5 - Installation instructions and notes for the Midnight Commander
6 - Where to get more information on the Midnight Commander
8 - Information on porting the program
9 - Obtaining the missing pieces of the Midnight Commander
12 Installation instructions for the Midnight Commander
13 ----------------------------------------------------
15 The `configure' shell script attempts to guess correct values for
16 various system-dependent variables used during compilation, and creates
17 the Makefile. It also creates a file `config.status' that you can run
18 in the future to recreate the current configuration.
20 (Nextstep users, make sure you read the "Compiling under Nextstep"
23 To compile this package:
25 1. Configure the package for your system.
27 Normally, you just `cd' to the directory containing the package's
28 source code and type `./configure'. If you're using `csh' on an old
29 version of System V, you might need to type `sh configure' instead to
30 prevent `csh' from trying to execute `configure' itself (under AIX,
31 you may need to use ksh instead of sh).
33 Running `configure' takes a while. While it is running, it
34 prints some messages that tell what it is doing. If you don't want to
35 see any messages, run `configure' with its standard output redirected
36 to `/dev/null'; for example, `./configure >/dev/null'.
38 To compile the package in a different directory from the one
39 containing the source code, you must use a version of `make' that
40 supports the `VPATH' variable, such as GNU `make'. `cd' to the
41 directory where you want the object files and executables to go and run
42 the `configure' script. `configure' automatically checks for the
43 source code in the directory that `configure' is in and in `..'. If
44 for some reason `configure' is not in the source code directory that
45 you are configuring, then it will report that it can't find the source
46 code. In that case, run `configure' with the option `--srcdir=DIR',
47 where DIR is the directory that contains the source code.
49 By default, `make install' will install the package's files in
50 `/usr/local/bin', `/usr/local/man', etc. You can specify an
51 installation prefix other than `/usr/local' by giving `configure' the
52 option `--prefix=PATH'. Alternately, you can do so by consistently
53 giving a value for the `prefix' variable when you run `make', e.g.,
55 make prefix=/usr/gnu install
57 You can specify separate installation prefixes for
58 architecture-specific files and architecture-independent files. If
59 you give `configure' the option `--exec-prefix=PATH' or set the `make'
60 variable `exec_prefix' to PATH, the package will use PATH as the
61 prefix for installing programs and libraries. Data files and
62 documentation will still use the regular prefix. Normally, all files
63 are installed using the same prefix.
65 The program detects if you have the gpm library installed. If you
66 installed the gpm mouse library in a non-standard place, you will need
67 to use the --with-gpm-mouse flag with the directory base where you
68 installed the gpm package.
70 `configure' also recognizes the following options:
73 Print a summary of the options to `configure', and exit.
77 Do not print messages saying which checks are being made.
80 Print the results of the checks.
83 Print the version of Autoconf used to generate the `configure'
87 Enables the built-in memory allocation debugger and forces
88 compilation with -Wall. This is an option intended to be used by
89 the program developers.
92 Configures the program to be compiled without the built-in file
93 editor. The built-in editor is compiled in by default.
95 `--with-ext2undel[=PATH]'
96 On systems that use the Extended 2 file system and have the
97 libext2fs.a library available, this compiles into the Midnight
98 Commander the support code for recovering deleted files (the
99 undel virtual file system).
100 Use =PATH if libext2fs.a is installed in a non-standard place.
101 The configure will append `lib' and `include' to find the ext2fs
102 libraries and include files respectively.
104 `--with-gpm-mouse[=PATH]'
105 Use this flag if your GPM mouse package cannot be detected by the
106 configure. Use =PATH if it is installed in a non-standard place.
107 The configure will append `lib' and `include' to find the libgpm.a
108 and gpm.h files respectively.
110 `--without-gpm-mouse'
111 Use this flag to disable GPM mouse support (e.g. if you want to
112 use mouse only on X terminals).
115 Compiles support into the ftp virtual file system to support the
119 Needed when compiling under AIX if you want the fast viewer.
122 This option is used to compile on SCO: it turns on SCO-specific
123 code, i.e. disables the terminal resizing mechanism, uses the
124 BSD-like pseudoterminal handling, adds screen-saving capabilities
127 `--with-subshell[=optional]', `--without-subshell'
128 The subshell support is by default turned on, you can disable
129 this by using the --without-subshell option. If you pass the
130 =optional parameter, then the subshell support is turned off by
131 default, to turn it on, you have to specify the `-U' flag when
135 Enables the network support with the Term package.
137 `--with-tk' [WARNING: X code is not released]
138 This option enables including the Tcl/Tk version.
140 `--with-tk-includes=DIR' [WARNING: X code is not released]
141 Lets you specify the place where you have your Tcl/Tk headers installed.
142 It should be a directory containing tcl.h and tk.h.
144 `--with-tk-libraries=DIR' [WARNING: X code is not released]
145 Lets you specify the place where you have your Tcl/Tk libraries -
148 `--with-xview' [WARNING: X code is not released]
149 This option enables including the XView version.
151 `--with-xview-includes=DIR' [WARNING: X code is not released]
152 Lets you specify the place where you have your xview headers installed.
153 It should be the directory, which has subdirectories xview and
154 hopefuly xview_private.
