ctags/INSTALL.md

Custom Installation

These installation instructions are for Unix or Unix-like platforms (or at least, those platforms which are able to run a Bourne shell script). If you are attempting to install Exuberant Ctags on some other platform, see the file INSTALL.oth.

If you are not familiar with using the configure scripts generated by GNU autoconf, read the "Basic Installation" section below; then return here. The configure script in this package supports the following custom options:

--disable-etags By default, "make install" will install one binary, "ctags", one man page, "ctags.1", and create links to these two files by the names "etags" and "etags.1". If you do not want to install the "etags" links, use this option.

--disable-extended-format Ctags now appends "extension flags" to the end of each tag entry in a manner which is backwards with original Vi implementation (they are placed into an EX comment). This can be disabled via use of the ctags --format option. This configure option changes the default behavior of ctags to disable use of these extension flags (i.e. use the original tag file format).

--disable-external-sort Use this option to force use of an internal sort algorithm. On UNIX-like systems, ctags uses the sort utility of the operating system by default because it is more memory efficient.

--enable-custom-config=FILE Defines a custom option configuration file to establish site-wide defaults. Ctags will read the following files at startup for options: /etc/ctags.conf, /usr/local/etc/ctags.conf, $HOME/.ctags, and .ctags. If you need a different file, set this option to the full path name of the file you want to be read, and it will be read immediately before reading $HOME/.ctags.

--enable-macro-patterns By default, line numbers are used in the tag file for #define objects, in order to remain compatible with the original UNIX ctags. This option will make the default use patterns.

--enable-maintainer-mode Creates a special GNU-specific version of the makefile which is used to maintain Exuberant Ctags.

--enable-tmpdir=DIR When the library function mkstemp() is available, this option allows specifying the default directory to use for temporary files generated by ctags. This default can be changed at run time by setting the environment variable TMPDIR.

If you wish to change the name of the installed files, edit the makefile produced by the configure script ("Makefile") before performing the "make install" step. There are two lines at the top of the file where the names of the installed files may be customized.

Basic Installation

These are generic installation instructions.

The configure' shell script attempts to guess correct values for various system-dependent variables used during compilation. It uses those values to create a Makefile' in each directory of the package. It may also create one or more .h' files containing system-dependent definitions. Finally, it creates a shell script config.status' that you can run in the future to recreate the current configuration, a file config.cache' that saves the results of its tests to speed up reconfiguring, and a file config.log' containing compiler output (useful mainly for debugging `configure').

If you need to do unusual things to compile the package, please try to figure out how configure' could check whether to do them, and mail diffs or instructions to the address given in the README' so they can be considered for the next release. If at some point `config.cache' contains results you don't want to keep, you may remove or edit it.

The file configure.in' is used to create configure' by a program called autoconf'. You only need configure.in' if you want to change it or regenerate configure' using a newer version of autoconf'.

The simplest way to compile this package is:

1. cd' to the directory containing the package's source code and type ./configure' to configure the package for your system. If you're using csh' on an old version of System V, you might need to type sh ./configure' instead to prevent csh' from trying to execute configure' itself.

   Running `configure' takes awhile. While running, it prints some messages telling which features it is checking for.

2. Type `make' to compile the package.

3. Optionally, type `make check' to run any self-tests that come with the package.

4. Type `make install' to install the programs and any data files and documentation.

5. You can remove the program binaries and object files from the source code directory by typing make clean'. To also remove the files that configure' created (so you can compile the package for a different kind of computer), type `make distclean'.

Compilers and Options

Some systems require unusual options for compilation or linking that the configure' script does not know about. You can give configure' initial values for variables by setting them in the environment. Using a Bourne-compatible shell, you can do that on the command line like this: CC=c89 CFLAGS=-O2 LIBS=-lposix ./configure

Or on systems that have the `env' program, you can do it like this: env CPPFLAGS=-I/usr/local/include LDFLAGS=-s ./configure

Compiling For Multiple Architectures

You can compile the package for more than one kind of computer at the same time, by placing the object files for each architecture in their own directory. To do this, you must use a version of make' that supports the VPATH' variable, such as GNU make'. cd' to the directory where you want the object files and executables to go and run the configure' script. configure' automatically checks for the source code in the directory that configure' is in and in ..'.

If you have to use a make' that does not supports the VPATH' variable, you have to compile the package for one architecture at a time in the source code directory. After you have installed the package for one architecture, use `make distclean' before reconfiguring for another architecture.

Installation Names

By default, make install' will install the package's files in /usr/local/bin', /usr/local/man', etc. You can specify an installation prefix other than /usr/local' by giving configure' the option --prefix=PATH'.

You can specify separate installation prefixes for architecture-specific files and architecture-independent files. If you give configure' the option --exec-prefix=PATH', the package will use PATH as the prefix for installing programs and libraries. Documentation and other data files will still use the regular prefix.

In addition, if you use an unusual directory layout you can give options like --bindir=PATH' to specify different values for particular kinds of files. Run configure --help' for a list of the directories you can set and what kinds of files go in them.

Optional Features

Some packages pay attention to --enable-FEATURE' options to configure', where FEATURE indicates an optional part of the package. They may also pay attention to --with-PACKAGE' options, where PACKAGE is something like gnu-as' or x' (for the X Window System). The README' should mention any --enable-' and --with-' options that the package recognizes.

Sharing Defaults

If you want to set default values for configure' scripts to share, you can create a site shell script called config.site' that gives default values for variables like CC', cache_file', and prefix'. configure' looks for PREFIX/share/config.site' if it exists, then PREFIX/etc/config.site' if it exists. Or, you can set the CONFIG_SITE' environment variable to the location of the site script. A warning: not all configure' scripts look for a site script.

Operation Controls

`configure' recognizes the following options to control how it operates.

--cache-file=FILE' Use and save the results of the tests in FILE instead of ./config.cache'. Set FILE to /dev/null' to disable caching, for debugging configure'.

--help' Print a summary of the options to configure', and exit.

--quiet' --silent' -q' Do not print messages saying which checks are being made. To suppress all normal output, redirect it to /dev/null' (any error messages will still be shown).

--srcdir=DIR' Look for the package's source code in directory DIR. Usually configure' can determine that directory automatically.

--version' Print the version of Autoconf used to generate the configure' script, and exit.

`configure' also accepts some other, not widely useful, options.