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188 lines
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188 lines
8.3 KiB
Plaintext
Emacs for Windows
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This README file describes how to set up and run a precompiled version
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of GNU Emacs for Windows NT/2000/XP and Windows 95/98/Me. This
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distribution can be found on the ftp.gnu.org server and its mirrors:
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ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/windows/
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This server contains other distributions, including the full Emacs
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source distribution and the lisp source distribution, as well as older
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releases of Emacs for Windows.
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Answers to frequently asked questions, and further information about
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this port of GNU Emacs and related software packages can be found via
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http:
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http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html
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* Preliminaries
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Along with this file should be six subdirectories (bin, etc, info,
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lisp, lock, site-lisp). Depending on which distribution you have
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installed, the lisp subdirectory might contain both the lisp source
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(*.el) and compiled lisp files (*.elc), or just the compiled lisp
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files. If you don't have the lisp source files, you can obtain them
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by downloading the lisp source distribution or the full source
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distribution from the ftp site mentioned above.
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* Setting up Emacs
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To install Emacs, simply unpack all the files into a directory of your
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choice, but note that you might encounter minor problems if there is a
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space anywhere in the directory name. To complete the installation
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process, you can optionally run the program addpm.exe in the bin
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subdirectory. This will add some entries to the registry that tell
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Emacs where to find its support files, and put an icon for Emacs in
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the Start Menu under "Start -> Programs -> Gnu Emacs -> Emacs".
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Some users have reported that the Start Menu item is not created for
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them. If this happens, just create your own shortcut to runemacs.exe,
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eg. by dragging it on to the desktop or the Start button.
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Note that running addpm is now an optional step; Emacs is able to
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locate all of its files without needing the information to be set in
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the environment or the registry, although such settings will still be
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obeyed if present. This is convenient for running Emacs on a machine
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which disallows registry changes, or on which software should not be
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installed. For instance, you can now run Emacs directly from a CD
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without copying or installing anything on the machine itself.
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* Starting Emacs
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To run Emacs, simply select Emacs from the Start Menu, or invoke
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runemacs.exe directly from Explorer or a command prompt. This will
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start Emacs in its default GUI mode, ready to use. If you have never
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used Emacs before, you should follow the tutorial at this point
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(select Emacs Tutorial from the Help menu), since Emacs is quite
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different from ordinary Windows applications in many respects.
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If you want to use Emacs in tty or character mode within a command
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window, you can start it by typing "emacs -nw" at the command prompt.
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(Obviously, you need to ensure that the Emacs bin subdirectory is in
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your PATH first, or specify the path to emacs.exe.) The -nw
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(non-windowed) mode of operation is most useful if you have a telnet
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server on your machine, allowing you to run Emacs remotely.
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* Uninstalling Emacs
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If you should need to uninstall Emacs, simply delete all the files and
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subdirectories from the directory where it was unpacked (Emacs does
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not install or update any files in system directories or anywhere
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else). If you ran the addpm.exe program to create the registry
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entries and the Start menu icon, then you can remove the registry
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entries using regedit. All of the settings are written under the
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Software\GNU\Emacs key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, or if you didn't have
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administrator privileges, the same key in HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Just
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delete the Software\GNU\Emacs key.
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The Start menu entry can be removed by right-clicking on the Task bar
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and selecting Properties, then using the Remove option on the Start
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Menu Programs page. (If you installed under an account with
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administrator privileges, then you need to click the Advanced button
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and look for the Gnu Emacs menu item under All Users.)
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* Troubleshooting
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Unpacking the distributions
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If you encounter trouble trying to run Emacs, there are a number of
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possible causes. If you didn't use the versions of tar and gunzip (or
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djtarnt) on the above ftp site, it is possible that the distribution
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became corrupted while it was being unpacked. Check the following for
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indications that the distribution was not corrupted:
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* Be sure to disable the CR/LF translation or the executables will
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be unusable. Older versions of WinZipNT would enable this
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translation by default. If you are using WinZipNT, disable it.
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(I don't have WinZipNT myself, and I do not know the specific
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commands necessary to disable it.)
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* Check that filenames were not truncated to 8.3. For example,
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there should be a file lisp\abbrevlist.elc; if this has been
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truncated to abbrevli.elc, your distribution has been corrupted
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while unpacking and Emacs will not start.
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* Users have said that some utilities (WinZip again?) don't create
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the lock subdirectory. You can create the lock directory by hand
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(it is normally empty).
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* Users have also reported that the gnu-win32 tar corrupts the
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executables. Use the version of tar or djtarnt on the ftp.gnu.org
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site instead.
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If you believe you have unpacked the distributions correctly and are
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still encountering problems, see the section on Further Information
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below.
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Virus scanners
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Some virus scanners interfere with Emacs' use of subprocesses. If you
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are unable to use subprocesses and you use Dr. Solomon's WinGuard or
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McAfee's Vshield, turn off "Scan all files" (WinGuard) or "boot sector
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scanning" (McAfee exclusion properties).
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* Further information
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If you have access to the World Wide Web, I would recommend pointing
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your favorite web browser to following the document (if you haven't
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already):
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http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html
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This document serves as an FAQ and a source for further information
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about the Windows port and related software packages.
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In addition to the FAQ, there is a mailing list for discussing issues
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related to the Windows port of Emacs. For information about the
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list, see this Web page:
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http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-emacs-windows
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To ask questions on the mailing list, send email to
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help-emacs-windows@gnu.org. (You don't need to subscribe for that.)
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To subscribe to the list or unsubscribe from it, fill the form you
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find at http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-emacs-windows as
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explained there.
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Another valuable source of information and help which should not be
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overlooked is the various Usenet news groups dedicated to Emacs.
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These are particuarly good for help with general issues which aren't
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specific to the Windows port of Emacs. The main news groups to use
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for seeking help are:
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gnu.emacs.help
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comp.emacs
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There are also fairly regular postings and announcements of new or
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updated Emacs packages on this group:
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gnu.emacs.sources
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* Reporting bugs
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If you encounter a bug in this port of Emacs, we would like to hear
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about it. First check the FAQ on the web page above to see if the bug
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is already known and if there are any workarounds. Then check whether
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the bug has something to do with code in your .emacs file, e.g. by
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invoking Emacs with the "-q --no-site-file" options.
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If you decide that it is a bug in Emacs that might be specific to the
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Windows port, send a message to the "help-emacs-windows@gnu.org"
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mailing list describing the bug, the version of Emacs that you are
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using, and the operating system that you are running on (Windows NT,
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2000, 95, 98, etc. including service pack level if known). If the bug
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is related to subprocesses, also specify which shell you are using
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(e.g., include the values of `shell-file-name' and
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`shell-explicit-file-name' in your message).
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If you think the bug is not specific to the Windows port of Emacs,
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then it is better to mail the bug report to "bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org" so
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that it will be seen by the right people. If Emacs has been set up to
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send mail, you can use the command M-x report-emacs-bug to create and
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send the bug report, but in some cases there is a function to report
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bugs in a specific package; e.g. M-x gnus-bug for Gnus, M-x
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c-submit-bug-report for C/C++/Java mode, etc.
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Enjoy!
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