information and help which should not be
 223   overlooked is the various Usenet news groups dedicated to Emacs.
 224   These are particularly good for help with general issues which aren't
 225   specific to the Windows port of Emacs.  The main news groups to use
 226   for seeking help are:
 227
 228         gnu.emacs.help
 229         comp.emacs
 230
 231   There are also fairly regular postings and announcements of new or
 232   updated Emacs packages on this group:
 233
 234         gnu.emacs.sources
 235
 236 * Reporting bugs
 237
 238   If you encounter a bug in this port of Emacs, we would like to hear
 239   about it.  First check the FAQ on the web page above to see if the bug
 240   is already known and if there are any workarounds.  Then check whether
 241   the bug has something to do with code in your .emacs file, e.g. by
 242   invoking Emacs with the "-Q" option.
 243
 244   If you decide that it is a bug in Emacs, use the built in bug
 245   reporting facility to report it (from the menu; Help -> Send Bug Report).
 246   If you have not yet configured Emacs for mail, then when you press
 247   C-c C-c to send the report, it will ask you to paste the text of the
 248   report into your mail client.  If the bug is related to subprocesses,
 249   also specify which shell you are using (e.g., include the values of
 250   `shell-file-name' and `explicit-shell-file-name' in your message).
 251
 252   Enjoy!
 253
 254 \f
 255 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
 256
 257 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 258 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 259 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 260 (at your option) any later version.
 261
 262 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 263 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 264 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 265 GNU General Public License for more details.
 266
 267 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 268 along with GNU Emacs.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.