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| author | Jim Blandy <jimb@redhat.com> |
|---|---|
| date | Thu, 25 Jul 1991 13:21:16 +0000 |
| parents | 93491679e7e9 |
| children | 434e13b1fc95 |
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This is a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) about GNU Emacs with answers. This list is designed to cut down on the noise in the gnu.emacs.help newsgroup (which is also the help-gnu-emacs mailing list) that results from people repeatedly asking many of the same questions. This list is maintained by me, Joe Wells. My e-mail address is jbw@bu.edu. If jbw@bu.edu doesn't work try jbw@bucsf.bu.edu. Feel free to contribute text for the answers that I haven't written yet, to suggest new questions, to suggest changes in the wording, to suggest deletions, etc. Please include either "FAQ" or "frequently asked questions" in the subject of messages you send to me to help keep me from accidentally filing your message in the wrong mail folder. Here is a short list of new questions and questions that are now answered: New questions: Why doesn't "C-c C-c" interrupt subprocesses under HP/UX? How do I make Emacs send 8-bit characters to my terminal? Why does ispell sometimes ignore the local dictionary? Where can I get Emacs with NeWS support? Questions with improved answers: Has someone written an GNU Emacs Lisp package that does XXX? How do I get Emacs running on VMS under DECwindows? Why does Emacs crash from a bus error in XLookupString under OpenLook? Why does Emacs hang with message "Unknown XMenu" with X11R4? How do I use regexps (regular expressions) in Emacs? How do I make Emacs "typeover" or "overwrite" when I type instead of always inserting? How do I get Emacs for my PC? How can I highlight a region? Where can I get GNU Emacs Lisp packages that don't come with Emacs? Where can I get the latest VM, Supercite, GNUS, Calc, Calendar, or Patch? Minor changes: Where does the name "Emacs" come from? In C mode, can I show just the lines that will be left after #ifdef commands are handled by the compiler? What does "M-x command" mean? How do I get a printed copy of the GNU Emacs manual? What do things like this mean: C-h, M-C-a, RET, etc.? Why doesn't GNUS work anymore via NNTP? What does Emacs do every time it starts up? Enjoy, -- Joe Wells <jbw@bu.edu> ------------------------------------------------- GNU Emacs Frequently Asked Questions with Answers (part 1 of 2) Sat Dec 8 01:30:53 1990 If you are viewing this file in a GNU Emacs Buffer, you can type "M-2 C-x $" to get an overview of just the questions. Then, when you want to look at the text of the answers, just type "C-x $". To search for a question numbered XXX, type "M-C-s ^XXX:", followed by a C-r if that doesn't work, then type ESC to end the search. Notation Used in the Answers (READ THIS SECTION FIRST!) You may skip this section if you are reasonably familiar with GNU Emacs. Some of these are not actually frequently asked questions, but knowing them is important for understanding the answers to the rest of the questions. 1: What do things like this mean: C-h, M-C-a, RET, etc.? C-a means while holding down the "Control" key press the "a" key. The ASCII code this sends will generally be the value that would be sent by pressing just "a" minus 96 or 64. Either way it will be a number from 0 to 31. M-a means while holding down the "Meta" key press the "a" key. The ASCII code this sends is the sum of the ASCII code that would be sent by pressing just "a" and 128. M-C-a means while holding down both the "Control" key and the "Meta" key press the "a" key. C-M-a is a synonym for M-C-a. RET means press the "Return" key. RET is the same as C-m. This sends ASCII code 13. LFD means press the "Linefeed" key. LFD is also the same as C-j. This sends ASCII code 10. Under Unix, ASCII code 10 is more often called "Newline". DEL means press the "Delete" key. DEL is the same as C-?. This sends ASCII code 127. ESC means press the "Escape" key. ESC is the same as C-[. This sends ASCII code 27. SPC means press the "Space" key. This send ASCII code 32. TAB means press the "Tab" key. TAB is the same as C-i. This send ASCII code 9. To read more about this online, type "C-h i m emacs RET m characters RET", and also "C-h i m emacs RET m keys RET". 2: What do you mean when you write things like this: type "ESC a"? I will enclose key sequences that are longer than one key inside double quotes. These notations refer to single keys (some with modifiers): C-x, M-x, M-C-x RET, LFD, DEL, ESC, SPC, TAB I separate these from other keys within double quotes by spaces. Any real spaces that I write inside double quotes can be ignored, only SPC means press the space key. All other characters within double quotes represent single keys (some shifted). 3: What if I don't have a Meta key? Instead of typing M-a, you can type "ESC a" instead. In fact, Emacs converts M-a internally into "ESC a" anyway. 4: What if I don't have an Escape key? Type C-[ instead. This should send ASCII code 27 just like an Escape key would. 5: What does "M-x command" mean? "M-x command" means type M-x, then type the name of the command, then type RET. M-x is simply the default key sequence that invokes the command "execute-extended-command". This command allows you to run any Emacs command if you can remember the command's name. If you can't remember the command's name, you can type TAB and SPC for completion, and ? for a list of possibilities. An Emacs "command" is any "interactive" Emacs function. NOTE: Your system administrator may have bound other key sequences to invoke execute-extended-command. A function key labeled "Do" is a good candidate for this. To run non-interactive Emacs functions, use M-ESC instead and type a Lisp form. 6: What do things like this mean: etc/SERVICE, src/config.h, lisp/default.el? These are the names of files that are part of the GNU Emacs distribution. The GNU Emacs distribution is so big that it is divided into several subdirectories; the important subdirectories are named "etc", "lisp", and "src". If you use GNU Emacs, but don't know where it is kept on your system, start Emacs, then type "C-h v exec-directory RET". The directory name that is displayed by this will be the full pathname of the "etc" directory of your installed GNU Emacs distribution. Some of these files are available individually via FTP or e-mail, see question 16. 7: What are FSF, LPF, OSF, GNU, RMS, FTP, BTW, and GPL? FSF == Free Software Foundation LPF == League for Programming Freedom OSF == Open Software Foundation GNU == GNU's Not Unix RMS == Richard M. Stallman FTP == File Transfer Protocol BTW == By the way GPL == GNU General Public Licence NOTE: Avoid confusing the FSF, the LPF, and the OSF. The LPF only opposes look-and-feel copyrights and software patents. The FSF aims to make high quality free software available for everyone. The OSF is a commercial organization which wants to provide an alternative, standardized version of Unix not controlled by AT&T. Sources of Information and Help 8: I'm just starting GNU Emacs; how do I do basic editing? Type "C-h t" to invoke the self-paced tutorial. Typing just C-h is how to enter the help system. WARNING: your system administrator may have changed C-h to act like DEL. You can use M-x help-for-help instead to invoke help. To discover what key (if any) invokes help on your system, type "M-x where-is RET help-for-help RET". This will print a comma-separated list of key sequences in the echo area. Ignore the last character in each key sequence listed. Each of the resulting key sequences invokes help. NOTE: Emacs's help facility works best if help is invoked by a single key. The variable help-char should hold the value of this character. 9: How do I find out how to do something in GNU Emacs? There are several methods for finding out how to do things in Emacs. You should become familiar with the online documentation for Emacs. The complete text of the Emacs manual is available online in a hypertext format via the "Info" manual reader. Type "C-h i" to invoke Info. You can order a hardcopy of the manual from the FSF. See question 12. You can list all of the commands whose names contain a certain word (actually which match a regular expression) using the "command-apropos" command. Type "C-h a" to invoke this command. You can list all of the functions and variables whose names contain a certain word using the "apropos" command. M-x apropos invokes this command. You may find that command-apropos and apropos are extremely slow on your system. This will be fixed in Emacs 19. If you can't wait that long, I can send you the "fast-apropos.el" file that contains the fix. This file also contains a "super-apropos" command that will list all the functions and variables whose documentation strings contain a certain word. There are many other commands in Emacs for getting help and information. To get a list of these commands, type "C-h C-h C-h". 10: Where can I get GNU Emacs on the net (or by snail mail)? Look in the files etc/DISTRIB and etc/FTP for information. If you don't already have GNU Emacs, see question 16. 11: Where can I get help in installing GNU Emacs? Look in the file etc/SERVICE for names of companies and individuals who will sell you this type of service. This file in the version 18.55 distribution is not completely up to date. The imminent release of 18.56 will help that. An up-to-date version of the SERVICE file is available on prep.ai.mit.edu. See question 16 for how to retrieve this file. 12: How do I get a printed copy of the GNU Emacs manual? You can order a printed copy of the GNU Emacs manual from the FSF for $15. A set of 6 manuals is $60. The full TeX source for the manual also comes with Emacs, if you're daring enough to try to print out this 300 page manual yourself. (We're talking about killing an entire tree here. This kind of printer usage can make you very unpopular. Besides, if you order it from the FSF, the price may be tax-deductible as a business expense.) If you absolutely have to print your own copy, and you don't have TeX, you can get a PostScript version from: Anonymous FTP: site: abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov file: /pub/docs/emacs-18.55.PS.Z (size: 472K) Carl Witty <cwitty@cs.stanford.edu> writes: The Emacs manual is also available online in the Info system, which is available by typing "C-h i". In this form, it has hypertext links and is very easy to browse or search; many people prefer it to the printed manual. 