1 GNU Emacs Installation Guide
2 Copyright (c) 1992, 1994 Free software Foundation, Inc.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
40 3) In the top directory of the Emacs distribution, run the program
41 `configure' as follows:
43 ./configure CONFIGURATION-NAME [--OPTION[=VALUE]] ...
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
98 For example, the command
100 ./configure mips-dec-ultrix --with-x11
102 configures Emacs to build for a DECstation running Ultrix, with
103 support for the X11 window system.
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
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'.
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.
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,
134 (setq news-inews-program "/usr/bin/inews")
136 is how you would override the default value of the variable
137 news-inews-program (which is "/usr/local/inews").
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.
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.in if you wish to figure out how to do that). For all
149 else, use site-init.el.
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
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:
178 `/usr/local/bin' holds the executable programs users normally run -
179 `emacs', `etags', `ctags', `b2m', `emacsclient',
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
192 Emacs searches for its lisp files in
193 `/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp', then in this
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'.
201 `/usr/local/com/emacs/lock' contains files indicating who is editing
202 what, so Emacs can detect editing clashes between
205 `/usr/local/libexec/emacs/VERSION/CONFIGURATION-NAME' contains executable
206 programs used by Emacs that users are not expected to
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.
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.
226 `/usr/local/man/man1' holds the man pages for the programs installed
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
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
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.
248 You can change where the build process installs Emacs and its data
249 files by specifying values for `make' variables as part of the `make'
250 command line. For example, if you type
252 make install bindir=/usr/local/gnubin
254 the `bindir=/usr/local/gnubin' argument indicates that the Emacs
255 executable files should go in `/usr/local/gnubin', not
258 Here is a complete list of the variables you may want to set.
260 `bindir' indicates where to put executable programs that users can
261 run. This defaults to /usr/local/bin.
263 `datadir' indicates where to put the architecture-independent
264 read-only data files that Emacs refers to while it runs; it
265 defaults to /usr/local/share. We create the following
266 subdirectories under `datadir':
267 - `emacs/VERSION/lisp', containing the Emacs lisp library, and
268 - `emacs/VERSION/etc', containing the Emacs tutorial, the DOC
269 file, and the `yow' database.
270 `VERSION' is the number of the Emacs version you are installing,
271 like `18.59' or `19.0'. Since these files vary from one version
272 of Emacs to another, including the version number in the path
273 allows you to have several versions of Emacs installed at the
274 same time; this means that you don't have to make Emacs
275 unavailable while installing a new version.
277 `sharedstatedir' indicates where to put architecture-independent data files
278 that Emacs modifies while it runs; it defaults to
279 /usr/local/com. We create the following
280 subdirectories under `sharedstatedir':
281 - `emacs/lock', containing files indicating who is editing
282 what, so Emacs can detect editing clashes between
285 `libexecdir' indicates where to put architecture-specific data files that
286 Emacs refers to as it runs; it defaults to `/usr/local/libexec'.
287 We create the following subdirectories under `libexecdir':
288 - `emacs/VERSION/CONFIGURATION-NAME', containing executable
289 programs used by Emacs that users are not expected to run
291 `VERSION' is the number of the Emacs version you are installing,
292 and `CONFIGURATION-NAME' is the argument you gave to the
293 `configure' program to identify the architecture and operating
294 system of your machine, like `mips-dec-ultrix' or
295 `sparc-sun-sunos'. Since these files are specific to the version
296 of Emacs, operating system, and architecture in use, including
297 the configuration name in the path allows you to have several
298 versions of Emacs for any mix of machines and operating systems
299 installed at the same time; this is useful for sites at which
300 different kinds of machines share the file system Emacs is
303 `infodir' indicates where to put the info files distributed with
304 Emacs; it defaults to `/usr/local/info'.
306 `mandir' indicates where to put the man pages for Emacs and its
307 utilities (like `etags'); it defaults to
308 `/usr/local/man/man1'.
310 `manext' gives the extension the man pages should be installed with.
311 It should contain a period, followed by the appropriate
312 digit. It defaults to `.1'. For example given the default
313 values for `mandir' and `manext', the Emacs man page would be
314 installed as `/usr/local/man/man1/emacs.1'.
316 `prefix' doesn't give a path for any specific part of Emacs; instead,
317 its value is used to determine the defaults for all the
318 architecture-independent path variables - `datadir',
319 `sharedstatedir', `infodir', and `mandir'. Its default value is
320 `/usr/local'; the other variables add on `lib' or `man' to it
323 For example, suppose your site generally places GNU software
324 under `/usr/users/software/gnusoft' instead of `/usr/local'.
