Writing GNU Emacs Extensions

Unpacking, Building, and Installing Emacs

Like most GNU software, Emacs is trivially easy to unpack, build, and install. In fact, the instructions that follow apply to nearly all GNU software packages, not merely Emacs.

Unpacking

If you have a compressed tar file (file name ending in .tar.gz, .tar.Z, or .tgz and you have GNU tar, run:

tar zxvf file

If you don't have GNU tar, use this:

zcat file | tar xvf -

(You'll find zcat in the Gzip package.) If you use the tar that comes with SVR4-derived variants of UNIX, you may need to use xvof in place of xvf. The o makes you the owner of the extracted files. (Otherwise, the owner is the tar file's originator—who probably isn't known on your computer.)

If you have a shar file (file name ending in .sh or .shar), run

unshar file

or simply

sh file

If the shar file is compressed (.Z or .gz), uncompress it first with gzip -d.

Building and Installing

First, in the top-level directory of the software package being built, configure the software by running the configure script.

Different software packages have different configuration options. See what the options are for a package with ./configure --help. The options for Emacs are:

--with-gcc

Use the GNU C compiler to compile Emacs.

--with-pop

Compile in support for the Post Office Protocol (POP), sometimes used for retrieving email (for those who read email with Emacs).

--with-kerberos

Use the Kerberos authentication extension to POP.

--with-hesiod

Use Hesiod for finding the POP server.

--with-x

Build in X Window support. ...