13: Has someone written an GNU Emacs Lisp package that does XXX? Probably. A listing of Emacs Lisp packages, called the Lisp Code Directory, is being maintained by Dave Brennan <brennan@dg-rtp.dg.com>. You can search through this list to find if someone has written something that fits your needs. This list is file "LCD-datafile.Z" in the Emacs Lisp Archive. (See question 14.) The files "lispdir.el.Z" and "lispdir.doc.Z" in the archive contain information to help you use the list. 14: Where can I get GNU Emacs Lisp packages that don't come with Emacs? First, check the Lisp Code Directory to find the name of the package you are looking for. (See question 13). Then check local archives and the Emacs Lisp Archive to find a copy of the relevant files. Then, if you still haven't found it, you can send e-mail to the author asking for a copy. You can access the Emacs Lisp Archive via: Anonymous FTP: site: tut.cis.ohio-state.edu directory: /pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive file: README.Z NOTE: Any files with names ending in ".Z" are compressed, and you should use "binary" mode in FTP to retrive them. You should also use binary mode whenever you retrieve any files with names ending in ".elc". Submissions for the archive should be sent to Dave Sill <de5@ornl.gov>. If you have ftp access, the submission can be deposited in the directory /pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/incoming on tut.cis.ohio-state.edu. Whenever possible submissions should contain an LCD-datafile entry since this helps reduce administrative overhead for the maintainers. Before submitting anything, first read the file "guidelines.Z", which is available in the archive. 15: Where can I get documentation on GNU Emacs Lisp? Obtain the GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual for Emacs 18 under Unix. It is available from the FSF for $50. The latest revision is edition 1.02 dated July 1990. Within Emacs, you can type "C-h f" to get the documentation for a function, "C-h v" for a variable. Also, as a popular USENET saying goes, "Use the Force, Read the Source". You can also get the Texinfo source for the manual, if you are daring enough to try to print this 550 page manual out yourself. This is available in the Emacs Lisp Archive and also via: Anonymous FTP: site: prep.ai.mit.edu file: /pub/gnu/elisp.tar.Z A set of pregenerated Info files comes with the Texinfo source for the Emacs Lisp manual, so you don't have to format it yourself for online use. (You can create the Info files from the Texinfo source.) See question 21 for details on how to install these files online. 16: What informational files are available? This isn't a frequently asked question, but it should be! The following files are available in the "etc" directory of the GNU Emacs distribution, and also the latest versions are available individually via: Anonymous FTP: site: prep.ai.mit.edu directory: /pub/gnu/etc APPLE -- Special Report: Apple's New Look and Feel DISTRIB -- GNU Emacs Availability Information, including the popular "Free Software Foundation Order Form" FTP -- How to get GNU Software by Internet FTP or by UUCP GNU -- The GNU Manifesto INTERVIEW -- Richard Stallman discusses his public-domain UNIX-compatible software system with BYTE editors MACHINES -- Status of GNU Emacs on Various Machines and Systems MAILINGLISTS -- GNU Project Electronic Mailing Lists SERVICE -- GNU Service Directory SUN-SUPPORT -- includes the popular "Using Emacstool with GNU Emacs" These files are available in the "etc" directory of the GNU Emacs distribution: DIFF -- Differences between GNU Emacs and Twenex Emacs CCADIFF -- Differences between GNU Emacs and CCA Emacs GOSDIFF -- Differences between GNU Emacs and Gosling (Unipress??) Emacs COPYING -- GNU Emacs General Public License NEWS -- GNU Emacs News, a history of user-visible changes In addition, all of the above files are available directly from the FSF via e-mail. Of course, please try to get them from a local source first. These files are available from the FSF via e-mail: * GNU's Bulletin, June, 1990 -- this file includes: GNU'S Who What Is the Free Software Foundation? What Is Copyleft? GNUs Flashes Possible New Terms for GNU Libraries by Richard Stallman "League for Programming Freedom" by Michael Bloom and Richard Stallman Free Software Support GNU Project Status Report GNU Wish List GNU Documentation GNU Software Available Now Contents of the Emacs Release Tape Contents of the Pre-Release Tape Contents of the X11 Tapes VMS Emacs and Compiler Tapes How to Get GNU Software Freemacs, an Extensible Editor for MS-DOS Thank GNUs FSF Order Form * GNU Task List * GNU Coding Standards * Legal issues about contributing code to GNU * GNU Project Status Report 17: What is the current address of the FSF? Snail mail address: Free Software Foundation 675 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139, USA Phone number: (617) 876-3296 E-mail addresses: gnu@prep.ai.mit.edu {probably read by Len Tower} gnulists@prep 18: What is the current address of the LPF? Snail mail address: League for Programming Freedom 1 Kendall Square, Number 143 Post Office Box 9171 Cambridge, MA 02139, USA Phone number: (617) 243-4061 { or 243-4091, I'm not sure ... } E-mail address: league@prep.ai.mit.edu 19: Where can I get the up-to-date GNU stuff? The most up-to-date official GNU stuff is normally kept on prep.ai.mit.edu and is available for anonymous FTP. See the files etc/DISTRIB and etc/FTP for more information. (To get copies of these files, see question 16.) 20: Where can I get the latest VM, Supercite, GNUS, Calc, Calendar, or Patch? 1. VM: Author: Kyle Jones <kyle@xanth.cs.odu.edu> Mailing lists: info-vm-request@uunet.uu.net info-vm@uunet.uu.net bug-vm-request@uunet.uu.net bug-vm@uunet.uu.net Anonymous FTP: Last released version: 4.41 site: tut.cis.ohio-state.edu file: /pub/gnu/vm/vm-4.41.tar.Z Beta test version: 5.18 site: abcfd20.larc.nasa.gov directory: /pub/vm 2. Supercite: Author: Barry Warsaw <warsaw@warsaw.nlm.nih.gov> Latest version: 2.1 Mailing lists: supercite@warsaw.nlm.nih.gov supercite-request@warsaw.nlm.nih.gov Anonymous FTP: site: durer.cme.nist.gov [129.6.32.4] files:/pub/gnu/elisp/supercite-2.1.shar.0# (where # is replaced by 1 or 2) NOTE: Superyank is an old version of Supercite. 3. GNUS: Author: Masanobu Umeda Latest version: 3.13 Anonymous FTP: site: tut.cis.ohio-state.edu files: /pub/gnu/gnus/3.13.##-of-11.Z (where ## is replaced by 00 -- 11) 4. Calc: Author: Dave Gillespie <daveg@csvax.cs.caltech.edu> Latest version: 1.06 Anonymous FTP: site: csvax.cs.caltech.edu [131.215.131.131] or any comp.sources.misc archive 5. Calendar/Diary Author: Ed Reingold <reingold@cs.uiuc.edu> Latest version: 4 E-mail: Subject: send-emacs-cal body: your best internet e-mail address 6. Patch Author: Larry Wall <lwall@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov> Latest version: 2.0 patchlevel 12 Anonymous FTP: site: any comp.sources.unix archive or, for Europeans: site: archive.cs.ruu.nl [131.211.80.5] file: /pub/UNIX/patch-2.0.tar.Z 21: How do I install a piece of Texinfo documentation? First create Info files from the Texinfo files with M-x texinfo-format-buffer. There is also a program called "makeinfo" that provides better error checking and runs faster. Currently, it comes with the Emacs Lisp manual (which comes on the GNU Emacs tape). For information about the Texinfo format, read the Texinfo manual which comes with Emacs. This manual also comes installed in Info format, so you can read it online. Neither texinfo-format-buffer nor the makeinfo program install the resulting Info files in Emacs's Info tree. To install Info files: 1. Move the files to the "info" directory in the installed Emacs distribution. See question 6 if you don't know where that is. 2. Edit the file info/dir in the installed Emacs distribution, and add a line for the top level node in the Info package that you are installing. 22: What is the real legal meaning of the GNU copyleft? RMS writes: The legal meaning of the GNU copyleft is less important than the spirit, which is that Emacs is a free software project and that work pertaining to Emacs should also be free software. "Free" means that all users have the freedom to study, share, change and improve Emacs. To make sure everyone has this freedom, pass along source code when you distribute any version of Emacs or a related program, and give the recipients the same freedom that you enjoyed. If you still want to find out about the legal meaning of the copyleft, please ask yourself if this means you are not paying attention to the spirit. 23: What are appropriate messages for gnu.emacs.help/gnu.emacs.bug/comp.emacs etc.? The file etc/MAILINGLISTS discusses the purpose of each GNU mailing-list. (See question 16 on how to get a copy.) For those which are gatewayed with newsgroups, it lists both the newsgroup name and the mailing list address. comp.emacs is for discussion of Emacs programs in general. This includes GNU Emacs along with various other implementations like JOVE, MicroEmacs, Freemacs, MG, Unipress, CCA, etc. Many people post GNU Emacs questions to comp.emacs because they don't receive any of the gnu.* newsgroups. Arguments have been made both for and against posting GNU-Emacs-specific material to comp.emacs. You have to decide for yourself. 