8. Finding Emacs and related packages

8.1 Where can I get Emacs on the net (or by snail mail)?
8.2 How do I find a Emacs Lisp package that does XXX?
8.3 Where can I get Emacs Lisp packages that don't come with Emacs?
8.4 How do I submit code to the Emacs Lisp Archive?
8.5 Where can I get other up-to-date GNU stuff?
8.6 What is the difference between Emacs and XEmacs (formerly "Lucid Emacs")?
8.7 Where can I get Emacs for my PC running MS-DOS?
8.8 Where can I get Emacs for Microsoft Windows
8.9 Where can I get Emacs for my PC running OS/2?
8.10 Where can I get Emacs for my Atari ST?
8.11 Where can I get Emacs for my Amiga?
8.12 Where can I get Emacs for NeXTSTEP?
8.13 Where can I get Emacs for my Apple computer?
8.14 Where do I get Emacs that runs on VMS under DECwindows?
8.15 Where can I get modes for Lex, Yacc/Bison, Bourne shell, csh, C++, Objective-C, Pascal, Java, and Awk?
8.16 What is the IP address of XXX.YYY.ZZZ?

8.1 Where can I get Emacs on the net (or by snail mail)?

Look in the files `etc/DISTRIB' and `etc/FTP' for information on nearby archive sites and `etc/ORDERS' for mail orders. If you don't already have Emacs, see 3.8 What informational files are available for Emacs?, for how to get these files.

See section 7.1 How do I install Emacs?, for information on how to obtain and build the latest version of Emacs, and see 8.5 Where can I get other up-to-date GNU stuff?, for a list of archive sites that make GNU software available.

8.2 How do I find a Emacs Lisp package that does XXX?

First of all, you should check to make sure that the package isn't already available. For example, typing M-x apropos RET wordstar RET lists all functions and variables containing the string `wordstar'.

It is also possible that the package is on your system, but has not been loaded. To see which packages are available for loading, look through your computer's lisp directory (see section 1.4 What are `etc/SERVICE', `src/config.h', and `lisp/default.el'?). The Lisp source to most packages contains a short description of how they should be loaded, invoked, and configured--so before you use or modify a Lisp package, see if the author has provided any hints in the source code.

If a package does not come with Emacs, check the Lisp Code Directory. The LCD was originally maintained by Dave Brennan, but was recently taken over by toby knudsen, who maintains http://www.emacs.org. The LCD is currently being reorganized and updated, but you can meanwhile find many packages at ftp://ftp.emacs.org/pub.

For now, you can search through the LCD with `lispdir.el', which is in the process of being updated. Download it from the LCD, in the `emacs-lisp-attic/misc' directory, and then evaluate the following Lisp form (see section 5.29 How do I execute ("evaluate") a piece of Emacs Lisp code?):

(setq lisp-code-directory "/anonymous@ftp.emacs.org:pub/emacs-lisp-attic/emacs-lisp/LCD-datafile.gz" elisp-archive-host "ftp.emacs.org" elisp-archive-directory "/pub/emacs-lisp-attic/emacs-lisp/")

Once you have installed `lispdir.el', you can use M-x lisp-dir-apropos to search the listing. For example, M-x lisp-dir-apropos RET ange-ftp RET produces this output:

GNU Emacs Lisp Code Directory Apropos --- "ange-ftp" "~/" refers to archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:pub/elisp-archive/ ange-ftp (4.18) 15-Jul-1992 Andy Norman, <ange@hplb.hpl.hp.com> ~/packages/ange-ftp.tar.Z transparent FTP Support for GNU Emacs auto-save (1.19) 01-May-1992 Sebastian Kremer, <sk@thp.uni-koeln.de> ~/misc/auto-save.el.Z Safer autosaving with support for ange-ftp and /tmp ftp-quik (1.0) 28-Jul-1993 Terrence Brannon, <tb06@pl122f.eecs.lehigh.edu> ~/modes/ftp-quik.el.Z Quik access to dired'ing of ange-ftp and normal paths

8.3 Where can I get 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 section 8.2 How do I find a Emacs Lisp package that does XXX?). Next, check local archives and the Emacs Lisp Archive to find a copy of the relevant files. If you still haven't found it, you can send e-mail to the author asking for a copy. If you find Emacs Lisp code that doesn't appear in the LCD, please submit a copy to the LCD (see section 8.4 How do I submit code to the Emacs Lisp Archive?).

You can access the Emacs Lisp Archive at

ftp://archive.cis.ohio-state.edu/pub/emacs-lisp/

or at

http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/emacs-lisp

Retrieve and read the file `README' first.

