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   1                       Precompiled Distributions of
   2                            Emacs for Windows
   3
   4                               Version 22.1
   5
   6                              May 22, 2007
   7
   8   This directory contains source and precompiled distributions for GNU
   9   Emacs on Windows NT/2000/XP and Windows 95/98/Me.  This port is a
  10   part of the standard GNU Emacs distribution from the Free Software
  11   Foundation; the precompiled distributions are provided here for
  12   convenience since the majority of Windows users are not accustomed
  13   to compiling programs themselves.
  14
  15   If you have access to the World Wide Web, I would recommend pointing
  16   your favorite web browser to the following document (if you haven't
  17   already):
  18
  19         http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html
  20
  21   The above web document is a far more complete version of this README
  22   file.  If you don't have access to the Web, however, then read on.
  23
  24
  25 * IMPORTANT LEGAL REMINDER
  26
  27   If you want to redistribute any of the precompiled distributions of
  28   Emacs, be careful to check the implications of the GPL.  For instance,
  29   if you put the emacs-22.1-bin-i386.tar.gz file from this directory on
  30   an Internet site, you must arrange to distribute the source files of
  31   the SAME version (i.e. ../emacs-22.1.tar.gz).
  32
  33   Making a link to our copy of the source is NOT sufficient, since we
  34   might upgrade to a new version while you are still distributing the
  35   old binaries.
  36
  37
  38 * Distributions in .tar.gz and .zip format
  39
  40   Emacs is distributed primarily as source code in a large gzipped tar file
  41   (*.tar.gz).  Because Emacs is quite large and therefore difficult to
  42   download over unreliable connections, the Windows binaries are provided
  43   in several combinations, ranging from the complete source plus executables,
  44   to just the minimal amount needed to run without any source, plus a
  45   couple of optional packages.  Formerly, we used the same .tar.gz format
  46   but since there are no longer legal problems with .zip files, and the
  47   latest versions of Windows support these natively, the Windows binaries
  48   of Emacs are now distributed as .zip files.
  49   Here are the combinations (i386 in the name indicates a zipfile contains
  50   executables compiled for Intel-compatible x86 systems):
  51
  52   + Primary precompiled distribution, including lisp source:
  53
  54       emacs-22.1-bin-i386.zip
  55
  56   NB. If you just want to run Emacs, get one of the distributions above.
  57
  58   + Bare executables, useful if you want to get the complete source
  59     release, but can't compile Emacs yourself:
  60
  61       emacs-22.1-barebin-i386.zip  (requires ../emacs-22.1.tar.gz)
  62
  63   + The complete official source for Emacs:
  64
  65       ../emacs-22.1.tar.gz
  66
  67 * Distributions for non-x86 platforms
  68
  69   Distributions for non-x86 platforms are no longer supplied. Older
  70   platforms supported by Windows NT no longer seem to be in demand,
  71   and Emacs is yet to be ported to 64bit Windows platforms. If you are
  72   willing to help port Emacs 23 to 64bit versions of Windows, your
  73   contribution will be welcome on the emacs-devel mailing list.
  74
  75 * Unpacking distributions
  76
  77   Ports of GNU gzip and GNU tar for handling the source distribution file
  78   format can be found in several places that distribute ports of GNU
  79   programs, for example:
  80
  81     Cygwin:   http://www.cygwin.com/
  82     GnuWin32: http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/
  83
  84   Many other popular file compression utilities for Windows are also
  85   able to handle gzipped tar files.
  86
  87   Open a command prompt (MSDOS) window.  Decide on a directory in which
  88   to place Emacs.  Move the distribution to that directory, and then
  89   unpack it as follows.
