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Introduction

============

This is the Gnu Readline library, version 4.1.

The Readline library provides a set of functions for use by applications

that allow users to edit command lines as they are typed in.  Both

Emacs and vi editing modes are available.  The Readline library includes

additional functions to maintain a list of previously-entered command

lines, to recall and perhaps reedit those lines, and perform csh-like

history expansion on previous commands.

The history facilites are also placed into a separate library, the

History library, as part of the build process.  The History library

may be used without Readline in applications which desire its

capabilities.

The Readline library is free software, distributed under the terms of

the GNU Public License, version 2.  For more information, see the file

COPYING.

To build the library, try typing `./configure', then `make'.  The

configuration process is automated, so no further intervention should

be necessary.  Readline builds with `gcc' by default if it is

available.  If you want to use `cc' instead, type

        CC=cc ./configure

if you are using a Bourne-style shell.  If you are not, the following

may work:

        env CC=cc ./configure

Read the file INSTALL in this directory for more information about how

to customize and control the build process.

The file rlconf.h contains C preprocessor defines that enable and disable

certain Readline features.

Examples

========

There are several example programs that use Readline features in the

examples directory.  The `rl' program is of particular interest.  It

is a command-line interface to Readline, suitable for use in shell

scripts in place of `read'.

Shared Libraries

================

There is skeletal support for building shared versions of the

Readline and History libraries.  The configure script creates

a Makefile in the `shlib' subdirectory, and typing `make shared'

will cause shared versions of the Readline and History libraries

to be built on supported platforms.

Configure calls the script support/shobj-conf to test whether or

not shared library creation is supported and to generate the values

of variables that are substituted into shlib/Makefile.  If you

try to build shared libraries on an unsupported platform, `make'

will display a message asking you to update support/shobj-conf for

your platform.

If you need to update support/shobj-conf, you will need to create

a `stanza' for your operating system and compiler.  The script uses

the value of host_os and ${CC} as determined by configure.  For

instance, FreeBSD 2.2.5 with any version of gcc is identified as

`freebsd2.2.5-gcc*'.

In the stanza for your operating system-compiler pair, you will need to

define several variables.  They are:

SHOBJ_CC        The C compiler used to compile source files into shareable

                object files.  This is normally set to the value of ${CC}

                by configure, and should not need to be changed.

SHOBJ_CFLAGS    Flags to pass to the C compiler ($SHOBJ_CC) to create

                position-independent code.  If you are using gcc, this

                should probably be set to `-fpic'.

SHOBJ_LD        The link editor to be used to create the shared library from

                the object files created by $SHOBJ_CC.  If you are using

                gcc, a value of `gcc' will probably work.

SHOBJ_LDFLAGS   Flags to pass to SHOBJ_LD to enable shared object creation.

                If you are using gcc, `-shared' may be all that is necessary.

                These should be the flags needed for generic shared object

                creation.

SHLIB_XLDFLAGS  Additional flags to pass to SHOBJ_LD for shared library

                creation.  Many systems use the -R option to the link

                editor to embed a path within the library for run-time

                library searches.  A reasonable value for such systems would

                be `-R$(libdir)'.

SHLIB_LIBS      Any additional libraries that shared libraries should be

                linked against when they are created.

SHLIB_LIBSUFF   The suffix to add to `libreadline' and `libhistory' when

                generating the filename of the shared library.  Many systems

                use `so'; HP-UX uses `sl'.

SHLIB_LIBVERSION The string to append to the filename to indicate the version

                of the shared library.  It should begin with $(SHLIB_LIBSUFF),

                and possibly include version information that allows the

                run-time loader to load the version of the shared library

                appropriate for a particular program.  Systems using shared

                libraries similar to SunOS 4.x use major and minor library

                version numbers; for those systems a value of

                `$(SHLIB_LIBSUFF).$(SHLIB_MAJOR)$(SHLIB_MINOR)' is appropriate.

                Systems based on System V Release 4 don't use minor version

                numbers; use `$(SHLIB_LIBSUFF).$(SHLIB_MAJOR)' on those systems.

                Other Unix versions use different schemes.

SHLIB_STATUS    Set this to `supported' when you have defined the other

                necessary variables.  Make uses this to determine whether

                or not shared library creation should be attempted.

You should look at the existing stanzas in support/shobj-conf for ideas.

Once you have updated support/shobj-conf, re-run configure and type

`make shared'.  The shared libraries will be created in the shlib

subdirectory.

Since shared libraries are not created on all platforms, `make install'

will not automatically install the shared libraries.  To install them,

change the current directory to shlib and type `make install'.  Running

`make install-shared' from the top-level build directory will also work.

Documentation

=============

The documentation for the Readline and History libraries appears in the

`doc' subdirectory.  There are two texinfo files and a Unix-style manual

page describing the programming facilities available in the Readline

library.  The texinfo files include both user and programmer's manuals.

Reporting Bugs

==============

Bug reports for Readline should be sent to:

        bug-readline@gnu.org

When reporting a bug, please include the following information:

        * the version number and release status of Readline (e.g., 4.0-release)

        * the machine and OS that it is running on

        * a list of the compilation flags or the contents of `config.h', if

          appropriate

        * a description of the bug

        * a recipe for recreating the bug reliably

        * a fix for the bug if you have one!

If you would like to contact the Readline maintainer directly, send mail

to bash-maintainers@gnu.org.

Since Readline is developed along with bash, the bug-bash@gnu.org mailing

list (mirrored to the Usenet newsgroup gnu.bash.bug) often contains

Readline bug reports and fixes.

Chet Ramey

chet@po.cwru.edu