• Home
  • Line#
  • Scopes#
  • Navigate#
  • Raw
  • Download
1Installation Instructions
2*************************
3
4Copyright (C) 1994-1996, 1999-2002, 2004-2013 Free Software Foundation,
5Inc.
6
7   Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
8are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
9notice and this notice are preserved.  This file is offered as-is,
10without warranty of any kind.
11
12Basic Installation
13==================
14
15Briefly, the shell command './configure && make && make install' should
16configure, build, and install this package.  The following more-detailed
17instructions are generic; see the 'README' file for instructions
18specific to this package.  Some packages provide this 'INSTALL' file but
19do not implement all of the features documented below.  The lack of an
20optional feature in a given package is not necessarily a bug.  More
21recommendations for GNU packages can be found in *note Makefile
22Conventions: (standards)Makefile Conventions.
23
24   The 'configure' shell script attempts to guess correct values for
25various system-dependent variables used during compilation.  It uses
26those values to create a 'Makefile' in each directory of the package.
27It may also create one or more '.h' files containing system-dependent
28definitions.  Finally, it creates a shell script 'config.status' that
29you can run in the future to recreate the current configuration, and a
30file 'config.log' containing compiler output (useful mainly for
31debugging 'configure').
32
33   It can also use an optional file (typically called 'config.cache' and
34enabled with '--cache-file=config.cache' or simply '-C') that saves the
35results of its tests to speed up reconfiguring.  Caching is disabled by
36default to prevent problems with accidental use of stale cache files.
37
38   If you need to do unusual things to compile the package, please try
39to figure out how 'configure' could check whether to do them, and mail
40diffs or instructions to the address given in the 'README' so they can
41be considered for the next release.  If you are using the cache, and at
42some point 'config.cache' contains results you don't want to keep, you
43may remove or edit it.
44
45   The file 'configure.ac' (or 'configure.in') is used to create
46'configure' by a program called 'autoconf'.  You need 'configure.ac' if
47you want to change it or regenerate 'configure' using a newer version of
48'autoconf'.
49
50   The simplest way to compile this package is:
51
52  1. 'cd' to the directory containing the package's source code and type
53     './configure' to configure the package for your system.
54
55     Running 'configure' might take a while.  While running, it prints
56     some messages telling which features it is checking for.
57
58  2. Type 'make' to compile the package.
59
60  3. Optionally, type 'make check' to run any self-tests that come with
61     the package, generally using the just-built uninstalled binaries.
62
63  4. Type 'make install' to install the programs and any data files and
64     documentation.  When installing into a prefix owned by root, it is
65     recommended that the package be configured and built as a regular
66     user, and only the 'make install' phase executed with root
67     privileges.
68
69  5. Optionally, type 'make installcheck' to repeat any self-tests, but
70     this time using the binaries in their final installed location.
71     This target does not install anything.  Running this target as a
72     regular user, particularly if the prior 'make install' required
73     root privileges, verifies that the installation completed
74     correctly.
75
76  6. You can remove the program binaries and object files from the
77     source code directory by typing 'make clean'.  To also remove the
78     files that 'configure' created (so you can compile the package for
79     a different kind of computer), type 'make distclean'.  There is
80     also a 'make maintainer-clean' target, but that is intended mainly
81     for the package's developers.  If you use it, you may have to get
82     all sorts of other programs in order to regenerate files that came
83     with the distribution.
84
85  7. Often, you can also type 'make uninstall' to remove the installed
86     files again.  In practice, not all packages have tested that
87     uninstallation works correctly, even though it is required by the
88     GNU Coding Standards.
89
90  8. Some packages, particularly those that use Automake, provide 'make
91     distcheck', which can by used by developers to test that all other
92     targets like 'make install' and 'make uninstall' work correctly.
93     This target is generally not run by end users.
94
95Compilers and Options
96=====================
97
98Some systems require unusual options for compilation or linking that the
99'configure' script does not know about.  Run './configure --help' for
100details on some of the pertinent environment variables.
101
102   You can give 'configure' initial values for configuration parameters
103by setting variables in the command line or in the environment.  Here is
104an example:
105
106     ./configure CC=c99 CFLAGS=-g LIBS=-lposix
107
108   *Note Defining Variables::, for more details.
109
110Installation Names
111==================
112
113By default, 'make install' installs the package's commands under
114'/usr/local/bin', include files under '/usr/local/include', etc.  You
115can specify an installation prefix other than '/usr/local' by giving
116'configure' the option '--prefix=PREFIX', where PREFIX must be an
117absolute file name.
118
119   You can specify separate installation prefixes for
120architecture-specific files and architecture-independent files.  If you
121pass the option '--exec-prefix=PREFIX' to 'configure', the package uses
122PREFIX as the prefix for installing programs and libraries.
123Documentation and other data files still use the regular prefix.
124
125   In addition, if you use an unusual directory layout you can give
126options like '--bindir=DIR' to specify different values for particular
127kinds of files.  Run 'configure --help' for a list of the directories
128you can set and what kinds of files go in them.  In general, the default
129for these options is expressed in terms of '${prefix}', so that
130specifying just '--prefix' will affect all of the other directory
131specifications that were not explicitly provided.
132
133   The most portable way to affect installation locations is to pass the
134correct locations to 'configure'; however, many packages provide one or
135both of the following shortcuts of passing variable assignments to the
136'make install' command line to change installation locations without
137having to reconfigure or recompile.