24: Should I send questions directly to people who post a lot on the net, instead of posting myself? I don't know about the others, but please don't send such messages to me just because you don't want to disturb a lot of people. Send messages to individuals that concern things that individual has written. GNU Emacs, all its Variants, and other Editors 25: Where does the name "Emacs" come from? EMACS originally was an acronym for Editor MACroS. The first Emacs was a set of macros written by Richard Stallman for the editor TECO (Tape Editor and COrrector {Text Editor and COrrector?}) on a PDP-10. (Amusing fact: many people have told me that TECO code looks a lot like line noise.) 26: What is the latest version of GNU Emacs? GNU Emacs 18.55. GNU Emacs 18.56 is coming out with some bug fixes, but no additional functionality. 27: When will GNU Emacs 19 be available? Good question, I don't know. For that matter, neither do the developers. It will undoubtedly be available sometime in the 1990s. 28: What will be different about GNU Emacs 19? From the latest "GNU's Bulletin": Version 19 approaches release with a host of new features: before and after change hooks; X selection processing (including CLIPBOARD selections); scrollbars; support for European character sets; floating point numbers; per-buffer mouse commands; interfacing with the X resource manager; mouse-tracking; Lisp-level binding of function keys; and multiple X windows (`screens' to Emacs). Thanks go to Alan Carroll and the people who worked on Epoch for generating initial feedback to a multi-windowed Emacs. Emacs 19 supports two styles of multiple windows, one with a separate screen for the minibuffer, and another with a minibuffer attached to each screen. More features of Version 19 are buffer allocation, which uses a new mechanism capable of returning storage to the system when a buffer is killed, and a new input system---all input now arrives in the form of Lisp objects. Other features being considered for Version 19 include: * Associating property lists with regions of text in a buffer. * Multiple font, color, and pixmaps defined by those properties. * Different visibility conditions for the regions, and for the various windows showing one buffer. * Incremental syntax analysis for various programming languages. * Hooks to be run if point or mouse moves outside a certain range. * Source-level debugging for Emacs Lisp. * Incrementally saving undo history in a file, so that recover-file also reinstalls buffer's undo history. * Static menu bars, and better pop-up menus. * A more sophisticated emacsclient/server model, which would provide network transparent Emacs widget functionality. Also, Emacs 19 will have a Emacs Lisp source code debugger. 29: Is there an Emacs that has better mouse and X window support? Emacs 18 has some limited X Window System support, but there are problems. Emacs 19 will have amazing mouse and window support. Right now, there is a modified version of Emacs 18.55 called "Epoch" which has greatly improved mouse and window support. The latest version of Epoch is available via: Anonymous FTP: site: cs.uiuc.edu directory: pub/epoch-files/epoch file: epoch-3.2b (b stands for beta) NOTE: Epoch only works with the X Window System; it does not work on ordinary terminals. 30: How do I get Emacs for my PC? GNU Emacs won't run on a PC directly under MS-DOS. There have been reports of people running GNU Emacs under a special program under MS-DOS on 286 or 386 machines, but I don't know the details. You can try a variety of similar programs such as MG, MicroEmacs, Freemacs, etc. Russ Nelson <nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu>, the author, describes Freemacs: * Freemacs is free, and it was designed from the start to be programmable. * Freemacs is the only IBM-PC editor that tries to be like GNU Emacs. * Freemacs can only edit files less than 64K in length. * Freemacs doesn't have undo. Carl Witty <cwitty@cs.stanford.edu> writes about Freemacs: Better is Freemacs, which follows the tradition of ITS and GNU Emacs by having an full, turing-complete extension language which is incompatible with everything else. In fact, it's even closer to ITS Emacs than GNU Emacs is, because Mint (Freemacs' extension language) is absolutely illegible without weeks of study, much like TECO. You can get Freemacs several ways: 1. Anonymous FTP: site: simtel20.army.mil, directory: PD:<MSDOS.FREEMACS> site: grape.ecs.clarkson.edu [128.153.13.196], directory: /e/freemacs 2. E-mail: address: archive-server@sun.soe.clarkson.edu, or archive-server%sun.soe@omnigate (BITNET), or {smart-host}!sun.soe.clarkson.edu!archive-server (UUCP) body: help 3. Snail mail: address: Russell Nelson, 11 Grant St., Potsdam, NY 13676 Send $15 copying fee, and specify preferred floppy disk format: 5.25", 1.2 Meg, or 5.25", 360K, or 3.50", 720K I don't know much about MicroEmacs. All I know is that the latest version is 3.10 and it is available via: Anonymous FTP: site: durer.cme.nist.gov Another Emacs for small machines is Jove (Jonathan's Own Version of Emacs). The latest version is 4.9. It is available via: Anonymous FTP: sites: hipl.psych.nyu.edu, cs.toronto.edu, cayuga.cs.rochester.edu Yet another Emacs is "mg", which used to stand for MicroGNUEmacs, but now just stands for "mg". It is available via: Anonymous FTP: site: snow.white.toronto.edu 31: Where can I get Emacs for my Atari ST? The latest version for the ST is available via: Anonymous FTP: site: cs.uni-sb.de [134.96.7.254] directory: /pub/atari/emacs 32: Where can I get Emacs with NeWS support? Chris Maio's NeWS support package for GNU Emacs is available via: Anonymous FTP: site: columbia.edu file: /pub/ps-emacs.tar.Z site: tut.cis.ohio-state.edu file: /pub/gnu/emacs/ps-emacs.tar.Z Binding Keys to Commands 33: Why does my key binding fail? Most likely, it failed because "ESC [" was already defined. Evaluate this form first: (define-key esc-map "[" nil) 34: Why doesn't this [terminal or window-system setup] code work in my .emacs file, but it works just fine after Emacs starts up? This is because you're trying to do something in your .emacs file that needs to be postponed until after the terminal/window-system setup code is loaded. This is a result of the order in which things are done during the startup of Emacs. In order to postpone the execution of Emacs Lisp code until after the terminal/window-system setup, set the value of the variable term-setup-hook or window-setup-hook to be a function which does what you want. See question 72 for a complete explanation of what Emacs does every time it is started. Here is a simple example of how to set term-setup-hook: (setq term-setup-hook (function (lambda () (if (string-match "^vt220" (or (getenv "TERM") "")) ;; Make vt220's "Do" key behave like M-x: (define-key CSI-map "29~" 'execute-extended-command))))) 35: How do I use function keys under X Windows? If compiled on a Sun, Emacs recognizes the function keys that are normally on a Sun keyboard, and you can bind them the same way you normally bind Sun keys. Each function key will generate a key sequence that looks like "ESC [ ### z", where ### is replaced by a number. If not compiled on a Sun, the function keys will appear to Emacs in a way remarkably similar to the keys of a VT220 terminal. Each function key will generate a key sequence that looks like "ESC [ ### ~". For the complete list of the numbers which are generated by the function keys, look in the file src/x11term.c. However, this may be inadequate for you if you have function keys Emacs doesn't know about. Johan Vromans <jv@mh.nl> explains: There are a number of tricks that can be helpful. The most elegant solution, however, is to use the function "x-rebind-key". This function is commented out in the source for good reasons --- it's buggy. It is rather easy to replace this function with the function epoch:rebind-key from the Epoch distribution. After implementing this, all keyboard keys can be configured to send user definable sequences, e.g. (x-rebind-key "KP_F1" 0 "\033OP") This will have the keypad key PF1 send the sequence \eOP, just like an ordinary VTxxx terminal. Another method is to handle the keys in the C source. Although this may be slightly more efficient, it is much less flexible. Finally, some people have established a convention to have the special keys send a sequence of characters that indicate the key and its modifiers instead of a plain escape sequence. This is also a good method. The advantage of sending the plain escape sequences is that you require only one setup for Emacs running under X and on normal terminals, e.g. (x-rebind-key "KP_F1" 0 "\033OP") will have key PF1 send \eOP, and, probably in another setup file: (global-set-key "\eOP" 'specific-function) to bind PF1 to a function. The last statement applies for normal VTxxx terminal also. 36: How do I tell what characters my function keys emit? Use this function by Randal L. Schwartz <merlyn@iwarp.intel.com>: (defun see-chars () "Displays characters typed, terminated by a 3-second timeout." (interactive) (let ((chars "") (inhibit-quit t)) (message "Enter characters, terminated by 3-second timeout.") (while (not (sit-for 3)) (setq chars (concat chars (list (read-char))) quit-flag nil)) ; quit-flag maybe set by C-g (message "Characters entered: %s" (key-description chars)))) Problems with Key Bindings and Input 37: Why does Emacs spontaneously go into "I-search:" mode? Your terminal (or something between your terminal and the computer) is sending C-s and C-q for flow control, and Emacs is receiving these characters and interpreting them as commands. (The C-s character normally invokes the isearch-forward command.) For a more detailed discussion, read the file PROBLEMS in the Emacs distribution. 38: What do I do if my terminal is sending C-s and C-q for flow control and I can't disable it? Use this piece of Emacs Lisp: (set-input-mode nil t) 39: How do I make Emacs use C-s and C-q for flow control instead of for commands? Same answer as previous question. 40: How do I use commands bound to C-s and C-q (or any key) if these keys are filtered out? I suggest swapping C-s with C-\ and C-q with C-^: (swap-keys ?