156 `--with-xview-libraries=DIR' [WARNING: X code is not released]
157 Lets you specify the place where you have your xview libraries -
158 libolgx and libxview.
160 `--with-xv-bindir=DIR' [WARNING: X code is not released]
161 Lets you specify the place where program mxc will be installed.
162 Default is somewhere in your XView binaries directory,
166 This option disables the Virtual File System switch code in the
167 Midnight Commander and uses the standard file system calls for
168 file access. If you specify this option you will not get the
169 transparent tar File system manipulation as well nor the
170 networked Midnight Commander file system.
172 You may also tell configure which display manager you want to use with
173 the Midnight Commander. The configure script will use SLang as default,
174 but you can override this by using any of the following flags (please
175 note that slang is included as part of the distribution),
177 `--with-slang' (default)
178 This is used to configure the program to use the SLang screen
179 manager. This is included as part of the Midnight Commander,
180 you don't need it installed on your system. If SLang is installed
181 on your system it will be used if possible. You can force usage of
182 the included SLang with the `--with-included-slang' option.
183 Slang is the only library that will let you resize the Midnight
184 Commander window on an xterm.
186 This option will usually try to use the terminfo database if it
187 is available, otherwise it will use the termcap database. At
188 compile time, you may force the use the terminal database with
189 the `--with-termcap' and `--with-terminfo' options (both options
190 automaticly turn `--with-included-slang' on).
192 `--with-ncurses[=directory]'
193 Use this flag (either with or without the =directory part), if
194 you want to compile with ncurses instead of the default SLang.
196 Use the =directory part if your ncurses is not installed in any of the
197 places configure will check (/usr/include, /usr/include/ncurses,
198 /usr/local/include and /usr/local/include/ncurses).
199 The argument to this flag is the base directory where the ncurses
200 files are located. The configure will append lib and include to
201 find the libncurses.a and ncurses.h file respectively. For
202 example, if you have installed ncurses under /gnu/lib and
203 /gnu/include, you specify: --with-ncurses=/gnu
205 You will need the ncurses package only if your system does not
206 provide a compatible curses. If after compiling, the program
207 says that it can't resolve the has_colors function, then you need
208 the ncurses package or you may always go back to the included SLang
211 `--with-vcurses[=directory]'
212 Use this flag to force the Midnight Commander to use a SystemV
213 type ncurses, the optional directory specifies where should
214 the C compiler find the include files.
216 `--with-sunos-curses'
217 You use this flag on SunOS machines if you want to use SunOS 4.x
218 curses instead of ncurses. You don't need this flag if you don't
219 have ncurses installed: it's only needed to force the usage of
220 SunOS curses over ncurses.
222 `configure' also accepts and ignores some other options.
224 On systems that require unusual options for compilation or linking
225 that the package's `configure' script does not know about, you can give
226 `configure' initial values for variables by setting them in the
227 environment. In Bourne-compatible shells, you can do that on the
228 command line like this:
230 CC='gcc -traditional' LIBS=-lposix ./configure
232 On systems that have the `env' program, you can do it like this:
234 env CC='gcc -traditional' LIBS=-lposix ./configure
236 Here are the `make' variables that you might want to override with
237 environment variables when running `configure'.
239 For these variables, any value given in the environment overrides the
240 value that `configure' would choose:
243 C compiler program. The default is `cc'.
246 The default flags used to build the program.
249 Program to use to install files. The default is `install' if you
250 have it, `cp' otherwise.
252 For these variables, any value given in the environment is added to
253 the value that `configure' chooses:
256 Libraries to link with, in the form `-lfoo -lbar...'.
258 If you need to do unusual things to compile the package, we encourage
259 you to figure out how `configure' could check whether to do them, and
260 mail diffs or instructions to the address given in the README so we
261 can include them in the next release.
263 2. Type `make' to compile the package.
265 3. If the package comes with self-tests and you want to run them,
266 type `make check'. If you're not sure whether there are any, try it;
267 if `make' responds with something like
268 make: *** No way to make target `check'. Stop.
269 then the package does not come with self-tests.
