Mail Archives: djgpp/1996/11/04/02:59:55
This is to announce that binary and source distribution of GNU Emacs 19.34
was uploaded to the DJGPP archives on SimTel.NET, and is available in the
v2gnu directory as 10 zip files:
ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2gnu/emacs.README
ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2gnu/em1934*.zip
Most people won't need all the files; in fact, you can download as few as
one 1.4MB zip file and have all the basic commands and a few of the more
important optional packages (such as `dired'). However, I recommend to
download at least the first 4 zip files (see below), that will take about
20MB of your disk space, to have a fully functional Emacs.
Please begin by reading the file `emacs.README' at the above location
(reproduced below). Read that file *before* you begin downloading,
because it includes crucial information which is required to decide what
other files to download.
Over the past 2 months, this distribution was in alpha testing. Several
people felt adventurous enough to download it and plunge into the bugs
which might have been left there. They all provided useful feedback which
helped to make the packaging better. I want to take this opportunity to
thank them all.
Last but not least, a lot of credit and kudos should go to the Emacs
development team in past and present (that's not me, mind you!) for
creating and maintaining such a wonderful package.
Further discussion about this package should go to comp.os.msdos.djgpp
news group or the djgpp mailing list. Please do NOT post any comments to
the djgpp-announce mailing list.
----------------------------- emacs.README -----------------------------
1. Introduction
------------
GNU Emacs compiled with DJGPP v2.x is hereby available as part of the
DJGPP archives. Emacs can be compiled with DJGPP out of the box, and
you are encouraged to get the latest version from the GNU ftp sites
and build it by yourself; but if you don't have the time, necessary
tools or disk storage required to unzip the full source distribution
and build Emacs, you can get here the pre-built binaries and only
those parts of the package that you need.
The binaries here were produced from the official version 19.34 of GNU
Emacs, with the following changes:
* A bug in `hexl' (found after Emacs 19.34 was already released)
was corrected whereby binary file were not read in binary mode.
* A support for MS-Windows clipboard was added: you can copy, cut
and paste to or from other Windows applications in the same way
as on X Windows platforms. See the `MS-DOS' chapter of the
Emacs on-line manual for more details. The clipboard support
code was originally written by Dale P. Smith <dpsm AT en DOT com> and
should be included in the next official Emacs release.
* A bug was corrected whereby running sub-processes on Windows 95
with LFN enabled didn't work.
* Emacs was compiled and linked with the latest release of DJGPP
v2.01, so no library bugs should affect it (in particular, the 2
bugs related to Emacs that are described at the end of the
`INSTALL' file are no longer an issue).
2. Files
-----
Emacs is a very large package. To make downloading it easier, the
archive here is divided into several zip files, each one of which
should fit on a 1.4MB floppy disk. Some files are required for running
Emacs, others are recommended, still others are only needed if you want
to rebuild Emacs (e.g., if you discover a bug). Here is the list of
the files:
em1934b.zip Binaries and minimal runtime support, required
em1934r1.zip Runtime support (1 of 3), required
em1934r2.zip Runtime support (2 of 3), required
em1934r3.zip Runtime support (3 of 3), required
em1934l1.zip Elisp sources (1 of 3), recommended
em1934l2.zip Elisp sources (2 of 3), recommended
em1934l3.zip Elisp sources (3 of 3), recommended
em1934s1.zip Emacs sources (1 of 3)
em1934s2.zip Emacs sources (2 of 3)
em1934s3.zip Emacs sources (3 of 3)
The approximate disk storage that you will need for the package is as
follows:
Binaries and minimal runtime support...................5MB
Binaries and full runtime support.....................20MB
Additional storage for Elisp sources..................15MB
Additional storage for MSDOS sources (em1934s1.zip)....6MB
Additional storage for the full sources...............12MB
(The above numbers may vary depending on the cluster size of your
disk.)
