Two versions of GNU EMACS for VMS are currently available: 18.55 - recommended for people running VMS versions prior to 5.4 and 18.58 - recommended for VMS 5.4 and above These two versions are made available as a collection of VMS BACKUP savesets. Fetch the appropriate (subset of) savesets (EMACS-*.BCK) in binary mode from this directory and restore them. For those with MultiNet (or other FTP clients that support VMS mode transfers) use VMS mode instead of binary mode - it will save you from having to modify the recordsize as described below. The saves sets contain: EMACS-EXE.BCK - The [EMACS] directory with the executables linked against DECWindows (and MultiNet in 18.58). EMACS-EXE-NODECWINDOWS.BCK - The [EMACS] directory with the executables linked without DECWindows (Not available for 18.58). EMACS-EXE-NO-MULTINET.BCK - the [EMACS] directory with the executables linked without MultiNet. (18.58 only) EMACS-CPP.BCK - The [EMACS.CPP...] directories. EMACS-ETC.BCK - The [EMACS.ETC...] directories. EMACS-GDB.BCK - The [EMACS.GDB...] directories. EMACS-INFO.BCK - The [EMACS.INFO...] directories. EMACS-LISP.BCK - The [EMACS.LISP...] directories. EMACS-MAN.BCK - The [EMACS.MAN...] directories. EMACS-OLDX.BCK - The [EMACS.OLDX...] directories of 18.58 only EMACS-OLDXMENU.BCK - The [EMACS.OLDXMENU...] directories. EMACS-SHORTNAMES.BCK - The [EMACS.SHORTNAMES...] directories. EMACS-SRC.BCK - The [EMACS.SRC...] directories with the .OBJ files compiled with DECWindows support (and Multinet in 18.58). EMACS-SRC-NODECWINDOWS.BCK - The [EMACS.SRC...] directories with the .OBJ files compiled WITHOUT DECWindows support (Not available for 18.58). At a minimum you will need: EMACS-EXE.BCK xor EMACS-EXE-NODECWINDOWS.BCK xor EMACs-EXE-NO-MULTINET.BCK EMACS-ETC.BCK EMACS-LISP.BCK If you get the BACKUP savesets using a "binary" (or "image") transfer, the recordsize will (most likely) be wrong (512 bytes instead of 32256 bytes per fixed length record). The files FILE.* will help you solve this problem. Transfer FILE.EXE in "binary"/"image" mode, and FILE.CLD and FILE.HELP in "ascii" mode. Then: * Edit FILE.CLD - find the line "define verb FILE". The next line should look like "image ". Edit the filespec to reflect where your copy of FILE.EXE is located. * do a "$ SET COMMAND FILE" * do a "$ FILE EMACS1855-VMS-DECWINDOWS.BCK/REC=32256/MAX=32256" * do a "$ ANALYZE/RMS EMACS1855-VMS-DECWINDOWS.BCK" and compare the output with: RMS FILE ATTRIBUTES File Organization: sequential Record Format: fixed Record Attributes: Maximum Record Size: 32256 Longest Record: 32256 If it doesn't compare, read FILE.HELP and pound away with FILE until it does! Now, you are ready to use BACKUP to unpack the saveset. Once the savesets have been expanded, you may need to edit: [EMACS]EMACS.COM and/or [EMACS]INIT.COM These files both perform the same function; they prepare EMACS to run by defining the necessary logical names and foreign command definitions. EMACS.COM is the traditional DCL command procedure and uses the traditional foreign command names. INIT.COM is mine, and uses different foreign command names. Look at both, edit if necessary for your site, and then use one or both. =============================================================================== ================================FINAL NOTE===================================== =============================================================================== If you experience problems: (1) If the EMACS help functions don't work, it is probably because the (VMS file system) version number of the file EMACS_LIBRARY:[ETC]DOC-18.55 is wrong. In this case, EMACS will complain "Cannot open doc string file ". To fix this, just rename your doc file to have the (VMS) version number that EMACS wants. (2) E-mail brand@addvax.llnl.gov with the problem. I'll do what I can when I can get to it. Sorry, while I'm normally fairly responsive, I'm no GNU EMACS expert and I have a "real" job, so no guarantees on response time or quality of response. Hal Brand