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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', or possibly when
27 running the final dumped Emacs.
28
29 Building Emacs requires about 70 Mb of disk space (including the Emacs
30 sources). Once installed, Emacs occupies about 35 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 70+35 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 5) Put into `./lisp/site-init.el' or `./lisp/site-load.el' any Emacs
145 Lisp code you want Emacs to load before it is dumped out. Use
146 site-load.el for additional libraries if you arrange for their
147 documentation strings to be in the etc/DOC file (see
148 src/Makefile.in if you wish to figure out how to do that). For all
149 else, use site-init.el.
150
151 If you set load-path to a different value in site-init.el or
152 site-load.el, Emacs will use *precisely* that value when it starts up
153 again. If you do this, you are on your own!
154
155 Note that, on some systems, the code you place in site-init.el must
156 not use expand-file-name or any other function which may look
157 something up in the system's password and user information database.
158 See `./PROBLEMS' for more details on which systems this affects.
159
160 The `site-*.el' files are nonexistent in the distribution. You do not
161 need to create them if you have nothing to put in them.
162
163 6) Refer to the file `./etc/TERMS' for information on fields you may
164 wish to add to various termcap entries. The files `./etc/termcap.ucb'
165 and `./etc/termcap.dat' may already contain appropriately-modified
166 entries.
167
168 7) Run `make' in the top directory of the Emacs distribution to finish
169 building Emacs in the standard way. The final executable file is
170 named `src/emacs'. You can execute this file "in place" without
171 copying it, if you wish; then it automatically uses the sibling
172 directories ../lisp, ../lib-src, ../info.
173
174 Or you can "install" the executable and the other Emacs into their
175 installed locations, with `make install'. By default, Emacs's files
176 are installed in the following directories:
177
178 `/usr/local/bin' holds the executable programs users normally run -
179 `emacs', `etags', `ctags', `b2m', `emacsclient',
180 and `rcs-checkin'.
181
182 `/usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/lisp' holds the Emacs Lisp library;
183 `VERSION' stands for the number of the Emacs version
184 you are installing, like `18.59' or `19.27'. Since the
185 lisp library changes from one version of Emacs to
186 another, including the version number in the path
187 allows you to have several versions of Emacs installed
188 at the same time; this means that you don't have to
189 make Emacs unavailable while installing a new
190 version.
191
192 Emacs searches for its lisp files in
193 `/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp', then in this
194 directory.
195
196 `/usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/etc' holds the Emacs tutorial, the DOC
197 file, the `yow' database, and other
198 architecture-independent files Emacs might need while
199 running. VERSION is as specified for `.../lisp'.
200
201 `/usr/local/com/emacs/lock' contains files indicating who is editing
202 what, so Emacs can detect editing clashes between
203 users.
204
205 `/usr/local/libexec/emacs/VERSION/CONFIGURATION-NAME' contains executable
206 programs used by Emacs that users are not expected to
207 run themselves.
208 `VERSION' is the number of the Emacs version you are
209 installing, and `CONFIGURATION-NAME' is the argument
210 you gave to the `configure' program to identify the
211 architecture and operating system of your machine,
212 like `mips-dec-ultrix' or `sparc-sun-sunos'. Since
213 these files are specific to the version of Emacs,
214 operating system, and architecture in use, including
215 the configuration name in the path allows you to have
216 several versions of Emacs for any mix of machines and
217 operating systems installed at the same time; this is
218 useful for sites at which different kinds of machines
219 share the file system Emacs is installed on.
220
221 `/usr/local/info' holds the on-line documentation for Emacs, known as
222 "info files". Many other GNU programs are documented
223 using info files as well, so this directory stands
224 apart from the other, Emacs-specific directories.
225
226 `/usr/local/man/man1' holds the man pages for the programs installed
227 in `/usr/local/bin'.
228
229 If these directories are not what you want, you can specify where to
230 install Emacs's libraries and data files or where Emacs should search
231 for its lisp files by giving values for `make' variables as part of
232 the command. See the section below called `MAKE VARIABLES' for more
233 information on this.
234
235 8) Check the file `dir' in your site's info directory (usually
236 /usr/local/info) to make sure that it has a menu entry for the Emacs
237 info files.
238
239 9) If your system uses lock files to interlock access to mailer inbox files,
240 then you might need to make the movemail program setuid or setgid
241 to enable it to write the lock files. We believe this is safe.