326 `prefix=/usr/users/software/gnusoft'
327 in the arguments to `make', you can instruct the build process
328 to place all of the Emacs data files in the appropriate
329 directories under that path.
331 `exec_prefix' serves the same purpose as `prefix', but instead
332 determines the default values for the architecture-dependent
333 path variables - `bindir' and `libexecdir'.
335 The above variables serve analogous purposes in the makefiles for all
336 GNU software; here are some variables specific to Emacs.
338 `lispdir' indicates where Emacs installs and expects its lisp
339 library. Its default value, based on `datadir' (see above),
340 is `/usr/local/lib/emacs/VERSION/lisp' (where `VERSION' is as
343 `locallisppath' indicates where Emacs should search for lisp files
344 specific to your site. It should be a colon-separated list of
345 directories; Emacs checks them in order before checking
346 `lispdir'. Its default value, based on `datadir' (see above),
347 is `/usr/local/lib/emacs/site-lisp'.
349 `lisppath' is the complete list of directories Emacs should search for
350 its lisp files; its default value is the concatenation of
351 `lispdir' and `locallisppath'. It should be a colon-separated
352 list of directories; Emacs checks them in the order they
355 `etcdir' indicates where Emacs should install and expect the rest of
356 its architecture-independent data, like the tutorial, DOC
357 file, and yow database. Its default value, based on `datadir'
358 (which see), is `/usr/local/lib/emacs/VERSION/etc'.
360 `lockdir' indicates the directory where Emacs keeps track of its
361 locking information. Its default value, based on `sharedstatedir'
362 (which see), is `/usr/local/lib/emacs/lock'.
364 `archlibdir' indicates where Emacs installs and expects the
365 executable files and other architecture-dependent data it uses
366 while running. Its default value, based on `libexecdir' (which
367 see), is `/usr/local/lib/emacs/VERSION/CONFIGURATION-NAME'
368 (where VERSION and CONFIGURATION-NAME are as described above).
370 Remember that you must specify any variable values you need each time
371 you run `make' in the top directory. If you run `make' once to build
372 emacs, test it, and then run `make' again to install the files, you
373 must provide the same variable settings each time. To make the
374 settings persist, you can edit them into the `Makefile' in the top
375 directory, but be aware that running the `configure' program erases
376 `Makefile' and rebuilds it from `Makefile.in'.
378 The top-level Makefile stores the variable settings it used in the
379 Makefiles for the subdirectories, so you don't have to specify them
380 when running make in the subdirectories.
383 CONFIGURATION BY HAND
385 Instead of running the `configure' program, you have to perform the
388 1) Copy `./src/config.h.in' to `./src/config.h'.
390 2) Consult `./etc/MACHINES' to see what configuration name you should
391 use for your system. Look at the code of the `configure' script to
392 see which operating system and architecture description files from
393 `src/s' and `src/m' should be used for that configuration name. Edit
394 `src/config.h', and change the two `#include' directives to include
395 the appropriate system and architecture description files.
397 2) Edit `./src/config.h' to set the right options for your system. If
398 you need to override any of the definitions in the s/*.h and m/*.h
399 files for your system and machine, do so by editing config.h, not by
400 changing the s/*.h and m/*.h files. Occasionally you may need to
401 redefine parameters used in `./lib-src/movemail.c'.
403 3) Create src/Makefile and lib-src/Makefile from the corresponding
404 `Makefile.in.in' files. First copy `Makefile.in.in' to `Makefile.in',
405 then edit in appropriate substituions for the @...@ constructs,
406 and then copy the shell commands near the end of `configure'
407 that run cpp to construct `Makefile'.
409 4) Create `Makefile' files in various other directories
410 from the corresponding `Makefile.in' files. This isn't so hard,
411 just a matter of substitution.
413 The `configure' script is built from `configure.in' by the `autoconf'
414 program. You need version 2.0 or newer of `autoconf' to rebuild `configure'.
416 BUILDING GNU EMACS BY HAND
418 Once Emacs is configured, running `make' in the top directory performs
421 1) Run `make src/paths.h' in the top directory. This produces
422 `./src/paths.h' from the template file `./src/paths.h.in', changing
423 the paths to the values specified in `./Makefile'.
425 2) Go to directory `./lib-src' and run `make'. This creates
426 executables named `ctags' and `etags' and `wakeup' and `make-docfile'
427 and `digest-doc' and `test-distrib'. And others.