\C-s ?\C-\\) (swap-keys ?\C-q ?\C-^) See question 41 for the implementation of swap-keys. 41: How do I "swap" two keys? When Emacs receives a character, you can make Emacs behave as though it received another character by setting the value of keyboard-translate-table. The following Emacs Lisp will do this for you, allowing you to "swap" keys. WARNING: the value of C-g (7) is hard coded in several places both before and after the translation specified by keyboard-translate-table is carried out. Thus, swapping C-g with another key may cause problems; rebinding C-g may also cause problems. (Well, I've never done it, so I don't know for sure.) (defun swap-keys (key1 key2) "Swap keys KEY1 and KEY2 using map-key." (map-key key1 key2 t) (map-key key2 key1)) (defvar map-keys-alist nil "Association list of key mappings currently in effect. If (FROM . TO) is an element, that means key FROM is currently mapped to TO.") (defun map-key (from to &optional no-update) "Make key FROM behave as though key TO was typed instead. If optional argument NO-UPDATE is non-nil, the key-mapping does not take effect until a subsequent map-key or unmap-key." (let ((alist-entry (assq from map-keys-alist))) (if alist-entry (setcdr alist-entry to) (setq map-keys-alist (cons (cons from to) map-keys-alist)))) (or no-update (map-keys-update))) (defun unmap-key (key) "Undo any mapping of key KEY." (setq map-keys-alist (delq (assq key map-keys-alist) map-keys-alist)) (map-keys-update)) ;; Makes keyboard-translate-table reflect the key mappings in ;; map-keys-alist. (defun map-keys-update () (if (null map-keys-alist) ;; Emacs runs fasted if keyboard-translate-table is nil (setq keyboard-translate-table nil) (let ((max-key-mapped ;; Find the mapped key with largest value (apply 'max (mapcar (function (lambda (x) (car x))) map-keys-alist))) (i 0)) ;; keyboard-translate-table doesn't have to be any longer than ;; necessary. This speeds up Emacs. (setq keyboard-translate-table (make-string (1+ max-key-mapped) 0)) (while (<= i max-key-mapped) (aset keyboard-translate-table i (or (cdr (assq i map-keys-alist)) i)) (setq i (1+ i)))))) 42: Why does the "Backspace" key invoke help? The Backspace key (on every keyboard I've used) sends ASCII code 8. C-h sends the same code. In Emacs by default C-h invokes "help-command". The easiest solution to this problem is to use C-h (and Backspace) for help and DEL (the Delete key) for deleting the previous character. For some people this solution may be problematic: 1. They normally use Backspace outside of Emacs for deleting the previous character typed. This can be solved by making DEL be the command for deleting the previous character outside of Emacs. This command will do this on many Unix systems: stty erase ^? 2. The person may prefer using the Backspace key for deleting the previous character because it is more conveniently located on their keyboard or because they don't even have a separate Delete key. In this case, the best solution is to swap C-h and DEL: (swap-keys ?\C-h ?\C-?) See question 41 for the implementation of swap-keys. 43: How do I type DEL on PC terminal emulators? Someone whose name I forgot wrote: Most PCs have deficient keyboards that don't have both Backspace and Delete keys. Whether C-h (backspace) or DEL is generated by the "Backspace" key varies from one terminal emulator to another. If you're lucky, you can reconfigure the keyboard so that it generates DEL. If not, you will have to hunt to figure out what keystroke will do it --- possibilities include various shifted and controlled versions of "Backspace", the "Del" key on the numeric keypad (which might depend on "Shift" or "NumLock"), or perhaps C-? (Control-?). If this is too hard, you may want to swap the delete key with some other key. See question 42. Building/Installing/Porting Emacs and Machine/OS-Specific Bugs: 44: Why do I get an "f68881_used undefined" error, when I build Emacs on my Sun 3? Barry A. Warsaw <warsaw@cme.nist.gov> writes: Some of the code that is being linked on the "ld" line of emacs' build command has been compiled with the -f68881 option. Most common reason is that you're linking with X libraries which were built with -f68881 option set. You need to either remove all dependencies to the 68881 (may mean a recompile of the X libraries with -fswitch or -fsoft option), or you need to link emacs with the 68881 startup file /usr/lib/Mcrt1.o. Make this change to src/ymakefile: change: #define START_FILES crt0.o to: #define START_FILES crt0.o /usr/lib/Mcrt1.o The order of these start files is critical. 45: Why does Emacs crash under SunOS 4.1? Under SunOS 4.1, Emacs dies with this message: Fatal error (6).Abort There is a bug in the "localtime" routine supplied with SunOS 4.1. A private function called by tzsetwall zeroes the byte just past an eight byte region it mallocs. This corrupts GNU malloc's memory pool. Put "#define SYSTEM_MALLOC" in src/config.h. Or, for the purists: Put "#define SUNOS_LOCALTIME_BUG" in src/config.h and apply the following patch to src/malloc.c. (Patch by Eirik Fuller <eirik@elf.tn.cornell.edu>.) >*** malloc.c~ Fri Apr 7 22:12:10 1989 >--- malloc.c Tue May 8 07:07:22 1990 >*************** >*** 476,482 **** >--- 476,487 ---- > multiple of 8, then figure out which nestf[] area to use. > Both the beginning of the header and the beginning of the > block should be on an eight byte boundary. */ >+ #ifdef SUNOS_LOCALTIME_BUG >+ /* SunOS 4.1 localtime scribbles on the ninth byte. */ >+ nbytes = (n + ((sizeof *p + 15) & ~15) + EXTRA + 15) & ~15; >+ #else > nbytes = (n + ((sizeof *p + 7) & ~7) + EXTRA + 7) & ~7; >+ #endif > { > register unsigned int shiftr = (nbytes - 1) >> 2; > 46: Why does Emacs occasionally cause segmentation faults and machine panics on my DECstation 3100? Bruce Cole <cole@dip.cs.wisc.edu> writes: > We're running Emacs 18.54 on an Ultrix Risc DECsystem 5400. Three > times we've had the machine hang with the following message: > > panic: tblmod on invalid pte > > Ultrix support tells us this is caused by Emacs. Has anyone > experienced this? DEC says it only happens on RISC boxes. This is due to a MIPS specific Ultrix kernel bug. I sent DEC a description of the bug with a bug fix. The Kernel bug manifests itself with Emacs since Emacs uses a non-standard data start address on Ultrix MIPS machines. I haven't often seen Emacs cause MIPS machines to panic. Usually you just see one of the following errors when you try to start up Emacs: segmentation fault (core dumped) emacs: Bad address Out of memory data size rlimit exceeded, pid 6523, process tcsh (for example) Until DEC fixes their kernel, you can avoid the bug by changing the data start address used by Emacs. > I have built two newer versions of GNU Emacs and it still happens. I > should also mention that these faults happen quite rarely to some > users (I may see it once a month), while other users see it a few > times a week or even daily! The problem only occurs when a MIPS machine is doing a lot of paging. Users who don't cause their workstation to page will not see this problem. Patch to GNU Emacs 18.55: >*** m-pmax.h Thu Jun 8 11:53:55 1989 >--- m-pmax.h.new Mon Jul 9 10:21:21 1990 >*************** >*** 1,3 **** >--- 1,7 ---- > #include "m-mips.h" > #undef LIBS_MACHINE > #undef BIG_ENDIAN >+ #undef LD_SWITCH_MACHINE >+ #undef DATA_START >+ #define DATA_START 0x10000000 >+ #define DATA_SEG_BITS 0x10000000 47: How do I get Emacs running on VMS under DECwindows? Hal R. Brand <BRAND@addvax.llnl.gov> is said to have a VMS save set with a ready-to-run VMS version of Emacs for X Windows. It is available via: Anonymous FTP: site: addvax.llnl.gov Johan Vromans <jv@mh.nl> writes: Getting Emacs to run on VMS with DECwindows requires a number of changes to the sources. Fortunately this has been done already. Joshua Marantz <josh@viewlogic.com> did most of the work for Emacs 18.52, and the mods were ported to 18.55 by Johan Vromans <jv@mh.nl>. Also included is the handling of DEC's LK201 keyboard. You need to apply the changes to a fresh Emacs 18.55 distribution on a Unix system, and then you can copy the sources to VMS to perform the compile/link/build. The set of changes have been posted a number of times three times the last 12 months, so they should be widely available. 48: Why won't src/alloc.c compile on a SPARCstation? {Could someone send me a better description of the symptoms ... Does it really not compile, or does it refuse to link, or does it die when it's run?} An object in src/alloc.c is declared as an array of char. However, on a SPARCstation, this object must be aligned on a longword boundary. gcc will align this object not on a longword boundary because it thinks this is ok because the object is an array of char. Here is a solution: (Patch from the Epoch source code.) >*** dist-18.55.dist/src/alloc.c Mon Feb 13 05:23:35 1989 >--- dist-18.55/src/alloc.c Mon Nov 27 23:30:13 1989 >*************** >*** 665,673 **** > #define NSTATICS 200 > >- char staticvec1[NSTATICS * sizeof (Lisp_Object *)] = {0}; >- > int staticidx = 0; > > #define staticvec ((Lisp_Object **) staticvec1) > > /* Put an entry in staticvec, pointing at the variable whose address is given */ >--- 665,676 ---- > #define NSTATICS 200 > > int staticidx = 0; > >+ #ifdef __GNUC__ >+ Lisp_Object *staticvec[NSTATICS] = {0}; >+ #else >+ char staticvec1[NSTATICS * sizeof (Lisp_Object *)] = {0}; > #define staticvec ((Lisp_Object **) staticvec1) >+ #endif > > /* Put an entry in staticvec, pointing at the variable whose address is given */ {Does anyone understand why one might want to declare staticvec as an array of char instead of an array of LispObject?