readline/README

   1 Introduction
   2 ============
   3
   4 This is the Gnu Readline library, version 5.1.
   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] General Public License, version 2.  For more information, see
  20 the file 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 C preprocessor defines that enable and disable
  38 certain Readline features.
  39
  40 The special make target `everything' will build the static and shared
  41 libraries (if the target platform supports them) and the examples.
  42
  43 Examples
  44 ========
  45
  46 There are several example programs that use Readline features in the
  47 examples directory.  The `rl' program is of particular interest.  It
  48 is a command-line interface to Readline, suitable for use in shell
  49 scripts in place of `read'.
  50
  51 Shared Libraries
  52 ================
  53
  54 There is skeletal support for building shared versions of the
  55 Readline and History libraries.  The configure script creates
  56 a Makefile in the `shlib' subdirectory, and typing `make shared'
  57 will cause shared versions of the Readline and History libraries
  58 to be built on supported platforms.
  59
  60 If `configure' is given the `--enable-shared' option, it will attempt
  61 to build the shared libraries by default on supported platforms.
  62
  63 Configure calls the script support/shobj-conf to test whether or
  64 not shared library creation is supported and to generate the values
  65 of variables that are substituted into shlib/Makefile.  If you
  66 try to build shared libraries on an unsupported platform, `make'
  67 will display a message asking you to update support/shobj-conf for
  68 your platform.
  69
  70 If you need to update support/shobj-conf, you will need to create
  71 a `stanza' for your operating system and compiler.  The script uses
  72 the value of host_os and ${CC} as determined by configure.  For
  73 instance, FreeBSD 4.2 with any version of gcc is identified as
  74 `freebsd4.2-gcc*'.
  75
  76 In the stanza for your operating system-compiler pair, you will need to
  77 define several variables.  They are:
  78
  79 SHOBJ_CC        The C compiler used to compile source files into shareable
  80                 object files.  This is normally set to the value of ${CC}
  81                 by configure, and should not need to be changed.
  82
  83 SHOBJ_CFLAGS    Flags to pass to the C compiler ($SHOBJ_CC) to create
  84                 position-independent code.  If you are using gcc, this
  85                 should probably be set to `-fpic'.
  86
  87 SHOBJ_LD        The link editor to be used to create the shared library from
  88                 the object files created by $SHOBJ_CC.  If you are using
  89                 gcc, a value of `gcc' will probably work.
  90
  91 SHOBJ_LDFLAGS   Flags to pass to SHOBJ_LD to enable shared object creation.
  92                 If you are using gcc, `-shared' may be all that is necessary.
  93                 These should be the flags needed for generic shared object
  94                 creation.
  95
  96 SHLIB_XLDFLAGS  Additional flags to pass to SHOBJ_LD for shared library
  97                 creation.  Many systems use the -R option to the link
  98                 editor to embed a path within the library for run-time
  99                 library searches.  A reasonable value for such systems would
 100                 be `-R$(libdir)'.
 101
 102 SHLIB_LIBS      Any additional libraries that shared libraries should be
 103                 linked against when they are created.
 104
 105 SHLIB_LIBPREF   The prefix to use when generating the filename of the shared
 106                 library.  The default is `lib'; Cygwin uses `cyg'.
 107
 108 SHLIB_LIBSUFF   The suffix to add to `libreadline' and `libhistory' when
 109                 generating the filename of the shared library.  Many systems
 110                 use `so'; HP-UX uses `sl'.
 111
 112 SHLIB_LIBVERSION The string to append to the filename to indicate the version
 113                 of the shared library.  It should begin with $(SHLIB_LIBSUFF),
 114                 and possibly include version information that allows the
 115                 run-time loader to load the version of the shared library
 116                 appropriate for a particular program.  Systems using shared
 117                 libraries similar to SunOS 4.x use major and minor library
 118                 version numbers; for those systems a value of
 119                 `$(SHLIB_LIBSUFF).$(SHLIB_MAJOR)$(SHLIB_MINOR)' is appropriate.
 120                 Systems based on System V Release 4 don't use minor version
 121                 numbers; use `$(SHLIB_LIBSUFF).$(SHLIB_MAJOR)' on those systems.
 122                 Other Unix versions use different schemes.
 123
 124 SHLIB_DLLVERSION The version number for shared libraries that determines API
 125                 compatibility between readline versions and the underlying
 126                 system.  Used only on Cygwin.  Defaults to $SHLIB_MAJOR, but
 127                 can be overridden at configuration time by defining DLLVERSION
 128                 in the environment.
 129
 130 SHLIB_DOT       The character used to separate the name of the shared library
 131                 from the suffix and version information.  The default is `.';
 132                 systems like Cygwin which don't separate version information
 133                 from the library name should set this to the empty string.
 134
 135 SHLIB_STATUS    Set this to `supported' when you have defined the other
 136                 necessary variables.  Make uses this to determine whether
 137                 or not shared library creation should be attempted.
 138
 139 You should look at the existing stanzas in support/shobj-conf for ideas.
 140
 141 Once you have updated support/shobj-conf, re-run configure and type
 142 `make shared'.  The shared libraries will be created in the shlib
 143 subdirectory.
 144
 145 If shared libraries are created, `make install' will install them.
 146 You may install only the shared libraries by running `make
 147 install-shared' from the top-level build directory.  Running `make
 148 install' in the shlib subdirectory will also work.  If you don't want
 149 to install any created shared libraries, run `make install-static'.
 150
 151 Documentation
 152 =============
 153
 154 The documentation for the Readline and History libraries appears in
 155 the `doc' subdirectory.  There are three texinfo files and a
 156 Unix-style manual page describing the facilities available in the
 157 Readline library.  The texinfo files include both user and
 158 programmer's manuals.  HTML versions of the manuals appear in the
 159 `doc' subdirectory as well.
 160
 161 Reporting Bugs
 162 ==============
 163
 164 Bug reports for Readline should be sent to:
 165
 166         bug-readline@gnu.org
 167
 168 When reporting a bug, please include the following information:
 169
 170         * the version number and release status of Readline (e.g., 4.2-release)
 171         * the machine and OS that it is running on
 172         * a list of the compilation flags or the contents of `config.h', if
 173           appropriate
 174         * a description of the bug
 175         * a recipe for recreating the bug reliably
 176         * a fix for the bug if you have one!
 177
 178 If you would like to contact the Readline maintainer directly, send mail
 179 to bash-maintainers@gnu.org.
 180
 181 Since Readline is developed along with bash, the bug-bash@gnu.org mailing
 182 list (mirrored to the Usenet newsgroup gnu.bash.bug) often contains
 183 Readline bug reports and fixes.
 184
 185 Chet Ramey
 186 chet@po.cwru.edu