projects / deliverable / binutils-gdb.git / blame
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1 | Introduction |
| 2 | ============ | |
| 3 | ||
| 4 | This is the Gnu Readline library, version 2.2 | |
| 5 | ||
| 6 | The Readline library provides a set of functions for use by applications | |
| 7 | that allow users to edit command lines as they are typed in. Both | |
| 8 | Emacs and vi editing modes are available. The Readline library includes | |
| 9 | additional functions to maintain a list of previously-entered command | |
| 10 | lines, to recall and perhaps reedit those lines, and perform csh-like | |
| 11 | history expansion on previous commands. | |
| 12 | ||
| 13 | The history facilites are also placed into a separate library, the | |
| 14 | History library, as part of the build process. The History library | |
| 15 | may be used without Readline in applications which desire its | |
| 16 | capabilities. | |
| 17 | ||
| 18 | The Readline library is free software, distributed under the terms of | |
| 19 | the GNU Public License, version 2. For more information, see the file | |
| 20 | COPYING. | |
| 21 | ||
| 22 | To build the library, try typing `./configure', then `make'. The | |
| 23 | configuration process is automated, so no further intervention should | |
| 24 | be necessary. Readline builds with `gcc' by default if it is | |
| 25 | available. If you want to use `cc' instead, type | |
| 26 | ||
| 27 | CC=cc ./configure | |
| 28 | ||
| 29 | if you are using a Bourne-style shell. If you are not, the following | |
| 30 | may work: | |
| 31 | ||
| 32 | env CC=cc ./configure | |
| 33 | ||
| 34 | Read the file INSTALL in this directory for more information about how | |
| 35 | to customize and control the build process. | |
| 36 | ||
| 37 | The file rlconf.h contains defines that enable and disable certain | |
| 38 | Readline features. | |
| 39 | ||
| 40 | Examples | |
| 41 | ======== | |
| 42 | ||
| 43 | There are several example programs that use Readline features in the | |
| 44 | examples directory. The `rl' program is of particular interest. It | |
| 45 | is a command-line interface to Readline, suitable for use in shell | |
| 46 | scripts in place of `read'. | |
| 47 | ||
| 48 | Shared Libraries | |
| 49 | ================ | |
| 50 | ||
| 51 | There is skeletal support for building shared versions of the | |
| 52 | Readline and History libraries. | |
| 53 | ||
| 54 | Typing `make shared' will cause shared versions of the Readline and | |
| 55 | History libraries to be built on SunOS 4.1.x. For versions of Unix | |
| 56 | other than SunOS, you will have to make some changes to Makefile.in. | |
| 57 | The relevant variables are: | |
| 58 | ||
| 59 | PICFLAG Options to give to the compiler to produce position-independent | |
| 60 | code. The value `-fpic' works for most versions of gcc. | |
| 61 | SHLIB_OPTS Options to give to the linker to produce a shared library. | |
| 62 | The value `-assert pure-text -ldl' works on SunOS 4.1.x. | |
| 63 | The value `-Bshareable' works for some versions of GNU ld. | |
| 64 | ||
| 65 | MAJOR The major version number of the shared library. You should | |
| 66 | not need to change this. | |
| 67 | MINOR The minor version number of the shared library. Some systems, | |
| 68 | such as SVR4 and its descendents (e.g., Solaris, Unixware), | |
| 69 | do not use minor version numbers. For those systems, this | |
| 70 | variable should be left unset. | |
| 71 | ||
| 72 | LD The linker. The value of `ld' is correct for SunOS 4.1.x. | |
| 73 | You may need to change it to `gcc'; make sure to change | |
| 74 | SHLIB_OPTS if you do so. | |
| 75 | ||
| 76 | Once you have edited Makefile.in, type `make Makefile' to rebuild the | |
| 77 | Makefile, then `make shared' to build the shared libraries. | |
| 78 | ||
| 79 | Documentation | |
| 80 | ============= | |
| 81 | ||
| 82 | The documentation for the Readline and History libraries appears in the | |
| 83 | `doc' subdirectory. There are two texinfo files and a Unix-style manual | |
| 84 | page describing the programming facilities available in the Readline | |
| 85 | library. The texinfo files include both user and programmer's manuals. | |
| 86 | ||
| 87 | Reporting Bugs | |
| 88 | ============== | |
| 89 | ||
| 90 | Bug reports for Readline should be sent to: | |
| 91 | ||
| 92 | bug-readline@gnu.org | |
| 93 | ||
| 94 | When reporting a bug, please include the following information: | |
| 95 | ||
| 96 | * the version number and release status of Readline (e.g., 2.2-release) | |
| 97 | * the machine and OS that it is running on | |
| 98 | * a list of the compilation flags or the contents of `config.h', if | |
| 99 | appropriate | |
| 100 | * a description of the bug | |
| 101 | * a recipe for recreating the bug reliably | |
| 102 | * a fix for the bug if you have one! | |
| 103 | ||
| 104 | If you would like to contact the Readline maintainer directly, send mail | |
| 105 | to bash-maintainers@gnu.org. | |
| 106 | ||
| 107 | Since Readline is developed along with bash, the bug-bash@gnu.org mailing | |
| 108 | list (mirrored to the Usenet newsgroup gnu.bash.bug) often contains | |
| 109 | Readline bug reports and fixes. | |
| 110 | ||
| 111 | Chet Ramey | |
| 112 | chet@po.cwru.edu |