xref: /freebsd/contrib/less/README (revision 1670a1c2a47d10ecccd001970b859caf93cd3b6e)
1
2                            Less, version 436
3
4    This is the distribution of less, version 436, released 07 Jul 2009.
5    This program is part of the GNU project (http://www.gnu.org).
6
7    This program is free software.  You may redistribute it and/or
8    modify it under the terms of either:
9
10    1. The GNU General Public License, as published by the Free
11       Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option) any
12       later version.  A copy of this license is in the file COPYING.
13    or
14    2. The Less License, in the file LICENSE.
15
16    Please report any problems to bug-less@gnu.org or markn@greenwoodsoftware.com.
17    See http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less for the latest info.
18
19=========================================================================
20
21This is the distribution of "less", a paginator similar to "more" or "pg".
22
23The formatted manual page is in less.man.
24The manual page nroff source is in less.nro.
25Major changes made since the last posted version are in NEWS.
26
27=======================================================================
28INSTALLATION (Unix systems only):
29
301. Move the distributed source to its own directory and unpack it,
31   if you have not already done so.
32
332. Type "sh configure".
34   This will generate a Makefile and a defines.h.
35   Warning: if you have a GNU sed, make sure it is version 2.05 or later.
36
37   The file INSTALL describes the usage of the configure program in
38   general.  In addition, these options to configure are supported:
39
40   --with-editor=program
41     Specifies the default editor program used by the "v" command.
42     The default is "vi".
43
44   --with-regex=lib
45     Specifies the regular expression library used by less for pattern
46     matching.  The default is "auto", which means the configure program
47     finds a regular expression library automatically.  Other values are:
48        posix          Use the POSIX-compatible regcomp.
49        pcre           Use the PCRE library.
50        regcmp         Use the regcmp library.
51        re_comp        Use the re_comp library.
52        regcomp        Use the V8-compatible regcomp.
53        regcomp-local  Use Henry Spencer's V8-compatible regcomp
54                       (source is supplied with less).
55   --with-secure
56     Builds a "secure" version of less, with some features disabled
57	 to prevent users from viewing other files, accessing shell
58	 commands, etc.
59
60
613. It is a good idea to look over the generated Makefile and defines.h
62   and make sure they look ok.  If you know of any peculiarities of
63   your system that configure might not have detected, you may fix the
64   Makefile now.  Take particular notice of the list of "terminal"
65   libraries in the LIBS definition in the Makefile; these may need
66   to be edited.  The terminal libraries will be some subset of
67       -lncurses  -lcurses  -ltermcap  -ltermlib
68
69   If you wish, you may edit defines.h to remove some optional features.
70   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
71   wish to edit the manual page "less.nro" and the help page "less.hlp"
72   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
73   If you edit less.hlp, you should run "make -f Makefile.aut help.c".
74
754. Type "make" and watch the fun.
76
775. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less",
78   "lesskey" and "lessecho" in your current directory.  Test the
79   generated programs.
80
816. When satisfied that it works, if you wish to install it
82   in a public place, type "make install".
83
84   The default install destinations are:
85        Executables (less, lesskey, lessecho) in /usr/local/bin
86        Documentation (less.nro, lesskey.nro) in /usr/local/man/man1
87   If you want to install any of these files elsewhere, define
88   bindir and/or mandir to the appropriate directories.
89
90If you have any problems building or running "less", suggestions,
91complaints, etc., you may mail to the author at markn@greenwoodsoftware.com.
92
93Note to hackers: comments noting possible improvements are enclosed
94in double curly brackets {{ like this }}.
95
96
97
98=======================================================================
99INSTALLATION (MS-DOS systems only,
100              with Microsoft C, Borland C, or DJGPP)
101
1021. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
103   Depending on your compiler, you may need to convert the source
104   to have CR-LF rather than LF as line terminators.
