xref: /freebsd/contrib/less/README (revision f0adf7f5cdd241db2f2c817683191a6ef64a4e95)
1
2                            Less, version 381
3
4    This is the distribution of less, version 381, released 17 Jan 2003.
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
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 wish to build a "secure" version of less (which disables all
71   features which might allow a user to do unintended things to the system
72   on which less is running), edit defines.h and define SECURE to 1.
73   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
74   wish to edit the manual page "less.nro" and the help page "less.hlp"
75   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
76   If you edit less.hlp, you should run "make -f Makefile.aut help.c".
77
784. Type "make" and watch the fun.
79
805. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less",
81   "lesskey" and "lessecho" in your current directory.  Test the
82   generated programs.
83
846. When satisfied that it works, if you wish to install it
85   in a public place, type "make install".
86
87   The default install destinations are:
88        Executables (less, lesskey, lessecho) in /usr/local/bin
89        Documentation (less.nro, lesskey.nro) in /usr/local/man/man1
90   If you want to install any of these files elsewhere, define
91   bindir and/or mandir to the appropriate directories.
92
93If you have any problems building or running "less", suggestions,
94complaints, etc., you may mail to the author at markn@greenwoodsoftware.com.
95
96Note to hackers: comments noting possible improvements are enclosed
97in double curly brackets {{ like this }}.
98
99
100
101=======================================================================
102INSTALLATION (MS-DOS systems only,
103              with Microsoft C, Borland C, or DJGPP)
104
1051. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
106   Depending on your compiler, you may need to convert the source
107   to have CR-LF rather than LF as line terminators.
108
1092. If you are using Microsoft C, rename MAKEFILE.DSU to MAKEFILE.
110   If you are using Borland C, rename MAKEFILE.DSB to MAKEFILE.
111   If you are using DJGPP, rename MAKEFILE.DSG to MAKEFILE.
112
1133. Look at MAKEFILE to make sure that the definitions for CC and LIBDIR
114   are correct.  CC should be the name of your C compiler and
115   LIBDIR should be the directory where the C libraries reside (for
116   Microsoft C only).  If these definitions need to be changed, you can
117   either modify the definitions directly in MAKEFILE, or set your
118   environment variables CC and/or LIBDIR to override the definitions
119   in MAKEFILE.
120
1214. If you wish, you may edit DEFINES.DS to remove some optional features.
122   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
123   wish to edit the manual page LESS.MAN and the help page HELP.C
124   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
125
1265. Run your "make" program and watch the fun.
127   If your "make" requires a flag to import environment variables,
128   you should use that flag.
129   If your compiler runs out of memory, try running "make -n >cmds.bat"
130   and then run cmds.bat.
131
1326. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "LESS.EXE" and
133   "LESSKEY.EXE" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
134
1357. When satisfied that it works, you may wish to install LESS.EXE and
136   LESSKEY.EXE in a directory which is included in your PATH.
137
138
139
140=======================================================================
141INSTALLATION (Windows-95, Windows-98 and Windows-NT systems only,
142              with Borland C or Microsoft Visual C++)
143
1441. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
145
1462. If you are using Borland C, rename Makefile.wnb to Makefile.
147   If you are using Microsoft Visual C++, rename Makefile.wnm to Makefile.
148
1493. Check the Makefile to make sure the definitions look ok.
150
1514. If you wish, you may edit defines.wn to remove some optional features.
152   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
153   wish to edit the manual page less.man and the help page help.c
154   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
155
1565. Type "make" and watch the fun.
157
1586. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less.exe" and
159   "lesskey.exe" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
160
1617. When satisfied that it works, if you wish to install it
162   in a public place, type "make install".
163   See step 6 of the Unix installation instructions for details
164   on how to change the default installation directories.
165
166
167
168=======================================================================
169INSTALLATION (OS/2 systems only,
170              with EMX C)
171
1721. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
173
1742. Rename Makefile.o2e to Makefile.
175
1763. Check the Makefile to make sure the definitions look ok.
177
1784. If you wish, you may edit defines.o2 to remove some optional features.
179   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
180   wish to edit the manual page less.man and the help page help.c
181   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
182
1835. Type "make" and watch the fun.
184
1856. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less.exe" and
186   "lesskey.exe" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
187
1887. Make sure you have the emx runtime installed. You need the emx DLLs
189   emx.dll and emxlibcs.dll and also the termcap database, termcap.dat.
190   Make sure you have termcap.dat either in the default location or
191   somewhere in a directory listed in the PATH or INIT environment
192   variables.
193
1948. When satisfied that it works, you may wish to install less.exe,
195   lesskey.exe and scrsize.exe in a directory which is included in
196   your PATH.  scrsize.exe is required only if you use a terminal
197   emulator such as xterm or rxvt.
198
199
200
201=======================================================================
202INSTALLATION (OS-9 systems only,
203              with Microware C or Ultra C)
204
2051. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
206
2072. If you are using Microware C, rename Makefile.o9c to Makefile.
208   If you are using Ultra C, rename Makefile.o9u to Makefile.
209
2103. Check the Makefile to make sure the definitions look ok.
211
2124. If you wish, you may edit defines.o9 to remove some optional features.
213   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
214   wish to edit the manual page less.man and the help page help.c
215   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
216
2175. Type "dmake" and watch the fun.
218   The standard OS-9 "make" will probably not work.  If you don't
219   have dmake, you can get a copy from os9archive.rtsi.com.
220
2216. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less" and
222   "lesskey" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
223
2247. When satisfied that it works, if you wish to install it
225   in a public place, type "dmake install".
226   See step 6 of the Unix installation instructions for details
227   on how to change the default installation directories.
228
229=======================================================================
230ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
231  Some versions of the less distribution are packaged using
232  Info-ZIP's compression utility.
233  Info-ZIP's software is free and can be obtained as source
234  code or executables from various anonymous-ftp sites,
235  including ftp.uu.net:/pub/archiving/zip.
236