} 49: Why do shells started from Emacs suspend themselves under SunOS 4.1? In SunOS 4.1, when subprocesses are started by an Emacs process started by "rsh", the process stops with a message like this: Process shell stopped (tty input) SunOS 4.1 uses the POSIX standard's specification for job control. Basically, a process must be a session leader to acquire a new controlling terminal. A quick fix is to run Emacs as "/usr/etc/setsid emacs" instead. To fix it in Emacs, use this patch: (Patch by Eirik Fuller <eirik@elf.tn.cornell.edu>.) >*** /tmp/,RCSt1a12635 Fri Jul 6 11:29:10 1990 >--- process.c Sat Jun 16 14:04:55 1990 >*************** >*** 1031,1036 **** >--- 1031,1039 ---- > int j = open ("/dev/tty", O_RDWR, 0); > ioctl (j, TIOCNOTTY, 0); > close (j); >+ #ifndef USG >+ setpgrp (0, 0); >+ #endif > } > #endif /* TIOCNOTTY */ > 50: Why does Emacs crash from a bus error in XLookupString under OpenLook? The Sun OpenLook libraries use the XComposeStatus parameter on XLookupString for composing key sequences. I'm told this is actually supposed to be an optional parameter. (Patch by David J. MacKenzie <djm@eng.umd.edu>.) >*** dist-18.55.dist/src/x11term.c Wed Aug 2 21:56:42 1989 >--- dist-18.55/src/x11term.c Fri Jul 13 19:22:32 1990 >*************** >*** 1213,1216 **** >--- 1213,1218 ---- > #endif /* not sun */ > >+ static XComposeStatus status; >+ > internal_socket_read(bufp, numchars) > register unsigned char *bufp; >*************** >*** 1223,1227 **** > BLOCK_INPUT_DECLARE (); > XEvent event; >- XComposeStatus status; > KeySym keysym; > >--- 1225,1228 ---- >*************** >*** 1330,1334 **** > nbytes = XLookupString (&event, > mapping_buf, 20, &keysym, >! 0); > /* Someday this will be unnecessary as we will > be able to use XRebindKeysym so XLookupString >--- 1331,1335 ---- > nbytes = XLookupString (&event, > mapping_buf, 20, &keysym, >! &status); > /* Someday this will be unnecessary as we will > be able to use XRebindKeysym so XLookupString 51: Why doesn't "C-c C-c" interrupt subprocesses under HP/UX? Paul Stravers <stravers@dutentb.tudelft.nl> writes: In HP/UX we can (must) combine the two distinct calls 1. ioctl (fildes, TIOCGPGRP, &gid); 2. kill (-gid, signo); into the single call 1+2. ioctl (fildes, TIOCSIGSEND, signo); This is apparently the case under at least HP/UX versions 6.5 and 7.0. Here is a set of patches courtesy of Piet van Oostrum <piet@cs.ruu.nl> that fixes these problems: 1. Signals to child processes work now (like the C-c C-c mentioned above) 2. When running under X11, C-g now correctly interrupts long-running commands 3. When running under X11, the window is redislayed even if emacs is doing some work (e.g. if your window becomes visible after being behind another one. 4. A nasty bug in alloca is solved. This bug is very infrequent unless you apply the other patches. {I don't know for sure whether all of these patches are applicable only under HP/UX. Perhaps someone can tell me.} >*** alloca.s.~1~ Fri Sep 15 16:35:39 1989 >--- alloca.s Tue May 1 17:18:08 1990 >*************** >*** 92,103 **** > sub.l &MAXREG*4,%d1 # space for saving registers > mov.l %d1,%sp # save new value of sp > tst.b PROBE(%sp) # create pages (sigh) > move.w &MAXREG-1,%d0 > copy_regs_loop: /* save caller's saved registers */ >! mov.l (%a1)+,(%sp)+ > dbra %d0,copy_regs_loop >! mov.l %sp,%d0 # return value >! mov.l %d1,%sp > add.l &-4,%sp # adjust tos > jmp (%a0) # rts > #endif /* new hp assembler */ >--- 92,105 ---- > sub.l &MAXREG*4,%d1 # space for saving registers > mov.l %d1,%sp # save new value of sp > tst.b PROBE(%sp) # create pages (sigh) >+ mov.l %a2,%d1 # save reg a2 >+ mov.l %sp,%a2 > move.w &MAXREG-1,%d0 > copy_regs_loop: /* save caller's saved registers */ >! mov.l (%a1)+,(%a2)+ > dbra %d0,copy_regs_loop >! mov.l %a2,%d0 # return value >! mov.l %d1,%a2 # restore a2 > add.l &-4,%sp # adjust tos > jmp (%a0) # rts > #endif /* new hp assembler */ >*** keyboard.c.~1~ Wed Apr 4 14:53:49 1990 >--- keyboard.c Thu Apr 26 14:46:27 1990 >*************** >*** 719,724 **** >--- 719,773 ---- > errno = old_errno; > } > >+ #ifdef HPUX >+ /* tells if an alarm is outstanding for emptying the socket */ >+ int socket_alarm; >+ >+ static void >+ empty_socket_interrupt() >+ { >+ int nread; >+ char buf[256 * BUFFER_SIZE_FACTOR]; >+ register int i; >+ int old_errno = errno; >+ >+ if (waiting_for_input) return; >+ >+ fcntl (fileno (stdin), F_SETFL, O_NDELAY); >+ >+ /* Read what is waiting. */ >+ >+ nread = (*read_socket_hook) (0, buf, sizeof buf); >+ >+ #ifdef EBADSLT >+ if (nread == -1 && (errno == EAGAIN || errno == EBADSLT)) >+ #else >+ if (nread == -1 && errno == EAGAIN) >+ #endif >+ nread = 0; >+ >+ fcntl (fileno (stdin), F_SETFL, 0); >+ >+ /* Scan the chars for C-g and store them in kbd_buffer. */ >+ kbd_ptr = kbd_buffer; >+ for (i = 0; i < nread; i++) >+ { >+ kbd_buffer_store_char (buf[i]); >+ /* Don't look at input that follows a C-g too closely. >+ This reduces lossage due to autorepeat on C-g. */ >+ if (buf[i] == Ctl ('G')) >+ break; >+ } >+ >+ /* reestablish interrupt */ >+ signal (SIGALRM, empty_socket_interrupt); >+ alarm (1); >+ >+ errno = old_errno; >+ } >+ >+ #endif /* HPUX */ >+ > /* read a character from the keyboard; call the redisplay if needed */ > /* commandflag 0 means do not do auto-saving, but do do redisplay. > -1 means do not do redisplay, but do do autosaving. >*************** >*** 733,738 **** >--- 782,794 ---- > Lisp_Object tem; > extern request_echo (); > >+ #ifdef HPUX >+ if (socket_alarm) { >+ alarm (0); >+ socket_alarm = 0; >+ } >+ #endif >+ > if ((c = unread_command_char) >= 0) > { > unread_command_char = -1; >*************** >*** 869,874 **** >--- 925,938 ---- > } > } > >+ #ifdef HPUX >+ if (read_socket_hook) { >+ socket_alarm = 1; >+ signal (SIGALRM, empty_socket_interrupt); >+ alarm (1); >+ } >+ #endif >+ > return c; > } > >*************** >*** 1094,1119 **** > > #else /* no FIONREAD */ > #ifdef USG > if (kbd_count) > abort (); > > fcntl (fileno (stdin), F_SETFL, O_NDELAY); >! kbd_ptr = kbd_buffer; > if (read_socket_hook) >! { >! kbd_count = (*read_socket_hook) (0, kbd_buffer, sizeof kbd_buffer); >! } > else >! { >! kbd_count = read (fileno (stdin), kbd_buffer, sizeof kbd_buffer); >! } > #ifdef EBADSLT >! if (kbd_count == -1 && (errno == EAGAIN || errno == EBADSLT)) > #else >! if (kbd_count == -1 && errno == EAGAIN) > #endif >! kbd_count = 0; > fcntl (fileno (stdin), F_SETFL, 0); > #else /* not USG */ > you lose > #endif /* not USG */ >--- 1158,1209 ---- > > #else /* no FIONREAD */ > #ifdef USG >+ char buf[256 * BUFFER_SIZE_FACTOR]; >+ register int i; >+ #ifdef HPUX >+ int mask; >+ #endif >+ > if (kbd_count) > abort (); > >+ #ifdef HPUX >+ if (socket_alarm) >+ mask = sigblock (sigmask (SIGALRM)); >+ #endif >+ > fcntl (fileno (stdin), F_SETFL, O_NDELAY); >! >! /* Read what is waiting. */ > if (read_socket_hook) >! nread = (*read_socket_hook) (0, buf, sizeof buf); > else >! nread = read (fileno(stdin), buf, sizeof buf); > #ifdef EBADSLT >! if (nread == -1 && (errno == EAGAIN || errno == EBADSLT)) > #else >! if (nread == -1 && errno == EAGAIN) > #endif >! nread = 0; >! > fcntl (fileno (stdin), F_SETFL, 0); >+ >+ /* Scan the chars for C-g and store them in kbd_buffer. */ >+ kbd_ptr = kbd_buffer; >+ for (i = 0; i < nread; i++) >+ { >+ kbd_buffer_store_char (buf[i]); >+ /* Don't look at input that follows a C-g too closely. >+ This reduces lossage due to autorepeat on C-g. */ >+ if (buf[i] == Ctl ('G')) >+ break; >+ } >+ >+ #ifdef HPUX >+ if (socket_alarm) >+ sigsetmask(mask); >+ #endif >+ > #else /* not USG */ > you lose > #endif /* not USG */ >*** x11term.h~ Fri Sep 15 15:20:26 1989 >--- x11term.h Thu Apr 26 14:03:25 1990 >*************** >*** 11,17 **** >--- 11,22 ---- > #define sigmask(no) (1L << ((no) - 1)) > #endif > >+ #ifdef HPUX > #define BLOCK_INPUT_DECLARE() int BLOCK_INPUT_mask >+ #define BLOCK_INPUT() BLOCK_INPUT_mask = sigblock (sigmask (SIGALRM)) >+ #define UNBLOCK_INPUT() sigsetmask (BLOCK_INPUT_mask) >+ #else /* not HPUX */ >+ #define BLOCK_INPUT_DECLARE() int BLOCK_INPUT_mask > #ifdef SIGIO > #define BLOCK_INPUT() BLOCK_INPUT_mask = sigblock (sigmask (SIGIO)) > #define UNBLOCK_INPUT() sigsetmask (BLOCK_INPUT_mask) >*************** >*** 19,23 **** >--- 24,29 ---- > #define BLOCK_INPUT() > #define UNBLOCK_INPUT() > #endif /* SIGIO */ >+ #endif /* HPUX */ > > #define CLASS "emacs" /* class id for GNU Emacs, used in .Xdefaults, etc. */ >*** process.c.orig Fri Sep 15 16:28:36 1989 >--- process.c Fri Apr 20 13:17:06 1990 >*************** >*** 1057,1062 **** >--- 1057,1079 ---- > signal (SIGHUP, SIG_DFL); > #endif > #endif /* HAVE_PTYS */ >+ >+ /* Give child clean slate for signals */ >+ #ifdef SIGCHLD >+ #ifdef BSD4_1 >+ sigrelse (SIGCHLD); >+ #else /* not BSD4_1 */ >+ #ifdef HPUX >+ sigsetmask (0); >+ #endif /* HPUX */ >+ #if defined (BSD) || defined (UNIPLUS) >+ sigsetmask (0); >+ #else /* ordinary USG */ >+ signal (SIGCHLD, sigchld); >+ #endif /* ordinary USG */ >+ #endif /* not BSD4_1 */ >+ #endif /* SIGCHLD */ >+ > child_setup_tty (xforkout); > child_setup (xforkin, xforkout, xforkout, new_argv, env); > } >*************** >*** 1413,1427 **** > if (read_kbd && kbd_count) > nfds = 0; > else >! #ifdef IBMRTAIX > nfds = select (MAXDESC, &Available, 0, 0, &timeout); > #else >- #ifdef HPUX >- nfds = select (MAXDESC, &Available, 0, 0, &timeout); >- #else > nfds = select (MAXDESC, &Available, 0, &Exception, &timeout); > #endif >- #endif > xerrno = errno; > > if (fix_screen_hook) >--- 1430,1440 ---- > if (read_kbd && kbd_count) > nfds = 0; > else >! #if defined (IBMRTAIX) || defined (HPUX) > nfds = select (MAXDESC, &Available, 0, 0, &timeout); > #else > nfds = select (MAXDESC, &Available, 0, &Exception, &timeout); > #endif > xerrno = errno; > > if (fix_screen_hook) >*************** >*** 1771,1776 **** >--- 1784,1790 ---- > error ("Process %s is not active", > XSTRING (p->name)->data); > >+ #ifndef HPUX /* Can't get gid of tty's controlling session */ > #ifdef TIOCGPGRP /* Not sure about this! (fnf) */ > /* If we are using pgrps, get a pgrp number and make it negative. */ > if (!NULL (current_group)) >*************** >*** 1785,1790 **** >--- 1799,1805 ---- > the child itself heads the pgrp. */ > gid = - XFASTINT (p->pid); > #endif /* not using pgrps */ >+ #endif /* not HPUX */ > > switch (signo) > { >*************** >*** 1800,1805 **** >--- 1815,1827 ---- > flush_pending_output (XFASTINT (p->infd)); > break; > } >+ >+ #ifdef HPUX >+ if (!NULL (current_group)) >+ ioctl (XFASTINT (p->infd), TIOCSIGSEND, signo); >+ else >+ kill (XFASTINT (p->pid), signo); >+ #else /* not HPUX */ > /* gid may be a pid, or minus a pgrp's number */ > #ifdef BSD > /* On bsd, [man says] kill does not accept a negative number to kill a pgrp. >*************** >*** 1808,1813 **** >--- 1830,1836 ---- > #else /* Not BSD. */ > kill (gid, signo); > #endif /* Not BSD. */ >+ #endif /* Not HPUX */ > > /* Put notices in buffers now, since it is safe now. > Because of this, we know that a process we have just killed >% This is a separate patch to process.c, distinct from the immediately preceding one. Both should be applied. >*** process.c.