Packages-Info ...

Hi ! Okay, folks. I am not only complaining, I just started writing an PACKAGES-Introduction. The following is far from complete, I'm sure, so I need help. Lots and lots of help. If somebody likes to fill in the black holes, don't hesistate. Or even better: somebody with much more competence on this theme (Andy, Adrian ?) should take it, rip it apart and do it right. One more comment: Just as Steve does, I believe that with a SUMO-tarball alone, we will return to the "What can I delete"-FAQ, so a file like the one below is very necessary. Down below we go ... Holger # -*- Mode: text -*- As of Version 21.0, XEmacs no longer ships with one huge set of Emacs Lisp files. Instead most of these files are distributed separately in the form of so called packages, so that users and system administrators can choose which packages they need. This file explains how packages work in XEmacs 21.0. * 1. Getting Started ==================== When you first grab (i.e. ftp) XEmacs 21.0, you will usually ftp the file xemacs-21.0.tar.gz (currently xemacs-21.0-b46.tar.gz). Unzipping and untarring this file will leave you with the sources and a minimal set of Emacs Lisp files, which are in the subdirectory named 'lisp'. This subdirectory used to contain all Emacs Lisp files distributed with XEmacs. In the 'etc' subdirectory you can find a list of all available packages in the file 'PACKAGES'. *2. Choosing the Packages You Need ================================== The available packages can currently be found in the same ftp directory where you grabbed the 21.0 sources from, from the subdirectory 'binary_packages'. Package file names follow the naming convention '<package-name>-<version>-pkg.tar.gz'. Now, check the above mentioned file 'PACKAGES' to see which packages you want. You will probably always want to install the 'xemacs-base' -package. Here is an overview which packages should be dumped [1] with XEmacs and thus need to be installed before compiling XEmacs, if you like to use them. <please fill out this section !> <I think we also need a list of suggestions for people that want to do several stuff with XEmacs, like reading/sending mail, programming, W3 surfing, etc. You get the idea. Yes, I know of etc/PACKAGES but that contains no suggestions.> Hint to system administrators of multi-user systems: it might be a good idea to install all packages and not to interfer with the wishes of your users. *3. Directories =============== When installing XEmacs, it will be installed in a certain place, usually underneath a directory, here commonly refered to as $(prefix) [2]. Usually, XEmacs will be installed under $(prefix), with the XEmacs binary in $(prefix)/bin and the "rest" under $(prefix)/xemacs-<version>. This includes the etc/, info/ and lisp/-subdirectories as well as the directory for architecture-specific binaries. Thus, a typical installation (as performed by `make install') looks like: $(prefix)/bin \ $(prefix)/lib/xemacs-<version>/etc | $(prefix)/lib/xemacs-<version>/info - Core 21.0 distribution $(prefix)/lib/xemacs-<version>/lisp | $(prefix)/lib/xemacs-<version>/<architecture> / The "normal" intended way where packages should go is in a directory _beneath_ 'xemacs-<version>', for instance to 'xemacs'. For a XEmacs with MULE [3] you will need a 'mule-packages' subdirectory and a 'xemacs-packages' directory for all common packages. Thus, for the packages you should have the following directory-structure: $(prefix)/lib/xemacs/xemacs-packages/lisp zvf $(prefix)/lib/xemacs/xemacs-packages/etc $(prefix)/lib/xemacs/mule-packages *4. Installing packages and XEmacs ================================== For installing packages, you will now need to unzip and untar all packages you want to install. After that, you are done for the moment with the package stuff and can proceed to compiling and installing XEmacs. When configuring XEmacs, specify the package-path you are using, i.e., configure with, say ./configure <other-configure-options> --package-path=<PACKAGE-DIRECTORY> If you don't specify --package-path a default of $(prefix)/lib/xemacs/xemacs-packages will be used. *5. Using Packages from Emacs Lisp ================================== Aehh, HELP, I do know nothing yet ... *X. Final Notes =============== This should be all you need. Footnotes: [1] If you don't know what dumping is, please refer to the file etc/INSTALL. [2] This notion stems from the makefile used to build XEmacs, and is set with configure by using the option --with-prefix=<DIRNAME>. [3] If you don't know what MULE is, please refer to the file etc/MULE.