brant@manta.UUCP (Brant Cheikes) (09/02/87)
[I'm reposting this because the last one didn't seem to go anywhere.
Send flames to me directly if you got two copies of this. In any
case, the last version had errors that are fixed here.]
As a service to the Unix PC user community, I am distributing the
source code and/or binaries of Gnu Project Emacs 18.47 (henceforth
"Gnu Emacs") to AT&T Unix PC owners/users. Gnu Emacs is a
sophisticated full-screen file editor written by Richard Stallman and
the Free Software Foundation (FSF). It is copyrighted, yet freely
distributable. Note that there are others ways to obtain Gnu Emacs
besides this distribution; you can, for example, get copies of Gnu
Emacs directly from the Free Software Foundation, which produces and
owns Gnu Emacs. You can contact the Gnu Project by electronic mail to
"gnu@prep.ai.mit.edu", or in writing to:
Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1000 Mass Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138
For those on the Arpa/Milnet, Gnu Emacs source code is available by
anonymous FTP from prep.ai.mit.edu. Emacs-related discussions are
carried on in the comp.emacs Usenet newsgroup; general Gnu Emacs
questions can also be directed there.
Two Unix PC distributions are available: the source code and the
pre-compiled executables. I am distributing Gnu Emacs on floppies
only; no uucp transfers will be provided. The files are huge and I
cannot afford to have my one data line tied up for long periods. If
anyone else wants to provide uucp access to these distributions,
that's fine by me.
In order to be able to build Gnu Emacs from sources, you must have:
1. Unix PC software version 3.5 or later
2. Unix PC Utilities version 3.5 or later
3. installed both Curses/Terminfo End User Pkg and Development
Pkg
4. At least 10 Mb of free disk space.
Version 3.5 or later is required because I have removed all the code
that allows Gnu Emacs to be built with C compilers that don't support
flexnames. This was done partly to reduce disk usage. Also, I don't
have 3.0 nor do I know anyone who does, so I can't help people who try
to get Gnu Emacs up on it. If this causes a big hoohah, then perhaps
I'll add the pre-flexname stuff to the distribution.
A lot of disk space is required to build Gnu Emacs, but once you get
it built, you can trim things down to about 1.5-2 Mb by removing all
source code, unused Emacs Lisp code, and extraneous documents.
The source code distribution contains everything you need to build and
run Gnu Emacs on the Unix PC. In the interest of reducing disk
storage requirements, a number of files from the full distribution
available from the FSF have been removed. Here's what's missing:
1. Everything pertaining to VMS.
2. Everything pertaining to X windows, because X currently
doesn't run on the Unix PC and it is doubtful it ever
will.
3. The "shortnames" preprocessor. I am assuming that anyone
trying to build Gnu Emacs from sources has Version 3.5 or
higher, which supports flexnames. The shortnames preprocessor
is only necessary for compilers without flexnames.
4. The "cpp" preprocessor. Again, this was only needed for
systems that don't support flexnames.
5. The TeX manual sources. I don't know of a working version
of TeX on the Unix PC, so I deleted all the TeX manual
sources, since they were quite large. If you want a Gnu
Emacs manual, you can order it directly from the FSF (the
instructions on how to do this are provided).
6. The GNU source level debugger "gdb". It only runs on Vaxes
and Suns.
7. A few miscellaneous BSD Unix specific utilities.
8. All of the machine and operating system specific files that
do not apply to the Unix PC.
You basically get everything you need to build and use Gnu Emacs on
the Unix PC and that's it. I figure that if you have a "real" machine
with tape drives, big hairy disk drives, and so forth, you can afford
to get the whole unexpurgated Gnu Emacs kit directly from the FSF.
The binary distribution is for the poor slob who doesn't have the Unix
Utilities. It requires approximately 4Mb of disk space, and provides:
1. a compiled image of "raw" Gnu Emacs 18.47.
2. compiled versions of all the Gnu Emacs utilities
3. all the Emacs Lisp source and byte-compiled files
In order to get around potential problems due to varying memory
configurations, the binary kit does not come quite "ready to run."
