xref: /freebsd/contrib/less/README (revision 6607310b740c499e273ae5bbf1f308ed91b61c05)
1
2                            Less, version 409
3
4    This is the distribution of less, version 409, released 12 Oct 2007.
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 2, 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    You may also contact the author at:
19          Mark Nudelman
20          Greenwood Software
21          PO Box 2402
22          El Granada, CA  94018
23          USA
24
25=========================================================================
26
27This is the distribution of "less", a paginator similar to "more" or "pg".
28
29The formatted manual page is in less.man.
30The manual page nroff source is in less.nro.
31Major changes made since the last posted version are in NEWS.
32
33=======================================================================
34INSTALLATION (Unix systems only):
35
361. Move the distributed source to its own directory and unpack it,
37   if you have not already done so.
38
392. Type "sh configure".
40   This will generate a Makefile and a defines.h.
41   Warning: if you have a GNU sed, make sure it is version 2.05 or later.
42
43   The file INSTALL describes the usage of the configure program in
44   general.  In addition, these options to configure are supported:
45
46   --with-editor=program
47     Specifies the default editor program used by the "v" command.
48     The default is "vi".
49
50   --with-regex=lib
51     Specifies the regular expression library used by less for pattern
52     matching.  The default is "auto", which means the configure program
53     finds a regular expression library automatically.  Other values are:
54        posix          Use the POSIX-compatible regcomp.
55        pcre           Use the PCRE library.
56        regcmp         Use the regcmp library.
57        re_comp        Use the re_comp library.
58        regcomp        Use the V8-compatible regcomp.
59        regcomp-local  Use Henry Spencer's V8-compatible regcomp
60                       (source is supplied with less).
61   --with-secure
62     Builds a "secure" version of less, with some features disabled
63	 to prevent users from viewing other files, accessing shell
64	 commands, etc.
65
66
673. It is a good idea to look over the generated Makefile and defines.h
68   and make sure they look ok.  If you know of any peculiarities of
69   your system that configure might not have detected, you may fix the
70   Makefile now.  Take particular notice of the list of "terminal"
71   libraries in the LIBS definition in the Makefile; these may need
72   to be edited.  The terminal libraries will be some subset of
73       -lncurses  -lcurses  -ltermcap  -ltermlib
74
75   If you wish, you may edit defines.h to remove some optional features.
76   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
77   wish to edit the manual page "less.nro" and the help page "less.hlp"
78   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
79   If you edit less.hlp, you should run "make -f Makefile.aut help.c".
80
814. Type "make" and watch the fun.
82
835. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less",
84   "lesskey" and "lessecho" in your current directory.  Test the
85   generated programs.
86
876. When satisfied that it works, if you wish to install it
88   in a public place, type "make install".
89
90   The default install destinations are:
91        Executables (less, lesskey, lessecho) in /usr/local/bin
92        Documentation (less.nro, lesskey.nro) in /usr/local/man/man1
93   If you want to install any of these files elsewhere, define
94   bindir and/or mandir to the appropriate directories.
95
96If you have any problems building or running "less", suggestions,
97complaints, etc., you may mail to the author at markn@greenwoodsoftware.com.
98
99Note to hackers: comments noting possible improvements are enclosed
100in double curly brackets {{ like this }}.
101
102
103
104=======================================================================
105INSTALLATION (MS-DOS systems only,
106              with Microsoft C, Borland C, or DJGPP)
107
1081. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
109   Depending on your compiler, you may need to convert the source
110   to have CR-LF rather than LF as line terminators.
111
1122. If you are using Microsoft C, rename MAKEFILE.DSU to MAKEFILE.
113   If you are using Borland C, rename MAKEFILE.DSB to MAKEFILE.
114   If you are using DJGPP, rename MAKEFILE.DSG to MAKEFILE.
115
1163. Look at MAKEFILE to make sure that the definitions for CC and LIBDIR
117   are correct.  CC should be the name of your C compiler and
118   LIBDIR should be the directory where the C libraries reside (for
119   Microsoft C only).  If these definitions need to be changed, you can
120   either modify the definitions directly in MAKEFILE, or set your
121   environment variables CC and/or LIBDIR to override the definitions
122   in MAKEFILE.