• The archive maintainers do not have time to answer individual requests for packages or the list of packages in the archive. If you cannot use FTP or UUCP to access the archive yourself, try to find a friend who can, but please don't ask the maintainers.

• Any files with names ending in `.Z', `.z', or `.gz' are compressed, so you should use "binary" mode in FTP to retrieve them. You should also use binary mode whenever you retrieve any files with names ending in `.elc'.

8.4 How do I submit code to the Emacs Lisp Archive?

Guidelines and procedures for submission to the archive can be found in the file `GUIDELINES' in the archive directory (see section 8.3 Where can I get Emacs Lisp packages that don't come with Emacs?). It covers documentation, copyrights, packaging, submission, and the Lisp Code Directory Record. Anonymous FTP uploads are not permitted. Instead, all submissions are mailed to elisp-archive@cis.ohio-state.edu. The `lispdir.el' package has a function named submit-lcd-entry which will help you with this.

8.5 Where can I get other up-to-date GNU stuff?

The most up-to-date official GNU software is normally kept at

ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu

Read the files `etc/DISTRIB' and `etc/FTP' for more information.

A list of sites mirroring `ftp.gnu.org' can be found at

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

8.6 What is the difference between Emacs and XEmacs (formerly "Lucid Emacs")?

First of all, they're both GNU Emacs. XEmacs is just as much a later version of GNU Emacs as the FSF-distributed version. This FAQ refers to the latest version to be distributed by the FSF as "Emacs," partly because the XEmacs maintainers now refer to their product using the "XEmacs" name, and partly because there isn't any accurate way to differentiate between the two without getting mired in paragraphs of legalese and history.

XEmacs, which began life as Lucid Emacs, is based on an early version of Emacs 19 and Epoch, an X-aware version of Emacs 18.

Emacs (i.e., the version distributed by the FSF) has a larger installed base and now always contains the MULE multilingual facilities. XEmacs can do some clever tricks with X and MS-Windows, such as putting arbitrary graphics in a buffer. Similar facilities have been implemented for Emacs as part of a new redisplay implementation for Emacs 21, and are available in the latest Emacs releases. Emacs and XEmacs each come with Lisp packages that are lacking in the other; RMS says that the FSF would include more packages that come with XEmacs, but that the XEmacs maintainers don't always keep track of the authors of contributed code, which makes it impossible for the FSF to have certain legal papers signed. (Without these legal papers, the FSF will not distribute Lisp packages with Emacs.) The two versions have some significant differences at the Lisp programming level.

Many XEmacs features have found their way into recent versions of Emacs, and more features can be expected in the future, but there are still many differences between the two.

The latest stable version of XEmacs as of this writing is 21.1; you can get it at

ftp://ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/current/xemacs-21.1.13.tar.gz

More information about XEmacs, including a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ), is available at

http://www.xemacs.org/

8.7 Where can I get Emacs for my PC running MS-DOS?

A pre-built binary distribution of Emacs is available from the SimTel.NET archives. This version apparently works under MS-DOS and Windows (3.X, 9X, ME, NT, and 2000) and supports long file names under Windows 9X, Windows ME, and Windows 2000. More information is available from

ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2gnu/emacs.README

The binary itself is available in the files `em*.zip' in the directory

ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2gnu/

If you prefer to compile Emacs for yourself, you can do so with the current distribution directly. You will need a 386 (or better) processor, and to be running MS-DOS 3.0 or later. According to Eli Zaretskii and Darrel Hankerson, you will need the following:

Compiler

DJGPP version 1.12 maint 1 or later. Djgpp 2.0 or later is recommended, since 1.x is very old an unmaintained. Djgpp 2 supports long file names on Windows 9X/ME/2K.

You can get the latest release of DJGPP by retrieving all of the files in

ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2*

Unpacking program

The easiest way is to use djtar which comes with DJGPP v2.x, because it can open gzip'ed tarfiles (i.e., those ending with `.tar.gz') in one step. Djtar comes in `djdevnnn.zip' archive (where nnn is the DJGPP version number), from the URL mentioned above.

Warning! Do not use the popular WinZip program to unpack the Emacs distribution! WinZip is known to corrupt some of the files by converting them to the DOS CR-LF format, it doesn't always preserve the directory structure recorded in the compressed Emacs archive, and commits other atrocities. Some of these problems could actually prevent Emacs from building successfully!

make, mv, sed, and rm

All of these utilities are available at

ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2gnu

16-bit utilities can be found in GNUish, at

ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/gnuish

(mv and rm are in the Fileutils package, sed and make are each one in a separate package named after them.)

