README revision 221115
1**************************************************************************
2**************************************************************************
3**                                                                      **
4** The FreeBSD Project has chosen to redistribute and modify Less under **
5** the 'Less License' (as described in the 'LICENSE' file).             **
6**                                                                      **
7**************************************************************************
8**************************************************************************
9
10                            Less, version 436
11
12    This is the distribution of less, version 436, released 07 Jul 2009.
13    This program is part of the GNU project (http://www.gnu.org).
14
15    This program is free software.  You may redistribute it and/or
16    modify it under the terms of either:
17
18    1. The GNU General Public License, as published by the Free
19       Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option) any
20       later version.  A copy of this license is in the file COPYING.
21    or
22    2. The Less License, in the file LICENSE.
23
24    Please report any problems to bug-less@gnu.org or markn@greenwoodsoftware.com.
25    See http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less for the latest info.
26
27=========================================================================
28
29This is the distribution of "less", a paginator similar to "more" or "pg".
30
31The formatted manual page is in less.man.
32The manual page nroff source is in less.nro.
33Major changes made since the last posted version are in NEWS.
34
35=======================================================================
36INSTALLATION (Unix systems only):
37
381. Move the distributed source to its own directory and unpack it,
39   if you have not already done so.  
40
412. Type "sh configure".
42   This will generate a Makefile and a defines.h.
43   Warning: if you have a GNU sed, make sure it is version 2.05 or later.
44
45   The file INSTALL describes the usage of the configure program in
46   general.  In addition, these options to configure are supported:
47
48   --with-editor=program
49     Specifies the default editor program used by the "v" command.
50     The default is "vi".
51
52   --with-regex=lib
53     Specifies the regular expression library used by less for pattern
54     matching.  The default is "auto", which means the configure program 
55     finds a regular expression library automatically.  Other values are:
56        posix          Use the POSIX-compatible regcomp.
57        pcre           Use the PCRE library.
58        regcmp         Use the regcmp library.
59        re_comp        Use the re_comp library.
60        regcomp        Use the V8-compatible regcomp.
61        regcomp-local  Use Henry Spencer's V8-compatible regcomp
62                       (source is supplied with less).
63   --with-secure
64     Builds a "secure" version of less, with some features disabled
65	 to prevent users from viewing other files, accessing shell
66	 commands, etc.
67
68
693. It is a good idea to look over the generated Makefile and defines.h
70   and make sure they look ok.  If you know of any peculiarities of
71   your system that configure might not have detected, you may fix the
72   Makefile now.  Take particular notice of the list of "terminal" 
73   libraries in the LIBS definition in the Makefile; these may need 
74   to be edited.  The terminal libraries will be some subset of
75       -lncurses  -lcurses  -ltermcap  -ltermlib
76
77   If you wish, you may edit defines.h to remove some optional features.
78   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
79   wish to edit the manual page "less.nro" and the help page "less.hlp" 
80   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
81   If you edit less.hlp, you should run "make -f Makefile.aut help.c".
82
834. Type "make" and watch the fun.
84
855. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less",
86   "lesskey" and "lessecho" in your current directory.  Test the 
87   generated programs.
88
896. When satisfied that it works, if you wish to install it
90   in a public place, type "make install".
91
92   The default install destinations are:
93        Executables (less, lesskey, lessecho) in /usr/local/bin
94        Documentation (less.nro, lesskey.nro) in /usr/local/man/man1
95   If you want to install any of these files elsewhere, define
96   bindir and/or mandir to the appropriate directories.
97
98If you have any problems building or running "less", suggestions, 
99complaints, etc., you may mail to the author at markn@greenwoodsoftware.com.
100
101Note to hackers: comments noting possible improvements are enclosed
102in double curly brackets {{ like this }}.
103
104
105
106=======================================================================
107INSTALLATION (MS-DOS systems only,
108              with Microsoft C, Borland C, or DJGPP)
109
1101. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
111   Depending on your compiler, you may need to convert the source 
112   to have CR-LF rather than LF as line terminators.
