AW: [AUCTeX-devel] Install report: XEmacs and Windows XP

[Michael Forster]

Hi David,

Actually, you already answered to to this email back then...

Regards, Mike 

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: David Kastrup [mailto:address@hidden 
> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 11. Oktober 2006 14:39
> An: Michael Forster
> Cc: address@hidden
> Betreff: Re: [AUCTeX-devel] Install report: XEmacs and Windows XP
> 
> 
> Going through backlogs now.
> 
> Michael Forster <address@hidden> writes:
> 
> > [ Sorry about the double posting. I wanted to send that to 
> > auctex-devel, but in error sent it to auctex-general ]
> >
> > Please note, that the following is not meant as a rant, but 
> rather as 
> > a guide, where the install story could be improved. I am sure that 
> > most other Windows users would have given up much earlier.
> >
> > 
> ======================================================================
> >
> > I did the following, starting on 2005-05-16 10:15 (+10:00):
> >
> > 1) O.k., so I thought, I'd start with a freshly installed XEmacs, 
> > without the risk of something being screwed up. So I moved away my 
> > ~/.xemacs directory and downloaded the newest XEmacs 
> (21.4.13) using 
> > the net installer
> >
> >     http://www.xemacs.org/Download/win32/setup.exe
> >
> > and native install. XEmacs/Windows currently comes with 
> AUCTeX 1.46, 
> > so I deselected that. No problems. MikTeX is not reinstalled.
> >
> > 2) Check out AUCTeX from CVS using TortoiseCVS. No problems.
> >
> > 3) Where's the install documentation? README.CVS: run 
> autogen.sh. Ok, 
> > Standard. What else? RELEASE? No install documentation.
> 
> The installation documentation is generated by autogen.sh.  
> README.CVS starts with
> 
>     If you retrieved AUCTeX via CVS instead of as a regular release,
>     there are some files that need to be generated from their
>     respective source files before you can continue reasonably with
>     the instructions detailed in the README and INSTALL files (which
>     will not be present otherwise).
> 
> The respective lines date from May 2005, so they probably are 
> a result of your report.
> 
> > Ah!, doc/install.texi and doc/wininstall.texi. TeXinfo 
> source? Well, 
> > probably my fault, because I got it from CVS.
> >
> > 4) Let's start with wininstall.texi. MSYS or CygWin is 
> needed? O.k. I 
> > have Cygwin installed. Let's use that. XEmacs, MikTeX and Perl are 
> > installed, so all prerequisites are fine.
> >
> > 5) autogen.sh... Error:
> >
> > 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > -----
> > makeinfo preview-latex.texi
> > ' in @synindex.exi:11: Unknown index `vr' and/or `cp ' in 
> > @synindex.exi:12: Unknown index `ky' and/or `cp ' in 
> @synindex.exi:13: 
> > Unknown index `fn' and/or `cp
> 
> Outdated version of makeinfo.  Note that in the non-CVS 
> release tarballs, makeinfo is not called nowadays if you did 
> not touch the source files.
> 
> > Now it works. Ah! Now there's also the INSTALL.windows 
> file. Fine! But 
> > the line breaks are screwed up:
> >
> > 
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------
> >   1. If you unpacked the distribution using Winzip or similar, you
> >      better
> >  restart using infozip on the `.zip' file, or standard
> >      Unix tools
> >  (see the next point) on the `.tar.gz' file: tools
> >      that make the
> >  mistake of turning Unix line endings into MSDOS
> >      line endings will cause
> >  trouble later in installation and
> >      operation.
> 
> Outdated version of makeinfo.
> 
> > Hm, I'll stay with wininstall.texi. Seems to be the same, anyways.
> 
> Yes.
> 
> > 6) Now, how do I call configure? I'll probably need 
> --prefix? What's 
> > the correct path for prefix? Probably "C:\Program Files\XEmacs". 
> > wininstall.texi said to use the C: syntax with forward 
> slashes and to 
> > avoid spaces. I try to be clever here and use
> >
> >     ./configure --prefix=C:/Progra~1/XEmacs
> >
> > XEmacs package directory not found. Hm. configure could 
> have been more 
> > clever.
> >
> >     ./configure \
> >       --prefix=C:/Progra~1/XEmacs \
> >       --with-packagedir=C:/Progra~1/XEmacs/xemacs-packages
> 
> INSTALL.windows starts nowadays with a short introduction 
> including the command lines to be used for "Program 
> Files"-based folders.
> 
> > Ghostscript not found? Did the install documentation mention that?
> > Must have missed that. Well, I have Ghostscript installed. How do I 
> > tell this to configure? I don't want to put it in the path.
> 
> Why not?
> 
> > Ah preview/INSTALL.windows mentions it. Difficult to find. 
> This should 
> > be in the top-level INSTALL.windows.
> >
> >     GS="C:/Progra~1/Ghostscript/gs8.50/bin/gswin32.exe" \
> >     ./configure \
> >       --prefix=C:/Progra~1/XEmacs \
> >       --with-packagedir=C:/Progra~1/XEmacs/xemacs-packages
> 
> It is.  Seems to be also a reaction to your report, judging 
> from the date.
> 
> > Same error! What? From where does configure put up the ~1??? Ah! My 
> > Path.
> 
> Why would one put ~1 components in the PATH?
> 
> > Summary of things, I'd like to see fixed:
> >
> > a) Handling of spaces in path names is subomptimal. Yes, I 
> know, the 
> > INSTALL file says: Don't use spaces. Unfortunately 
> "C:\Program Files" 
> > is the standard on Windows. Like it or not, but I won't install any 
> > software in non-standard places. If a software does not work with 
> > "C:\Program Files" I at least expect "C:\Progra~1" to work. 
> If this is 
> > not the case, I won't use the software.
> 
> Should be improved to a level where you would not complain.
> 
> > b) Fix compile error in preview-latex.texi
> 
> Update makeinfo, or use a release tarball.
> 
> > c) Fix screwed line breaks in INSTALL.windows
> 
> Update makeinfo, or use a release tarball.
> 
> > c) Move all relevant install information to the top-level 
> > INSTALL.windows
> 
> It pretty much contains all relevant install information.
> 
> So even so this mail does not seem to have been answered, I 
> think that most of your complaints have been addressed in the 
> mean time.
> 
> --
> David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum
> 
> 
>