105
1062. If you are using Microsoft C, rename MAKEFILE.DSU to MAKEFILE.
107   If you are using Borland C, rename MAKEFILE.DSB to MAKEFILE.
108   If you are using DJGPP, rename MAKEFILE.DSG to MAKEFILE.
109
1103. Look at MAKEFILE to make sure that the definitions for CC and LIBDIR
111   are correct.  CC should be the name of your C compiler and
112   LIBDIR should be the directory where the C libraries reside (for
113   Microsoft C only).  If these definitions need to be changed, you can
114   either modify the definitions directly in MAKEFILE, or set your
115   environment variables CC and/or LIBDIR to override the definitions
116   in MAKEFILE.
117
1184. If you wish, you may edit DEFINES.DS to remove some optional features.
119   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
120   wish to edit the manual page LESS.MAN and the help page HELP.C
121   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
122
1235. Run your "make" program and watch the fun.
124   If your "make" requires a flag to import environment variables,
125   you should use that flag.
126   If your compiler runs out of memory, try running "make -n >cmds.bat"
127   and then run cmds.bat.
128
1296. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "LESS.EXE" and
130   "LESSKEY.EXE" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
131
1327. When satisfied that it works, you may wish to install LESS.EXE and
133   LESSKEY.EXE in a directory which is included in your PATH.
134
135
136
137=======================================================================
138INSTALLATION (Windows-95, Windows-98 and Windows-NT systems only,
139              with Borland C or Microsoft Visual C++)
140
1411. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
142
1432. If you are using Borland C, rename Makefile.wnb to Makefile.
144   If you are using Microsoft Visual C++, rename Makefile.wnm to Makefile.
145
1463. Check the Makefile to make sure the definitions look ok.
147
1484. If you wish, you may edit defines.wn to remove some optional features.
149   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
150   wish to edit the manual page less.man and the help page help.c
151   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
152
1535. Type "make" and watch the fun.
154
1556. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less.exe" and
156   "lesskey.exe" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
157
1587. When satisfied that it works, if you wish to install it
159   in a public place, type "make install".
160   See step 6 of the Unix installation instructions for details
161   on how to change the default installation directories.
162
163
164
165=======================================================================
166INSTALLATION (OS/2 systems only,
167              with EMX C)
168
1691. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
170
1712. Rename Makefile.o2e to Makefile.
172
1733. Check the Makefile to make sure the definitions look ok.
174
1754. If you wish, you may edit defines.o2 to remove some optional features.
176   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
177   wish to edit the manual page less.man and the help page help.c
178   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
179
1805. Type "make" and watch the fun.
181
1826. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less.exe" and
183   "lesskey.exe" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
184
1857. Make sure you have the emx runtime installed. You need the emx DLLs
186   emx.dll and emxlibcs.dll and also the termcap database, termcap.dat.
187   Make sure you have termcap.dat either in the default location or
188   somewhere in a directory listed in the PATH or INIT environment
189   variables.
190
1918. When satisfied that it works, you may wish to install less.exe,
192   lesskey.exe and scrsize.exe in a directory which is included in
193   your PATH.  scrsize.exe is required only if you use a terminal
194   emulator such as xterm or rxvt.
195
196
197
198=======================================================================
199INSTALLATION (OS-9 systems only,
200              with Microware C or Ultra C)
201
2021. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
203
2042. If you are using Microware C, rename Makefile.o9c to Makefile.
205   If you are using Ultra C, rename Makefile.o9u to Makefile.
206
2073. Check the Makefile to make sure the definitions look ok.
208
2094. If you wish, you may edit defines.o9 to remove some optional features.
210   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
211   wish to edit the manual page less.man and the help page help.c
212   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
213
2145. Type "dmake" and watch the fun.
215   The standard OS-9 "make" will probably not work.  If you don't
216   have dmake, you can get a copy from os9archive.rtsi.com.
217
2186. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less" and
219   "lesskey" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
220
2217. When satisfied that it works, if you wish to install it
222   in a public place, type "dmake install".
223   See step 6 of the Unix installation instructions for details
224   on how to change the default installation directories.
225
226=======================================================================
227ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
228  Some versions of the less distribution are packaged using
229  Info-ZIP's compression utility.
230  Info-ZIP's software is free and can be obtained as source
231  code or executables from various anonymous-ftp sites,
232  including ftp.uu.net:/pub/archiving/zip.
233