diplodocus.org Git - nmh/blob - docs/historical/mh-nov-1983/doc/MHgenerate

   1                       HOW TO GENERATE AN MH
   2
   3 ASSUMPTIONS/RESTRICTIONS:
   4
   5         All of the code is written for Version 7 C, and assumes
   6 the existence of appropriate Version 7 /usr/include files.  It
   7 also uses the Version 7 stdio package, which is somewhat
   8 different than the Phototypesetter stdio!
   9
  10         There is moderate usage of Version 7 UNIX features,
  11 including:
  12
  13                 ftime() system call
  14                 execlp() & execvp() environment exec calls
  15                 getenv() environment access
  16
  17 also, login has to be changed to add the environment entry
  18 "USER=name".  This is used during scan listings to see if the
  19 message "From" should be replaced by "To:name".  This string is
  20 NOT used to determine the "From: name" stamp on outgoing mail.
  21
  22         All of these usages ARE replaceable by subroutines which
  23 do the same thing, only slower.  That is, a line of the form:
  24
  25                 homedir = getenv("HOME");
  26
  27 should be replaced by something like:
  28
  29                 homedir = gethome();
  30
  31 and the routine gethome() written to return the home directory by
  32 looking through /etc/passwd for the line matching the process'
  33 getuid().  This goes for the environment variable "USER" as well.
  34
  35 The routines execlp() & execvp() are simply fancy exec's, which
  36 use the "PATH" environment variable to determine the search path
  37 by which to find the executable image.  They can be replaced by
  38 routines which use a default search list.  They also call a shell
  39 to execute the file in the same way the shell handles shell
  40 scripts.
  41
  42
  43
  44 PROCEDURE:
  45
  46
  47 1) Read the MH directory tree onto a file system.
  48
  49 2) Examine all of the files in directory strings.  These are the
  50    names and paths of all of the programs MH calls upon.  Change
  51    them to suit your installation.  Most of the files contain
  52    short descriptions of what the strings are.
  53
  54 3) In the top level directory, utter:
  55
  56         make strings.a subs.a all
  57
  58    This will make both of the libraries: strings.a and subs.a,
  59    and ALL of the executable modules.
  60
  61 4) AS SU:
  62
  63         make onceonly           This renames conflicting bell
  64                                 programs, and makes requisite
  65                                 directories.
  66
  67         make install            This puts all of the programs
  68                                 into appropriate directories.
  69
  70 That's it.  Take a close look at the Makefile--it does LOTS of
  71 work.  If you don't want to install everything in standard
  72 places, run "make install" with the variables MHDIR=newdir and
  73 BINDIR=newdir pointing wherever you wish.  If you do this, you
  74 probably have to change some of the path names in the strings
  75 files.  For most of them, you can get away with adding profile
  76 entries to change where the default paths are sought.
  77
  78 If you don't have `make':
  79
  80      You'll have to use the make file as a template for commands
  81      to give by hand.  Basically each section of the make file
  82      defines the sequence of shell commands needed to create the
  83      object before the `:'.  The list immediately after the `:'
  84      specifies the dependencies for the object--that is, those
  85      objects which either must be made first, or those modules
  86      that if they've changed, the object must be rebuilt.  The
  87      following lines (up to the next object) are simply shell
  88      commands to be executed.  Make knows how to create .o's from
  89      .c's, and the "CFLAGS= -O" at the beginning tells it to
  90      include optimization when it does a c compile.
  91
  92 If you don't have stdio (i.e. some version 7 C compiler):
  93
  94      Punt.  I recently converted the whole package from the old
  95      getc/putc/iobuf subroutines--including lots of upgrades/
  96      improvements, it took me about a week.  Expect it to take a
  97      couple of weeks for someone good to convert back.
  98      Basically, convert the subroutines, then once you've
  99      converted one module (start with show or comp), you'll find
 100      all the rest VERY similar.  Some day I may split out all of
 101      the system dependencies, but don't hold your breath.
 102
 103
 104
 105 As a last resort:
 106
 107      Feel free to call me, but please don't expect me to spend
 108 hours helping.  Collect your questions/problems, and get in touch
 109 and I'll see what I can do.  I can be reached:
 110
 111         via ARPANET:    Borden at Rand-UNIX
 112
 113         Mail:           The Rand Corporation
 114                         1700 Main Street
 115                         Santa Monica, CA 90406
 116
 117         Phone:          (213) 399-0568 x 7463
 118
 119
 120
 121 Bruce Borden
 122 October, 1979