Hey Emacs, this is a -*- text -*- file. This is the README file for bash, the Bourne Again SHell. This shell comes with no documentation at this time. There is an online help facility, and a file called FEATURES that comes with the distribution. When the documentation is completely finished, it will be included in the distribution. No partial documentation is included because it causes complaints. INSTALLING: The file "Makefile" no longer needs to be edited. In fact, to install Bash, the simplest thing to do is to type "make". The Bash Makefiles will try to dynamically figure out what kind of machine and operating system you are using, and will make an educated guess. During the make process a message is displayed describing what machine and OS has been chosen (this information is also saved in the file ".machine"). If the displayed information is incorrect, you will have to edit the file "machines.h". The instructions for doing so are present in that file. The file called INSTALL gives detailed instructions on installation. However, for most machines, simply following this simple checklist is quite adequate: 1) Type `make'. 2) Wait for the compilation to finish. 3) Type `./bash' to see if the compile worked. 4) Type `cp ./bash /usr/gnu/bin/bash' (or wherever you keep GNU binaries). BUT WHAT IF IT DOESN'T INSTALL SO EASILY? Read INSTALL. REPORTING BUGS: If you find a bug in bash, you should report it. But first, you should make sure that it really is a bug, and that it appears in the latest version of Bash that you have. Once you have ascertained that a bug really exists, you are welcome to mail me a bug report. If you have a fix, you are welcome to mail that to me as well! Suggestions and `philosophical' bug reports may be mailed to bug-bash@ai.mit.edu. Real bug reports may be mailed to the same place, or to me, bfox@ai.mit.edu. ALL bug reports should include: * The version number of Bash * The hardware and operating system * The compiler used to compile * A description of the bug behaviour * A short script or `recipe' which exercises the bug Without this information, I generally cannot successfully debug Bash, because usually, without this information, I generally cannot make the bug manifest itself! Enjoy, Brian Fox