Re: INSTALL file. Comments.

[Peter Dyballa <Peter_Dyballa@Web.DE>]

Am 09.09.2007 um 16:29 schrieb Dave Pawson:

> <URL:http://openlab.ring.gr.jp/efont/> (packaged in Debian).
> Ditto, no mention of a debian package.

There are volunteers on the net that provide lists of packages of  
this or that format for this or that flavour or version of some Linux  
distribution. Do you have an idea how many GNU Emacs packages of only  
one GNU Emacs version might exist?

This is certainly a task for the user of a particular operating  
system. There might be an users group that might provide package  
information for some particular flavour of some version of an OS.

>
> General comment re fonts: No intimation of how emacs finds fonts,
> nor how they should be installed, either within the emacs code
> or how they are accessed from the system font locations.

X11. Unless otherwise stated (MS Windows variants, Mac OS variants,  
GEM, AmigaOS ... "Unicode Emacs").

>
> If you don't want X support, specify `--with-x=no'.  If you omit this
> option, `configure' will try to figure out for itself whether your
> system has X, and arrange to use it if present.
>
> Not strictly true? X is only used if the dev libraries are present?
> My (as built) system had X, but no dev libraries.

There are no dev libraries, at least I haven't found any, except when  
built for a special purpose (profiled, with extended debug content,  
for static linkage). Libraries are mostly shared libraries that are  
loaded once into memory and then used by a handful of programmes or  
applications at the same or at a different time.

X11 is probably the most widely used windowing system. It is  
something native to GNU Emacs, like Emacs Lisp.

>
> quote.
> To get more attractive menus, you can specify an X toolkit when you
> configure Emacs; use the option `--with-x-toolkit=TOOLKIT',
>
> Is that the whole story? Isn't it for more than 'attractive menus'?
> I.e. since there is no default (mentioned in INSTALL) am I right
> in thinking I'll build the nox version without this option?

There aren't so many other differences visible. Now that you know how  
to get and install necessary packages and how to configure and  
compile GNU Emacs you can create variants based on GTK, OSF/Motif  
(Lesstif), without Xaw3d, or using OpenLook (from Sun) ...

>
> Says, Use --without-sound to disable sound support.
> No mention of the --with-sound=yes option that was mentioned
> by a couple of people?

./configure --help gives a helpful general hint that --with- 
something=no can mean the same as --without-something. A look inside  
the configure script, or running it as in 'sh -x ./configure ...' can  
give some insight.

>
> quote.
> If the description of the system configuration printed by `configure'
> is not right, or if it claims some of the features or libraries are  
> not
> available when you know they are, look at the `config.log' file for
> the trace of the failed tests performed by `configure' to check
> whether these features are supported.
>
> This doesn't cover the case where the libraries are missing?

It does.

> Perhaps a note to indicate, for instance, what to look for
> when configure failed to find a library?

This is exactly indicated by configure's use of a set of two letters:  
'no.'

> Or even a simple statement, that, for instance 'nox will be built,  
> since no X headers found' or some such?

That's as clear as in 'when the sun is not found shining, it's not  
bright outside.' Then it's night (mostly). A natural state. (The  
other case is a natural state, too.)

>
> quote.
> 3b) To build in a separate directory, go to that directory
> and run the program `configure' as follows:
>
>     SOURCE-DIR/configure CONFIGURATION-NAME [--OPTION[=VALUE]] ...
>
>
> I'm not clear what is happening here. It *seems* to generate enough
> files to run make in the 'current' directory? I can run make from
> there quite happily?

Cd into the mac directory and see the script make-package. In case  
you can create a virtual Darwin guest inside your Ubuntu (or Fedora  
Core) PC you can start to compile another variant of GNU Emacs to see  
that ...

> Does this mean that having built it, I can delete SOURCE-DIR  
> completely?

... it is needed. The compiler reads the C source files from the  
original directory and only puts its output into the new side  
directory. (Carbon Emacs for Mac OS X won't be compiled because the  
free Darwin OS does not contain the proprietary Carbon API. Darwin  
uses X11 as windowing system.)

> Would be useful if I've done a make install?

Yes, of course. Therefore most UNIX distributions offer to use  
packages. This even saves you from removing a whole tree of software.

>
> quote.
> 7) Run `make' in the top directory of the Emacs distribution
> This isn't true if I've run configure from another directory?
> Suggest  "Run 'make' from the directory in which you ran 'configure'"
>

Somehow 'going to school' also includes visiting a college – at least  
in the U.S.A.

>
> Nice to have feature:
> Re MAKE VARIABLES
> It would be nice to see guidance for users putting 'another' emacs
> on their system, perhaps to say how all the variables can be
> set such that the new values point to some non-standard location
> and it's subdirectories therefrom?

It is expected that those who try to experiment with configure  
options have some experience and enough phantasy to imagine the  
consequences of their deeds.


It would make more sense to describe how to create a (local) package  
from the compiled software. This is a more sensible use of a packages  
oriented OS (I did so in Solaris and Fedora Core 1). This way the  
package management can be kept from removing or updating some shared  
library some application uses. It can also make compilation easier  
(in Mac OS X I have a few versions of libfreetype; packages that  
depend on a particular version of libfreetype have the proper paths  
set automatically; non-packaged software like xdvipdfmx or xetex are  
not so easy to satisfy and to compile).

--
Greetings

   Pete

"America believes in education: the average professor earns more money
in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week." – Evan
Esar