MacGames Sampler/PHT MacGames Bundle.iso/MacSource Folder/Samples from the CD/Editors/emacs/Emacs-1.14b1/About Emacs

Text File | 1994-05-24 | 10.2 KB | 226 lines | [TEXT/EMAC]

This file accompanies an Apple Macintosh port of GNU Emacs 18.59.
Here are some things to remember:

1) This document describes differences between GNU Emacs on the
Macintosh, and GNU Emacs on Unix.  It is not an introduction to Emacs.
Type control-H t in Emacs to get an introduction.

2) Emacs expects lines of text to end with '\n'.  The convention on
the Macintosh is that lines of text end with '\r'.  To work around
this, Emacs when reading files converts all '\r' characters to '\n'.
Similarly, when writing files Emacs converts all '\n' characters to
'\r'.  To accommodate this translation, and to allow Emacs to read
other unconventionally formatted files, the following is done when
reading any file:

    a)  If the file name ends with .elc or .bin, no translation is done.
    b)  Otherwise, Emacs examines sequentially the first 200 bytes of
        the file.  If a '\r' is found before a '\n', then the file will
        be translated.  If a '\n' is found before a '\r', then the file
        will not be translated.
    c)  If neither a '\r' nor a '\n' is found, the file is translated.
        This way, initially empty files will be translated and thus
        conventional when later made non-empty.

The author of this port welcomes better ideas on heuristics that
determine the need for translation.  See the final item below.

3) The Modifier Key Nightmare: A fully functional Emacs implementation
uses a modifier key called meta.  There is no key named meta on the
Macintosh keyboard.  There is an option key, and many users of Emacs
prefer to use the option key as a meta key.  Some users prefer not to
change the function of any of the modifier keys at all.  Others prefer
to use the larger command key as a meta key.  If any key is changed to
function as meta, there remains the question, how can the function of
that lost modifier key be refound when necessary.

The solution implemented now is that the functions of all five
modifier keys, control, option, command, shift, and caps-lock, are
configuable.  By default, the function of these keys in Emacs is just
like that of any other Macintosh program.

Before you make any changes, you need to understand that the default
configuration of the Macintosh operating system makes use of seven
different combinations of modifier keys.  Each has a different effect
on the keyboard, observable with the Key Caps desk accessory:

    shift,
    control,
    option,
    caps-lock,
    shift option,
    command option, and
    caps-lock option.

A completely functional Emacs requires six more combinations:

    shift control,
    control option,
    control shift option,
    meta,
    shift meta, and
    control meta.

The combinations control option and control shift option are not
required by American keyboards, but some foreign keyboards use them.

By default, this Emacs provides the seven standard combinations
faithfully, plus the three additional combinations that do not require
meta.  The three meta combinations are not provided.  You can change
this and provide yourself with a meta key by using the “Change
modifier keys” menu item in the Special menu.  The settings you choose
are saved in a preferences file.  If you decide to let the option key
function as meta, you need to redefine the option modifier.  One
suggestion provided in the dialog box is to let command-option be
option.  You could also leave option completely undefined, by chosing
no modifier keys for it.

If you decide to provide yourself a meta key, note that in other
implementations of Emacs the meta key sets the high bit of any
character typed.  On the Macintosh, the meta key prefixes each
character typed with an escape character.  The resulting behavior is
slightly different at times.

The option-is-meta variable once provided for modifying keyboard
behavior is now obsolete.

4) The author's favorite Unix utilities have been ported in addition
to Emacs.  These are ls, grep, ispell, and lpr.  Try them using dired,
M-x grep, M-x ispell, M-x print-buffer, and M-x print-region.  You
should uncomment the appropriate lines in •emacs to use ispell.  (The
program sh is included so that wildcard characters used in arguments
to ls, grep, and lpr can be expanded in the normal way.)  The programs
chown, chmod, chgrp, mkdir, and rmdir are included for use with dired.
The program wakeup is included for the display-time function.

5) Slashes in filenames within the Finder are translated to colons
when referenced in Emacs.  Colons in filenames within Emacs are
translated to slashes when referenced by the Finder.  Similarly, a '.'
prefix in filenames within Emacs is translated to a '•' when
passed to the Finder, and a '•' prefix in filenames within the
Finder are translated to a '.' in Emacs.  The dot-bullet translation
is not quite as clean as the colon-slash translation, but it seems to
be the solution that leaves the fewest problems.

6) Emacs is System 7 dependent.  At one point Emacs required a 68020
processor, but this is no longer true.

7) Emacs has a 25 bit address space.  That's 32 megabytes.  If you
have a Macintosh with more memory than that, Emacs will have to be
deliberately loaded into low memory, through some kludge not yet
developed.