Instead, you will have to "dump out" an executable image of Gnu Emacs
tailored to your site. An automated procedure is provided to
accomplish this. Once you get Gnu running, you can trim disk usage
down to about 1.5-2 Mb by removing the Emacs Lisp source code, the
Info documentation tree, and all extraneous documents.
The binary distribution has been tested under both versions 3.5 and
3.51 of the Unix PC System Software. I have no idea if it will work
under earlier versions.
Both distributions contain a number of supporting documents, including
the on-line tutorial and the Info documentation package, which
provides detailed on-line information on Gnu Emacs.
GETTING THE DISTRIBUTION
In order to get the distribution kits from me, please do the following:
1. Write a note specifying:
a) whether you want the BINARY distribution, the SOURCE
distribution, or BOTH.
b) your US Mail address (where you want the disks sent back to)
c) your electronic mail address. If UUCP, please make sure
you give me a route from a registered site (preferably
a backbone).
d) whether you have the compress/uncompress utilities.
2. You will have to send me enough DSDD diskettes (with hub rings and
labels) for me to put the distributions on. For the BINARY
distribution, I need 6 diskettes; 7 for the SOURCE; 10 for BOTH.
3. Make out a check to me (Brant Cheikes) in the amount of $15.
This is just to cover my distribution and administration costs.
4. Package all this up together in a sturdy mailer and mail it to:
Brant Cheikes
4048 Baltimore Avenue
Apartment A3
Philadelphia, PA 19104
5. After you've mailed the package, please send me e-mail so that I'll
be on the lookout for it. Because I'm administering this from my home
Unix PC, please send mail to my UUCP address if you can.
The distribution kits will come as cpio archives of compressed tar
files (not "installable"). This requires that you have the uncompress
utility on your machine. This normally comes with the Development
Kit, however, there is a public domain version available. If you
don't have uncompress, make sure you note that on the letter you send
with the disks, and I will include a copy of the public domain
compress/uncompress. Of course, I will also enclose instructions
detailing how to unpack the kits and build/install Gnu Emacs.
When I mail the diskettes back to you, I'll notify you by e-mail so
you can watch out for them.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES
There are only two "personal touches" included in the Gnu Emacs
distribution I provide. The source distribution available from the
FSF has an improper src/m-7300.h file; it is fixed in the version I am
distributing. The fix has been sent to the FSF and should be included
in future releases. Without the fix, Gnu Emacs doesn't compile
properly on the Unix PC. The correct m-7300.h file was also posted on
comp.emacs, comp.sys.att, and unix-pc.sources. I will also provide it
by e-mail to anyone who requests it. The required corrections are
very minor.
The second touch is the lisp/term/unixpc.el file that I wrote. It
enables the use of the Unix PC function keys under Gnu Emacs. This
file was also posted on comp.emacs and unix-pc.sources. It makes
using Gnu Emacs a bit pleasanter.
Because I use Gnu Emacs myself, as new versions become available, I
will bring them up and the Unix PC and announce their availability.
I will help anyone trying to get Gnu running on a Unix PC; just send
e-mail. Response time will vary depending on urgency and my workload.
For obvious reasons, those to whom I've sent a distribution will get
the quickest response.
PERFORMANCE NOTE: You should be aware that I have only used Gnu
Emacs on a system with 2Mb of memory. On such a system, it takes
about 20 seconds to load Gnu Emacs, but after that, performance is as
good as or better than that on my research VAX-11/785. I have no idea
if the performance of Gnu Emacs will seriously degrade on systems with
less than 2Mb of RAM. Perhaps someone who's already tried it will
enlighten the rest of us?
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me by e-mail. To
repeat, my uucp address is preferred.
--
Brant Cheikes
ARPA: brant@linc.cis.upenn.edu
UUCP: {ihnp4|rutgers|seismo}!cbmvax!cgh!manta!brant
Department of Computer and Information Science / University of Pennsylvania