~1~ Fri Apr 20 13:17:06 1990 >--- process.c Wed Oct 24 16:38:15 1990 >*************** >*** 1085,1095 **** > /* If the subfork execv fails, and it exits, > this close hangs. I don't know why. > So have an interrupt jar it loose. */ >! signal (SIGALRM, create_process_1); >! alarm (1); >! if (forkin >= 0) >! close (forkin); >! alarm (0); > if (forkin != forkout && forkout >= 0) > close (forkout); > >--- 1085,1100 ---- > /* If the subfork execv fails, and it exits, > this close hangs. I don't know why. > So have an interrupt jar it loose. */ >! >! { int old_trap = signal (SIGALRM, create_process_1); >! int old_alarm = alarm (1); >! if (forkin >= 0) >! close (forkin); >! alarm (0); >! signal (SIGALRM, old_trap); >! /* don't bother with possible 1 sec loss */ >! if (old_alarm) alarm (old_alarm); >! } > if (forkin != forkout && forkout >= 0) > close (forkout); 52: What should I do if I have trouble building Emacs? RMS writes: If you try to build Emacs and it does not run, the first thing to do is look in the file called PROBLEMS to see if a solution is given there. If none is given, then please send a report by mail to bug-gnu-emacs@prep.ai.mit.edu. Please do not send it to help-gnu-emacs@prep.ai.mit.edu. Sending to help-gnu-emacs (which has the effect of posting on gnu.emacs.help) is undesirable because it takes the time of an unnecessarily large group of people, most of whom are just users and have no idea how to fix these problem. bug-gnu-emacs reaches a much smaller group of people who are more likely to know what to do and have expressed a wish to receive more messages about Emacs than the others. Weird/Confusing Problems: 53: Does Emacs have problems with files larger than 8 Megs? Most installed versions of GNU Emacs will use 24 bit signed integers (and 24 bit pointers!) internally. This limits the file size that Emacs can handle to 8388608 bytes. Leonard N. Zubkoff <lnz@lucid.com> writes: Putting the following two lines in src/config.h before compiling Emacs allows for 26 bit integers and pointers: #define VALBITS 26 #define GCTYPEBITS 5 See question 54 for an explanation. 54: Why does Emacs use 24 bit integers and pointers? David Gillespie <daveg@csvax.cs.caltech.edu> writes: Emacs is largely written in a dialect of Lisp; Lisp is a freely-typed language in the sense that you can put any value of any type into any variable, or return it from a function, and so on. So each value must carry a "tag" along with it identifying what kind of thing it is, e.g., integer, pointer to a list, pointer to an editing buffer, and so on. Emacs uses standard 32-bit integers for data objects, taking the top 8 bits for the tag and the bottom 24 bits for the value. So integers (and pointers) are somewhat restricted compared to true C integers and pointers. Emacs uses 8-bit tags because that's a little faster on byte-oriented machines, but there are only really enough tags to require 6 bits. See question 53 to find how to recompile Emacs with 6-bit tags and 26-bit integers and pointers if space is at a premium for you. 55: Why does Emacs start up using the wrong directory? Most likely, you have an environment variable named PWD that is set to a value other than the name of your current directory. This is most likely caused by using two different shell programs. "ksh" and (some versions of) "csh" set and maintain the value of the PWD environment variable, but "sh" doesn't. If you start sh from ksh, change your current directory inside sh, and then start Emacs from inside sh, PWD will have the wrong value but Emacs will use this value. See question 72. 56: How do I edit a file with a "$" in its name? When entering a filename in the minibuffer, Emacs will attempt to expand a "$" followed by a word as an environment variable. To suppress this behavior, type "$$" instead. 57: Why does Shell Mode lose track of the shell's current directory? Emacs has no way of knowing when the shell actually changes its directory. So it tries to guess by recognizing cd commands. A number of fixes and enhancements to Shell Mode have been written, check the Emacs Lisp Archive (question 14). 58: Why doesn't Emacs expand my aliases when sending mail? First, you must separate multiple addresses with commas. Emacs normally only reads the ".mailrc" file once per session, when you start to compose your first mail message. If you edit .mailrc, you can type "M-ESC (build-mail-aliases) RET" to make Emacs reread .mailrc. 59: Why doesn't setting default-directory always work? There is a separate value of default-directory for each Emacs buffer. The value in the current buffer is the one that is used. 60: Why does my change to load-path not work? If you added file names with tildes (~) in them to your load-path, you'll need to do something like this: (setq-default load-path (mapcar 'expand-file-name load-path)) 61: Why does the cursor always go to the wrong column when I move up or down one line? You have inadvertently typed "C-x C-n" (set-goal-column) which sets the "goal-column" to the column where the cursor was. To undo this type "C-u C-x C-n". If you make this mistake frequently, you might want to unbind this command by doing (define-key ctl-x-map "\C-n" nil). 62: Why don't the command line switches documented in the man page work? The "man page", ie. the file etc/emacs.1, hasn't been updated in a while. The command line switches that it says work with X Windows are for X10. See question 72 for details on what switches are available using X11. {Would someone like to rewrite the man page? RMS asked me and I haven't had time yet.} 63: Why does gnus-Subject-mail-reply chop off the last character of the article headers? There is a bug in some rnews functions that GNUS uses. Here is a patch: (Patch supplied by Karl Kleinpaste <karl_kleinpaste@cis.ohio-state.edu>.) >*** rnewspost.el.orig Thu Oct 5 10:32:47 1989 >--- rnewspost.el Thu Oct 5 10:32:47 1989 >*************** >*** 252,258 **** > (save-restriction > (narrow-to-region (point-min) (progn (goto-line (point-min)) > (search-forward "\n\n") >! (- (point) 2))) > (setq from (mail-fetch-field "from") > subject (mail-fetch-field "subject") > reply-to (mail-fetch-field "reply-to") >--- 252,258 ---- > (save-restriction > (narrow-to-region (point-min) (progn (goto-line (point-min)) > (search-forward "\n\n") >! (- (point) 1))) > (setq from (mail-fetch-field "from") > subject (mail-fetch-field "subject") > reply-to (mail-fetch-field "reply-to") >*************** >*** 289,295 **** > ;@@ but rnews.el lacks support > (narrow-to-region (point-min) (progn (goto-char (point-min)) > (search-forward "\n\n") >! (- (point) 2))))) > (setq from (mail-fetch-field "from") > news-reply-yank-from from > ;; @@ not handling old Title: field >--- 289,295 ---- > ;@@ but rnews.el lacks support > (narrow-to-region (point-min) (progn (goto-char (point-min)) > (search-forward "\n\n") >! (- (point) 1))))) > (setq from (mail-fetch-field "from") > news-reply-yank-from from > ;; @@ not handling old Title: field >*************** >*** 365,371 **** > ;@@ but rnews.el lacks support > (narrow-to-region (point-min) (progn (goto-char (point-min)) > (search-forward "\n\n") >! (- (point) 2))))) > (setq news-reply-yank-from (mail-fetch-field "from") > ;; @@ not handling old Article-I.D.: field > news-reply-yank-message-id (mail-fetch-field "message-id"))) >--- 365,371 ---- > ;@@ but rnews.el lacks support > (narrow-to-region (point-min) (progn (goto-char (point-min)) > (search-forward "\n\n") >! (- (point) 1))))) > (setq news-reply-yank-from (mail-fetch-field "from") > ;; @@ not handling old Article-I.D.: field > news-reply-yank-message-id (mail-fetch-field "message-id"))) 64: Why does Emacs hang with message "Unknown XMenu" with X11R4? Many different X errors can produce this message. Here is the solution to one problem: X11 Release 4 now enforces some conditions in the X protocol that were previously allowed to pass unnoticed. You need to put the X11R4 server into X11R3 bug compatibility mode for Emacs's Xmenu code to work. You can do this with the command "xset bc". 65: Why isn't the load average displayed by display-time? The most likely cause of the problem is that "loadst" can't read the special file /dev/kmem. To properly install loadst, it should be either setuid to the owner of /dev/kmem, or is should be setgid to the group to which /dev/kmem belongs. In either case, /dev/kmem should be readable by its owner or its group, respectively. Another possibility is that your version of Unix doesn't have the load average data available in /dev/kmem. Your version of Unix might have a special system call to retrieve this information (eg., inq_stats under UMAX). 66: Why doesn't GNUS work anymore via NNTP? There is a bug in NNTP version 1.5.10, such that when multiple requests are sent to the NNTP server, the server only handles the first one before blocking waiting for more input which never comes. You can work around the bug inside Emacs like this: (setq nntp-maximum-request 1) (setq nntp-buggy-select t) Or you could fix the NNTP server in one of these ways: 1. Test whether there is data in stdin's stdio buffer before calling "select" using something like "((fileptr)->_cnt > 0)". Best choice. 2. Remove call to select by not defining "TIMEOUT" in "common/conf.h". 