3 - Installation instructions for GNU Midnight Commander
4 - Where to get more information on GNU Midnight Commander
5 - Notes about GNU Midnight Commander installation
6 - Obtaining related software
9 Installation instructions for GNU Midnight Commander
10 ----------------------------------------------------
12 The `configure' shell script attempts to guess correct values for
13 various system-dependent variables used during compilation, and creates
14 the makefiles. It also creates a file `config.status' that you can run
15 in the future to recreate the current configuration.
17 To compile this package:
19 1. Configure the package for your system.
21 Normally, you just `cd' to the directory containing the package's source
22 code and type `./configure'. If you're using `csh' on an old version of
23 SystemV, you might need to type `sh configure' instead to prevent `csh'
24 from trying to execute `configure' itself. Under AIX, you may need to
25 use ksh instead of sh.
27 Running `configure' takes a while. While it is running, it prints some
28 messages that tell what it is doing. If you don't want to see any
29 messages, run `configure' with the `--quiet' option.
31 To compile the package in a different directory than the one containing
32 the source code, you must use a version of `make' supporting the `VPATH'
33 variable, such as GNU `make'. Change to the directory where you want
34 the object files and executables to go and run the `configure' script
35 with the full path. If for some reason `configure' cannot find the
36 source code directory, run `configure' with the option `--srcdir=DIR',
37 where DIR is the directory that contains the source code.
39 By default, `make install' will install the package's files in
40 `/usr/local/bin', `/usr/local/man', etc. You can specify an
41 installation prefix other than `/usr/local' by giving `configure' the
42 option `--prefix=PATH'.
44 You can specify separate installation prefixes for architecture specific
45 files and architecture-independent files. If you give `configure' the
46 option `--exec-prefix=PATH', the package will use PATH as the prefix for
47 installing binary programs and libraries. Data files and documentation
48 will still use the regular prefix. Normally, all files are installed
49 using the same prefix.
51 If compiled on GNU/Linux, Midnight Commander detects if you have the gpm
52 library installed. If you installed the gpm mouse library in a
53 non-standard place, you will need to use the --with-gpm-mouse flag with
54 the directory base where you installed the gpm package.
56 `configure' recognizes the following options (the list may be
57 incomplete, use `configure --help' to get the full list):
60 Print a summary of the options to `configure' and exit.
64 Do not print messages saying which checks are being made.
67 Print the results of the checks.
70 Print the version of Autoconf used to generate the `configure'
74 Look for glib 2.0 and newer. Otherwise, only glib 1.2.x will be
75 used. Note that you need pkgconfig installed to use this option.
78 Configure GNU Midnight Commander to be compiled without the
79 built-in file editor. The built-in editor is compiled in by
83 On systems that use the ext2 or ext3 file system and have the
84 libext2fs library available, this option adds support for
85 recovering deleted files (the undel virtual file system).
88 Use this flag to disable gpm mouse support (e.g. if you want to
89 use mouse only on X terminals).
91 `--with-mmap', `--without-mmap'
92 Force using or not using the mmap function. It is currently used
93 in the internal viewer. `--with-mmap' may be useful on some
94 versions of AIX where the `configure' script decides that mmap is
95 broken, but it's actually suitable for the internal viewer.
97 `--with-subshell[=optional]', `--without-subshell'
98 The subshell support is by default turned on, you can disable
99 this by using the --without-subshell option. If you pass the
100 =optional parameter, then the subshell support is turned off by
101 default. To turn it on, specify the `-U' option to the program.
103 `--with-tm-x-support'
104 This option enables minimal support for X Window System events.
105 It enables MC to query the status of the keyboard modifiers, such
106 as Control, Shift and Alt, when invoked in a terminal emulator
107 under X11. This is necessary (but not always sufficient) to
108 recognize some optional but handy key combinations like Ctrl-Home
109 and Shift-Cursor keys.
112 This option disables the Virtual File System switch code in the
113 Midnight Commander and uses the standard file system calls for
114 file access. If you specify this option, you won't get the
115 transparent access to archives and remote directories.
118 This option enables mcfs - a non-standard remote filesystem
119 designed specifically for the Midnight Commander. It also enables
120 a server for that filesystem, mcserv. Please note that the
121 implementation of mcfs is not optimized for speed. There may be
122 security issues with mcserv - don't run it if you don't need it.
125 This option enables remote VFS over the SMB protocol. A stripped
126 down version of samba distributed with the sources is compiled and
127 linked with the mc executable. It is recommended that you install
128 Samba client, since mc uses some files from Samba under certain
129 conditions. Please visit http://www.samba.org/ to learn more.
131 `--disable-largefile'
132 This option disables support for large files (2 gigabytes and more)
133 on the systems where file operations use 32-bit offsets by default,
134 but support for 64-bit offsets is available. May be useful for
135 slow processors and embedded systems.
137 You may also tell configure which screen library you want to use with
138 the Midnight Commander. The configure script will use S-Lang as
139 default, and prefers an already installed S-Lang library over the
140 included one, but you can override this by using the following flag
141 (please note that since S-Lang is default, it is tested better than
144 `--with-screen={slang|mcslang|ncurses}'
145 Choose the library used to manage interaction with the terminal.
146 `slang' means S-Lang library already installed on the system,
147 `mcslang' means S-Lang library included with the sources of
148 GNU Midnight Commander, `ncurses' means ncurses library already
149 installed on the system. The installed S-Lang library is used
150 by default if found, otherwise the included S-Lang library is
154 If the included S-Lang library is used, this option forces it to
155 use the termcap database, as opposed to the default terminfo
158 On systems that require unusual options for compilation or linking that
159 the package's `configure' script does not know about, you can give
160 `configure' initial values for variables by placing them in the command
163 ./configure CC='gcc -traditional' LIBS=-lposix
165 Here are the variables that you might want to override when running
169 C compiler program. The default is `gcc' if found, otherwise `cc'.
172 The default flags used to build the program.
175 Program to use to install files. The default is `install' if you
176 have it, `cp' otherwise.