429 3) Go to directory `./src' and Run `make'. This refers to files in
430 the `./lisp' and `./lib-src' subdirectories using names `../lisp' and
433 This creates a file `./src/emacs' which is the runnable Emacs,
434 which has another name that contains a version number.
435 Each time you do this, that version number increments in the last place.
437 It also creates a file in `./etc' whose name is `DOC' followed by the
438 current Emacs version. This file contains documentation strings for
439 all the functions in Emacs. Each time you run make to make a new
440 emacs, a new DOC file with a new name is made. You must keep the DOC
441 file for an Emacs version as long as you keep using that Emacs
447 The steps below are done by running `make install' in the main
448 directory of the Emacs distribution.
450 1) Copy `./lisp' and its subdirectories, `./etc', and the executables
451 in `./lib-src' to their final destinations, as selected in `./src/paths.h'.
453 Strictly speaking, not all of the executables in `./lib-src' need be copied.
454 - The programs `cvtmail', `emacsserver', `fakemail', `hexl',
455 `movemail', `profile', `rcs2log', `timer', `vcdiff', `wakeup',
456 and `yow' are used by Emacs; they do need to be copied.
457 - The programs `etags', `ctags', `emacsclient', `b2m', and `rcs-checkin'
458 are intended to be run by users; they are handled below.
459 - The programs `make-docfile' and `test-distrib' were
460 used in building Emacs, and are not needed any more.
461 - The programs `digest-doc' and `sorted-doc' convert a `DOC' file into
462 a file for users to read. There is no important reason to move them.
464 2) Copy the files in `./info' to the place specified in
465 `./lisp/site-init.el' or `./lisp/paths.el'. Note that if the
466 destination directory already contains a file named `dir', you
467 probably don't want to replace it with the `dir' file in the Emacs
468 distribution. Instead, you should make sure that the existing `dir'
469 file contains an appropriate menu entry for the Emacs info.
471 3) Create a directory for Emacs to use for clash detection, named as
472 indicated by the PATH_LOCK macro in `./src/paths.h'.
474 4) Copy `./src/emacs' to `/usr/local/bin', or to some other directory
475 in users' search paths. `./src/emacs' has an alternate name
476 `./src/emacs-EMACSVERSION'; you may wish to make a symbolic link named
477 `/usr/local/bin/emacs' pointing to that alternate name, as an easy way
478 of installing different versions.
480 You can delete `./src/temacs'.
482 5) Copy the programs `b2m', `emacsclient', `ctags', `etags', and
483 `rcs-checkin' from `./lib-src' to `/usr/local/bin'. These programs are
484 intended for users to run.
486 6) Copy the man pages in `./etc' for emacs, ctags, and etags into the
487 appropriate man directories.
489 7) The files in the `./src' subdirectory, except for `emacs', are not
490 used by Emacs once it is built. However, it is very desirable to keep
491 the source on line for debugging.
496 See the file PROBLEMS in this directory for a list of various
497 problems sometimes encountered, and what to do about them.
500 Installation on MSDOG (a.k.a. MSDOS)
502 To install on MSDOG, you need to have the GNU C compiler for MSDOG
503 (also known as djgpp), GNU Make, rm, mv, chmod, and sed.
505 Some users report that running Emacs 19.29 requires dpmi memory
506 management. We do not know why this is so, since 19.28 did not need
507 it. If we find out what change introduced this requirement, we will
508 try to eliminate it. It is possible that this problem happens only
509 when there is not enough physical memory on the machine.
511 You can find out if you have a dpmi host by running go32 (part of
512 djgpp) without arguments; it will tell you if it uses dpmi memory.
513 For more information about dpmi memory, consult the djgpp FAQ.
515 To build and install Emacs, type these commands:
520 You may need to work around a type conflict between gmalloc.c and the
521 header file djgppstd.h regarding declarations of memalign and valloc.
522 Temporarily deleting those declarations from djgppstd.h while compiling
523 Emacs or while compiling gmalloc.c should do it. We found out about this
524 problem too late to include a more convenient fix--sorry.
526 To save disk space, Emacs is built with the idea that you will execute
527 it from the same place in the file system where you built it. As the
528 /usr/local/ subtree does not exist on most MSDOG systems, the
529 executables are placed in /emacs/bin/.
531 MSDOG is a not a multitasking operating system, so Emacs features such
532 as asynchronous subprocesses that depend on multitasking will not
533 work. Synchronous subprocesses do work.