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1 The XEmacs Packages Quick Start Guide
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2 -------------------------------------
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3
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4 This text is intended to help you get started installing a new XEmacs
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5 and its packages from start. For details see the 'Startup Paths' and
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6 'Packages' sections of the XEmacs info manual.
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7
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8 Real Real Quickstart FAQ
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9 ------------------------
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10
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11 Q. Do I need to have the packages to compile XEmacs?
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12 A. No, XEmacs will build and install just fine without any packages
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13 installed. However, only the most basic editing functions will be
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14 available with no packages installed, so installing packages is an
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15 essential part of making your installed XEmacs _useful_.
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16
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17 Q. I really liked the old way that packages were bundled and do not
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18 want to mess with packages at all.
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19 A. You can grab all the packages at once like you used to with old
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20 XEmacs versions, skip to the 'Sumo Tarball' section below.
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21
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22 A note of caution
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23 -----------------
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24
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25 The XEmacs package system is still in its infancy. Please expect a few
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26 minor hurdles on the way. Also neither the interface nor the structure is
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27 set in stone. The XEmacs maintainers reserve the right to sacrifice
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28 backwards compatibility as quirks are worked out over the coming
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29 releases.
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30
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31 Some Package Theory
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32 -------------------
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33
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34 In order to reduce the size and increase the maintainability of XEmacs,
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35 the majority of the Elisp packages that came with previous releases
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36 have been unbundled. They have been replaced by the package system.
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37 Each elisp add-on (or groups of them when they are small) now comes
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38 in its own tarball that contains a small search hierarchy.
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39
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40 You select just the ones you need. Install them by untarring them into
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41 the right place. On startup XEmacs will find them, set up the load
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42 path correctly, install autoloads, etc, etc.
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43
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44 Package hierarchies
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45 -------------------
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46
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47 On Startup XEmacs looks for packages in so called package hierarchies.
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48 These can be specified by the 'package-path' parameter to the
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49 'configure' script. However by default there are three system wide
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50 hierarchies.
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51
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52 $prefix/lib/xemacs/site-packages
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53 Local and 3rd party packages go here.
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54
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55 $prefix/lib/xemacs/mule-packages
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56 Only searched by MULE-enabled XEmacsen.
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57
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58 $prefix/lib/xemacs/xemacs-packages
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59 Normal packages go here.
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60
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61 Where to get the packages
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62 -------------------------
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63
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64 Packages are available from ftp://ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/packages
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65 and its mirrors.
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66
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67 How to install the packages
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68 ---------------------------
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69
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70 1. All at once, using the 'Sumo Tarball'.
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71 2. By hand.
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72 3. Automatically, using the package tools from XEmacs.
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73
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74 The Sumo Tarball
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75 ----------------
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76
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77 Those with little time, cheap connections and plenty of disk space can
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78 install all the packages at once using the sumo tarballs.
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79 Download the file
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80
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81 xemacs-sumo.tar.gz
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82
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83 For an XEmacs compiled with Mule you also need
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84
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85 xemacs-mule-sumo.tar.gz
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86
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87 N.B. They are called 'Sumo Tarballs' for good reason. They are
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88 currently about 15MB and 2.3MB (gzipped) respectively.
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89
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90 Install them by
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91
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92 cd $prefix/lib/xemacs ; gunzip -c <tarballname> | tar xf -
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93
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94 As the Sumo tarballs are not regenerated as often as the individual
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95 packages, it is recommended that you use the automatic package tools
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96 afterwards to pick up any recent updates.
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97
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98 Installing by Hand
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99 ------------------
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100
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101 Fetch the packages from the ftp site, CDROM whatever. The filenames
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102 have the form name-<version>-pkg.tar.gz and are gzipped tar files. For
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103 a fresh install it is sufficient to untar the file at the top of the
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104 package hierarchy. For example if we are installing the 'xemacs-base'
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105 package in version 1.27:
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106
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107 mkdir $prefix/lib/xemacs/xemacs-packages # if it does not exist yet
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108 cd $prefix/lib/xemacs/xemacs-packages
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109 gunzip -c ...../xemacs-base-1.27-pkg.tar.gz | tar xf -
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110
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111 For MULE related packages, it is best to untar in the mule-packages
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112 hierarchy, i.e. for the mule-base package, version 1.25
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113
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114 mkdir $prefix/lib/xemacs/mule-packages # if it does not exist yet
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115 cd $prefix/lib/xemacs/mule-packages
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116 gunzip -c ...../mule-base-1.25-pkg.tar.gz | tar xf -
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117
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118 Installing automatically
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119 ------------------------
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120
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121 XEmacs comes with some tools to make the periodic updating and
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122 installing easier. It will notice if new packages or versions are
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123 available and will fetch them from the ftp site.
