| 1 |
1181 |
sfurman |
Introduction
|
| 2 |
|
|
============
|
| 3 |
|
|
|
| 4 |
|
|
This is the Gnu Readline library, version 4.1.
|
| 5 |
|
|
|
| 6 |
|
|
The Readline library provides a set of functions for use by applications
|
| 7 |
|
|
that allow users to edit command lines as they are typed in. Both
|
| 8 |
|
|
Emacs and vi editing modes are available. The Readline library includes
|
| 9 |
|
|
additional functions to maintain a list of previously-entered command
|
| 10 |
|
|
lines, to recall and perhaps reedit those lines, and perform csh-like
|
| 11 |
|
|
history expansion on previous commands.
|
| 12 |
|
|
|
| 13 |
|
|
The history facilites are also placed into a separate library, the
|
| 14 |
|
|
History library, as part of the build process. The History library
|
| 15 |
|
|
may be used without Readline in applications which desire its
|
| 16 |
|
|
capabilities.
|
| 17 |
|
|
|
| 18 |
|
|
The Readline library is free software, distributed under the terms of
|
| 19 |
|
|
the GNU Public License, version 2. For more information, see the file
|
| 20 |
|
|
COPYING.
|
| 21 |
|
|
|
| 22 |
|
|
To build the library, try typing `./configure', then `make'. The
|
| 23 |
|
|
configuration process is automated, so no further intervention should
|
| 24 |
|
|
be necessary. Readline builds with `gcc' by default if it is
|
| 25 |
|
|
available. If you want to use `cc' instead, type
|
| 26 |
|
|
|
| 27 |
|
|
CC=cc ./configure
|
| 28 |
|
|
|
| 29 |
|
|
if you are using a Bourne-style shell. If you are not, the following
|
| 30 |
|
|
may work:
|
| 31 |
|
|
|
| 32 |
|
|
env CC=cc ./configure
|
| 33 |
|
|
|
| 34 |
|
|
Read the file INSTALL in this directory for more information about how
|
| 35 |
|
|
to customize and control the build process.
|
| 36 |
|
|
|
| 37 |
|
|
The file rlconf.h contains C preprocessor defines that enable and disable
|
| 38 |
|
|
certain Readline features.
|
| 39 |
|
|
|
| 40 |
|
|
Examples
|
| 41 |
|
|
========
|
| 42 |
|
|
|
| 43 |
|
|
There are several example programs that use Readline features in the
|
| 44 |
|
|
examples directory. The `rl' program is of particular interest. It
|
| 45 |
|
|
is a command-line interface to Readline, suitable for use in shell
|
| 46 |
|
|
scripts in place of `read'.
|
| 47 |
|
|
|
| 48 |
|
|
Shared Libraries
|
| 49 |
|
|
================
|
| 50 |
|
|
|
| 51 |
|
|
There is skeletal support for building shared versions of the
|
| 52 |
|
|
Readline and History libraries. The configure script creates
|
| 53 |
|
|
a Makefile in the `shlib' subdirectory, and typing `make shared'
|
| 54 |
|
|
will cause shared versions of the Readline and History libraries
|
| 55 |
|
|
to be built on supported platforms.
|
| 56 |
|
|
|
| 57 |
|
|
Configure calls the script support/shobj-conf to test whether or
|
| 58 |
|
|
not shared library creation is supported and to generate the values
|
| 59 |
|
|
of variables that are substituted into shlib/Makefile. If you
|
| 60 |
|
|
try to build shared libraries on an unsupported platform, `make'
|
| 61 |
|
|
will display a message asking you to update support/shobj-conf for
|
| 62 |
|
|
your platform.
|
| 63 |
|
|
|
| 64 |
|
|
If you need to update support/shobj-conf, you will need to create
|
| 65 |
|
|
a `stanza' for your operating system and compiler. The script uses
|
| 66 |
|
|
the value of host_os and ${CC} as determined by configure. For
|
| 67 |
|
|
instance, FreeBSD 2.2.5 with any version of gcc is identified as
|
| 68 |
|
|
`freebsd2.2.5-gcc*'.
|
| 69 |
|
|
|
| 70 |
|
|
In the stanza for your operating system-compiler pair, you will need to
|
| 71 |
|
|
define several variables. They are:
|
| 72 |
|
|
|
| 73 |
|
|
SHOBJ_CC The C compiler used to compile source files into shareable
|
| 74 |
|
|
object files. This is normally set to the value of ${CC}
|
| 75 |
|
|
by configure, and should not need to be changed.
|
| 76 |
|
|
|
| 77 |
|
|
SHOBJ_CFLAGS Flags to pass to the C compiler ($SHOBJ_CC) to create
|
| 78 |
|
|
position-independent code. If you are using gcc, this
|
| 79 |
|
|
should probably be set to `-fpic'.
|
| 80 |
|
|
|
| 81 |
|
|
SHOBJ_LD The link editor to be used to create the shared library from
|
| 82 |
|
|
the object files created by $SHOBJ_CC. If you are using
|
| 83 |
|
|
gcc, a value of `gcc' will probably work.
|
| 84 |
|
|
|
| 85 |
|
|
SHOBJ_LDFLAGS Flags to pass to SHOBJ_LD to enable shared object creation.
