Annotation of embedaddon/readline/README, revision 1.1
1.1 ! misho 1: Introduction
! 2: ============
! 3:
! 4: This is the Gnu Readline library, version 6.3.
! 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
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