8) Keep your •emacs file in your home directory.  On the Macintosh the
name •emacs is used instead of .emacs, because other programs have
problems with filenames that begin with a period.  The character • is
typed option-8.  If you use option as meta, you must type
option-command-8.

9) There should be a folder named “directories” in the same folder
as Emacs.  The use of ~ in directory names is as follows:
    a)  The directory “~emacs” is, by definition, the same one that the
        Emacs program is in.
    b)  If in the folder “directories” is an alias called “home”,
        then ~/ is the folder targeted by that alias.  Otherwise ~/
        is the same as ~emacs.
    c)  For any other directory name ~dir, the folder understood
        is the target of the alias “dir” in the “directories”
        folder.

10) For Emacs elisp hackers only: To start Emacs without loading the
dumped elisp data, hold the shift key down when starting.  To rebuild
the database, hold the option key down when starting.  It is a good
idea to save a copy of Emacs before rebuilding its database, because
Emacs saves its dumped data directly into its own resource fork.

11) If Emacs suddenly quits on you, perhaps during garbage collection
or byte-compiling, and perhaps with an error of ID 28, try using the
"Set stack size..."  menu item to increase the stack size.  Sometimes
the use of large windows on large screens with many lines of text
requires larger amounts of stack space.

12) Hackers may like working with the files in the directory lisp:mac.
But remember this warning: If you start using the Macintosh Toolbox,
you can easily, and will most likely, crash Emacs, and the entire
machine, losing all changes in any open documents in Emacs and other
programs.

13) The commands in the Edit menu do the following:

    Undo calls the elisp function undo.  Unlike what is typical
    on the Macintosh, successive undo's will undo more and more
    of what has been changed in the buffer.  If you move the
    cursor after successive undo's, the undo command will then
    begin to successively redo what has been undone.

    Cut copies the region of the current buffer to the buffer
    named *clipboard*, and also copies that region to the
    System Scrap.  Then kill-region, more familiarly known as
    control-W, is called.

    Copy is just like Cut, except that copy-region-as-kill,
    more familiarly know as ESC-W, is called instead of
    kill-region.

    Paste insures that the buffer named *clipboard* contains
    the contents of the Macintosh System Scrap, then inserts
    the contents of the buffer *clipboard* into the current
    buffer.  It does not call the elisp function yank, known
    also as ESC-Y.

    Clear calls delete-region, and does nothing with the
    Macintosh System Scrap.

These definitions are in lisp:mac:menu-install.el, and can be changed.
The clipboard can be examined in the buffer named *clipboard*.  By
default on extended keyboards, the keys labeled undo, cut, copy, and
paste do the expected things.

14) Emacs can only use fixed-width fonts.

15) Not all the elisp files included are immediately useful.  The
files dealing with mail are not working, for example.  They are
included for others who have a mail program and might try to make them
work.

16) Emacs handles correctly pathnames with aliases used as
directories.  The pathname /HardDrive/Folder/AliasedFolder/File works.
But pathnames with the final filename an alias work differently.  If
/HardDrive/Folder/Alias is an alias to say /HardDrive/File, then you
can open and edit that file using the alias.  When you save it,
however, Emacs will first copy /HardDrive/File to
/HardDrive/Folder/Alias~, then create rewrite /HardDrive/File.  This
may or may not be what you want.  This is similar to what Emacs does
under Unix with symbolic links.

17) In dired, use the command 'O', which runs chown, to change the
creator of a file.  Use the command 'G', which runs chgrp, to change
the type of a file.  Use the command 'M', which runs chmod, to set the
mode bits of a file.  Only the write permission of files is affected;
the file is effectively locked or unlocked.

18) In TeX mode, C-c C-b (TeX-buffer), and C-c C-r (TeX-region) have
been rewritten to send the appropriate Apple events to Textures.  The
version of Textures required is 1.6.2.  You will need to edit the
•emacs file to load the appropriate lisp code.

19) Mouse support is at the moment limited to this: Clicking sets
point, and shift-clicking sets mark.

20) You can change the fonts available in the Font menu item by
setting the variable fixed-width-fonts in your •emacs file.  The
default value is ("Courier" "Monaco").

21) You can change the definitions of the keys on the numeric keypad,
the keys F1-F15, the cursor keys, and the keys labeled help, home,
page up, del, end, and page down.  See the file
lisp/term/Macintosh-win.el.

22) The principal ftp site for the Macintosh port of Emacs is
ftp.cs.cornell.edu, directory pub/parmet.  The sources are on
this site.

23) This port is now fairly well tested.  Still, save often.  Send bug
reports, suggestions, and comments to the author of the port at
[e-mail].