readline/readline/README

   1 Introduction
   2 ============
   3
   4 This is the Gnu Readline library, version 8.0.
   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 as published by the Free Software
  20 Foundation, version 3 of the License.  For more information, see the
  21 file COPYING.
  22
  23 To build the library, try typing `./configure', then `make'.  The
  24 configuration process is automated, so no further intervention should
  25 be necessary.  Readline builds with `gcc' by default if it is
  26 available.  If you want to use `cc' instead, type
  27
  28         CC=cc ./configure
  29
  30 if you are using a Bourne-style shell.  If you are not, the following
  31 may work:
  32
  33         env CC=cc ./configure
  34
  35 Read the file INSTALL in this directory for more information about how
  36 to customize and control the build process.
  37
  38 The file rlconf.h contains C preprocessor defines that enable and disable
  39 certain Readline features.
  40
  41 The special make target `everything' will build the static and shared
  42 libraries (if the target platform supports them) and the examples.
  43
  44 Examples
  45 ========
  46
  47 There are several example programs that use Readline features in the
  48 examples directory.  The `rl' program is of particular interest.  It
  49 is a command-line interface to Readline, suitable for use in shell
  50 scripts in place of `read'.
  51
  52 Shared Libraries
  53 ================
  54
  55 There is skeletal support for building shared versions of the
  56 Readline and History libraries.  The configure script creates
  57 a Makefile in the `shlib' subdirectory, and typing `make shared'
  58 will cause shared versions of the Readline and History libraries
  59 to be built on supported platforms.
  60
  61 If `configure' is given the `--enable-shared' option, it will attempt
  62 to build the shared libraries by default on supported platforms.
  63
  64 Configure calls the script support/shobj-conf to test whether or
  65 not shared library creation is supported and to generate the values
  66 of variables that are substituted into shlib/Makefile.  If you
  67 try to build shared libraries on an unsupported platform, `make'
  68 will display a message asking you to update support/shobj-conf for
  69 your platform.
  70
  71 If you need to update support/shobj-conf, you will need to create
  72 a `stanza' for your operating system and compiler.  The script uses
  73 the value of host_os and ${CC} as determined by configure.  For
  74 instance, FreeBSD 4.2 with any version of gcc is identified as
  75 `freebsd4.2-gcc*'.
  76
  77 In the stanza for your operating system-compiler pair, you will need to
  78 define several variables.  They are:
  79
  80 SHOBJ_CC        The C compiler used to compile source files into shareable
  81                 object files.  This is normally set to the value of ${CC}
  82                 by configure, and should not need to be changed.
  83
  84 SHOBJ_CFLAGS    Flags to pass to the C compiler ($SHOBJ_CC) to create
  85                 position-independent code.  If you are using gcc, this
  86                 should probably be set to `-fpic'.
  87
  88 SHOBJ_LD        The link editor to be used to create the shared library from
  89                 the object files created by $SHOBJ_CC.  If you are using
  90                 gcc, a value of `gcc' will probably work.
  91
  92 SHOBJ_LDFLAGS   Flags to pass to SHOBJ_LD to enable shared object creation.
  93                 If you are using gcc, `-shared' may be all that is necessary.
  94                 These should be the flags needed for generic shared object
  95                 creation.
  96
  97 SHLIB_XLDFLAGS  Additional flags to pass to SHOBJ_LD for shared library
  98                 creation.  Many systems use the -R option to the link
  99                 editor to embed a path within the library for run-time
 100                 library searches.  A reasonable value for such systems would
 101                 be `-R$(libdir)'.
 102
 103 SHLIB_LIBS      Any additional libraries that shared libraries should be
 104                 linked against when they are created.
 105
 106 SHLIB_LIBPREF   The prefix to use when generating the filename of the shared
 107                 library.  The default is `lib'; Cygwin uses `cyg'.
 108
 109 SHLIB_LIBSUFF   The suffix to add to `libreadline' and `libhistory' when
 110                 generating the filename of the shared library.  Many systems
 111                 use `so'; HP-UX uses `sl'.
 112
 113 SHLIB_LIBVERSION The string to append to the filename to indicate the version
 114                 of the shared library.  It should begin with $(SHLIB_LIBSUFF),
 115                 and possibly include version information that allows the
 116                 run-time loader to load the version of the shared library
 117                 appropriate for a particular program.  Systems using shared
 118                 libraries similar to SunOS 4.x use major and minor library
 119                 version numbers; for those systems a value of
 120                 `$(SHLIB_LIBSUFF).$(SHLIB_MAJOR)$(SHLIB_MINOR)' is appropriate.
 121                 Systems based on System V Release 4 don't use minor version
 122                 numbers; use `$(SHLIB_LIBSUFF).$(SHLIB_MAJOR)' on those systems.
 123                 Other Unix versions use different schemes.
 124
 125 SHLIB_DLLVERSION The version number for shared libraries that determines API
 126                 compatibility between readline versions and the underlying
 127                 system.  Used only on Cygwin.  Defaults to $SHLIB_MAJOR, but
 128                 can be overridden at configuration time by defining DLLVERSION
 129                 in the environment.
 130
 131 SHLIB_DOT       The character used to separate the name of the shared library
 132                 from the suffix and version information.  The default is `.';
 133                 systems like Cygwin which don't separate version information
 134                 from the library name should set this to the empty string.
 135
 136 SHLIB_STATUS    Set this to `supported' when you have defined the other
 137                 necessary variables.  Make uses this to determine whether
 138                 or not shared library creation should be attempted.
 139
 140 You should look at the existing stanzas in support/shobj-conf for ideas.
 141
 142 Once you have updated support/shobj-conf, re-run configure and type
 143 `make shared'.  The shared libraries will be created in the shlib
 144 subdirectory.
 145
 146 If shared libraries are created, `make install' will install them.
 147 You may install only the shared libraries by running `make
 148 install-shared' from the top-level build directory.  Running `make
 149 install' in the shlib subdirectory will also work.  If you don't want
 150 to install any created shared libraries, run `make install-static'.
 151
 152 Documentation
 153 =============
 154
 155 The documentation for the Readline and History libraries appears in
 156 the `doc' subdirectory.  There are three texinfo files and a
 157 Unix-style manual page describing the facilities available in the
 158 Readline library.  The texinfo files include both user and
 159 programmer's manuals.  HTML versions of the manuals appear in the
 160 `doc' subdirectory as well.
 161
 162 Usage
 163 =====
 164
 165 Our position on the use of Readline through a shared-library linking
 166 mechanism is that there is no legal difference between shared-library
 167 linking and static linking--either kind of linking combines various
 168 modules into a single larger work.  The conditions for using Readline
 169 in a larger work are stated in section 3 of the GNU GPL.
 170
 171 Reporting Bugs
 172 ==============
 173
 174 Bug reports for Readline should be sent to:
 175
 176         bug-readline@gnu.org
 177
 178 When reporting a bug, please include the following information:
 179
 180         * the version number and release status of Readline (e.g., 4.2-release)
 181         * the machine and OS that it is running on
 182         * a list of the compilation flags or the contents of `config.h', if
 183           appropriate
 184         * a description of the bug
 185         * a recipe for recreating the bug reliably
 186         * a fix for the bug if you have one!
 187
 188 If you would like to contact the Readline maintainer directly, send mail
 189 to bash-maintainers@gnu.org.
 190
 191 Since Readline is developed along with bash, the bug-bash@gnu.org mailing
 192 list (mirrored to the Usenet newsgroup gnu.bash.bug) often contains
 193 Readline bug reports and fixes.
 194
 195 Chet Ramey
 196 chet.ramey@case.edu