Re: emacs 23 & Debian

[Tim X <timx@nospam.dev.null>]

Richard Riley <rileyrgdev@gmail.com> writes:

> Ben Badgley <mortecanine@peoplepc.com> writes:
>
>> 1. Where and how may a person upgrade to version 23 for Debian?
>>
>> I'm a simple 'go grab a .deb and install it' sort at this point, 
>> although am getting better with using the console. So, please avoid 
>> saying cvs or git, subversion. Have a friend coming over for the weekend 
>> who may better explain that voodoo to me
>>
>> 2. Why did the Debian Emacs release come over as a bit hindered?
>>
>> Noticed this on the Emacs Wiki threads about Emacs on Debian. It 
>> couldn't sort out what was where, or its version. There was some code to 
>> attempt correcting it posted as well.
>>
>> 3. And will future Debian releases of Emacs be so?
>>
>> Hope not on this end.
>>
>>
>>
>
> I have been through this.
>
> The bottom line for me was to dump debian emacs and follow the simple
> enough instructions available from Google to get from cvs and
> compile. It really is not that difficult. I know you said you didn't
> want to hear but thats what i said at first. and the build has become a
> LOT easier than a while ago.
>
> Why did I dump debian emacs? Because they do all sorts of smart stuff
> with system files that simply confused me and anyone I asked for help
> from. The general consensus was "you're on your own" when I mentioned
> debian in #emacs irc channel!
>
> The only issue then is getting your "generally used" files from the
> emacs wiki or elsewhere that does not ship with emacs. It doesn't take
> long. I store it all in a ~/.emacs.d/lisp directory and add that to my
> loadpath as is well documented elsewhere.
>

This is the disadvantage of that approach - you lose all that handy
pre-packaged debian emacs elisp stuff. Its one of the main reasons I use
Debian. 

Go to http://emacs.orebokech.com and you can get verson 23 of emacs that
is built as a deb and works with the debian emacs infastructure. Updates
happen regularly, so you stay pretty close to the head of the CVS
tree. Even better, Romain ensures the packages are pretty stable before
he releases them, so you don't get bitten by transient problems with
CVS. 


> So, uninstall all emacs stuff!
>
> Then:
>
> we go to the command line and install the stuff we need to build emacs:
>
> ,----
> | sudo apt-get install build-essentials
> `----
>
> then go here and read :
>
> http://savannah.gnu.org/cvs/?group=emacs
>
> Knowing what we want to do, we go to the command line change to a
> directory where you want to build emacs and do:
>
> ,----
> | cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.savannah.gnu.org:/sources/emacs co emacs
> `----
>
> Then cd into out new emacs directory and:
>
> ,----
> | ./configure
> | make

Actually, if your building from CVS sources, you should be doing make
bootstrap rather than just make - at least for the first time. this will
ensure all the .el files are re-built. This is documented in the
INSTALL.CVS file in the root of the source tree. 

> | sudo make install
> `----
>
> The ./configure stage MIGHT give errors - goto Google or back here for
> specific help.
>
> Try it!
>
> regards
>
> Richard.
>
>
>
>
>
>

-- 
tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au