5 - Installation instructions and notes for the Midnight Commander
6 - Where to get more information on the Midnight Commander
8 - Information on porting the program
9 - Obtaining the missing pieces of the Midnight Commander
12 Installation instructions for the Midnight Commander
13 ----------------------------------------------------
15 The `configure' shell script attempts to guess correct values for
16 various system-dependent variables used during compilation, and creates
17 the Makefile. It also creates a file `config.status' that you can run
18 in the future to recreate the current configuration.
20 (Nextstep users, make sure you read the "Compiling under Nextstep"
23 To compile this package:
25 1. Configure the package for your system.
27 Normally, you just `cd' to the directory containing the package's
28 source code and type `./configure'. If you're using `csh' on an old
29 version of System V, you might need to type `sh configure' instead to
30 prevent `csh' from trying to execute `configure' itself (under AIX,
31 you may need to use ksh instead of sh).
33 Running `configure' takes a while. While it is running, it
34 prints some messages that tell what it is doing. If you don't want to
35 see any messages, run `configure' with its standard output redirected
36 to `/dev/null'; for example, `./configure >/dev/null'.
38 To compile the package in a different directory from the one
39 containing the source code, you must use a version of `make' that
40 supports the `VPATH' variable, such as GNU `make'. `cd' to the
41 directory where you want the object files and executables to go and run
42 the `configure' script. `configure' automatically checks for the
43 source code in the directory that `configure' is in and in `..'. If
44 for some reason `configure' is not in the source code directory that
45 you are configuring, then it will report that it can't find the source
46 code. In that case, run `configure' with the option `--srcdir=DIR',
47 where DIR is the directory that contains the source code.
49 By default, `make install' will install the package's files in
50 `/usr/local/bin', `/usr/local/man', etc. You can specify an
51 installation prefix other than `/usr/local' by giving `configure' the
52 option `--prefix=PATH'. Alternately, you can do so by consistently
53 giving a value for the `prefix' variable when you run `make', e.g.,
55 make prefix=/usr/gnu install
57 You can specify separate installation prefixes for
58 architecture-specific files and architecture-independent files. If
59 you give `configure' the option `--exec-prefix=PATH' or set the `make'
60 variable `exec_prefix' to PATH, the package will use PATH as the
61 prefix for installing programs and libraries. Data files and
62 documentation will still use the regular prefix. Normally, all files
63 are installed using the same prefix.
65 The program detects if you have the gpm library installed. If you
66 installed the gpm mouse library in a non-standard place, you will need
67 to use the --with-gpm-mouse flag with the directory base where you
68 installed the gpm package.
70 `configure' also recognizes the following options:
73 Print a summary of the options to `configure', and exit.
77 Do not print messages saying which checks are being made.
80 Print the results of the checks.
83 Print the version of Autoconf used to generate the `configure'
87 Enables the built-in memory allocation debugger and forces
88 compilation with -Wall. This is an option intended to be used by
89 the program developers.
92 Configures the program to be compiled without the built-in file
93 editor. The built-in editor is compiled in by default.
95 `--with-ext2undel[=PATH]'
96 On systems that use the Extended 2 file system and have the
97 libext2fs.a library available, this compiles into the Midnight
98 Commander the support code for recovering deleted files (the
99 undel virtual file system).
100 Use =PATH if libext2fs.a is installed in a non-standard place.
101 The configure will append `lib' and `include' to find the ext2fs
102 libraries and include files respectively.
104 `--with-gpm-mouse[=PATH]'
105 Use this flag if your GPM mouse package cannot be detected by the
106 configure. Use =PATH if it is installed in a non-standard place.
107 The configure will append `lib' and `include' to find the libgpm.a
108 and gpm.h files respectively.
110 `--without-gpm-mouse'
111 Use this flag to disable GPM mouse support (e.g. if you want to
112 use mouse only on X terminals).
115 Compiles support into the ftp virtual file system to support the
119 Needed when compiling under AIX if you want the fast viewer.
122 This option is used to compile on SCO: it turns on SCO-specific
123 code, i.e. disables the terminal resizing mechanism, uses the
124 BSD-like pseudoterminal handling, adds screen-saving capabilities
127 `--with-subshell[=optional]', `--without-subshell'
128 The subshell support is by default turned on, you can disable
129 this by using the --without-subshell option. If you pass the
130 =optional parameter, then the subshell support is turned off by
131 default, to turn it on, you have to specify the `-U' flag when
135 Enables the network support with the Term package.
137 `--with-tk' [WARNING: X code is not released]
138 This option enables including the Tcl/Tk version.
140 `--with-tk-includes=DIR' [WARNING: X code is not released]
141 Lets you specify the place where you have your Tcl/Tk headers installed.
142 It should be a directory containing tcl.h and tk.h.
144 `--with-tk-libraries=DIR' [WARNING: X code is not released]
145 Lets you specify the place where you have your Tcl/Tk libraries -
148 `--with-xview' [WARNING: X code is not released]
149 This option enables including the XView version.
151 `--with-xview-includes=DIR' [WARNING: X code is not released]
152 Lets you specify the place where you have your xview headers installed.
153 It should be the directory, which has subdirectories xview and
154 hopefuly xview_private.