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124
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125 Unfortunately this requires that a few packages are already in place.
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126 You will have to install them by hand as above or use a SUMO tarball.
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127 This requirement will hopefully go away in the future. The packages
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128 you need are:
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129
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130 efs - To fetch the files from the ftp site or mirrors.
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131 xemacs-base - Needed by efs.
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132
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133 and optionally:
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134
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135 mailcrypt - If you have PGP installed and want to verify the
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136 signature of the index file.
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137 mule-base - Needed if you want to use XEmacs with MULE.
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138
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139 After installing these by hand, you can start XEmacs. (It is a good
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140 idea to use 'xemacs -vanilla' here as your startup files might need
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141 things now moved to packages.)
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142
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143 - First you need to specify an FTP site to use.
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144 Use Options->Manage Packages->Add Download Site
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145 or M-x customize-variable RET package-get-remote RET
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146
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147 Alternatively, if you already have the packages on a local disk
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148 then you can specify this directly using 'M-x
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149 pui-add-install-directory'. Please make sure you also have a
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150 corresponding copy of the package index there.
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151
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152 - Invoke Options->Manage Packages->List & Install
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153 or M-x pui-list-packages RET
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154 XEmacs will now first try to fetch a new version of the package
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155 index from the FTP site. Depending on whether you are using
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156 'mailcrypt/PGP', you will get some question about keys to fetch or
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157 whether to use the index without verifying the signature. If the
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158 new index was different from the one already on disk, XEmacs will
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159 offer you to overwrite the old index.
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160
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161 - XEmacs will show you a buffer named "*Packages*" with an overview
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162 of available and installed packages, including a short description.
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163 In this buffer you can select which packages you want using the
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164 mouse or using RET.
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165
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166 - When you are finished choosing packages, invoke
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167 'Packages->Install/Remove Select' from the menu or type 'x' to
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168 begin installing packages.
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169
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170 After Installation
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171 ------------------
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172
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173 New packages can only be used by XEmacs after a restart.
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174
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175 Note to MULE users
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176 ------------------
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177
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178 Unlike all other packages the mule-base package is used at build/dump
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179 time. This means that you need this available before compiling XEmacs
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180 with MULE. Also it is a good idea to keep packages that are
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181 MULE-only separate by putting them in the mule-packages hierarchy.
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182
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183 Which Packages to install?
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184 --------------------------
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185
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186 This is difficult to say. When in doubt install a package. If you
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187 administrate a big site it might be a good idea to just install
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188 everything. A good minimal set of packages for XEmacs-latin1 would be
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189
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190 xemacs-base, xemacs-devel, c-support, cc-mode, debug, dired, efs,
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191 edit-utils, fsf-compat, mail-lib, net-utils, os-utils, prog-modes,
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192 text-modes, time
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193
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194 Unfortunately the package system currently provides neither
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195 dependencies nor conflicts. This will be a future enhancement. The
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196 above set includes most packages that are used by others.
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197
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198 See also '.../etc/PACKAGES' for further descriptions of the individual
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199 packages (currently outdated).
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200
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201 Upgrading/Removing Packages
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202 ---------------------------
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203
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204 As the exact files and their locations contained in a package may
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205 change it is recommended to remove a package first before installing a
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206 new version. In order to facilitate removal each package contains an
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207 pgkinfo/MANIFEST.pkgname file which list all the files belong to the
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208 package. M-x package-admin-delete-binary-package RET can be used to
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209 remove a package using this file.
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210
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211 Note that the interactive package tools included with XEmacs already do
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212 this for you.
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213
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214 User Package directories
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215 ------------------------
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216
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217 In addition to the system wide packages, each user can have his own
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218 packages installed in "~/.xemacs/xemacs-packages". If you want to
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219 install packages there using the interactive tools, you need to set
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220 'pui-package-install-dest-dir' to "~/.xemacs/xemacs-packages"
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221
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222 Site lisp/Site start
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223 --------------------
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224
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225 The site-packages hierarchy replaces the old 'site-lisp' directory.
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226 XEmacs no longer looks into a 'site-lisp' directly by default.
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227 A good place to put 'site-start.el' would be in
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228 $prefix/lib/xemacs/site-packages/lisp/
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229
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230 Finding the right packages
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231 --------------------------
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232
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233 If you want to find out which package contains the functionality you
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234 are looking for, use M-x package-get-package-provider, and give it a
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235 symbol that is likely to be in that package. For example, if some
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236 code you want to use has a (require 'thingatpt) in it, try doing
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237 M-x package-get-package-provider RET thingatpt , which will return
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238 something like: (fsf-compat "1.06").
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