1: Introduction
2: ============
3:
4: This is the Gnu Readline library, version 8.1.
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 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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