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authorLudovic Courtès2010-06-20 19:00:01 +0200
committerLudovic Courtès2010-06-20 19:00:01 +0200
commite01d73bba2d5816475d716094f9c03d2767f2c62 (patch)
treee9214cc36daff904383af6bb160a2da588aed8af /INSTALL
parentd2ac6a27d035839cd7057e3b8c251342b4065010 (diff)
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Update `INSTALL'.
Diffstat (limited to 'INSTALL')
-rw-r--r--INSTALL97
1 files changed, 80 insertions, 17 deletions
diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 2550dab..7d1c323 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -4,8 +4,10 @@ Installation Instructions
Copyright (C) 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005,
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
- This file is free documentation; the Free Software Foundation gives
-unlimited permission to copy, distribute and modify it.
+ Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
+are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
+notice and this notice are preserved. This file is offered as-is,
+without warranty of any kind.
Basic Installation
==================
@@ -13,7 +15,11 @@ Basic Installation
Briefly, the shell commands `./configure; make; make install' should
configure, build, and install this package. The following
more-detailed instructions are generic; see the `README' file for
-instructions specific to this package.
+instructions specific to this package. Some packages provide this
+`INSTALL' file but do not implement all of the features documented
+below. The lack of an optional feature in a given package is not
+necessarily a bug. More recommendations for GNU packages can be found
+in *note Makefile Conventions: (standards)Makefile Conventions.
The `configure' shell script attempts to guess correct values for
various system-dependent variables used during compilation. It uses
@@ -42,7 +48,7 @@ may remove or edit it.
you want to change it or regenerate `configure' using a newer version
of `autoconf'.
-The simplest way to compile this package is:
+ The simplest way to compile this package is:
1. `cd' to the directory containing the package's source code and type
`./configure' to configure the package for your system.
@@ -53,12 +59,22 @@ The simplest way to compile this package is:
2. Type `make' to compile the package.
3. Optionally, type `make check' to run any self-tests that come with
- the package.
+ the package, generally using the just-built uninstalled binaries.
4. Type `make install' to install the programs and any data files and
- documentation.
-
- 5. You can remove the program binaries and object files from the
+ documentation. When installing into a prefix owned by root, it is
+ recommended that the package be configured and built as a regular
+ user, and only the `make install' phase executed with root
+ privileges.
+
+ 5. Optionally, type `make installcheck' to repeat any self-tests, but
+ this time using the binaries in their final installed location.
+ This target does not install anything. Running this target as a
+ regular user, particularly if the prior `make install' required
+ root privileges, verifies that the installation completed
+ correctly.
+
+ 6. You can remove the program binaries and object files from the
source code directory by typing `make clean'. To also remove the
files that `configure' created (so you can compile the package for
a different kind of computer), type `make distclean'. There is
@@ -67,8 +83,15 @@ The simplest way to compile this package is:
all sorts of other programs in order to regenerate files that came
with the distribution.
- 6. Often, you can also type `make uninstall' to remove the installed
- files again.
+ 7. Often, you can also type `make uninstall' to remove the installed
+ files again. In practice, not all packages have tested that
+ uninstallation works correctly, even though it is required by the
+ GNU Coding Standards.
+
+ 8. Some packages, particularly those that use Automake, provide `make
+ distcheck', which can by used by developers to test that all other
+ targets like `make install' and `make uninstall' work correctly.
+ This target is generally not run by end users.
Compilers and Options
=====================
@@ -93,7 +116,8 @@ same time, by placing the object files for each architecture in their
own directory. To do this, you can use GNU `make'. `cd' to the
directory where you want the object files and executables to go and run
the `configure' script. `configure' automatically checks for the
-source code in the directory that `configure' is in and in `..'.
+source code in the directory that `configure' is in and in `..'. This
+is known as a "VPATH" build.
With a non-GNU `make', it is safer to compile the package for one
architecture at a time in the source code directory. After you have
@@ -120,7 +144,8 @@ Installation Names
By default, `make install' installs the package's commands under
`/usr/local/bin', include files under `/usr/local/include', etc. You
can specify an installation prefix other than `/usr/local' by giving
-`configure' the option `--prefix=PREFIX'.
+`configure' the option `--prefix=PREFIX', where PREFIX must be an
+absolute file name.
You can specify separate installation prefixes for
architecture-specific files and architecture-independent files. If you
@@ -131,15 +156,46 @@ Documentation and other data files still use the regular prefix.
In addition, if you use an unusual directory layout you can give
options like `--bindir=DIR' to specify different values for particular
kinds of files. Run `configure --help' for a list of the directories
-you can set and what kinds of files go in them.
+you can set and what kinds of files go in them. In general, the
+default for these options is expressed in terms of `${prefix}', so that
+specifying just `--prefix' will affect all of the other directory
+specifications that were not explicitly provided.
+
+ The most portable way to affect installation locations is to pass the
+correct locations to `configure'; however, many packages provide one or
+both of the following shortcuts of passing variable assignments to the
+`make install' command line to change installation locations without
+having to reconfigure or recompile.
+
+ The first method involves providing an override variable for each
+affected directory. For example, `make install
+prefix=/alternate/directory' will choose an alternate location for all
+directory configuration variables that were expressed in terms of
+`${prefix}'. Any directories that were specified during `configure',
+but not in terms of `${prefix}', must each be overridden at install
+time for the entire installation to be relocated. The approach of
+makefile variable overrides for each directory variable is required by
+the GNU Coding Standards, and ideally causes no recompilation.
+However, some platforms have known limitations with the semantics of
+shared libraries that end up requiring recompilation when using this
+method, particularly noticeable in packages that use GNU Libtool.
+
+ The second method involves providing the `DESTDIR' variable. For
+example, `make install DESTDIR=/alternate/directory' will prepend
+`/alternate/directory' before all installation names. The approach of
+`DESTDIR' overrides is not required by the GNU Coding Standards, and
+does not work on platforms that have drive letters. On the other hand,
+it does better at avoiding recompilation issues, and works well even
+when some directory options were not specified in terms of `${prefix}'
+at `configure' time.
+
+Optional Features
+=================
If the package supports it, you can cause programs to be installed
with an extra prefix or suffix on their names by giving `configure' the
option `--program-prefix=PREFIX' or `--program-suffix=SUFFIX'.
-Optional Features
-=================
-
Some packages pay attention to `--enable-FEATURE' options to
`configure', where FEATURE indicates an optional part of the package.
They may also pay attention to `--with-PACKAGE' options, where PACKAGE
@@ -152,6 +208,13 @@ find the X include and library files automatically, but if it doesn't,
you can use the `configure' options `--x-includes=DIR' and
`--x-libraries=DIR' to specify their locations.
+ Some packages offer the ability to configure how verbose the
+execution of `make' will be. For these packages, running `./configure
+--enable-silent-rules' sets the default to minimal output, which can be
+overridden with `make V=1'; while running `./configure
+--disable-silent-rules' sets the default to verbose, which can be
+overridden with `make V=0'.
+
Particular systems
==================
@@ -288,7 +351,7 @@ operates.
`configure' can determine that directory automatically.
`--prefix=DIR'
- Use DIR as the installation prefix. *Note Installation Names::
+ Use DIR as the installation prefix. *note Installation Names::
for more details, including other options available for fine-tuning
the installation locations.