|
| 86 |
|
|
If you are using gcc, `-shared' may be all that is necessary.
|
| 87 |
|
|
These should be the flags needed for generic shared object
|
| 88 |
|
|
creation.
|
| 89 |
|
|
|
| 90 |
|
|
SHLIB_XLDFLAGS Additional flags to pass to SHOBJ_LD for shared library
|
| 91 |
|
|
creation. Many systems use the -R option to the link
|
| 92 |
|
|
editor to embed a path within the library for run-time
|
| 93 |
|
|
library searches. A reasonable value for such systems would
|
| 94 |
|
|
be `-R$(libdir)'.
|
| 95 |
|
|
|
| 96 |
|
|
SHLIB_LIBS Any additional libraries that shared libraries should be
|
| 97 |
|
|
linked against when they are created.
|
| 98 |
|
|
|
| 99 |
|
|
SHLIB_LIBSUFF The suffix to add to `libreadline' and `libhistory' when
|
| 100 |
|
|
generating the filename of the shared library. Many systems
|
| 101 |
|
|
use `so'; HP-UX uses `sl'.
|
| 102 |
|
|
|
| 103 |
|
|
SHLIB_LIBVERSION The string to append to the filename to indicate the version
|
| 104 |
|
|
of the shared library. It should begin with $(SHLIB_LIBSUFF),
|
| 105 |
|
|
and possibly include version information that allows the
|
| 106 |
|
|
run-time loader to load the version of the shared library
|
| 107 |
|
|
appropriate for a particular program. Systems using shared
|
| 108 |
|
|
libraries similar to SunOS 4.x use major and minor library
|
| 109 |
|
|
version numbers; for those systems a value of
|
| 110 |
|
|
`$(SHLIB_LIBSUFF).$(SHLIB_MAJOR)$(SHLIB_MINOR)' is appropriate.
|
| 111 |
|
|
Systems based on System V Release 4 don't use minor version
|
| 112 |
|
|
numbers; use `$(SHLIB_LIBSUFF).$(SHLIB_MAJOR)' on those systems.
|
| 113 |
|
|
Other Unix versions use different schemes.
|
| 114 |
|
|
|
| 115 |
|
|
SHLIB_STATUS Set this to `supported' when you have defined the other
|
| 116 |
|
|
necessary variables. Make uses this to determine whether
|
| 117 |
|
|
or not shared library creation should be attempted.
|
| 118 |
|
|
|
| 119 |
|
|
You should look at the existing stanzas in support/shobj-conf for ideas.
|
| 120 |
|
|
|
| 121 |
|
|
Once you have updated support/shobj-conf, re-run configure and type
|
| 122 |
|
|
`make shared'. The shared libraries will be created in the shlib
|
| 123 |
|
|
subdirectory.
|
| 124 |
|
|
|
| 125 |
|
|
Since shared libraries are not created on all platforms, `make install'
|
| 126 |
|
|
will not automatically install the shared libraries. To install them,
|
| 127 |
|
|
change the current directory to shlib and type `make install'. Running
|
| 128 |
|
|
`make install-shared' from the top-level build directory will also work.
|
| 129 |
|
|
|
| 130 |
|
|
Documentation
|
| 131 |
|
|
=============
|
| 132 |
|
|
|
| 133 |
|
|
The documentation for the Readline and History libraries appears in the
|
| 134 |
|
|
`doc' subdirectory. There are two texinfo files and a Unix-style manual
|
| 135 |
|
|
page describing the programming facilities available in the Readline
|
| 136 |
|
|
library. The texinfo files include both user and programmer's manuals.
|
| 137 |
|
|
|
| 138 |
|
|
Reporting Bugs
|
| 139 |
|
|
==============
|
| 140 |
|
|
|
| 141 |
|
|
Bug reports for Readline should be sent to:
|
| 142 |
|
|
|
| 143 |
|
|
bug-readline@gnu.org
|
| 144 |
|
|
|
| 145 |
|
|
When reporting a bug, please include the following information:
|
| 146 |
|
|
|
| 147 |
|
|
* the version number and release status of Readline (e.g., 4.0-release)
|
| 148 |
|
|
* the machine and OS that it is running on
|
| 149 |
|
|
* a list of the compilation flags or the contents of `config.h', if
|
| 150 |
|
|
appropriate
|
| 151 |
|
|
* a description of the bug
|
| 152 |
|
|
* a recipe for recreating the bug reliably
|
| 153 |
|
|
* a fix for the bug if you have one!
|
| 154 |
|
|
|
| 155 |
|
|
If you would like to contact the Readline maintainer directly, send mail
|
| 156 |
|
|
to bash-maintainers@gnu.org.
|
| 157 |
|
|
|
| 158 |
|
|
Since Readline is developed along with bash, the bug-bash@gnu.org mailing
|
| 159 |
|
|
list (mirrored to the Usenet newsgroup gnu.bash.bug) often contains
|
| 160 |
|
|
Readline bug reports and fixes.
|
| 161 |
|
|
|
| 162 |
|
|
Chet Ramey
|
| 163 |
|
|
chet@po.cwru.edu
|
