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(efaq)Installing Emacs

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How do I install Emacs?
=======================

   This answer is meant for users of Unix and Unix-like systems.  Users
of other operating systems should see the series of questions beginning
with Note: Emacs for MS-DOS, which describe where to get non-Unix
source and binaries, and how to install Emacs on those systems.

   For Unix and Unix-like systems, the easiest way is often to compile
it from scratch.  You will need:

   * Emacs sources.  Note: Current GNU distributions, for a list of
     ftp sites that make them available.  On `ftp.gnu.org', the main GNU
     distribution site, sources are available as

     `ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/emacs-21.2.tar.gz'

     The above will obviously change as new versions of Emacs come out.
     For instance, when Emacs 21.42 is released, it will most probably
     be available as

     `ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/emacs/emacs-21.42.tar.gz'

     Again, you should use one of the GNU mirror sites (see Note:
     Current GNU distributions, and adjust the URL accordingly) so as
     to reduce load on `ftp.gnu.org'.

   * `gzip', the GNU compression utility.  You can get `gzip' via
     anonymous ftp at mirrors of `ftp.gnu.org' sites; it should compile
     and install without much trouble on most systems.  Once you have
     retrieved the Emacs sources, you will probably be able to
     uncompress them with the command

          gunzip --verbose emacs-21.2.tar.gz

     changing the Emacs version (21.2), as necessary.  Once `gunzip'
     has finished doing its job, a file by the name of `emacs-21.2.tar'
     should be in your build directory.

   * `tar', the "tape archiving" program, which moves multiple files
     into and out of archive files, or "tarfiles".  All of the files
     comprising the Emacs source come in a single tarfile, and must be
     extracted using `tar' before you can build Emacs.  Typically, the
     extraction command would look like

          tar -xvvf emacs-21.2.tar

     The `x' indicates that we want to extract files from this tarfile,
     the two `v's force verbose output, and the `f' tells `tar' to use
     a disk file, rather than one on the tape drive.

     If you're using GNU `tar' (available at mirrors of `ftp.gnu.org'),
     you can combine this step and the previous one by using the command

          tar -zxvvf emacs-21.2.tar.gz

     The additional `z' at the beginning of the options list tells GNU
     `tar' to uncompress the file with `gunzip' before extracting the
     tarfile's components.


   At this point, the Emacs sources (all 70+ megabytes of them) should
be sitting in a directory called `emacs-21.2'.  On most common Unix and
Unix-like systems, you should be able to compile Emacs (with X Window
system support) with the following commands:

     cd emacs-21.2       # change directory to emacs-21.2
     ./configure         # configure Emacs for your particular system
     make                # use Makefile to build components, then Emacs

   If the `make' completes successfully, the odds are fairly good that
the build has gone well.  (Note: Problems building Emacs, if you
weren't successful.)

   By default, Emacs is installed in the following directories:

`/usr/local/bin'
     binaries.

`/usr/local/share/emacs/21.2'
     Lisp code and support files.

`/usr/local/info'
     Info documentation.

   To install files in those default directories, become the superuser
and type

     make install

   Note that `make install' will overwrite `/usr/local/bin/emacs' and
any Emacs Info files that might be in `/usr/local/info'.

   Much more verbose instructions (with many more hints and suggestions)
come with the Emacs sources, in the file `INSTALL'.