123
1244. If you wish, you may edit DEFINES.DS to remove some optional features.
125   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
126   wish to edit the manual page LESS.MAN and the help page HELP.C
127   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
128
1295. Run your "make" program and watch the fun.
130   If your "make" requires a flag to import environment variables,
131   you should use that flag.
132   If your compiler runs out of memory, try running "make -n >cmds.bat"
133   and then run cmds.bat.
134
1356. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "LESS.EXE" and
136   "LESSKEY.EXE" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
137
1387. When satisfied that it works, you may wish to install LESS.EXE and
139   LESSKEY.EXE in a directory which is included in your PATH.
140
141
142
143=======================================================================
144INSTALLATION (Windows-95, Windows-98 and Windows-NT systems only,
145              with Borland C or Microsoft Visual C++)
146
1471. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
148
1492. If you are using Borland C, rename Makefile.wnb to Makefile.
150   If you are using Microsoft Visual C++, rename Makefile.wnm to Makefile.
151
1523. Check the Makefile to make sure the definitions look ok.
153
1544. If you wish, you may edit defines.wn to remove some optional features.
155   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
156   wish to edit the manual page less.man and the help page help.c
157   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
158
1595. Type "make" and watch the fun.
160
1616. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less.exe" and
162   "lesskey.exe" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
163
1647. When satisfied that it works, if you wish to install it
165   in a public place, type "make install".
166   See step 6 of the Unix installation instructions for details
167   on how to change the default installation directories.
168
169
170
171=======================================================================
172INSTALLATION (OS/2 systems only,
173              with EMX C)
174
1751. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
176
1772. Rename Makefile.o2e to Makefile.
178
1793. Check the Makefile to make sure the definitions look ok.
180
1814. If you wish, you may edit defines.o2 to remove some optional features.
182   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
183   wish to edit the manual page less.man and the help page help.c
184   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
185
1865. Type "make" and watch the fun.
187
1886. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less.exe" and
189   "lesskey.exe" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
190
1917. Make sure you have the emx runtime installed. You need the emx DLLs
192   emx.dll and emxlibcs.dll and also the termcap database, termcap.dat.
193   Make sure you have termcap.dat either in the default location or
194   somewhere in a directory listed in the PATH or INIT environment
195   variables.
196
1978. When satisfied that it works, you may wish to install less.exe,
198   lesskey.exe and scrsize.exe in a directory which is included in
199   your PATH.  scrsize.exe is required only if you use a terminal
200   emulator such as xterm or rxvt.
201
202
203
204=======================================================================
205INSTALLATION (OS-9 systems only,
206              with Microware C or Ultra C)
207
2081. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
209
2102. If you are using Microware C, rename Makefile.o9c to Makefile.
211   If you are using Ultra C, rename Makefile.o9u to Makefile.
212
2133. Check the Makefile to make sure the definitions look ok.
214
2154. If you wish, you may edit defines.o9 to remove some optional features.
216   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
217   wish to edit the manual page less.man and the help page help.c
218   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
219
2205. Type "dmake" and watch the fun.
221   The standard OS-9 "make" will probably not work.  If you don't
222   have dmake, you can get a copy from os9archive.rtsi.com.
223
2246. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less" and
225   "lesskey" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
226
2277. When satisfied that it works, if you wish to install it
228   in a public place, type "dmake install".
229   See step 6 of the Unix installation instructions for details
230   on how to change the default installation directories.
231
232=======================================================================
233ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
234  Some versions of the less distribution are packaged using
235  Info-ZIP's compression utility.
236  Info-ZIP's software is free and can be obtained as source
237  code or executables from various anonymous-ftp sites,
238  including ftp.uu.net:/pub/archiving/zip.
239