156 `--with-xview-libraries=DIR' [WARNING: X code is not released]
157 Lets you specify the place where you have your xview libraries -
158 libolgx and libxview.
160 `--with-xv-bindir=DIR' [WARNING: X code is not released]
161 Lets you specify the place where program mxc will be installed.
162 Default is somewhere in your XView binaries directory,
166 This option disables a feature of the Midnight Commander, which is
167 forking the du command with the -s option when you want to calculate
171 This option disables the Virtual File System switch code in the
172 Midnight Commander and uses the standard file system calls for
173 file access. If you specify this option you will not get the
174 transparent tar File system manipulation as well nor the
175 networked Midnight Commander file system.
177 You may also tell configure which display manager you want to use with
178 the Midnight Commander. The configure script will use SLang as default,
179 but you can override this by using any of the following flags (please
180 note that slang is included as part of the distribution),
182 `--with-slang' (default)
183 This is used to configure the program to use the SLang screen
184 manager. This is included as part of the Midnight Commander,
185 you don't need it installed on your system. If SLang is installed
186 on your system it will be used if possible. You can force usage of
187 the included SLang with the `--with-included-slang' option.
188 Slang is the only library that will let you resize the Midnight
189 Commander window on an xterm.
191 This option will usually try to use the terminfo database if it
192 is available, otherwise it will use the termcap database. At
193 compile time, you may force the use the terminal database with
194 the `--with-termcap' and `--with-terminfo' options (both options
195 automaticly turn `--with-included-slang' on).
197 `--with-ncurses[=directory]'
198 Use this flag (either with or without the =directory part), if
199 you want to compile with ncurses instead of the default SLang.
201 Use the =directory part if your ncurses is not installed in any of the
202 places configure will check (/usr/include, /usr/include/ncurses,
203 /usr/local/include and /usr/local/include/ncurses).
204 The argument to this flag is the base directory where the ncurses
205 files are located. The configure will append lib and include to
206 find the libncurses.a and ncurses.h file respectively. For
207 example, if you have installed ncurses under /gnu/lib and
208 /gnu/include, you specify: --with-ncurses=/gnu
210 You will need the ncurses package only if your system does not
211 provide a compatible curses. If after compiling, the program
212 says that it can't resolve the has_colors function, then you need
213 the ncurses package or you may always go back to the included SLang
216 `--with-vcurses[=directory]'
217 Use this flag to force the Midnight Commander to use a SystemV
218 type ncurses, the optional directory specifies where should
219 the C compiler find the include files.
221 `--with-sunos-curses'
222 You use this flag on SunOS machines if you want to use SunOS 4.x
223 curses instead of ncurses. You don't need this flag if you don't
224 have ncurses installed: it's only needed to force the usage of
225 SunOS curses over ncurses.
227 `configure' also accepts and ignores some other options.
229 On systems that require unusual options for compilation or linking
230 that the package's `configure' script does not know about, you can give
231 `configure' initial values for variables by setting them in the
232 environment. In Bourne-compatible shells, you can do that on the
233 command line like this:
235 CC='gcc -traditional' LIBS=-lposix ./configure
237 On systems that have the `env' program, you can do it like this:
239 env CC='gcc -traditional' LIBS=-lposix ./configure
241 Here are the `make' variables that you might want to override with
242 environment variables when running `configure'.
244 For these variables, any value given in the environment overrides the
245 value that `configure' would choose:
248 C compiler program. The default is `cc'.
251 The default flags used to build the program.
254 Program to use to install files. The default is `install' if you
255 have it, `cp' otherwise.
257 For these variables, any value given in the environment is added to
258 the value that `configure' chooses:
261 Libraries to link with, in the form `-lfoo -lbar...'.
263 If you need to do unusual things to compile the package, we encourage
264 you to figure out how `configure' could check whether to do them, and
265 mail diffs or instructions to the address given in the README so we
266 can include them in the next release.
268 2. Type `make' to compile the package.
270 3. If the package comes with self-tests and you want to run them,
271 type `make check'. If you're not sure whether there are any, try it;
272 if `make' responds with something like
273 make: *** No way to make target `check'. Stop.
274 then the package does not come with self-tests.
