xref: /freebsd/contrib/less/README (revision f0a75d274af375d15b97b830966b99a02b7db911)
1
2                            Less, version 394
3
4    This is the distribution of less, version 394, released 03 Dec 2005.
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   --with-regex=lib
50     Specifies the regular expression library used by less for pattern
51     matching.  The default is "auto", which means the configure program
52     finds a regular expression library automatically.  Other values are:
53        posix          Use the POSIX-compatible regcomp.
54        pcre           Use the PCRE library.
55        regcmp         Use the regcmp library.
56        re_comp        Use the re_comp library.
57        regcomp        Use the V8-compatible regcomp.
58        regcomp-local  Use Henry Spencer's V8-compatible regcomp
59                       (source is supplied with less).
60   --with-secure
61     Builds a "secure" version of less, with some features disabled
62	 to prevent users from viewing other files, accessing shell
63	 commands, etc.
64
653. It is a good idea to look over the generated Makefile and defines.h
66   and make sure they look ok.  If you know of any peculiarities of
67   your system that configure might not have detected, you may fix the
68   Makefile now.  Take particular notice of the list of "terminal"
69   libraries in the LIBS definition in the Makefile; these may need
70   to be edited.  The terminal libraries will be some subset of
71       -lncurses  -lcurses  -ltermcap  -ltermlib
72
73   If you wish, you may edit defines.h to remove some optional features.
74   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
75   wish to edit the manual page "less.nro" and the help page "less.hlp"
76   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
77   If you edit less.hlp, you should run "make -f Makefile.aut help.c".
78
794. Type "make" and watch the fun.
80
815. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less",
82   "lesskey" and "lessecho" in your current directory.  Test the
83   generated programs.
84
856. When satisfied that it works, if you wish to install it
86   in a public place, type "make install".
87
88   The default install destinations are:
89        Executables (less, lesskey, lessecho) in /usr/local/bin
90        Documentation (less.nro, lesskey.nro) in /usr/local/man/man1
91   If you want to install any of these files elsewhere, define
92   bindir and/or mandir to the appropriate directories.
93
94If you have any problems building or running "less", suggestions,
95complaints, etc., you may mail to the author at markn@greenwoodsoftware.com.
96
97Note to hackers: comments noting possible improvements are enclosed
98in double curly brackets {{ like this }}.
99
100
101
102=======================================================================
103INSTALLATION (MS-DOS systems only,
104              with Microsoft C, Borland C, or DJGPP)
105
1061. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
107   Depending on your compiler, you may need to convert the source
108   to have CR-LF rather than LF as line terminators.
109
1102. If you are using Microsoft C, rename MAKEFILE.DSU to MAKEFILE.
111   If you are using Borland C, rename MAKEFILE.DSB to MAKEFILE.
112   If you are using DJGPP, rename MAKEFILE.DSG to MAKEFILE.
113
1143. Look at MAKEFILE to make sure that the definitions for CC and LIBDIR
115   are correct.  CC should be the name of your C compiler and
116   LIBDIR should be the directory where the C libraries reside (for
117   Microsoft C only).  If these definitions need to be changed, you can
118   either modify the definitions directly in MAKEFILE, or set your
119   environment variables CC and/or LIBDIR to override the definitions
120   in MAKEFILE.
121
1224. If you wish, you may edit DEFINES.DS to remove some optional features.
123   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
124   wish to edit the manual page LESS.MAN and the help page HELP.C
125   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
126
1275. Run your "make" program and watch the fun.
128   If your "make" requires a flag to import environment variables,
129   you should use that flag.
130   If your compiler runs out of memory, try running "make -n >cmds.bat"
131   and then run cmds.bat.
132
1336. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "LESS.EXE" and
134   "LESSKEY.EXE" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
135
1367. When satisfied that it works, you may wish to install LESS.EXE and
137   LESSKEY.EXE in a directory which is included in your PATH.
138
139
140
141=======================================================================
142INSTALLATION (Windows-95, Windows-98 and Windows-NT systems only,
143              with Borland C or Microsoft Visual C++)
144
1451. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
146
1472. If you are using Borland C, rename Makefile.wnb to Makefile.
148   If you are using Microsoft Visual C++, rename Makefile.wnm to Makefile.
149
1503. Check the Makefile to make sure the definitions look ok.
151
1524. If you wish, you may edit defines.wn to remove some optional features.
153   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
154   wish to edit the manual page less.man and the help page help.c
155   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
156
1575. Type "make" and watch the fun.
158
1596. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less.exe" and
160   "lesskey.exe" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
161
1627. When satisfied that it works, if you wish to install it
163   in a public place, type "make install".
164   See step 6 of the Unix installation instructions for details
165   on how to change the default installation directories.
166
167
168
169=======================================================================
170INSTALLATION (OS/2 systems only,
171              with EMX C)
172
1731. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
174
1752. Rename Makefile.o2e to Makefile.
176
1773. Check the Makefile to make sure the definitions look ok.
178
1794. If you wish, you may edit defines.o2 to remove some optional features.
180   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
181   wish to edit the manual page less.man and the help page help.c
182   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
183
1845. Type "make" and watch the fun.
185
1866. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less.exe" and
187   "lesskey.exe" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
188
1897. Make sure you have the emx runtime installed. You need the emx DLLs
190   emx.dll and emxlibcs.dll and also the termcap database, termcap.dat.
191   Make sure you have termcap.dat either in the default location or
192   somewhere in a directory listed in the PATH or INIT environment
193   variables.
194
1958. When satisfied that it works, you may wish to install less.exe,
196   lesskey.exe and scrsize.exe in a directory which is included in
197   your PATH.  scrsize.exe is required only if you use a terminal
198   emulator such as xterm or rxvt.
199
200
201
202=======================================================================
203INSTALLATION (OS-9 systems only,
204              with Microware C or Ultra C)
205
2061. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
207
2082. If you are using Microware C, rename Makefile.o9c to Makefile.
209   If you are using Ultra C, rename Makefile.o9u to Makefile.
210
2113. Check the Makefile to make sure the definitions look ok.
212
2134. If you wish, you may edit defines.o9 to remove some optional features.
214   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
215   wish to edit the manual page less.man and the help page help.c
216   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
217
2185. Type "dmake" and watch the fun.
219   The standard OS-9 "make" will probably not work.  If you don't
220   have dmake, you can get a copy from os9archive.rtsi.com.
221
2226. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less" and
223   "lesskey" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
224
2257. When satisfied that it works, if you wish to install it
226   in a public place, type "dmake install".
227   See step 6 of the Unix installation instructions for details
228   on how to change the default installation directories.
229
230=======================================================================
231ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
232  Some versions of the less distribution are packaged using
233  Info-ZIP's compression utility.
234  Info-ZIP's software is free and can be obtained as source
235  code or executables from various anonymous-ftp sites,
236  including ftp.uu.net:/pub/archiving/zip.
237