  90
  91   If you have the gzipped tar version, use gunzip to uncompress the tar
  92   file on the fly, and pipe the output through tar with the "xvf" flags
  93   to extract the files from the tar file:
  94
  95     % gunzip -c some.tar.gz | tar xvf -
  96
  97   You may see messages from tar about not being able to change the
  98   modification time on directories, and from gunzip complaining about a
  99   broken pipe.  These messages are harmless and you can ignore them.  On
 100   Windows NT, unpacking tarballs this way leaves them in compressed
 101   form, taking up less space on disk.  Unfortunately, on Windows 95 and
 102   98, a large temporary file is created, so it is better to use the
 103   djtarnt.exe program, which performs the equivalent operation in one
 104   step:
 105
 106     % djtarnt -x some.tar.gz
 107
 108   You may be prompted to rename or overwrite directories when using
 109   djtarnt: simply type return to continue (this is harmless).
 110
 111   The precompiled binaries can be unpacked using unzip.exe from info-zip.org
 112   if you do not already have other tools to do this.
 113
 114     % unzip some.zip
 115
 116   Once you have unpacked a precompiled distribution of Emacs, it should
 117   have the following subdirectories:
 118
 119         bin     etc     info    lisp    site-lisp
 120
 121
 122 * Unpacking with other tools
 123
 124   If you do use other utility programs to unpack the distribution, check
 125   the following to be sure the distribution was not corrupted:
 126
 127   + Be sure to disable the CR/LF translation or the executables will
 128     be unusable.  Older versions of WinZip would enable this
 129     translation by default when unpacking .tar files.  If you are
 130     using WinZip, disable it.  (I don't have WinZip myself, and I do
 131     not know the specific commands necessary to disable it.)
 132
 133   + Check that filenames were not truncated to 8.3.  For example, there
 134     should be a file lisp/abbrevlist.el; if this has been truncated to
 135     abbrevli.el, your distribution has been corrupted while unpacking
 136     and Emacs will not start.
 137
 138   + I've also had reports that some older "gnuwin32" port of tar
 139     corrupts the executables.  Use the latest version from the gnuwin32
 140     site or another port of tar instead.
 141
 142   If you believe you have unpacked the distributions correctly and are
 143   still encountering problems, see the section on Further Information
 144   below.
 145
 146
 147 * Compiling from source
 148
 149   If you would like to compile Emacs from source, download the source
 150   distribution, unpack it in the same manner as a precompiled
 151   distribution, and look in the file nt/INSTALL for detailed
 152   directions.  You can either use the Microsoft compiler included with
 153   Visual C++ 2003 or earlier, or GCC 2.95 or later with MinGW support,
 154   to compile the source.  The port of GCC included in Cygwin is
 155   supported, but check the nt/INSTALL file if you have trouble since
 156   some builds of GNU make aren't supported.
 157
 158
 159 * Further information
 160
 161   If you have access to the World Wide Web, I would recommend pointing
 162   your favorite web browser to following the document (if you haven't
 163   already):
 164
 165         http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html
 166
 167   This document serves as an FAQ and a source for further information
 168   about the Windows port and related software packages.
 169
 170   In addition to the FAQ, there is a mailing list for discussing issues
 171   related to the Windows port of Emacs.  For information about the
 172   list, see this Web page:
 173
 174         http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-emacs-windows
 175
 176   To ask questions on the mailing list, send email to
 177   help-emacs-windows@gnu.org.  (You don't need to subscribe for that.)
 178   To subscribe to the list or unsubscribe from it, fill the form you
 179   find at http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-emacs-windows as
 180   explained there.
 181
 182   Another valuable source of information and help which should not be
 183   overlooked is the various Usenet news groups dedicated to Emacs.
 184   These are particuarly good for help with general issues which aren't
 185   specific to the Windows port of Emacs.  The main news groups to use
 186   for seeking help are:
 187
 188         gnu.emacs.help
 189         comp.emacs
 190
 191   There are also fairly regular postings and announcements of new or
 192   updated Emacs packages on this group:
 193
 194         gnu.emacs.sources
 195
 196   Enjoy!
 197
 198   Jason Rumney
 199   (jasonr@gnu.org)
 200
 201   Most of this README was contributed by former maintainer Andrew Innes
 202   (andrewi@gnu.org)