xref: /freebsd/contrib/less/README (revision 9a14aa017b21c292740c00ee098195cd46642730)
1**************************************************************************
2**************************************************************************
3**                                                                      **
4** The FreeBSD Project has chosen to redistribute and modify Less under **
5** the 'Less License' (as described in the 'LICENSE' file).             **
6**                                                                      **
7**************************************************************************
8**************************************************************************
9
10                            Less, version 444
11
12    This is the distribution of less, version 444, released 09 Jun 2011.
13    This program is part of the GNU project (http://www.gnu.org).
14
15    This program is free software.  You may redistribute it and/or
16    modify it under the terms of either:
17
18    1. The GNU General Public License, as published by the Free
19       Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option) any
20       later version.  A copy of this license is in the file COPYING.
21    or
22    2. The Less License, in the file LICENSE.
23
24    Please report any problems to bug-less@gnu.org or markn@greenwoodsoftware.com.
25    See http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less for the latest info.
26
27=========================================================================
28
29This is the distribution of "less", a paginator similar to "more" or "pg".
30
31The formatted manual page is in less.man.
32The manual page nroff source is in less.nro.
33Major changes made since the last posted version are in NEWS.
34
35=======================================================================
36INSTALLATION (Unix systems only):
37
381. Move the distributed source to its own directory and unpack it,
39   if you have not already done so.
40
412. Type "sh configure".
42   This will generate a Makefile and a defines.h.
43   Warning: if you have a GNU sed, make sure it is version 2.05 or later.
44
45   The file INSTALL describes the usage of the configure program in
46   general.  In addition, these options to configure are supported:
47
48   --with-editor=program
49     Specifies the default editor program used by the "v" command.
50     The default is "vi".
51
52   --with-regex=lib
53     Specifies the regular expression library used by less for pattern
54     matching.  The default is "auto", which means the configure program
55     finds a regular expression library automatically.  Other values are:
56        posix          Use the POSIX-compatible regcomp.
57        pcre           Use the PCRE library.
58        regcmp         Use the regcmp library.
59        re_comp        Use the re_comp library.
60        regcomp        Use the V8-compatible regcomp.
61        regcomp-local  Use Henry Spencer's V8-compatible regcomp
62                       (source is supplied with less).
63   --with-secure
64     Builds a "secure" version of less, with some features disabled
65	 to prevent users from viewing other files, accessing shell
66	 commands, etc.
67
68
693. It is a good idea to look over the generated Makefile and defines.h
70   and make sure they look ok.  If you know of any peculiarities of
71   your system that configure might not have detected, you may fix the
72   Makefile now.  Take particular notice of the list of "terminal"
73   libraries in the LIBS definition in the Makefile; these may need
74   to be edited.  The terminal libraries will be some subset of
75       -lncurses  -lcurses  -ltermcap  -ltermlib
76
77   If you wish, you may edit defines.h to remove some optional features.
78   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
79   wish to edit the manual page "less.nro" and the help page "less.hlp"
80   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
81   If you edit less.hlp, you should run "make -f Makefile.aut help.c".
82
834. Type "make" and watch the fun.
84
855. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less",
86   "lesskey" and "lessecho" in your current directory.  Test the
87   generated programs.
88
896. When satisfied that it works, if you wish to install it
90   in a public place, type "make install".
91
92   The default install destinations are:
93        Executables (less, lesskey, lessecho) in /usr/local/bin
94        Documentation (less.nro, lesskey.nro) in /usr/local/man/man1
95   If you want to install any of these files elsewhere, define
96   bindir and/or mandir to the appropriate directories.
97
98If you have any problems building or running "less", suggestions,
99complaints, etc., you may mail to the author at markn@greenwoodsoftware.com.
100
101Note to hackers: comments noting possible improvements are enclosed
102in double curly brackets {{ like this }}.
103
104(Note that the above note was originally written at a time when
105"hackers" most commonly meant "enthusiastic and dedicated computer
106programmers", not "persons who attempt to circumvent computer security".)
107
108
109
110=======================================================================
111INSTALLATION (MS-DOS systems only,
112              with Microsoft C, Borland C, or DJGPP)
113
1141. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
115   Depending on your compiler, you may need to convert the source
116   to have CR-LF rather than LF as line terminators.