3. Put "setbuf (stdin, NULL)" in the NNTP server in the right spot. This would be very inefficient. 4. Rewrite the server to use an alarm instead of "select". 67: Why can't I paste a selection I made in Emacs into my xterm window? A person whose name I lost writes: The strange interaction between Emacs, xterm, and the cut buffers is because most xterm clients use selections instead of (well, superceding) cut buffers. If there is a selection around, xterms will use that instead of the cut buffer. Emacs doesn't know about selections, but you can convince xterm to always use the cut buffer instead of selections by adding this to your .Xdefaults: ! Solution by Thomas Narten, should work under X11R3 and later ! GNU Emacs only copies to CUT_BUFFER0. xterm by default wants to paste ! from the PRIMARY selection. XTerm*VT100.Translations: #override \ ~Meta <Btn2Up>: insert-selection(CUT_BUFFER0) 68: Why does ispell sometimes ignore the local dictionary? You need to update the version of ispell to 2.0.02. A patch is available via: Anonymous FTP: site: tut.cis.ohio-state.edu file: /pub/gnu/ispell/patch2.Z You also need to change a line in ispell.el from: (defconst ispell-version "2.0.01") ;; Check against output of "ispell -v". to: (defconst ispell-version "2.0.02") ;; Check against output of "ispell -v". Configuring Emacs for yourself: 69: How do I set up a .emacs file properly? I'm going to be sending out a sample .emacs file in a separate message later this month. It will be based largely on AT&T's sample .emacs file, which was sent to me by Dan Jacobson. In fact it might be identical. 70: How do you debug a .emacs file? First start Emacs with the "-q" command line option. Then, in the *scratch* buffer, type the following: (setq debug-on-error t) C-j (load-file "~/.emacs") C-j (C-j stands for Control-J, ie., hold the control key and press J.) If you have an error in your .emacs file, this will invoke the debugger when the error occurs. If you don't know how to use the debugger do (setq stack-trace-on-error t) instead. WARNING: this will not discover errors caused by trying to do something that requires the terminal/window-system initialization code to have been loaded. See question 34. 71: How do I turn on abbrevs by default just in mode XXX? Put this in your .emacs file: (condition-case () (read-abbrev-file nil t) (file-error nil)) (setq XXX-mode-hook (function (lambda () (setq abbrev-mode t)))) 72: What does Emacs do every time it starts up? This question is not itself frequently asked, but helps to answer other questions. Here is a complete explanation of the order in which things are done during startup. 1. These command line switches are handled, only if they appear before all other command line arguments, and only if they appear in this order: "-map". Only under VMS. Instead of "undumping", under VMS the contents of a dump file are mapped over a section of memory (very quickly initializing lots of variables). "-t". The next argument is treated as the name of a terminal to use instead of whatever is connected to the stdin, stdout, and stderr FILE pointers. "-display" (synonym: "-d"). The next argument is treated as the name of an X Window System server with which to connect. This overrides the DISPLAY environment variable. "-nw". This means don't connect to an X Window server even if the DISPLAY environment variable was set or the "-display" switch was specified. Instead, Emacs talks to a regular dumb terminal. "-batch". Emacs is noninteractive. The variable "noninteractive" is t. This disables any full screen interaction either with a dumb terminal or with a window system. In addition, Emacs will die after processing all command line arguments. All of Emacs's internal data structures are initialized between steps 2 and 5. 2. The "*scratch*" buffer is created and its value of default-directory is set from the result of calling the "getwd" library routine. (getwd does what the "pwd" program does.) 3. If X11 is being used, Emacs determines the name under which it looks for X resource values. (I haven't checked how it does this under X10.) 1. If there is a "-rn" command line switch, it is handled now, no matter where it is on the command line. (Later it will be processed again and ignored.) The next argument is used as Emacs's resource name. 2. If the "-rn" switch was missing, Emacs looks for the WM_RES_NAME environment variable. 3. If neither of the previous two steps succeed, Emacs uses the filename with which it was invoked as its resource name. 4. If X11 is being used, these command line switches are handled now, no matter where they appear in the command line. (Under X10, they are not handled until step 13.) WARNING: this can cause strange interactions with the processing of the remaining command line arguments in step 13. In addition, under both X11 and X10, X resources (ie. the stuff in an .Xdefaults file) are handled now. Command line switches take precedence over resources. After each command line switch are given the equivalent resource names in this format: (X10 name / X11 instance name / X11 class name). "-r". Reverse video. (ReverseVideo/reverseVideo/ReverseVideo) "-font" (synonym: "-fn"). Font. (BodyFont/font/Font) "-wn". Window name (X11 only). (/title/Title) "-in". Icon name (X11 only). (/iconName/Title) "-i". Use built-in icon bitmap. (BitMapIcon//) "-b". Border width (in pixels). (BorderWidth/borderWidth/BorderWidth) "-ib". Internal border width (in pixels) (default: 1). (/internalBorder/BorderWidth) "-geometry" (synonym: "-w"). Window shape and size. "-geometry" is X11 only, but its synonym "-w" was available under X10. (/geometry/Geometry) Color options only: "-fg". Foreground color. (Foreground/foreground/Foreground) "-bg". Background color. (Background/background/Background) "-bd". Border color. (Border/borderColor/BorderColor) "-cr". Cursor color. (Cursor/cursorColor/Foreground) "-ms". Mouse pointer color. (Mouse/pointerColor/Foreground) In addition, under X10, the resource "Keymap" was handled now. 5. If your Emacs isn't "dumped", the default Lisp libraries are "loaded" now. 6. Emacs enters a "recursive edit". The first time Emacs does a recursive edit, steps 7 through 15 are followed, and then Emacs enters its normal editing mode. 7. If the environment variable PWD exists, the value of default-directory in the *scratch* buffer is set to the value of PWD. This often causes problems and confusion when the value of PWD doesn't actually contain the pathname of the current directory. 8. Now the "-no-init-file" (synonym: "-q") and "-user" (synonym: "-u") command line switches are handled. They must follow the switches mentioned in step 1, and must precede any other command line arguments. Actually, both of these options can be specified; whichever is last on the command line wins. 9. The user's ".emacs" file is loaded now, if the -no-init-file option was not specified. If the -user option was specified, that user's .emacs file is loaded instead. A user's .emacs file is a file named ".emacs" in the user's "home" directory. If no such file exists, this step has no effect. 10. The system wide "default" file is loaded now, if the variable inhibit-default-init is nil. The user can set this variable in the .emacs file to skip this step. 11. If the *scratch* buffer still exists now, the value of initial-major-mode is called as a function in this buffer. Normally, this puts this buffer in Lisp Interaction mode. 12. Now the terminal/window-system setup file is loaded. The name of this file is determined as follows: 1. It starts with the value of term-file-prefix. Normally this is "term/", but the user can set it to another value. If this variable is nil, this entire step is skipped. 2. For a window system, the prefix is followed by the name of the value of the variable window-system, followed by "-win". For X Windows, this means the name is "term/x-win". 3. For a terminal, the prefix is followed by the value of the environment variable TERM, for example, "term/vt200". If Emacs cannot find such a file to load, it retries by stripping off suffixes that begin with a hyphen. For example, if TERM is "vt200-40", first Emacs will try "term/vt200-40", and if that fails it will try "term/vt200". 13. The rest of the command line arguments are handled at this point, in the order they appear: "-funcall" (synonyms: "-f", "-e"). The next argument is treated as the name of a function, which is called with no arguments. "-load" (synonym: "-l"). The next argument is treated as the name of a file to load. NOTE: the value of the variable load-path will be restored after this file is done loading. Thus, trying to change load-path in such a file will fail!! "-kill". When this argument is handled, Emacs kills itself. "+DDD", where D is a digit. DDD is used as a line number to go to. When the next ordinary file argument on the command line is handled, Emacs positions point in that file on line DDD. An ordinary filename. Emacs edits this file using the function find-file. If the filename is not an "absolute" filename, it is expanded relative to the value that default-directory in the *scratch* buffer had at the beginning of step 11. The buffer visiting this file becomes the current buffer. "-insert" (synonym: "-i"). The next argument is treated as the name of a file. This file is inserted in the current buffer. Initially, this is the *scratch* buffer. Otherwise it is the buffer visiting the file most recently specified on the command line. WARNING: the synonym "-i" doesn't work under X11. Other command line switches may have been created by modifying the value of the variable command-switch-alist. If X Windows is being used, all X-specific switches mentioned above in steps 3 and 4 will be processed. Under X11, they will have already been handled, and will be ignored now. Under X10, they are being handled for the first time. 14. The values of the variables term-setup-hook and window-setup-hook are called as functions with no arguments, in the order listed. 