178 For these variables, any value given in the command line is added to the
179 value that `configure' decides to use:
182 Libraries to link with, in the form `-lfoo -lbar...'.
185 Linker flags, e.g. -L<lib dir> if you have libraries in a
186 nonstandard directory <lib dir>
189 C/C++ preprocessor flags, e.g. -I<include dir> if you have
190 headers in a nonstandard directory <include dir>
192 If you need to do unusual things to compile the package, we encourage
193 you to figure out how `configure' could check whether to do them, and
194 mail diffs or instructions to the address given in the README so we can
195 include them in the next release.
197 2. Type `make' to compile the package.
199 3. Type `make install' to install programs, data files, and the
200 documentation. On GNU/Linux the console screen saver is installed as
203 4. You can remove the program binaries and object files from the source
204 directory by typing `make clean'. If you want to clean the source tree
205 completely, so that it contains only those files that should be packaged
206 in the archive, issue `make distclean'. If you've run configure in a
207 different directory than the source tree, distclean won't remove your
208 *.o and linked programs in that directory.
210 5. GNU Midnight Commander allows you to stay in the last current
211 directory after exiting MC. This is done with a shell function, the man
212 page has more information about this.
214 The file `configure.in' is used to create `configure' by a program
215 called `autoconf'. You only need it if you want to regenerate
216 `configure' using a newer version of `autoconf'.
219 Where to get more information on GNU Midnight Commander
220 -------------------------------------------------------
222 There are two mailing lists for the program:
224 mc@gnome.org: Discussion on GNU Midnight Commander file manager.
225 mc-devel@gnome.org: Discussion between the developers of the program.
227 To subscribe to the mailing lists, visit their respective pages:
229 http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/mc/
230 http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/mc-devel/
233 Notes about GNU Midnight Commander installation
234 -----------------------------------------------
236 GNU Midnight Commander has been run in the following configurations:
243 mips-dec-{open,net}bsd1.0
253 mc88110-aviion-dgux5.4
258 Midnight Commander is written in a portable manner and uses GNU Autoconf
259 for configuration, so it is expected to compile without changes on many
260 other operating systems.
262 You will need an ANSI C Compiler (such as GCC) and glib library to
263 compile the source. GNU Midnight Commander now comes with the S-Lang
264 screen manager, a fast screen manager, but you may want to use the
265 already installed S-Lang or ncurses library.
267 If you insist on using ncurses, it's recommended to use ncurses 4.1 and
268 above, since the older versions don't support resizing in the xterm
271 GNU Midnight Commander comes with the mouse support on xterms and in the
272 Linux console. In order to take advantage of the mouse support on the
273 Linux console you will need the gpm mouse server (see the section
274 "Obtaining related software" in this file).
276 Once you get gpm, compile it and install it, then you will have to
277 specify the `--with-gpm-mouse' flag to the configure program if you
278 installed it in a non-standard directory. If you installed the gpm
279 package under /usr or /usr/local, you don't need to specify this flag;
280 configure will find gpm for you. The support for mice on xterms is
283 We are working on further enhancements to the program, but we're not
284 sure which ones must go first. If you would like to point us in the
285 Right Direction we will be glad to hear from you (you could check the
286 file TODO included with this distribution for the current projects).
288 If you happen to find a feature that doesn't do what you expect, please
289 write to mc@gnome.org telling as much as you can about the problem
290 you're experiencing. Please don't send personal messages to the
294 Obtaining related software
295 --------------------------
300 The only "hard" dependency of GNU Midnight Commander is glib. You can
303 ftp://ftp.gtk.org/pub/gtk/
305 Note that only versions 1.2.x are fully supported. Older versions won't
306 even be detected. Newer versions will be detected if `--with-glib2' is
307 specified. Support for glib 2.0 is considered experimental.
312 There are many incomplete terminal databases out there, however, a
313 complete terminfo is bundled with ncurses. (It is simple to generate
314 the termcap database using the infocmp utility in ncurses).
316 Some terminfo data are included with the mc distribution (lib/*.ti).
317 Particularly linux, xterm and vt100. Use e.g. ''tic linux.ti'' to use
320 If you want to run mc on xterm/color_xterm/ansi_xterm (not rxvt), then
321 you might read lib/README.xterm for further information.
326 GNU Midnight Commander can use the included version of S-Lang, but you
327 can get the latest version here:
329 http://www.s-lang.org/
331 Alternatively, you can use ncurses:
333 http://www.gnu.org/software/ncurses/ncurses.html
338 The general purpose mouse (gpm) daemon is available from
340 ftp://arcana.linux.it/pub/gpm/
345 If your C compiler is not powerful enough to compile GNU Midnight
346 Commander, you should report is as a bug to the GNU Midnight Commander
347 team. Sometimes there is no solution than upgrading to a modern and
348 free compiler - GCC (Compiler Collection):