1 Emacs for Windows NT/2000 and Windows 95/98/ME
3 Copyright (C) 2001-2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 See the end of the file for license conditions.
6 This directory contains support for compiling and running GNU Emacs on
7 Windows NT, Windows 95, and their successors. This port supports all
8 of the major functionality of the Unix version, including
9 subprocesses, windowing features (fonts, colors, scroll bars, multiple
10 frames, etc.), and networking support.
12 Precompiled distributions are also available; see:
14 https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/windows/
16 for the latest precompiled distributions.
18 * Building and installing
20 See the INSTALL file in this directory for detailed instructions on
21 building and installing Emacs on your system.
25 Building and installing Emacs will produce the following executable
26 files in the bin directory.
28 + emacs.exe - The main Emacs executable. As this is designed to run
29 as both a text-mode application (emacs -nw) and as a GUI application,
30 it will pop up a command prompt window if run directly from Explorer.
32 + runemacs.exe - A wrapper for running Emacs as a GUI application
33 without popping up a command prompt window. If you create a
34 desktop shortcut for invoking Emacs, make it point to this
35 executable, not to emacs.exe.
37 + emacsclient.exe - A command-line client program that can
38 communicate with a running Emacs process. See the `Emacs Server'
39 node of the Emacs manual.
41 + emacsclientw.exe - A version of emacsclient that does not open
42 a command-line window.
44 + addpm.exe - A basic installer that creates Start Menu icons for Emacs.
45 Running this is optional.
47 + ctags.exe, etags.exe - Tools for generating tag files. See the
48 `Tags' node of the Emacs manual.
50 + ebrowse.exe - A tool for generating C++ browse information. See the
53 Several helper programs are installed in a version-specific
54 subdirectory of the libexec directory:
56 + cmdproxy.exe - Used internally by Emacs to work around problems with
57 the native shells in various versions of Windows.
59 + ddeclient.exe - A tool for interacting with DDE servers. To be
60 invoked as "ddeclient SERVER [TOPIC]", where SERVER is the DDE
61 server name, and sends each line of its standard input to the DDE
62 server using the DdeClientTransaction API. This program is
63 supposed to be invoked via the 'call-process-region' Emacs
66 + hexl.exe - A tool for producing hex dumps of binary files. See the
67 `Editing Binary Files' node of the Emacs manual.
69 + movemail.exe - A helper application for safely moving mail from
70 a mail spool or POP server to a local user mailbox. See the
71 `Movemail' node of the Emacs manual.
73 + profile.exe - A helper program that generates periodic events for
74 profiling Emacs Lisp code.
76 + update-game-score.exe - A utility for updating the score files of
81 The Emacs User manual describes Windows-specific issues in the
82 appendix named "Emacs and Microsoft Windows/MS-DOS". You can read
85 C-h r g Microsoft Windows RET
87 This appendix is also available (as part of the entire manual) at
89 http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_mono/emacs.html#Microsoft-Windows
91 In addition to the manual, there is a mailing list for discussing
92 issues related to the Windows port of Emacs. For information about
93 the list, see this Web page:
95 http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-emacs-windows
97 To ask questions on the mailing list, send email to
98 help-emacs-windows@gnu.org. (You don't need to subscribe for that.)
99 To subscribe to the list or unsubscribe from it, fill the form you
100 find at http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-emacs-windows as
103 Another valuable source of information and help which should not be
104 overlooked is the various Usenet news groups dedicated to Emacs.
105 These are particularly good for help with general issues which aren't
106 specific to the Windows port of Emacs. The main news groups to use
107 for seeking help are:
112 There are also fairly regular postings and announcements of new or
113 updated Emacs packages on this group:
119 If you encounter a bug in this port of Emacs, we would like to hear
120 about it. First check the file etc/PROBLEMS and the FAQ on the web
121 page above to see if the bug is already known and if there are any
122 workarounds. If not, then check whether the bug has something to do
123 with code in your .emacs file, e.g. by invoking Emacs with the "-Q"
126 Use the built in bug reporting functionality in Emacs so that it
127 will be seen by the right people. You can use the command M-x
128 report-emacs-bug to create and send the bug report.
130 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
132 GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
133 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
134 the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
135 (at your option) any later version.
137 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
138 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
139 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
140 GNU General Public License for more details.
142 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
143 along with GNU Emacs. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.