From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Dan Davison Subject: Re: [PROPOSAL] Quick and easy installation instructions Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2010 10:00:18 +0100 Message-ID: <87tylby319.fsf@stats.ox.ac.uk> References: <87tylcy6gw.fsf@stats.ox.ac.uk> <50AE8A48-F8C3-4358-88B2-25CF7A7D15E0@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Return-path: Received: from [140.186.70.92] (port=59591 helo=eggs.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1P09kB-0004tC-Jc for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 27 Sep 2010 05:11:34 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1P09ZR-00029h-Eg for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 27 Sep 2010 05:00:27 -0400 Received: from markov.stats.ox.ac.uk ([163.1.210.1]:42223) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1P09ZR-00029d-2S for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 27 Sep 2010 05:00:25 -0400 In-Reply-To: <50AE8A48-F8C3-4358-88B2-25CF7A7D15E0@gmail.com> (Carsten Dominik's message of "Mon, 27 Sep 2010 08:26:38 +0200") List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: Carsten Dominik Cc: emacs org-mode mailing list Carsten Dominik writes: > On Sep 26, 2010, at 3:33 PM, Dan Davison wrote: > >> I think that the documentation concerning installation should be made >> more user-friendly. My impression is that the Org manual makes all >> this >> sound much harder than it needs to be, and I suspect that this is an >> entry-barrier for new Org users. For example, the first thing users >> encounter in the manual section is an instruction to edit a Makefile. >> >> I suggest we provide a "quick and easy installation" section to the >> manual, that shows people how to start using the latest version of >> Org-mode without messing about with compilation and installation (I >> rarely compile and have never "installed" Org-mode). It would also be >> helpful to include notes on how to find your ".emacs" file. >> >> This would involve the following changes to section 1.2 Installation: >> >> 1. The first thing it should say would be along the lines of >> "A reasonably recent version of Org is included in Emacs. Are you >> sure you need the latest version of Org? If not, skip to the >> Activation section and start using Org!" > Hi Carsten, > I do agree that we should have this sentence, but maybe modified like > this: > > If you have a recent release of Emacs, a version of Org-mode > sufficient for all basic use is already included and you may > skip the installation instructions and continue with section xxx, > activation. > > However, Org-mode evolves fast. Therefore, we do recommend to install > the > most recent release. OK. > > Maybe we could actually have an Emacs command that will insert the > basic stuff > into .emacs and optionally compile the Lisp files. > > The installation would be: > > - download and unpack tar file > - emacs -l path-to-org.el > - M-x org-install > > org-install would figure out where org.el is, add to .emacs and query > for compilation. This wouod make things independent from make and > other tools. Yes I wondered about making something like that yesterday (would it make sense to have emacs do everything, including the download? M-x org-update-org?). But then I started thinking that we should investigate/rule out the ELPA possibilities before creating a new install function for Org. Maybe some people on this list have experience of maintaining packages on ELPA and will be able to give an opinion. Dan > > Just my 5c > > - Carsten > > >> >> 2. Then we should lay out an easy route and a full route: >> 1. Quick and easy >> Download, set your load-path and (require 'org-install) >> Optionally compile (within emacs[1]?) >> Suggested text below. >> 2. Full install >> Based on existing instructions >> >> >> What do people think? Is it just the info files which are the issue? >> What does a single-user machine gain from installation other than info >> files? >> >> Dan >> >> Footnotes: >> >> [1] How about including in Org-mode a function `org-compile' based on >> http://orgmode.org/worg/org-hacks.php#compiling-org-without-make >> and `org-reload' >> >> >> Example quick and Easy installation text: >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >> >> 1. Download the latest version >> .zip and .tar.gz version are kept at >> http://orgmode.org/org-latest.zip >> http://orgmode.org/org-latest.tar.gz >> >> 2. Extract the archived files >> This will create a folder called "org-mode". Let's say that the >> location of this folder is "~/path/to/org-mode" (for Windows see >> footnote [1]) >> >> 3. Add the following lines to your .emacs file (note that we're >> pointing >> to the "lisp" folder *within* the main "org-mode" folder): >> >> (setq load-path (cons "~/path/to/org-mode/lisp" load-path) >> (require 'org-install) >> >> That's it. However, this will not install the latest info files, so >> these will be out of date (corresponding to whatever version of Org >> shipped with your emacs). See XXXX for instructions on installing the >> info files. >> >> Now, Emacs should load whatever version of Org-mode you put at >> "~/path/to/org-mode". So to update Org in the future, simply delete >> that >> folder and replace it with a new one (steps 1 and 2 above). >> >> Footnotes: >> >> [1] On Windows, this path might look something like >> "C:\\path\to\org-mode" >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Emacs-orgmode mailing list >> Please use `Reply All' to send replies to the list. >> Emacs-orgmode@gnu.org >> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode > > > _______________________________________________ > Emacs-orgmode mailing list > Please use `Reply All' to send replies to the list. > Emacs-orgmode@gnu.org > http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode