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

   1 Copyright (C) 2001-2012  Free Software Foundation, Inc.
   2 See the end of the file for license conditions.
   3
   4                            Emacs for Windows
   5
   6   This README.W32 file describes how to set up and run a precompiled
   7   distribution of GNU Emacs for Windows.  You can find the precompiled
   8   distribution on 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   Information on how to compile Emacs from sources on Windows is in
  17   the files README and INSTALL in this directory.  If you received
  18   this file as part of the Emacs source distribution, please read
  19   those 2 files and not this one.
  20
  21   Answers to frequently asked questions, and further information about
  22   this port of GNU Emacs and related software packages can be found via
  23   http:
  24
  25         http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/
  26
  27 * Preliminaries
  28
  29   Along with this file should be six subdirectories (bin, etc, info,
  30   lisp, leim, site-lisp).  If you have downloaded the barebin
  31   distribution, then it will contain only the bin directory and the
  32   built in documentation in etc/DOC-X, the rest of the subdirectories
  33   are in the src distribution, which the barebin distribution is
  34   designed to be used with.
  35
  36 * Setting up Emacs
  37
  38   To install Emacs, simply unpack all the files into a directory of
  39   your choice, but note that you might encounter minor problems if
  40   there is a space anywhere in the directory name.  To complete the
  41   installation process, you can optionally run the program addpm.exe
  42   in the bin subdirectory.  This will put an icon for Emacs in the
  43   Start Menu under "Start -> Programs -> Gnu Emacs".
  44
  45   Some users have reported that the Start Menu item is not created for
  46   them.  If this happens, just create your own shortcut to runemacs.exe,
  47   eg. by dragging it on to the desktop or the Start button.
  48
  49   Note that running addpm is now an optional step; Emacs is able to
  50   locate all of its files without needing any information to be set in
  51   the environment or the registry, although such settings will still
  52   be obeyed if present.  This is convenient for running Emacs on a
  53   machine which disallows registry changes, or on which software
  54   should not be installed.  For instance, you can now run Emacs
  55   directly from a CD or USB flash drive without copying or installing
  56   anything on the machine itself.
  57
  58 * Prerequisites for Windows 9X
  59
  60   To run Emacs on Windows 9X (Windows 95/98/Me), you will need to have
  61   the Microsoft Layer for Unicode (MSLU) installed.  It can be
  62   downloaded from the Microsoft site, and comes in a form of a single
  63   dynamic library called UNICOWS.DLL.  If this library is not
  64   accessible to Emacs, it will pop up a dialog saying that it cannot
  65   find the library, and will refuse to start up a GUI session.
  66   (However, it is still possible to use Emacs in text mode, even
  67   without UNICOWS.DLL, by invoking it as "emacs -nw", see below.)
  68
  69 * Starting Emacs
  70
  71   To run Emacs, simply select Emacs from the Start Menu, or invoke
  72   runemacs.exe directly from Explorer or from a command prompt.  This
  73   will start Emacs in its default GUI mode, ready to use.  If you have
  74   never used Emacs before, you should follow the tutorial at this
  75   point (select Emacs Tutorial from the Help menu), since Emacs is
  76   quite different from ordinary Windows applications in many respects.
  77
  78   If you want to use Emacs in tty or character mode within a command
  79   window, you can start it by typing "emacs -nw" at the command prompt.
  80   (Obviously, you need to ensure that the Emacs bin subdirectory is in
  81   your PATH first, or specify the path to emacs.exe.)  The -nw
  82   (non-windowed) mode of operation is most useful if you have a telnet
  83   server on your machine, allowing you to run Emacs remotely.
  84
  85 * EXE files included
  86
  87   Emacs comes with the following executable files in the bin directory.
  88
  89   + emacs.exe - The main Emacs executable.  As this is designed to run
  90     as both a text-mode application (emacs -nw) and as a GUI application,
  91     it will pop up a command prompt window if run directly from Explorer.
  92
  93   + runemacs.exe - A wrapper for running Emacs as a GUI application
  94     without popping up a command prompt window.  If you create a
  95     desktop shortcut for invoking Emacs, make it point to this
  96     executable, not to emacs.exe.