276 4. Type `make install' to install programs, data files, and
278 If your system is Linux, then install installs the Linux console screen
281 5. You can remove the program binaries and object files from the
282 source directory by typing `make clean'. To also remove the
283 Makefile(s), the header file containing system-dependent definitions
284 (if the package uses one), and `config.status' (all the files that
285 `configure' created), type `make realclean'. If you want to clean the source
286 tree completely, so that it contains only those files that should be
287 packaged in the archive, issue `make distclean'. If you've run configure in
288 a different directory than the source tree, distclean won't remove your *.o
289 and linked programs in that directory.
291 6. The Midnight Commander allows you to be kept on the directory you
292 were when you quit the program, this is done with a shell function,
293 the man page has more information about this. If you want to let the
294 install program make the change to your /etc/profile or your
295 ~/.profile or ~/.bashrc, then type: `make mcfninstall'.
297 The file `configure.in' is used to create `configure' by a program
298 called `autoconf'. You only need it if you want to regenerate
299 `configure' using a newer version of `autoconf'.
301 Compiling under NeXTStep
302 ------------------------
304 These instructions were provided by Gregor Hoffleit
305 <flight@mathi.uni-heidelberg.DE>, he recommends configuring the
309 export CC="cc -posix"
310 configure --without-subshell --with-termcap
311 Edie config.h and make sure you have #undef HAVE_GETWD
316 - Where to get more information on the Midnight Commander
317 ---------------------------------------------------------
319 Janne Kukonlehto set up a WWW page, here is the URL:
320 http://mc.blackdown.org/mc/
322 We also a set of mailing lists for the program:
324 mc-announce: Announcements of new version of the Midnight Commander.
325 mc-digest: Digest version of the mc list.
326 mc-patches: Patches by mail (also on the ftp site).
327 mc: Discussion on the Midnight Commander file manager.
328 mc-devel: For discussion between the developers of the program.
330 to subscribe to the mailing lists, send a message to:
332 majordomo@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx
334 with the following text in the body of the message:
336 subscribe <list-name> [address]
338 The address is optional and list-name is one of the above list names
339 (mc, mc-announce, mc-patches or mc-digest).
342 Notes about the Midnight Commander installation
343 ------------------------------------------------
345 The Midnight Commander has been run in the following configurations:
351 mips-dec-{open,net}bsd1.0
361 mc88110-aviion-dgux5.4
362 i386-*-{bsdi2,freebsd}
364 Since the Midnight Commander is configured via the GNU autoconf
365 program, it's not difficult to run it in other operating systems.
367 If you're using AIX, with the cc6000 compiler, you have to specify the
368 `--with-mmap' command line option.
370 You will need GNU C (or an ANSI C Compiler) and optionally a color
371 curses library (ncurses is a good choice). The Midnight Commander now
372 comes with the Slang screen manager, a fast screen manager, so ncurses
373 is not required anymore unless you want to use it.
375 Many Linux systems ship with ncurses version 1.9.9e, however, we recommend
376 ncurses 4.1 or above, since the former version does not support resizing
379 Since version 0.9 the Midnight Commander comes with mouse support on
380 xterms and in the Linux console. In order to take advantage of the
381 mouse support on the Linux console you will need the gpm mouse server
382 (see the section "Obtaining the Missing Pieces" in this file).
384 Once you get the Mouse Server, compile it and install it, then you
385 will have to specify the `--with-gpm-mouse' flag to the configure
386 program if you installed it in a non-standard directory. If you
387 installed the gpm package under /usr or /usr/local, you don't need to
388 specify this flag; configure will find gpm for you. The support for
389 mice on xterms is always compiled in.
391 We are working on further enhancements to the program, but we're not
392 sure which ones must go first. If you would like to point us in the
393 Right Direction we will be glad to hear from you (you could check the
394 file TODO included with this distribution for the current projects).
396 If you happen to find an undocumented feature that doesn't do what you
397 expected, please drop us a note telling us as much as you can about
398 the problem you're experiencing (to miguel@roxanne.nuclecu.unam.mx).
404 Random notes on porting to other architectures.
406 The Midnight Commander uses now by default the Slang library for
407 handling the display. If you can't port Slang (which should be a
408 pretty trivial job), you may want to attempt using ncurses (the
409 Midnight Commander can use ncurses as well as the display engine).
411 If you don't want to install ncurses and your OS is a SystemV Release
412 4 variant, maybe the curses supplied with your system will do the
413 work. If you experience display problems, then it means that we are
414 dealing with a buggy implementation of curses. You have two options:
415 one, download ncurses and recompile with ncurses or recompile all your
416 source code with the symbol BUGGY_CURSES defined. But you can always
417 switch to the default SLang screen manager.