15. If the user did not specify any of the command line options handled in step 13, and the variable inhibit-startup-message is still nil, the familiar Emacs startup message is displayed. 73: What are the valid X resource settings (ie., stuff in .Xdefaults file)? See question 72. WARNING: Don't pay any attention to the documentation in etc/XDOC or etc/emacs.1. It's way out of date. {Would someone like to rewrite it? RMS asked me and I haven't had time yet.} 74: How do I turn down the bell volume in Emacs running under X Windows? Under Epoch you can do: (setq epoch::bell-volume 20) Under normal GNU Emacs you must modify the XTfeep function in src/x11term.c, and change the number 50 to some other number: XTfeep () { BLOCK_INPUT_DECLARE (); #ifdef XDEBUG fprintf (stderr, "XTfeep\n"); #endif BLOCK_INPUT (); XBell (XXdisplay,50); /* change this 50 */ UNBLOCK_INPUT (); } 75: How do I make Emacs send 8-bit characters to my terminal? Johan Widen <jw@sics.se> writes: A patch for emacs-18.55 is available by ftp and mail-server from sics.se. Anonymous FTP: site: sics.se [192.16.123.90] file: archive/emacs-18.55-8bit-diff E-mail: To: mail-server@sics.se body: send emacs-18.55-8bit-diff Emacs Lisp programming: 76: What dialect of Lisp is Emacs Lisp? It's the dialect of Lisp called Emacs Lisp. (No joke!) People also call it elisp or e-lisp. (NOTE: The term "Elisp" is trademarked by someone else.) 77: How close is Emacs Lisp to Common Lisp? Pretty far. GNU Emacs Lisp is case-sensitive, uses dynamic scoping, doesn't have packages, doesn't have multiple return values, doesn't have reader macros, etc. For people used to Common Lisp, some of the functions in Common Lisp that are not in Emacs Lisp by default are provided in the file lisp/cl.el. There is a Texinfo manual describing these functions in man/cl.texinfo. 78: How do I execute a piece of Emacs Lisp code? There are a number of ways to execute (called "evaluate") an Emacs Lisp "form": * If you want it evaluated every time you run Emacs, put it in a file named ".emacs" in your home directory. * You can type the form in the "*scratch*" buffer, and then type C-j after it. The result of evaluating the form will be inserted in the buffer. * In in Emacs-Lisp mode, typing M-C-x evaluates a top-level form before or around point. * Typing "C-x C-e" in any buffer evaluates the Lisp form immediately before point and prints its value in the echo area. * Typing M-ESC or M-x eval-expression allows you to type a Lisp form in the minibuffer which will be evaluated. * You can use M-x load-file to have Emacs evaluate all the Lisp forms in a file. (To do this from Lisp use the function "load" instead.) 79: How do I make a set of operations fully local to a region? Use narrow-to-region inside of save-restriction. 80: How can I highlight a region? There are ways to get highlighting in GNU Emacs 18.55, but they all require patching the C code of Emacs and rebuilding. They are also slow and the highlighting disappears if you scroll or redraw the screen. One patch is by Kenichi Handa <handa@etl.go.jp>. You can hightlight regions in a variety of ways in Epoch. GNU Emacs 19 will have everything you need, but won't be out soon. 81: How do I change Emacs's idea of the tab character's length? Example: (setq default-tab-width 10). 82: What is the difference between (interactive "P") and (interactive "p")? The value that is a result of "P" can be a list, a symbol, or an integer; the value that is a result of "p" is always an integer: Prefix keys typed result of: "P" "p" nothing nil 1 "M-1" 1 1 "C-u 1" 1 1 "M--" '- -1 "C-u -" '- -1 "C-u" (4) 4 "C-u C-u" (16) 16 Carrying Out Common Tasks: 83: How do I insert ">"'s in the beginning of every line in a buffer? Type "M-x replace-regexp RET ^ RET > RET". ("replace-regexp" can be shortened to "repl TAB r".) To do this only in the region, type "C-x n M-x replace-regexp RET ^ RET > RET C-x w". (You're going to remember that, right?) 84: How do I insert "_^H" characters before each character in a paragraph to get an underlined paragraph? M-x underline-region. 85: How do I repeat a command as many times as possible? Make a keyboard macro that invokes the command and then type "M-0 C-x e". WARNING: any messages your command prints in the echo area will be suppressed. 86: How do I search for an unprintable (8-bit) character that appears in a buffer as \237? C-s C-q 2 3 7 (This assumes the value of search-quote-char is 17 (C-q).) 87: How do I tell Emacs to automatically indent a new line to the indentation of the previous line? M-x indented-text-mode. (This is a major mode.) If you have auto-fill mode on (minor mode), you can tell Emacs to prefix every line with a certain character sequence, the "fill prefix". Type the prefix at the beginning of a line, position point after it, and then type "C-x ." (set-fill-prefix) to set the fill prefix. Thereafter, auto-filling will automatically put the fill prefix at the beginning of new lines, and M-q (fill-paragraph) will maintain any fill prefix when refilling the paragraph. 88: How do I make Emacs "typeover" or "overwrite" when I type instead of always inserting? M-x overwrite-mode (minor mode). WARNING: delete-backward-char (usually the delete key) doesn't work properly in overwrite mode. It deletes the character to the left, rather than replacing it with a space. 89: How do I show which parenthesis matches the one I'm looking at? If you're looking at a right parenthesis (or brace or bracket) you can delete it and reinsert it. M-C-f (forward-sexp) and M-C-b (backward-sexp) will skip over balanced parentheses, so you can see which parentheses match. (You can train it to skip over balanced brackets and braces at the same time by modifying the syntax table.) Here is some Emacs Lisp that will make the % key show the matching parenthese, like in vi. In addition, if the cursor isn't over a parenthese, it simply inserts a % like normal. (By an unknown contributor.) (global-set-key "%" 'match-paren) (defun match-paren (arg) "Go to the matching parenthesis if on parenthesis otherwise insert %." (interactive "p") (cond ((looking-at "[([{]") (forward-sexp 1) (backward-char)) ((looking-at "[])}]") (forward-char) (backward-sexp 1)) (t (self-insert-command (or arg 1))))) 90: How do I make Emacs behave like this: when I go up or down, the cursor should stay in the same column even if the line is too short? M-x picture-mode. (This is a minor mode, in theory anyway ...) 91: How do I read news under Emacs? There are at least three news reading packages that operate inside Emacs. "rnews" comes with Emacs. "GNUS" and "Gnews" come separately. {I've never used rnews; could someone write a description? BTW, rnews will be replaced with GNUS in Emacs 19.} Both GNUS and Gnews handle reading news over NNTP. I think both can also read from a local news spool. GNUS also supports reading mail stored in MH folders or articles saved by GNUS. GNUS is written (mostly) by Masanobu Umeda. His (?) latest e-mail address was umerin@tc.nagasaki.go.jp, but I don't think he has an e-mail address right now. The latest version is GNUS 3.13. There is a newsgroup for discussion of GNUS called gnu.emacs.gnus. This newsgroup is gatewayed with the mailing list info-gnus-english to subscribe send mail to info-gnus-english-request@cis.ohio-state.edu. There is also a mailing list called info-gnus, which includes discussion in Japanese. Gnews was written by Matthew Wiener <e-mail address?>. {Could someone tell me the # of the latest version, and how long it has been since anyone has heard from Matthew?}. There is a newsgroup for Gnews called gnu.emacs.gnews. 92: In C mode, can I show just the lines that will be left after #ifdef commands are handled by the compiler? M-x hide-ifdef-mode. (This is a minor mode.) You may have to (load "hideif") first. If you want to do this regularly, put this in your .emacs file: (autoload 'hide-ifdef-mode "hideif" nil t) 93: Is there an equivalent to the "." (dot) command of vi? ("." is the redo command in vi. It redoes the last insertion/deletion.) No, not really. You can type "C-x ESC" (repeat-complex-command) to reinvoke commands that used the minibuffer to get arguments. In repeat-complex-command you can type M-p and M-n to scan through all the different complex commands you've typed. To repeat something on each line I recommend using keyboard macros. 94: How do I use emacstool under SunView? The file etc/SUN-SUPPORT includes the document "Using Emacstool with GNU Emacs". Also read the man page for emacstool (etc/emacstool.1). 95: How do I get Emacs to display the current line number on the mode line? There is no "correct" way to constantly display the current line number on the mode line in Emacs 18. Emacs is not a line-oriented editor, and really has no idea what "lines" of the buffer are displayed in the window. It would require a lot of work at the C code level to make Emacs keep track of this. Emacs 19 will probably be able to do this, but probably not with great efficiency. To find out what line of the buffer you are on right now, do "M-x what-line". Typing "C-x l" will also tell you what line you are on, provided the buffer isn't separated into "pages" with C-l characters. In that case, it will only tell you what line of the current "page" you are on. WARNING: "C-x l" gives the wrong value when point is at the beginning of a line. People have written various kludges to display the current line number on the mode line. Look in the Lisp Code Directory. (See question 13.) 96: How do I tell Emacs to iconify itself? You need to modify C source and recompile. Either that or get Epoch instead. For the interested I have a patch to allow Emacs to iconify itself. 97: How do I use regexps (regular expressions) in Emacs? This is documented in the Emacs manual. To read the manual section online, type "C-h i m emacs RET m regexps RET". WARNING: Unlike in Unix grep, sed, etc., a complement character set ([^...]) can match a Newline, unless Newline is mentioned as one of the characters not to match.