4. Build XEmacs

4.1 Accessing Documentation for the Build package

You may want to read through the build package info documentation first. It is accessible via links to Info- and HTML-documentation from the initial *Build XEmacs* buffer, which has this:

Visit info documentation for the XEmacs build package in [XEmacs]
or on the XEmacs website at
[http://www.xemacs.org/Documentation/packages/html/build.html]

4.2 Saving Multiple Build Settings

Build settings, introduced in build 2.00, allow you to save all variable settings relevant to building XEmacs under a single name. This saves time and simplifies the process of building multiple XEmacs versions or configurations.

Current Build Settings: unknown

[Load] [Delete] build settings: [Value Menu] default
[Save] current build settings as: [Value Menu] String: default

4.3 Browsing Build Options

Global build options can be browsed next.

[Browse Build Options ...]

4.4 What to Build From and Build With

You have to decide what to build from:

1. CVS sources in the XEmacs CVS repository at http://cvs.xemacs.org/.

2. Tarballs (tar.gz files) on the XEmacs FTP Site http://ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/ or one of its mirror sites.

and what to build with:

1. GNU(1)/UNIX tools using configure, make, and cc.

2. Microsoft tools using nmake and cl, supported by `nt/xemacs.mak' and, beginning with XEmacs 21.2-b33, `nt/config.inc'.

These two choices determine which of the following steps will be taken.

[Build XEmacs From CVS Now]

[Build XEmacs From Tarballs Now]

As of build version 2.00 a check is performed whether CVS is available.

The user interface to *Build XEmacs from CVS* will only be available if this test (cvs -v) passes.

The cvs client version installed on your system will be displayed below following button.

[Build XEmacs From CVS Now]

Finally either press the button labeled 5. Build XEmacs From CVS or 6. Build XEmacs From Tarballs. Only the button labeled according to your choice under the build from: menu will be active. See 4. Build XEmacs and 10. Known Problems of Build.

Each of the following steps allow to return to a previous one with the

[Go Back]

button to review your choices.

Whether to build from tarballs or CVS sources depends on what the user wants to do with the sources.

• Tarballs are convenient for building a well-defined release of XEmacs. These tarballs are big and users with slow or expensive network connections should avoid them.

  gzip and tar are required for this method.

• For users who want to stay in close sync with the development of XEmacs, especially the Beta releases, create patches against files or whole directories, CVS is the way to go.

  You will obviously need to install cvs first.

The choice is yours(2).

This document was generated by XEmacs shared group account on December, 19 2009 using texi2html 1.65.