419 The fast way to do this is to:
421 make clean; make XINC=-DBUGGY_CURSES
424 Obtaining the missing pieces of the Midnight Commander
425 ------------------------------------------------------
427 The Midnight Commander will build without requiring you to get any
428 other software packages, however, you may be interested in enhancing
429 the Midnight Commander environment with some of these:
433 There are many incomplete terminal databases out there, however, a
434 complete terminfo is bundled with ncurses. (It is simple to generate
435 the termcap database using the infocmp utility in ncurses).
437 Some terminfo data are included with the mc distribution (lib/*.ti).
438 Particularly linux, xterm and vt100. Use e.g. ''tic linux.ti'' to
441 If you want to run mc on xterm/color_xterm/ansi_xterm (not rxvt), then
442 you might read lib/README.xterm for further information.
444 o In the past the Midnight Commander required the NCurses library to
445 build, now it's optional. You can get Ncurses from
448 ftp.clark.net:/pub/dickey/ncurses
450 o The GPM Mouse Server is available at:
452 iride.unipv.it:/pub/gpm
454 o The X Windows System libraries are only used if you are going to
455 build the X11 versions of the program. Please note that this code
456 is not finished, so it's only useful if you want to look at what we
457 are doing or want to help in one of the two X11 versions.
459 o The XView library can be obtained from (currently the newest is
460 XView3.2p1-X11R6.tar.gz):
462 ftp.nuclecu.unam.mx:/Midnight/devel/XView.libs
463 ftp.x.org:/contrib/libraries
464 ftp.cvut.cz:/pub/x11/contrib/libraries
466 - Linux/ELF shared binaries:
468 sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/libs/X/xview
469 ftp.cvut.cz:/pub/linux/sunsite/libs/X/xview
471 o The Tcl/Tk libraries can be obtained from:
473 ftp.smli.com:/pub/tcl
474 ftp.aud.alcatel.com:/tcl/ftp.smli.com
475 ftp.cvut.cz:/pub/tcl/ftp.smli.com
477 - Linux/ELF shared binaries:
479 ftp.ods.com:/pub/linux
480 ftp.cvut.cz:/pub/linux/ods
482 o The Xpm library (used by the XView version) can be obtained from
483 (currently xpm-3.4f.tar.gz):
485 koala.inria.fr:/pub/xpm
486 ftp.x.org:/contrib/libraries
487 ftp.cvut.cz:/pub/x11/contrib/libraries
489 - Linux/ELF shared binaries:
491 ftp.ctd.comsat.com:/pub/linux/ELF
492 ftp.cvut.cz:/pub/linux/comsat
494 To get the mouse support working on the Linux console:
496 If you're using Linux version >= 1.1.34, then you will have to choose yes
497 to selection when you compile your kernel. If your Linux version is
498 older than this one, you may try to apply one of the patches included in
501 And the GNU C Compiler may be obtained from the following sites:
503 ASIA: ftp.cs.titech.ac.jp, utsun.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp:/ftpsync/prep,
504 cair.kaist.ac.kr:/pub/gnu
505 AUSTRALIA: archie.au:/gnu (archie.oz or archie.oz.au for ACSnet)
506 AFRICA: ftp.sun.ac.za:/pub/gnu
507 MIDDLE-EAST: ftp.technion.ac.il:/pub/unsupported/gnu
508 EUROPE: ftp.cvut.cz:/pub/gnu, irisa.irisa.fr:/pub/gnu,
509 ftp.univ-lyon1.fr:pub/gnu, ftp.mcc.ac.uk,
510 unix.hensa.ac.uk:/pub/uunet/systems/gnu,
511 src.doc.ic.ac.uk:/gnu, ftp.win.tue.nl, ugle.unit.no,
512 ftp.denet.dk, ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de:/pub/gnu,
513 ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de, ftp.eunet.ch,
514 nic.switch.ch:/mirror/gnu, nic.funet.fi:/pub/gnu, isy.liu.se,
515 ftp.stacken.kth.se, ftp.luth.se:/pub/unix/gnu, archive.eu.net
516 CANADA: ftp.cs.ubc.ca:/mirror2/gnu
517 USA: wuarchive.wustl.edu:/mirrors/gnu, labrea.stanford.edu,
518 ftp.kpc.com:/pub/mirror/gnu, ftp.cs.widener.edu, uxc.cso.uiuc.edu,
519 col.hp.com:/mirrors/gnu, ftp.cs.columbia.edu:/archives/gnu/prep,
520 gatekeeper.dec.com:/pub/GNU, ftp.uu.net:/systems/gnu
523 Unsupported options to configure:
524 ---------------------------------
526 If you don't want to use ncurses and are using an Ultrix box, you
527 can use this switch. Be aware that ncurses is a better option
528 than the curses included in Ultrix.