138
139   The first method involves providing an override variable for each
140affected directory.  For example, 'make install
141prefix=/alternate/directory' will choose an alternate location for all
142directory configuration variables that were expressed in terms of
143'${prefix}'.  Any directories that were specified during 'configure',
144but not in terms of '${prefix}', must each be overridden at install time
145for the entire installation to be relocated.  The approach of makefile
146variable overrides for each directory variable is required by the GNU
147Coding Standards, and ideally causes no recompilation.  However, some
148platforms have known limitations with the semantics of shared libraries
149that end up requiring recompilation when using this method, particularly
150noticeable in packages that use GNU Libtool.
151
152   The second method involves providing the 'DESTDIR' variable.  For
153example, 'make install DESTDIR=/alternate/directory' will prepend
154'/alternate/directory' before all installation names.  The approach of
155'DESTDIR' overrides is not required by the GNU Coding Standards, and
156does not work on platforms that have drive letters.  On the other hand,
157it does better at avoiding recompilation issues, and works well even
158when some directory options were not specified in terms of '${prefix}'
159at 'configure' time.
160
161Optional Features
162=================
163
164If the package supports it, you can cause programs to be installed with
165an extra prefix or suffix on their names by giving 'configure' the
166option '--program-prefix=PREFIX' or '--program-suffix=SUFFIX'.
167
168   Some packages pay attention to '--enable-FEATURE' options to
169'configure', where FEATURE indicates an optional part of the package.
170They may also pay attention to '--with-PACKAGE' options, where PACKAGE
171is something like 'gnu-as' or 'x' (for the X Window System).  The
172'README' should mention any '--enable-' and '--with-' options that the
173package recognizes.
174
175   For packages that use the X Window System, 'configure' can usually
176find the X include and library files automatically, but if it doesn't,
177you can use the 'configure' options '--x-includes=DIR' and
178'--x-libraries=DIR' to specify their locations.
179
180   Some packages offer the ability to configure how verbose the
181execution of 'make' will be.  For these packages, running './configure
182--enable-silent-rules' sets the default to minimal output, which can be
183overridden with 'make V=1'; while running './configure
184--disable-silent-rules' sets the default to verbose, which can be
185overridden with 'make V=0'.
186
187Specifying the System Type
188==========================
189
190There may be some features 'configure' cannot figure out automatically,
191but needs to determine by the type of machine the package will run on.
192Usually, assuming the package is built to be run on the _same_
193architectures, 'configure' can figure that out, but if it prints a
194message saying it cannot guess the machine type, give it the
195'--build=TYPE' option.  TYPE can either be a short name for the system
196type, such as 'sun4', or a canonical name which has the form:
197
198     CPU-COMPANY-SYSTEM
199
200where SYSTEM can have one of these forms:
201
202     OS
203     KERNEL-OS
204
205   See the file 'config.sub' for the possible values of each field.  If
206'config.sub' isn't included in this package, then this package doesn't
207need to know the machine type.
208
209   If you are _building_ compiler tools for cross-compiling, you should
210use the option '--target=TYPE' to select the type of system they will
211produce code for.
212
213   If you want to _use_ a cross compiler, that generates code for a
214platform different from the build platform, you should specify the
215"host" platform (i.e., that on which the generated programs will
216eventually be run) with '--host=TYPE'.
217
218Sharing Defaults
219================
220
221If you want to set default values for 'configure' scripts to share, you
222can create a site shell script called 'config.site' that gives default
223values for variables like 'CC', 'cache_file', and 'prefix'.  'configure'
224looks for 'PREFIX/share/config.site' if it exists, then
225'PREFIX/etc/config.site' if it exists.  Or, you can set the
226'CONFIG_SITE' environment variable to the location of the site script.
227A warning: not all 'configure' scripts look for a site script.
228
229Defining Variables
230==================
231
232Variables not defined in a site shell script can be set in the
233environment passed to 'configure'.  However, some packages may run
234configure again during the build, and the customized values of these
235variables may be lost.  In order to avoid this problem, you should set
236them in the 'configure' command line, using 'VAR=value'.  For example:
237
238     ./configure CC=/usr/local2/bin/gcc
239
240causes the specified 'gcc' to be used as the C compiler (unless it is
241overridden in the site shell script).
242
243Unfortunately, this technique does not work for 'CONFIG_SHELL' due to an
244Autoconf limitation.  Until the limitation is lifted, you can use this
245workaround:
246
247     CONFIG_SHELL=/bin/bash ./configure CONFIG_SHELL=/bin/bash
248
249'configure' Invocation
250======================
251
252'configure' recognizes the following options to control how it operates.
253
254'--help'
255'-h'
256     Print a summary of all of the options to 'configure', and exit.
257
258'--help=short'
259'--help=recursive'
260     Print a summary of the options unique to this package's
261     'configure', and exit.  The 'short' variant lists options used only
262     in the top level, while the 'recursive' variant lists options also
263     present in any nested packages.
264
265'--version'
266'-V'
267     Print the version of Autoconf used to generate the 'configure'
268     script, and exit.
269
270'--cache-file=FILE'
271     Enable the cache: use and save the results of the tests in FILE,
272     traditionally 'config.cache'.  FILE defaults to '/dev/null' to
273     disable caching.
274
275'--config-cache'
276'-C'
277     Alias for '--cache-file=config.cache'.
278
279'--quiet'
280'--silent'
281'-q'
282     Do not print messages saying which checks are being made.  To
283     suppress all normal output, redirect it to '/dev/null' (any error
284     messages will still be shown).
285
286'--srcdir=DIR'
287     Look for the package's source code in directory DIR.  Usually
288     'configure' can determine that directory automatically.
289
290'--prefix=DIR'
291     Use DIR as the installation prefix.  *note Installation Names:: for
292     more details, including other options available for fine-tuning the
293     installation locations.
294
295'--no-create'
296'-n'
297     Run the configure checks, but stop before creating any output
298     files.
299
300'configure' also accepts some other, not widely useful, options.  Run
301'configure --help' for more details.
302