242
243 10) You are done! You can remove executables and object files from
244 the build directory by typing `make clean'. To also remove the files
245 that `configure' created (so you can compile Emacs for a different
246 configuration), type `make distclean'.
247
248
249
250 MAKE VARIABLES
251
252 You can change where the build process installs Emacs and its data
253 files by specifying values for `make' variables as part of the `make'
254 command line. For example, if you type
255
256 make install bindir=/usr/local/gnubin
257
258 the `bindir=/usr/local/gnubin' argument indicates that the Emacs
259 executable files should go in `/usr/local/gnubin', not
260 `/usr/local/bin'.
261
262 Here is a complete list of the variables you may want to set.
263
264 `bindir' indicates where to put executable programs that users can
265 run. This defaults to /usr/local/bin.
266
267 `datadir' indicates where to put the architecture-independent
268 read-only data files that Emacs refers to while it runs; it
269 defaults to /usr/local/share. We create the following
270 subdirectories under `datadir':
271 - `emacs/VERSION/lisp', containing the Emacs lisp library, and
272 - `emacs/VERSION/etc', containing the Emacs tutorial, the DOC
273 file, and the `yow' database.
274 `VERSION' is the number of the Emacs version you are installing,
275 like `18.59' or `19.0'. Since these files vary from one version
276 of Emacs to another, including the version number in the path
277 allows you to have several versions of Emacs installed at the
278 same time; this means that you don't have to make Emacs
279 unavailable while installing a new version.
280
281 `sharedstatedir' indicates where to put architecture-independent data files
282 that Emacs modifies while it runs; it defaults to
283 /usr/local/com. We create the following
284 subdirectories under `sharedstatedir':
285 - `emacs/lock', containing files indicating who is editing
286 what, so Emacs can detect editing clashes between
287 users.
288
289 `libexecdir' indicates where to put architecture-specific data files that
290 Emacs refers to as it runs; it defaults to `/usr/local/libexec'.
291 We create the following subdirectories under `libexecdir':
292 - `emacs/VERSION/CONFIGURATION-NAME', containing executable
293 programs used by Emacs that users are not expected to run
294 themselves.
295 `VERSION' is the number of the Emacs version you are installing,
296 and `CONFIGURATION-NAME' is the argument you gave to the
297 `configure' program to identify the architecture and operating
298 system of your machine, like `mips-dec-ultrix' or
299 `sparc-sun-sunos'. Since these files are specific to the version
300 of Emacs, operating system, and architecture in use, including
301 the configuration name in the path allows you to have several
302 versions of Emacs for any mix of machines and operating systems
303 installed at the same time; this is useful for sites at which
304 different kinds of machines share the file system Emacs is
305 installed on.
306
307 `infodir' indicates where to put the info files distributed with
308 Emacs; it defaults to `/usr/local/info'.
309
310 `mandir' indicates where to put the man pages for Emacs and its
311 utilities (like `etags'); it defaults to
312 `/usr/local/man/man1'.
313
314 `manext' gives the extension the man pages should be installed with.
315 It should contain a period, followed by the appropriate
316 digit. It defaults to `.1'. For example given the default
317 values for `mandir' and `manext', the Emacs man page would be
318 installed as `/usr/local/man/man1/emacs.1'.
319
320 `prefix' doesn't give a path for any specific part of Emacs; instead,
321 its value is used to determine the defaults for all the
322 architecture-independent path variables - `datadir',
323 `sharedstatedir', `infodir', and `mandir'. Its default value is
324 `/usr/local'; the other variables add on `lib' or `man' to it
325 by default.
326
327 For example, suppose your site generally places GNU software
328 under `/usr/users/software/gnusoft' instead of `/usr/local'.
329 By including
330 `prefix=/usr/users/software/gnusoft'
331 in the arguments to `make', you can instruct the build process
332 to place all of the Emacs data files in the appropriate
333 directories under that path.
334
335 `exec_prefix' serves the same purpose as `prefix', but instead
336 determines the default values for the architecture-dependent
337 path variables - `bindir' and `libexecdir'.
338
339 The above variables serve analogous purposes in the makefiles for all
340 GNU software; here are some variables specific to Emacs.
341
342 `lispdir' indicates where Emacs installs and expects its lisp library.
343 Its default value, based on `datadir' (see above), is
344 `/usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/lisp' (where `VERSION' is as
345 described above).