  97
  98   + emacsclient.exe - A command-line client program that can
  99     communicate with a running Emacs process.  See the `Emacs Server'
 100     node of the Emacs manual.
 101
 102   + emacsclientw.exe - A version of emacsclient that does not open
 103     a command-line window.
 104
 105   + addpm.exe - A basic installer that creates Start Menu icons for Emacs.
 106     Running this is optional.
 107
 108   + cmdproxy.exe - Used internally by Emacs to work around problems with
 109     the native shells in various versions of Windows.
 110
 111   + ctags.exe, etags.exe - Tools for generating tag files.  See the
 112     `Tags' node of the Emacs manual.
 113
 114   + ebrowse.exe - A tool for generating C++ browse information.  See the
 115     `Ebrowse' manual.
 116
 117   + ddeclient.exe - A tool for interacting with DDE servers.
 118
 119   + hexl.exe - A tool for producing hex dumps of binary files.  See the
 120     `Editing Binary Files' node of the Emacs manual.
 121
 122   + movemail.exe - A helper application for safely moving mail from
 123     a mail spool or POP server to a local user mailbox.  See the
 124     `Movemail' node of the Emacs manual.
 125
 126 * Image support
 127
 128   Emacs has built in support for XBM and PPM/PGM/PBM images, and the
 129   libXpm library is bundled, providing XPM support (required for color
 130   toolbar icons and splash screen).  Source for libXpm should be available
 131   on the same place as you got this binary distribution from.
 132
 133   Emacs can also support some other image formats with appropriate
 134   libraries.  These libraries are all available as part of GTK
 135   download for Windows (http://www.gtk.org/download/win32.php), or
 136   from the GnuWin32 project.  Emacs will find them if the directory
 137   they are installed in is on the PATH.
 138
 139       PNG: requires the PNG reference library 1.4 or later, which will
 140       be named libpng14.dll or libpng14-14.dll.  LibPNG requires zlib,
 141       which should come from the same source as you got libpng.
 142       Starting with Emacs 23.3, the precompiled Emacs binaries are
 143       built with libpng 1.4.x and later, and are incompatible with
 144       earlier versions of libpng DLLs.  So if you have libpng 1.2.x,
 145       the PNG support will not work, and you will have to download
 146       newer versions.
 147
 148       JPEG: requires the Independent JPEG Group's libjpeg 6b or later,
 149       which will be called jpeg62.dll, libjpeg.dll, jpeg-62.dll or jpeg.dll.
 150
 151       TIFF: requires libTIFF 3.0 or later, which will be called libtiff3.dll
 152       or libtiff.dll.
 153
 154       GIF: requires libungif or giflib 4.1 or later, which will be
 155       called giflib4.dll, libungif4.dll or libungif.dll.
 156
 157    If you have image support DLLs under different names, customize the
 158    value of `dynamic-library-alist'.
 159
 160    In addition, Emacs can be compiled to support SVG.  This precompiled
 161    distribution has not been compiled that way, since the SVG library
 162    or one or more of its extensive dependencies appear to be
 163    unreliable under Windows.  See nt/INSTALL in the src distribution if
 164    you wish to compile Emacs with SVG support.
 165
 166 * GnuTLS support
 167
 168   In order to support GnuTLS at runtime, Emacs must be able to find
 169   the relevant DLLs during startup; failure to do so is not an error,
 170   but GnuTLS won't be available to the running session.
 171
 172   You can get pre-built binaries (including any required DLL and the
 173   header files) at http://sourceforge.net/projects/ezwinports/files/.
 174
 175 * Uninstalling Emacs
 176
 177   If you should need to uninstall Emacs, simply delete all the files
 178   and subdirectories from the directory where it was unpacked (Emacs
 179   does not install or update any files in system directories or
 180   anywhere else).  If you ran the addpm.exe program to create the
 181   registry entries and the Start menu icon, then you can remove the
 182   registry entries using regedit.  All of the settings are written
 183   under the Software\GNU\Emacs key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, or if you
 184   didn't have administrator privileges when you installed, the same
 185   key in HKEY_CURRENT_USER.  Just delete the whole Software\GNU\Emacs
 186   key.
