Installation varies from one Operating System to another. For complete instructions, see the appropriate subsection in the "Versions" section of the manual. Basically, though, it goes like this: VMS: There is a batch file called "vmsbuild.com" which compiles elvis and the related utilities. You just need to say "@vmsbuild" and wait a while. (On a little old VAX with heavy load, elvis can take up to half an hour to compile!) After that, the programs need to be set up as foreign commands. A batch file called "vmssetup.com" does this. DOS: If you're using MS-C 5.x (for a fairly recent x), then you can compile elvis and the related programs by saying "make elvis.mak" and waiting a while. If you're using Turbo-C or Borland C, then you will probably want to copy "Makefile.mix" to "Makefile", and then edit "Makefile" to select the Turbo-C group of settings. Then run "make". Regardless of how you compile elvis, you must make a directory called "C:\TMP" before elvis will run correctly. OS/2: Rename "Makefile.os2" to "Makefile", and run "make". It requires gcc. I also tried adding OS/2 settings to Makefile.mix, but I have no way of knowing if I got it right... unless somebody tells me. EVERYTHING ELSE: Copy "Makefile.mix" to "Makefile", and then edit "Makefile" to select the proper group of settings. Then run "make". When its done, run "make install" to copy the executables to /usr/local/bin (or whatever -- check the Makefile) and change their permissions. On UNIX systems, you'll need to do this as "root". That's the gist of it. For complete instructions, you should look in the "Versions" section of the manual. You may also wish to browse through the "CFLAGS" and "Makefile" sections of the manual. The manual resides in a subdirectory called "doc". Each section of the manual is in a separate file, so it could be split across several shar archives. On a UNIX system, you can go into the "doc" directory and say "make" to have these parts be appended to form a single file called "Elvisman.txt". On other systems, your best bet is probably to just print out all of the "*.doc" files, and then append them in the following order: title.doc title page index.doc index page intro.doc introductory fluff visual.doc visual commands and input mode ex.doc table of ex commands, and descriptions regexp.doc description of regular expressions and substitutions options.doc detailed description of ":set" command cutbufs.doc short discussion of cut-buffers and @ macros differ.doc list of (known) differences between elvis and vi internal.doc implementation details cflags.doc compile-time options makefile.doc description of the Makefile.mix file termcap.doc how elvis uses termcap fields -- terminal descriptions environ.doc environment variables that affect elvis versions.doc OS-dependent information question.doc some frquently asked questions & answers ctags.doc man-page for "ctags" program elvis.doc man-page for "elvis" program elvprsv.doc man-page for "elvprsv" program elvrec.doc man-page for "elvrec" program fmt.doc man-page for "fmt" program ref.doc man-page for "ref" program NOTE: The manual pages are formatted for 66-line pages. The last 6 lines of each page are blank, for skipping page breaks. Many laser printers default to 60 lines per page, so you may have to delete those extra blank lines, or replace them by formfeeds or something.