346
347 `locallisppath' indicates where Emacs should search for lisp files
348 specific to your site. It should be a colon-separated list of
349 directories; Emacs checks them in order before checking
350 `lispdir'. Its default value, based on `datadir' (see above),
351 is `/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp'.
352
353 `lisppath' is the complete list of directories Emacs should search for
354 its lisp files; its default value is the concatenation of
355 `lispdir' and `locallisppath'. It should be a colon-separated
356 list of directories; Emacs checks them in the order they
357 appear.
358
359 `etcdir' indicates where Emacs should install and expect the rest of
360 its architecture-independent data, like the tutorial, DOC
361 file, and yow database. Its default value, based on `datadir'
362 (which see), is `/usr/local/share/emacs/VERSION/etc'.
363
364 `lockdir' indicates the directory where Emacs keeps track of its
365 locking information. Its default value, based on
366 `sharedstatedir' (which see), is `/usr/local/com/emacs/lock'.
367
368 `archlibdir' indicates where Emacs installs and expects the executable
369 files and other architecture-dependent data it uses while
370 running. Its default value, based on `libexecdir' (which
371 see), is `/usr/local/libexec/emacs/VERSION/CONFIGURATION-NAME'
372 (where VERSION and CONFIGURATION-NAME are as described above).
373
374 Remember that you must specify any variable values you need each time
375 you run `make' in the top directory. If you run `make' once to build
376 emacs, test it, and then run `make' again to install the files, you
377 must provide the same variable settings each time. To make the
378 settings persist, you can edit them into the `Makefile' in the top
379 directory, but be aware that running the `configure' program erases
380 `Makefile' and rebuilds it from `Makefile.in'.
381
382 The top-level Makefile stores the variable settings it used in the
383 Makefiles for the subdirectories, so you don't have to specify them
384 when running make in the subdirectories.
385
386
387 CONFIGURATION BY HAND
388
389 Instead of running the `configure' program, you have to perform the
390 following steps.
391
392 1) Copy `./src/config.in' to `./src/config.h'.
393
394 2) Consult `./etc/MACHINES' to see what configuration name you should
395 use for your system. Look at the code of the `configure' script to
396 see which operating system and architecture description files from
397 `src/s' and `src/m' should be used for that configuration name. Edit
398 `src/config.h', and change the two `#include' directives to include
399 the appropriate system and architecture description files.
400
401 2) Edit `./src/config.h' to set the right options for your system. If
402 you need to override any of the definitions in the s/*.h and m/*.h
403 files for your system and machine, do so by editing config.h, not by
404 changing the s/*.h and m/*.h files. Occasionally you may need to
405 redefine parameters used in `./lib-src/movemail.c'.
406
407 3) Create src/Makefile and lib-src/Makefile from the corresponding
408 `Makefile.in' files. First copy `Makefile.in' to `Makefile.c',
409 then edit in appropriate substitutions for the @...@ constructs,
410 and then copy the shell commands near the end of `configure'
411 that run cpp to construct `Makefile'.
412
413 4) Create `Makefile' files in various other directories
414 from the corresponding `Makefile.in' files. This isn't so hard,
415 just a matter of substitution.
416
417 The `configure' script is built from `configure.in' by the `autoconf'
418 program. You need version 2.0 or newer of `autoconf' to rebuild `configure'.
419
420 BUILDING GNU EMACS BY HAND
421
422 Once Emacs is configured, running `make' in the top directory performs
423 the following steps.
424
425 1) Run `make src/paths.h' in the top directory. This produces
426 `./src/paths.h' from the template file `./src/paths.in', changing
427 the paths to the values specified in `./Makefile'.
428
429 2) Go to directory `./lib-src' and run `make'. This creates
430 executables named `ctags' and `etags' and `wakeup' and `make-docfile'
431 and `digest-doc' and `test-distrib'. And others.
432
433 3) Go to directory `./src' and Run `make'. This refers to files in
434 the `./lisp' and `./lib-src' subdirectories using names `../lisp' and
435 `../lib-src'.
436
437 This creates a file `./src/emacs' which is the runnable Emacs,
438 which has another name that contains a version number.
439 Each time you do this, that version number increments in the last place.
440
441 It also creates a file in `./etc' whose name is `DOC' followed by the
442 current Emacs version. This file contains documentation strings for
443 all the functions in Emacs. Each time you run make to make a new
444 emacs, a new DOC file with a new name is made. You must keep the DOC
445 file for an Emacs version as long as you keep using that Emacs
446 version.