 187
 188   The Start menu entry can be removed by right-clicking on the Task bar
 189   and selecting Properties, then using the Remove option on the Start
 190   Menu Programs page.  (If you installed under an account with
 191   administrator privileges, then you need to click the Advanced button
 192   and look for the Gnu Emacs menu item under All Users.)
 193
 194 * Troubleshooting
 195
 196   Unpacking the distributions
 197
 198   If you encounter trouble trying to run Emacs, there are a number of
 199   possible causes.  Check the following for indications that the
 200   distribution was not corrupted by the tools used to unpack it:
 201
 202     * Be sure to disable CR/LF translation or the executables will
 203       be unusable.  Older versions of WinZipNT would enable this
 204       translation by default.  If you are using WinZipNT, disable it.
 205       (I don't have WinZipNT myself, and I do not know the specific
 206       commands necessary to disable it.)
 207
 208     * Check that filenames were not truncated to 8.3.  For example,
 209       there should be a file lisp\abbrevlist.elc; if this has been
 210       truncated to abbrevli.elc, your distribution has been corrupted
 211       while unpacking and Emacs will not start.
 212
 213     * On Windows 9X, make sure you have the UNICOWS.DLL library either
 214       in the same directory where you have emacs.exe or in the
 215       directory where system-wide DLLs are kept.
 216
 217   If you believe you have unpacked the distributions correctly and are
 218   still encountering problems, see the section on Further Information
 219   below.
 220
 221   Virus scanners
 222
 223   Some virus scanners interfere with Emacs' use of subprocesses.  If you
 224   are unable to use subprocesses and you use Dr. Solomon's WinGuard or
 225   McAfee's Vshield, turn off "Scan all files" (WinGuard) or "boot sector
 226   scanning" (McAfee exclusion properties).
 227
 228 * Further information
 229
 230   If you have access to the World Wide Web, I would recommend pointing
 231   your favorite web browser to the following document (if you haven't
 232   already):
 233
 234         http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/
 235
 236   This document serves as an FAQ and a source for further information
 237   about the Windows port and related software packages.
 238
 239   In addition to the FAQ, there is a mailing list for discussing issues
 240   related to the Windows port of Emacs.  For information about the
 241   list, see this Web page:
 242
 243         http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-emacs-windows
 244
 245   To ask questions on the mailing list, send email to
 246   help-emacs-windows@gnu.org.  (You don't need to subscribe for that.)
 247   To subscribe to the list or unsubscribe from it, fill the form you
 248   find at http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-emacs-windows as
 249   explained there.
 250
 251   Another valuable source of information and help which should not be
 252   overlooked is the various Usenet news groups dedicated to Emacs.
 253   These are particularly good for help with general issues which aren't
 254   specific to the Windows port of Emacs.  The main news groups to use
 255   for seeking help are:
 256
 257         gnu.emacs.help
 258         comp.emacs
 259
 260   There are also fairly regular postings and announcements of new or
 261   updated Emacs packages on this group:
 262
 263         gnu.emacs.sources
 264
 265 * Reporting bugs
 266
 267   If you encounter a bug in this port of Emacs, we would like to hear
 268   about it.  First check the FAQ on the web page above to see if the bug
 269   is already known and if there are any workarounds.  Then check whether
 270   the bug has something to do with code in your .emacs file, e.g. by
 271   invoking Emacs with the "-Q" option.
 272
 273   If you decide that it is a bug in Emacs, use the built in bug
 274   reporting facility to report it (from the menu; Help -> Send Bug Report).
 275   If you have not yet configured Emacs for mail, then when you press
 276   C-c C-c to send the report, it will ask you to paste the text of the
 277   report into your mail client.  If the bug is related to subprocesses,
 278   also specify which shell you are using (e.g., include the values of
 279   `shell-file-name' and `explicit-shell-file-name' in your message).
 280
 281   Enjoy!
 282
 283 \f
 284 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
 285
 286 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 287 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 288 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 289 (at your option) any later version.
 290
 291 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 292 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 293 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 294 GNU General Public License for more details.
 295
 296 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 297 along with GNU Emacs.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.