271 4. Type `make install' to install programs, data files, and
273 If your system is Linux, then install installs the Linux console screen
276 5. You can remove the program binaries and object files from the
277 source directory by typing `make clean'. To also remove the
278 Makefile(s), the header file containing system-dependent definitions
279 (if the package uses one), and `config.status' (all the files that
280 `configure' created), type `make realclean'. If you want to clean the source
281 tree completely, so that it contains only those files that should be
282 packaged in the archive, issue `make distclean'. If you've run configure in
283 a different directory than the source tree, distclean won't remove your *.o
284 and linked programs in that directory.
286 6. The Midnight Commander allows you to be kept on the directory you
287 were when you quit the program, this is done with a shell function,
288 the man page has more information about this. If you want to let the
289 install program make the change to your /etc/profile or your
290 ~/.profile or ~/.bashrc, then type: `make mcfninstall'.
292 The file `configure.in' is used to create `configure' by a program
293 called `autoconf'. You only need it if you want to regenerate
294 `configure' using a newer version of `autoconf'.
296 Compiling under NeXTStep
297 ------------------------
299 These instructions were provided by Gregor Hoffleit
300 <flight@mathi.uni-heidelberg.DE>, he recommends configuring the
304 export CC="cc -posix"
305 configure --without-subshell --with-termcap
306 Edie config.h and make sure you have #undef HAVE_GETWD
311 - Where to get more information on the Midnight Commander
312 ---------------------------------------------------------
314 Janne Kukonlehto set up a WWW page, here is the URL:
315 http://mc.blackdown.org/mc/
317 We also a set of mailing lists for the program:
319 mc-announce: Announcements of new version of the Midnight Commander.
320 mc-digest: Digest version of the mc list.
321 mc-patches: Patches by mail (also on the ftp site).
322 mc: Discussion on the Midnight Commander file manager.
323 mc-devel: For discussion between the developers of the program.
325 to subscribe to the mailing lists, send a message to:
327 majordomo@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx
329 with the following text in the body of the message:
331 subscribe <list-name> [address]
333 The address is optional and list-name is one of the above list names
334 (mc, mc-announce, mc-patches or mc-digest).
337 Notes about the Midnight Commander installation
338 ------------------------------------------------
340 The Midnight Commander has been run in the following configurations:
346 mips-dec-{open,net}bsd1.0
356 mc88110-aviion-dgux5.4
357 i386-*-{bsdi2,freebsd}
359 Since the Midnight Commander is configured via the GNU autoconf
360 program, it's not difficult to run it in other operating systems.
362 If you're using AIX, with the cc6000 compiler, you have to specify the
363 `--with-mmap' command line option.
365 You will need GNU C (or an ANSI C Compiler) and optionally a color
366 curses library (ncurses is a good choice). The Midnight Commander now
367 comes with the Slang screen manager, a fast screen manager, so ncurses
368 is not required anymore unless you want to use it.
370 Many Linux systems ship with ncurses version 1.9.9e, however, we recommend
371 ncurses 4.1 or above, since the former version does not support resizing
374 Since version 0.9 the Midnight Commander comes with mouse support on
375 xterms and in the Linux console. In order to take advantage of the
376 mouse support on the Linux console you will need the gpm mouse server
377 (see the section "Obtaining the Missing Pieces" in this file).
379 Once you get the Mouse Server, compile it and install it, then you
380 will have to specify the `--with-gpm-mouse' flag to the configure
381 program if you installed it in a non-standard directory. If you
382 installed the gpm package under /usr or /usr/local, you don't need to
383 specify this flag; configure will find gpm for you. The support for
384 mice on xterms is always compiled in.
386 We are working on further enhancements to the program, but we're not
387 sure which ones must go first. If you would like to point us in the
388 Right Direction we will be glad to hear from you (you could check the
389 file TODO included with this distribution for the current projects).
391 If you happen to find an undocumented feature that doesn't do what you
392 expected, please drop us a note telling us as much as you can about
393 the problem you're experiencing (to miguel@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx).
399 Random notes on porting to other architectures.
401 The Midnight Commander uses now by default the Slang library for
402 handling the display. If you can't port Slang (which should be a
403 pretty trivial job), you may want to attempt using ncurses (the
404 Midnight Commander can use ncurses as well as the display engine).
406 If you don't want to install ncurses and your OS is a SystemV Release
407 4 variant, maybe the curses supplied with your system will do the
408 work. If you experience display problems, then it means that we are
409 dealing with a buggy implementation of curses. You have two options:
410 one, download ncurses and recompile with ncurses or recompile all your
411 source code with the symbol BUGGY_CURSES defined. But you can always
412 switch to the default SLang screen manager.
