HOWTO: Install GNU Emacs with antialiasing

[thermans]

Kaolin, did you put the emacs source from cvs in a different place maybe?

You should have something like:

/usr/local/src/emacs
/usr/local/src/emacs/debian

Where "debian" is the package you downloaded from Jerome.

I'm thinking you might have this:

/usr/local/src/emacs/
/usr/local/src/debian

[danirus]

If you are getting the console version, you should check the output of "configure" command. "configure" looks for libraries and headers to detect and setup the compilation against the proper X Toolkit. Probably you must install some additional packages, like: libxt-dev and libgtk2.0-dev

To be sure you have everything you need, check for this lines in the output of configure command:

Configured for `i686-pc-linux-gnu'.

  Where should the build process find the source code?    /home/danirus/cvs/savannah/emacs
  What operating system and machine description files should Emacs use?
        `s/gnu-linux.h' and `m/intel386.h'
  What compiler should emacs be built with?               gcc -g -O2 -Wno-pointer-sign
  Should Emacs use the GNU version of malloc?             yes
      (Using Doug Lea's new malloc from the GNU C Library.)
  Should Emacs use a relocating allocator for buffers?    yes
  Should Emacs use mmap(2) for buffer allocation?         no
  What window system should Emacs use?                    x11
  What toolkit should Emacs use?                          GTK
  Where do we find X Windows header files?                Standard dirs
  Where do we find X Windows libraries?                   /usr/X11R6/lib
  Does Emacs use -lXaw3d?                                 no
  Does Emacs use -lXpm?                                   no
  Does Emacs use -ljpeg?                                  no
  Does Emacs use -ltiff?                                  no
  Does Emacs use -lungif?                                 no
  Does Emacs use -lpng?                                   yes
  Does Emacs use X toolkit scroll bars?                   yes

[Zed]

As of April the XFT branch in Emacs' CVS works without patching. This is what I did in Dapper for anti-aliased goodness (I'd guess it works in Breezy too, but I haven't tested it.)

sudo apt-get install emacs-snapshot-gtk
cd /opt
sudo cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.savannah.gnu.org:/cvsroot/emacs co emacs
cd emacs
sudo cvs up -Pd -r XFT_JHD_BRANCH
sudo ./configure --with-x-toolkit=gtk --with-xft=yes --prefix=/usr
sudo make bootstrap && make
sudo rm /etc/alternatives/emacs
sudo ln -s /opt/emacs/src/emacs /etc/alternatives/emacs

This follows thermans' suggestion of installing the emacs-snapshot to be sure of getting all the right dependencies and building the right directory structure under /usr/ such that you can install emacs libraries conventionally and your emacs will find them. But instead of overwriting the binary, I just relink /etc/alternatives/emacs, which is what /usr/bin/emacs links to.

[Twiggy794]

Looks great, but I've got two Emacs related questions as one of these problems seems to have popped up after doing this.

First off, the Delete key behaves like a Backspace. Any way to change that back?

Second, what's the .emacs syntax to set a default window size? Mine always starts off all tiny and I like it pretty large.

[softrain]

Second, what's the .emacs syntax to set a default window size? Mine always starts off all tiny and I like it pretty large.

you can put this in your ~/.emacs file

(set-frame-height (selected-frame) 50)
(set-frame-width (selected-frame) 120)

[Zed]

Here's a discussion on delete/backspace in Emacs.

[nullGambit]

Another way to do it, possibly easier:

Build emacs like trevorv says in the original post. But do the "configure" like this:

./configure --with-gtk --with-xft --prefix=/usr

I'm running Ubuntu 6.0.6 and I'm getting a configure error (I have both libgtk2.0-0 and libglib2.0-0 installed):

checking for gtk+-2.0 >= 2.0.1 glib-2.0 >= 2.0.1... Package gtk+-2.0 was not found in the pkg-config search path. Perhaps you should add the directory containing `gtk+-2.0.pc' to the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable No package 'gtk+-2.0' found Package glib-2.0 was not found in the pkg-config search path. Perhaps you should add the directory containing `glib-2.0.pc' to the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable No package 'glib-2.0' found
configure: error: Library requirements (gtk+-2.0 >= 2.0.1 glib-2.0 >= 2.0.1) not met; consider adjusting the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable if your libraries are in a nonstandard prefix so pkg-config can find them.


How do I fix this problem?

[sherlock-holmes]

I'm running Ubuntu 6.0.6 and I'm getting a configure error (I have both libgtk2.0-0 and libglib2.0-0 installed):

checking for gtk+-2.0 >= 2.0.1 glib-2.0 >= 2.0.1... Package gtk+-2.0 was not found in the pkg-config search path. Perhaps you should add the directory containing `gtk+-2.0.pc' to the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable No package 'gtk+-2.0' found Package glib-2.0 was not found in the pkg-config search path. Perhaps you should add the directory containing `glib-2.0.pc' to the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable No package 'glib-2.0' found
configure: error: Library requirements (gtk+-2.0 >= 2.0.1 glib-2.0 >= 2.0.1) not met; consider adjusting the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable if your libraries are in a nonstandard prefix so pkg-config can find them.

How do I fix this problem?

this all go back to having certain libraries..

libgtk2-dev ..
libcairo2-dev
libfontconfig1-dev etc.....

try searching in synaptic, install...and recompile emacs..

...i was stuck at these for quite some time....if u have installed the patched version of "libgtk2ubuntu....patched..." (to make the fonts better as given in a different thread)...then you will get some dependancy error and you will be in a loop with various libs with mutual dependancy issu es...

i essentially reinstalled 6.06..and i am still trying...

[anindya_m]

Hi,
Is anyone interested in .deb files for emacs with xft and gtk support. I just made versions for breezy and dapper (i386) and if anyone wants I can make it available.

regards,
Anindya

[anindya_m]

Hello again,
I have kept .debs for emacs (Xft) and auctex at the following url:
http://theory/~anindya_m/ubuntu.html
This is compiled from the latest cvs snapshot.

To install emacs-xft use:

sudo dpkg -i emacs-xft-gtk_1.0-1ubuntu1_i386_dapper.deb

This will install emacs-xft in /usr/local and will not disturb Ubuntu's emacs installation.

To install auctex-xft use:

sudo dpkg --force-overwrite -i auctex-xft_11.83-1_i386_dapper.deb

the --force option is needed as the two packages share the same doc directory and will cause auctex-xft to just add the files to the emacs-xft doc directory. It is harmless.

To activate auctex and latex-preview add the following lines to .emacs:

(require 'tex-site)
(load "preview-latex.el" nil t t)

regards,
Anindya