README
1Compiling MOST requires an ANSI C compiler. In addition you MUST have
2a copy of the S-Lang library version 2.X. Version 1 is no longer
3supported. This library is available from
4<http://www.jedsoft.org/slang/>.
5
6 INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
7
8On Unix, you should be able to simply type:
9
10 ./configure; make
11
12at the Unix prompt. If you are using CYGWIN, you will need to ensure
13that libslang.dll is on your PATH; otherwise the chkslang program will
14not run.
15
16If using DJGPP or MINGW32, do:
17
18 <edit src/makefile.w32, setting ARCH to either dgj or gw32>
19 cd src
20 make -f makefile.w32
21
22For VMS, edit the file `vmsmake.com'. When finished, either type `@vmsmake'
23or `@vmsmake gcc' at the VMS prompt. Once MOST has been created, it must be
24installed as a foreign command. This means that you must first type:
25
26 $ most :== $device:[dir.containing.most]most.exe
27
28I suggest that you first build MOST then view the doc file using MOST (`most
29most.doc'). If you need help, hit the `h' key from within MOST.
30
31MOST understands the following environment variables:
32
33 MOST_SWITCHES
34 MOST_EDITOR, SLANG_EDITOR, EDITOR
35 MOST_INITFILE
36 MOST_HELP
37
38 1. MOST_SWITCHES is a list of commonly used switches.
39
40 2. MOST_EDITOR and SLANG_EDITOR are formatted strings describing what
41 editor to use. The string can contain %s and %d formatting descriptors
42 that represent the file name and line number, respectively. For
43 example, if JED is your editor, then set MOST_EDITOR to 'jed %s -g %d'.
44 Since MOST is just one of several programs that use the S-Lang library,
45 I suggest that you use SLANG_EDITOR instead of MOST_EDITOR.
46
47 3. MOST_INITFILE specifies a configuration file for MOST. One can specify
48 keymaps, colors, etc. via this file. In the absence of
49 MOST_INITFILE, the program will look for a file call .mostrc in
50 the home directory (most.rc on non-Unix systems).
51
52 See `lesskeys.rc' for an example of a key definition file that
53 causes MOST to emulate the `less' pager. See also most-fun.txt
54 for a list of functions that can be used for key definitions. The
55 file `most.rc' list the bindings that are built-in to the
56 viewer.
57
58 4. If MOST_HELP is defined to point to an existing file, MOST will load a
59 file as a help file. This is useful for describing custom keymaps.
60
61Any problems with MOST should be reported to jed@jedsoft.org.
62
63 [Note also that this is really the first non-trivial C program that
64 I ever wrote. Because of this, much of the code appears very
65 amateurish. For example, I tried very hard to avoid C constructs
66 that some authors strongly discourage, e.g., goto, continue,
67 break. Of course this made some of the code convoluted, e.g.,
68 contrast
69
70 int test = 1;
71 while (test)
72 {
73 function ();
74
75 if (-1 == some_function ())
76 test = 0;
77
78 if (test)
79 some_other_function ();
80 }
81
82 with:
83
84 while (1)
85 {
86 function ();
87 if (-1 == some_function ()) break;
88 some_other_function ();
89 }
90
91 I have since concluded that many text-book authors never actually
92 wrote anything non-trivial. Whenever I work on MOST, I try to make
93 some changes in an effort to clean it up. ]
94
95--John Davis
96