414 The fast way to do this is to:
416 make clean; make XINC=-DBUGGY_CURSES
419 Obtaining the missing pieces of the Midnight Commander
420 ------------------------------------------------------
422 The Midnight Commander will build without requiring you to get any
423 other software packages, however, you may be interested in enhancing
424 the Midnight Commander environment with some of these:
428 There are many incomplete terminal databases out there, however, a
429 complete terminfo is bundled with ncurses. (It is simple to generate
430 the termcap database using the infocmp utility in ncurses).
432 Some terminfo data are included with the mc distribution (lib/*.ti).
433 Particularly linux, xterm and vt100. Use e.g. ''tic linux.ti'' to
436 If you want to run mc on xterm/color_xterm/ansi_xterm (not rxvt), then
437 you might read lib/README.xterm for further information.
439 o In the past the Midnight Commander required the NCurses library to
440 build, now it's optional. You can get Ncurses from
443 ftp.clark.net:/pub/dickey/ncurses
445 o The GPM Mouse Server is available at:
447 iride.unipv.it:/pub/gpm
449 o The X Windows System libraries are only used if you are going to
450 build the X11 versions of the program. Please note that this code
451 is not finished, so it's only useful if you want to look at what we
452 are doing or want to help in one of the two X11 versions.
454 o The XView library can be obtained from (currently the newest is
455 XView3.2p1-X11R6.tar.gz):
457 ftp.nuclecu.unam.mx:/Midnight/devel/XView.libs
458 ftp.x.org:/contrib/libraries
459 ftp.cvut.cz:/pub/x11/contrib/libraries
461 - Linux/ELF shared binaries:
463 sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/libs/X/xview
464 ftp.cvut.cz:/pub/linux/sunsite/libs/X/xview
466 o The Tcl/Tk libraries can be obtained from:
468 ftp.smli.com:/pub/tcl
469 ftp.aud.alcatel.com:/tcl/ftp.smli.com
470 ftp.cvut.cz:/pub/tcl/ftp.smli.com
472 - Linux/ELF shared binaries:
474 ftp.ods.com:/pub/linux
475 ftp.cvut.cz:/pub/linux/ods
477 o The Xpm library (used by the XView version) can be obtained from
478 (currently xpm-3.4f.tar.gz):
480 koala.inria.fr:/pub/xpm
481 ftp.x.org:/contrib/libraries
482 ftp.cvut.cz:/pub/x11/contrib/libraries
484 - Linux/ELF shared binaries:
486 ftp.ctd.comsat.com:/pub/linux/ELF
487 ftp.cvut.cz:/pub/linux/comsat
489 To get the mouse support working on the Linux console:
491 If you're using Linux version >= 1.1.34, then you will have to choose yes
492 to selection when you compile your kernel. If your Linux version is
493 older than this one, you may try to apply one of the patches included in
496 And the GNU C Compiler may be obtained from the following sites:
498 ASIA: ftp.cs.titech.ac.jp, utsun.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp:/ftpsync/prep,
499 cair.kaist.ac.kr:/pub/gnu
500 AUSTRALIA: archie.au:/gnu (archie.oz or archie.oz.au for ACSnet)
501 AFRICA: ftp.sun.ac.za:/pub/gnu
502 MIDDLE-EAST: ftp.technion.ac.il:/pub/unsupported/gnu
503 EUROPE: ftp.cvut.cz:/pub/gnu, irisa.irisa.fr:/pub/gnu,
504 ftp.univ-lyon1.fr:pub/gnu, ftp.mcc.ac.uk,
505 unix.hensa.ac.uk:/pub/uunet/systems/gnu,
506 src.doc.ic.ac.uk:/gnu, ftp.win.tue.nl, ugle.unit.no,
507 ftp.denet.dk, ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de:/pub/gnu,
508 ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de, ftp.eunet.ch,
509 nic.switch.ch:/mirror/gnu, nic.funet.fi:/pub/gnu, isy.liu.se,
510 ftp.stacken.kth.se, ftp.luth.se:/pub/unix/gnu, archive.eu.net
511 CANADA: ftp.cs.ubc.ca:/mirror2/gnu
512 USA: wuarchive.wustl.edu:/mirrors/gnu, labrea.stanford.edu,
513 ftp.kpc.com:/pub/mirror/gnu, ftp.cs.widener.edu, uxc.cso.uiuc.edu,
514 col.hp.com:/mirrors/gnu, ftp.cs.columbia.edu:/archives/gnu/prep,
515 gatekeeper.dec.com:/pub/GNU, ftp.uu.net:/systems/gnu
518 Unsupported options to configure:
519 ---------------------------------
521 If you don't want to use ncurses and are using an Ultrix box, you
522 can use this switch. Be aware that ncurses is a better option
523 than the curses included in Ultrix.