If you are *exceedingly* short on disk space, you can run Emacs after
installing only em1934b.zip. However, most of the optional packages
are NOT included in that archive, and neither is the on-line manual, so
many commands won't work. I tried to squeeze as many frequently-used
packages as I could there, though, so `dired', `compile' and the basic
help commands should work. The rest of the runtime support
(em1934r?.zip) is not organized in any particular order (actually, it's
in alphabetic order), because different people use different packages
for their chores, and there is no simple way to know what is best for
everyone, especially since many packages require others to run.
If you can afford the disk space, downloading and installing the Elisp
sources (em1934l?.zip) is *highly* recommended, because the best docs
for each Elisp package can be always found at the beginning of its .el
file; if you can't figure something by reading the on-line manual,
always read the comments at the beginning of the .el package that
defines the function(s) you are after.
The rest of the package is only required if you want to recompile Emacs
or debug it. Note that if you want to rebuild Emacs on MSDOS, you will
only need em1934s1.zip; the rest of the source distribution isn't used
to compile Emacs on MSDOS and is here only for completeness' sake.
(However, if you need the Texinfo sources of the Emacs manual, you will
need to install em1934s2.zip as well.) The file `INSTALL' in the main
Emacs directory describes (at its end) how to build Emacs on MSDOS.
The distribution has already been configured for DJGPP 2.x, so you
don't need to run CONFIG.BAT if you use DJGPP 2.
3. Getting started
---------------
To install Emacs, follow these steps:
* Go to your main DJGPP installation directory.
* Unzip all the files that you want to install. If you use PKUNZIP,
don't forget the -d switch, like so:
pkunzip -d em1934*.zip
* When you unzip the archives, a directory called `emacs' is created
in the `gnu' subdirectory of the DJGPP tree, with several
subdirectories. Add the `gnu/emacs/bin' directory to your PATH.
* If you are a new user of Emacs, be sure to begin by reading the
Emacs tutorial. To this end, invoke Emacs and choose the
"Emacs Tutorial" item from the "Help" submenu (on the menu bar).
* An example start-up file is included under the name
`_emacs.xmpl'; you can use it as a starting point for your
customizations by renaming it to `_emacs'. (Emacs automatically
searches for and loads a file named `_emacs' at start-up.) Note
that some settings there need optional packages and will print an
error message if you didn't install em1934r?.zip. And please
don't complain if you don't like the settings of `_emacs.xmpl',
as they are my own preferences. Just change them as you see fit
and move on.
New users are advised to avoid using the example start-up file
until they get hold of the Emacs basics, because that example
disables the message about most important commands printed at
startup.
* If you run Emacs under MS-Windows, you might find the files
`msdos/emacs.pif' and `msdos/emacs.ico' useful.
The zip files are LFN-clean, which means they can be unzipped on
Windows 95 (or any other system that supports long filenames); in that
case all the files will get their original long names, including the
letter-case (e.g., `ChangeLog', `FAQ', etc.). Note that if you want
LFN support within Emacs (i.e., you set LFN=y in the environment), you
*must* unzip the archives with an unzip program that supports long
filenames, or else Emacs won't be able to find some of its files. If
you want to be able to run Emacs from both Windows 95 and plain DOS,
you need to set the NameNumericTail property in the Registry to 0
before you unzip the package (you may return the setting to 1 after you
finish unzipping). The DJGPP FAQ list explains the details of how to
change this setting.
4. Troubleshooting
---------------
If you have any trouble at all with using Emacs, it is recommended to
perform the following steps in order:
* Read the on-line docs which describe the command you use.
* Look up your problem in the Emacs FAQ list (choose "Help|Emacs FAQ"
from the menu bar).
* Consult the file `PROBLEMS' in the main Emacs directory for
solutions to known problems.
* Read the chapter about reporting bugs in the on-line manual. The
file `BUGS' in the main Emacs directory describes how to find
that chapter, if you have trouble with that.
You can post questions and requests for help to the gnu.emacs.help news
group if none of the above seems to help. (Problems that seem to be
DOS-related can be reported to comp.os.msdos.djgpp news group first.)
Enjoy.
Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
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