117
1182. If you are using Microsoft C, rename MAKEFILE.DSU to MAKEFILE.
119   If you are using Borland C, rename MAKEFILE.DSB to MAKEFILE.
120   If you are using DJGPP, rename MAKEFILE.DSG to MAKEFILE.
121
1223. Look at MAKEFILE to make sure that the definitions for CC and LIBDIR
123   are correct.  CC should be the name of your C compiler and
124   LIBDIR should be the directory where the C libraries reside (for
125   Microsoft C only).  If these definitions need to be changed, you can
126   either modify the definitions directly in MAKEFILE, or set your
127   environment variables CC and/or LIBDIR to override the definitions
128   in MAKEFILE.
129
1304. If you wish, you may edit DEFINES.DS to remove some optional features.
131   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
132   wish to edit the manual page LESS.MAN and the help page HELP.C
133   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
134
1355. Run your "make" program and watch the fun.
136   If your "make" requires a flag to import environment variables,
137   you should use that flag.
138   If your compiler runs out of memory, try running "make -n >cmds.bat"
139   and then run cmds.bat.
140
1416. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "LESS.EXE" and
142   "LESSKEY.EXE" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
143
1447. When satisfied that it works, you may wish to install LESS.EXE and
145   LESSKEY.EXE in a directory which is included in your PATH.
146
147
148
149=======================================================================
150INSTALLATION (Windows-95, Windows-98 and Windows-NT systems only,
151              with Borland C or Microsoft Visual C++)
152
1531. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
154
1552. If you are using Borland C, rename Makefile.wnb to Makefile.
156   If you are using Microsoft Visual C++, rename Makefile.wnm to Makefile.
157
1583. Check the Makefile to make sure the definitions look ok.
159
1604. If you wish, you may edit defines.wn to remove some optional features.
161   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
162   wish to edit the manual page less.man and the help page help.c
163   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
164
1655. Type "make" and watch the fun.
166
1676. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less.exe" and
168   "lesskey.exe" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
169
1707. When satisfied that it works, if you wish to install it
171   in a public place, type "make install".
172   See step 6 of the Unix installation instructions for details
173   on how to change the default installation directories.
174
175
176
177=======================================================================
178INSTALLATION (OS/2 systems only,
179              with EMX C)
180
1811. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
182
1832. Rename Makefile.o2e to Makefile.
184
1853. Check the Makefile to make sure the definitions look ok.
186
1874. If you wish, you may edit defines.o2 to remove some optional features.
188   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
189   wish to edit the manual page less.man and the help page help.c
190   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
191
1925. Type "make" and watch the fun.
193
1946. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less.exe" and
195   "lesskey.exe" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
196
1977. Make sure you have the emx runtime installed. You need the emx DLLs
198   emx.dll and emxlibcs.dll and also the termcap database, termcap.dat.
199   Make sure you have termcap.dat either in the default location or
200   somewhere in a directory listed in the PATH or INIT environment
201   variables.
202
2038. When satisfied that it works, you may wish to install less.exe,
204   lesskey.exe and scrsize.exe in a directory which is included in
205   your PATH.  scrsize.exe is required only if you use a terminal
206   emulator such as xterm or rxvt.
207
208
209
210=======================================================================
211INSTALLATION (OS-9 systems only,
212              with Microware C or Ultra C)
213
2141. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
215
2162. If you are using Microware C, rename Makefile.o9c to Makefile.
217   If you are using Ultra C, rename Makefile.o9u to Makefile.
218
2193. Check the Makefile to make sure the definitions look ok.
220
2214. If you wish, you may edit defines.o9 to remove some optional features.
222   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
223   wish to edit the manual page less.man and the help page help.c
224   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
225
2265. Type "dmake" and watch the fun.
227   The standard OS-9 "make" will probably not work.  If you don't
228   have dmake, you can get a copy from os9archive.rtsi.com.
229
2306. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less" and
231   "lesskey" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
232
2337. When satisfied that it works, if you wish to install it
234   in a public place, type "dmake install".
235   See step 6 of the Unix installation instructions for details
236   on how to change the default installation directories.
237
238=======================================================================
239ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
240  Some versions of the less distribution are packaged using
241  Info-ZIP's compression utility.
242  Info-ZIP's software is free and can be obtained as source
243  code or executables from various anonymous-ftp sites,
244  including ftp.uu.net:/pub/archiving/zip.
245