GNU Zile
========

GNU Zile is free software, licensed under the GNU GPL.

Copyright (c) 1997-2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

**Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
notice and this notice are preserved.**

_This file is marked up in [MultiMarkdown][] syntax_.

  [MultiMarkdown]: http://fletcherpenney.net/multimarkdown

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Contents
========

1. [INTRODUCTION][]
   * [Source Layout][]
   * [Web Pages][]
   * [Mailing Lists][]
2. [OBTAINING THE LATEST SOURCES][]
   * [Official Release][]
   * [Development Sources][]
3. [REPORTING BUGS][]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

INTRODUCTION
============

GNU Zile (_Zile Is Lossy Emacs_) is a lightweight [Emacs][] clone. Every
Emacs user should feel at home with Zile. Zile is aimed at small
footprint systems (a typical binary is about 100Kb) and quick editing
sessions (it starts up and shuts down instantly).

Zile is written in **ISO C99** using **POSIX.1-2008** APIs, and [libgc][].
It can be built on many other platforms thanks to its use of [gnulib][].

  [Emacs]:   http://www.gnu.org/s/emacs
  [libgc]:   http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Hans_Boehm/gc
  [gnulib]:  http://www.gnu.org/s/gnulib


Source Layout
-------------

 * See file `AUTHORS` for the names of maintainers past and present.
 * See file `COPYING` for copying conditions.
 * See file `FAQ` for a selection of a Frequently Answered Questions.
 * See file `INSTALL` for generic compilation and installation
   instructions.
 * See file `NEWS` for a list of major changes in each Zile release.
 * See file `THANKS` for a list of important contributors.

The rest of the files in the top-level directory are part of the
[Autotools]() build system used to compile and install Zile.

 * Directory `build-aux` contains helper scripts used to build Zile.
 * Directory `doc` contains files used to create Zile's documentation.
 * Directory `gl` contains Zile-specific patches to standard [gnulib]().
 * Directory `lib` contains [gnulib]() source modules used by Zile.
 * Directory `m4` contains a mixture of [gnulib]() supplied and Zile-
   specific macros for rebuilding the `configure' script.
 * Directory `src` contains the source code used to build Zile.
 * Directory `tests` contains a small suite of tests used by
   `make check` to sanity check a newly built `src/zile` binary.

  [Autotools]: http://sourceware.org/autobook/


Web Pages
---------

GNU Zile's home page is at:

  > <http://www.gnu.org/s/zile/>

GNU Zile development is co-ordinated from Zile's project page at GNU
Savannah:

  > <http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/zile/>

An archive of past releases is also archived at:

  > <http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/zile/>

But please use a mirror for faster downloads and to reduce stress on the
main gnu machine. The following link will automatically redirect to a
nearest mirror:

  > <http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/zile/>

Or you can manually select a mirror from the list at:

  > <http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html>


Mailing Lists
-------------

Questions, comments and requests should be sent to the Zile user's list
at <help-zile@gnu.org>.

See [REPORTING BUGS][] for the bug reporting mailing list address.


OBTAINING THE LATEST SOURCES
============================

If you are just building GNU Zile from an [Official Release][], you
should not normally need to run `./bootstrap` or `autoreconf`; just go
ahead and start with `./configure`.

If you are trying to build GNU Zile from the [Development Sources][],
`./configure` will not work until the `./bootstrap` script has completed
successfully.


Official Release
----------------

Compressed tarballs of all recent GNU Zile releases are available from:

  > <http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/zile>

Compressed tarballs of unstable prereleases are sometimes made available
from:

  > <ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/zile>

Official tarballs are supplied with a [GnuPG][] detached signature file
so that you can verify that the corresponding tarball is still the same
file that was released by the owner of its GPG key ID. First, be sure to
download both the .sig file and the corresponding release:

    wget http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/zile/zile-2.3.24.tar.gz
    wget http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/zile/zile-2.3.24.tar.gz.sig

then run a command like this:

    gpg --verify zile-2.3.24.tar.gz.sig

If that command fails because you don't have the required public key,
then run this command to import it:

    gpg --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 80EE4A00

and then rerun the `gpg --verify' command.

Generic instructions for how to build GNU Zile from a release tarball
are contained in the file `INSTALL`. Additionally, If you wish to use a
non-standard curses library name, this can be specified using
`CURSES_LIB` and `CPPFLAGS`. For example, to use the X version of
[PDcurses][]:

    CPPFLAGS=/usr/local/include/xcurses CURSES_LIB=-lXCurses ./configure

If you are missing any of the prerequisite libraries needed to
successfully build GNU Zile, the `configure` script will abort itself
and tell you right away.

  [GnuPG]:    http://www.gnupg.org/
  [PDcurses]: http://pdcurses.sf.ne


Development Sources
-------------------

Zile development sources are maintained at the GNU Savannah git server:

  > [git://git.sv.gnu.org/zile.git][gitbrowser]

You can fetch a read-only copy with:

    git clone https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/zile.git

Normally, you just need to run `./bootstrap`, and it will either get
everything ready so that you can then run `./configure` as would for a
release tarball, or else tell you if your machine is missing some
packages that it needs in order to do that.

  [gitbrowser]: http://git.sv.gnu.org/cgit/zile.git

Zile is written in Vala; to build it you need valac version 0.52 or later,
glib 2.0 and libgee.


REPORTING BUGS
==============

If this distribution doesn't work for you, before you report the
problem, please try upgrading to the latest released version first, to
see whether your issue has been fixed already. If you can, please also
check whether the latest development sources for the next release still
exhibit the problem (see [OBTAINING THE LATEST SOURCES][] above).

Please send bug reports, feature requests and patches to
<bug-zile@gnu.org> or, preferably, file them directly in the relevant
tracker at <http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/zile/>.

When you are ready to submit a report, first, please read this:

  > <http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html>

Zile has a suite of Lisp tests in the tests directory of the source
distribution, which you can run with:

    make check

If, when you report a bug, you can create a similar test that
demonstrates it, the maintainers will be most grateful, and it will
prevent them from accidentally reintroducing the bug in a subsequent
release.