447
448
449 INSTALLATION BY HAND
450
451 The steps below are done by running `make install' in the main
452 directory of the Emacs distribution.
453
454 1) Copy `./lisp' and its subdirectories, `./etc', and the executables
455 in `./lib-src' to their final destinations, as selected in `./src/paths.h'.
456
457 Strictly speaking, not all of the executables in `./lib-src' need be copied.
458 - The programs `cvtmail', `emacsserver', `fakemail', `hexl',
459 `movemail', `profile', `rcs2log', `timer', `vcdiff', `wakeup',
460 and `yow' are used by Emacs; they do need to be copied.
461 - The programs `etags', `ctags', `emacsclient', `b2m', and `rcs-checkin'
462 are intended to be run by users; they are handled below.
463 - The programs `make-docfile' and `test-distrib' were
464 used in building Emacs, and are not needed any more.
465 - The programs `digest-doc' and `sorted-doc' convert a `DOC' file into
466 a file for users to read. There is no important reason to move them.
467
468 2) Copy the files in `./info' to the place specified in
469 `./lisp/site-init.el' or `./lisp/paths.el'. Note that if the
470 destination directory already contains a file named `dir', you
471 probably don't want to replace it with the `dir' file in the Emacs
472 distribution. Instead, you should make sure that the existing `dir'
473 file contains an appropriate menu entry for the Emacs info.
474
475 3) Create a directory for Emacs to use for clash detection, named as
476 indicated by the PATH_LOCK macro in `./src/paths.h'.
477
478 4) Copy `./src/emacs' to `/usr/local/bin', or to some other directory
479 in users' search paths. `./src/emacs' has an alternate name
480 `./src/emacs-EMACSVERSION'; you may wish to make a symbolic link named
481 `/usr/local/bin/emacs' pointing to that alternate name, as an easy way
482 of installing different versions.
483
484 You can delete `./src/temacs'.
485
486 5) Copy the programs `b2m', `emacsclient', `ctags', `etags', and
487 `rcs-checkin' from `./lib-src' to `/usr/local/bin'. These programs are
488 intended for users to run.
489
490 6) Copy the man pages in `./etc' for emacs, ctags, and etags into the
491 appropriate man directories.
492
493 7) The files in the `./src' subdirectory, except for `emacs', are not
494 used by Emacs once it is built. However, it is very desirable to keep
495 the source on line for debugging.
496
497
498 PROBLEMS
499
500 See the file PROBLEMS in this directory for a list of various
501 problems sometimes encountered, and what to do about them.
502
503
504 Installation on MSDOG (a.k.a. MSDOS)
505
506 To install on MSDOG, you need to have the GNU C compiler for MSDOG
507 (also known as djgpp version 1), GNU Make, rm, mv, chmod, and sed.
508 Version 2 of djgpp (to be released soon) is not yet supported. See the
509 remarks in config.bat for more information about locations and versions.
510
511 Some users report that running Emacs 19.29 requires dpmi memory
512 management. We do not know why this is so, since 19.28 did not need
513 it. If we find out what change introduced this requirement, we will
514 try to eliminate it. It is possible that this problem happens only
515 when there is not enough physical memory on the machine.
516
517 You can find out if you have a dpmi host by running go32 (part of
518 djgpp) without arguments; it will tell you if it uses dpmi memory.
519 For more information about dpmi memory, consult the djgpp FAQ.
520
521 To build and install Emacs, type these commands:
522
523 config msdos
524 make install
525
526 You may need to work around a type conflict between gmalloc.c and the
527 header file djgppstd.h regarding declarations of memalign and valloc.
528 Temporarily deleting those declarations from djgppstd.h while compiling
529 Emacs or while compiling gmalloc.c should do it. We found out about this
530 problem too late to include a more convenient fix--sorry.
531
532 To save disk space, Emacs is built with the idea that you will execute
533 it from the same place in the file system where you built it. As the
534 /usr/local/ subtree does not exist on most MSDOG systems, the
535 executables are placed in /emacs/bin/.
536
537 MSDOG is a not a multitasking operating system, so Emacs features such
538 as asynchronous subprocesses that depend on multitasking will not
539 work. Synchronous subprocesses do work.