The files `INSTALL' (near its end) and `etc/PROBLEMS' in the directory of the Emacs sources contains some additional information regarding Emacs under MS-DOS.

For a list of other MS-DOS implementations of Emacs (and Emacs look-alikes), consult the list of "Emacs implementations and literature," available at

ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.emacs/

Note that while many of these programs look similar to Emacs, they often lack certain features, such as the Emacs Lisp extension language.

8.8 Where can I get Emacs for Microsoft Windows

For information on Emacs for Windows 95 and NT, read the FAQ produced by Geoff Voelker, available at

http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html

See section 8.7 Where can I get Emacs for my PC running MS-DOS?, for Windows 3.1.

A port of Emacs 20.7 for Windows CE, based on NTEmacs, is available at

http://www.rainer-keuchel.de/software.html

This port was done by Rainer Keuchel, and supports all Emacs features except async subprocesses and menus. You will need MSVC 6.0 and a Windows CE SDK to build this port.

8.9 Where can I get Emacs for my PC running OS/2?

Emacs 20.6 is ported for emx on OS/2 2.0 or 2.1, and is available at

ftp://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/apps/editors/emacs/e206*.zip

and also at

http://archiv.leo.org/pub/comp/os/os2/leo/gnu/emacs%2d20/

Instructions for installation, basic setup, and other useful information for OS/2 users of Emacs can be found at

http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~oheiabbd/emacs/emacs206-os2.html

8.10 Where can I get Emacs for my Atari ST?

Roland Schäuble reports that Emacs 18.58 running on plain TOS and MiNT is available at ftp://atari.archive.umich.edu/Editors/Emacs-18-58/1858b-d3.zoo.

8.11 Where can I get Emacs for my Amiga?

The files you need are available at

ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/util/gnu/

David Gilbert has released a beta version of Emacs 19.25 for the Amiga. You can get the binary at

ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/util/gnu/a2.0bEmacs-bin.lha

8.12 Where can I get Emacs for NeXTSTEP?

Emacs.app is a NeXTSTEP version of Emacs 19.34 which supports colors, menus, and multiple frames. You can get it from

ftp://next-ftp.peak.org/pub/next/apps/emacs/Emacs_for_NeXTstep.4.20a1.NIHS.b.tar.gz

8.13 Where can I get Emacs for my Apple computer?

An unofficial port of GNU Emacs 18.59 to the Macintosh is available at a number of ftp sites, the home being ftp://ftp.cs.cornell.edu/pub/parmet/Emacs-1.17.sit.bin.

A port of Emacs 20.4 is available at http://www.cs.hku.hk/~choi/emacs/index.html.

Beginning with version 21.1, the Macintosh is supported in the official Emacs distribution; see the files `mac/README' and `mac/INSTALL' in the Emacs distribution for build instructions.

Apple's forthcoming "OS X" is based largely on NeXTSTEP and OpenStep. See section 8.12 Where can I get Emacs for NeXTSTEP?, for more details about that version.

8.14 Where do I get Emacs that runs on VMS under DECwindows?

Up-to-date information about GNU software (including Emacs) for VMS is available at http://vms.gnu.org/.

8.15 Where can I get modes for Lex, Yacc/Bison, Bourne shell, csh, C++, Objective-C, Pascal, Java, and Awk?

Most of these modes are now available in standard Emacs distribution. To get additional modes, look in the Lisp Code Directory (see section 8.2 How do I find a Emacs Lisp package that does XXX?). For C++, if you use lisp-dir-apropos, you must specify the pattern with something like M-x lisp-dir-apropos RET c\+\+ RET.(2)

Barry Warsaw's cc-mode now works for C, C++, Objective-C, and Java code. You can get the latest version from the Emacs Lisp Archive; see section 8.3 Where can I get Emacs Lisp packages that don't come with Emacs? for details. A FAQ for cc-mode is available at http://www.python.org/emacs/cc-mode/.

8.16 What is the IP address of XXX.YYY.ZZZ?

If you are on a Unix machine, try using the `nslookup' command, included in the Berkeley BIND package. For example, to find the IP address of `ftp.gnu.org', you would type nslookup ftp.gnu.org.

Your computer should then provide the IP address of that machine.

If your site's nameserver is deficient, you can use IP addresses to FTP files. You can get this information by e-mail:

To: dns@[134.214.84.25] (to grasp.insa-lyon.fr) Body: ip XXX.YYY.ZZZ (or "help" for more information and options - no quotes)

or:

To: resolve@[147.31.254.130] (to laverne.cs.widener.edu) Body: site XXX.YYY.ZZZ