113
1142. If you are using Microsoft C, rename MAKEFILE.DSU to MAKEFILE.
115   If you are using Borland C, rename MAKEFILE.DSB to MAKEFILE.
116   If you are using DJGPP, rename MAKEFILE.DSG to MAKEFILE.
117
1183. Look at MAKEFILE to make sure that the definitions for CC and LIBDIR
119   are correct.  CC should be the name of your C compiler and
120   LIBDIR should be the directory where the C libraries reside (for
121   Microsoft C only).  If these definitions need to be changed, you can
122   either modify the definitions directly in MAKEFILE, or set your
123   environment variables CC and/or LIBDIR to override the definitions
124   in MAKEFILE.
125
1264. If you wish, you may edit DEFINES.DS to remove some optional features.
127   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
128   wish to edit the manual page LESS.MAN and the help page HELP.C
129   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
130
1315. Run your "make" program and watch the fun.
132   If your "make" requires a flag to import environment variables,
133   you should use that flag.
134   If your compiler runs out of memory, try running "make -n >cmds.bat" 
135   and then run cmds.bat.
136
1376. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "LESS.EXE" and
138   "LESSKEY.EXE" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
139
1407. When satisfied that it works, you may wish to install LESS.EXE and
141   LESSKEY.EXE in a directory which is included in your PATH.
142
143
144
145=======================================================================
146INSTALLATION (Windows-95, Windows-98 and Windows-NT systems only,
147              with Borland C or Microsoft Visual C++)
148
1491. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
150
1512. If you are using Borland C, rename Makefile.wnb to Makefile.
152   If you are using Microsoft Visual C++, rename Makefile.wnm to Makefile.
153
1543. Check the Makefile to make sure the definitions look ok.
155
1564. If you wish, you may edit defines.wn to remove some optional features.
157   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
158   wish to edit the manual page less.man and the help page help.c
159   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
160
1615. Type "make" and watch the fun.
162
1636. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less.exe" and
164   "lesskey.exe" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
165
1667. When satisfied that it works, if you wish to install it
167   in a public place, type "make install".
168   See step 6 of the Unix installation instructions for details
169   on how to change the default installation directories.
170
171
172
173=======================================================================
174INSTALLATION (OS/2 systems only,
175              with EMX C)
176
1771. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
178
1792. Rename Makefile.o2e to Makefile.
180
1813. Check the Makefile to make sure the definitions look ok.
182
1834. If you wish, you may edit defines.o2 to remove some optional features.
184   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
185   wish to edit the manual page less.man and the help page help.c
186   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
187
1885. Type "make" and watch the fun.
189
1906. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less.exe" and
191   "lesskey.exe" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
192
1937. Make sure you have the emx runtime installed. You need the emx DLLs
194   emx.dll and emxlibcs.dll and also the termcap database, termcap.dat.
195   Make sure you have termcap.dat either in the default location or
196   somewhere in a directory listed in the PATH or INIT environment 
197   variables.
198
1998. When satisfied that it works, you may wish to install less.exe,
200   lesskey.exe and scrsize.exe in a directory which is included in 
201   your PATH.  scrsize.exe is required only if you use a terminal
202   emulator such as xterm or rxvt.
203
204
205
206=======================================================================
207INSTALLATION (OS-9 systems only,
208              with Microware C or Ultra C)
209
2101. Move the distributed source to its own directory.
211
2122. If you are using Microware C, rename Makefile.o9c to Makefile.
213   If you are using Ultra C, rename Makefile.o9u to Makefile.
214
2153. Check the Makefile to make sure the definitions look ok.
216
2174. If you wish, you may edit defines.o9 to remove some optional features.
218   If you choose not to include some features in your version, you may
219   wish to edit the manual page less.man and the help page help.c
220   to remove the descriptions of the features which you are removing.
221
2225. Type "dmake" and watch the fun.
223   The standard OS-9 "make" will probably not work.  If you don't
224   have dmake, you can get a copy from os9archive.rtsi.com.
225
2266. If the make succeeds, it will generate the programs "less" and
227   "lesskey" in your current directory.  Test the generated programs.
228
2297. When satisfied that it works, if you wish to install it
230   in a public place, type "dmake install".
231   See step 6 of the Unix installation instructions for details
232   on how to change the default installation directories.
233
234=======================================================================
235ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
236  Some versions of the less distribution are packaged using 
237  Info-ZIP's compression utility.
238  Info-ZIP's software is free and can be obtained as source 
239  code or executables from various anonymous-ftp sites,
240  including ftp.uu.net:/pub/archiving/zip.
241