Installing Bash

This chapter provides basic instructions for installing Bash on the various supported platforms. The distribution supports nearly every version of Unix (and, someday, GNU). Other independent ports exist for MS-DOS, OS/2, Windows 95, and Windows NT.

Basic Installation

These are installation instructions for Bash.

The configure shell script attempts to guess correct values for various system-dependent variables used during compilation. It uses those values to create a `Makefile' in each directory of the package (the top directory, the `builtins' and `doc' directories, and the each directory under `lib'). It also creates a `config.h' file containing system-dependent definitions. Finally, it creates a shell script named config.status that you can run in the future to recreate the current configuration, a file `config.cache' that saves the results of its tests to speed up reconfiguring, and a file `config.log' containing compiler output (useful mainly for debugging configure). If at some point `config.cache' contains results you don't want to keep, you may remove or edit it.

If you need to do unusual things to compile Bash, please try to figure out how configure could check whether or not to do them, and mail diffs or instructions to [email protected] so they can be considered for the next release.

The file `configure.in' is used to create configure by a program called Autoconf. You only need `configure.in' if you want to change it or regenerate configure using a newer version of Autoconf. If you do this, make sure you are using Autoconf version 2.10 or newer.

If you need to change `configure.in' or regenerate configure, you will need to create two files: `_distribution' and `_patchlevel'. `_distribution' should contain the major and minor version numbers of the Bash distribution, for example `2.01'. `_patchlevel' should contain the patch level of the Bash distribution, `0' for example. The script `support/mkconffiles' has been provided to automate the creation of these files.

The simplest way to compile Bash is:

1. cd to the directory containing the source code and type `./configure' to configure Bash for your system. If you're using csh on an old version of System V, you might need to type `sh ./configure' instead to prevent csh from trying to execute configure itself. Running configure takes awhile. While running, it prints some messages telling which features it is checking for.
2. Type `make' to compile Bash and build the bashbug bug reporting script.
3. Optionally, type `make tests' to run the Bash test suite.
4. Type `make install' to install bash and bashbug. This will also install the manual pages and Info file.

You can remove the program binaries and object files from the source code directory by typing `make clean'. To also remove the files that configure created (so you can compile Bash for a different kind of computer), type `make distclean'.

Compilers and Options

Some systems require unusual options for compilation or linking that the configure script does not know about. You can give configure initial values for variables by setting them in the environment. Using a Bourne-compatible shell, you can do that on the command line like this:

CC=c89 CFLAGS=-O2 LIBS=-lposix ./configure

On systems that have the env program, you can do it like this:

env CPPFLAGS=-I/usr/local/include LDFLAGS=-s ./configure

The configuration process uses GCC to build Bash if it is available.

Compiling For Multiple Architectures

You can compile Bash for more than one kind of computer at the same time, by placing the object files for each architecture in their own directory. To do this, you must use a version of make that supports the VPATH variable, such as GNU make. cd to the directory where you want the object files and executables to go and run the configure script from the source directory. You may need to supply the `--srcdir=PATH' argument to tell configure where the source files are. configure automatically checks for the source code in the directory that configure is in and in `..'.

If you have to use a make that does not supports the VPATH variable, you can compile Bash for one architecture at a time in the source code directory. After you have installed Bash for one architecture, use `make distclean' before reconfiguring for another architecture.

Alternatively, if your system supports symbolic links, you can use the `support/mkclone' script to create a build tree which has symbolic links back to each file in the source directory. Here's an example that creates a build directory in the current directory from a source directory `/usr/gnu/src/bash-2.0':

bash /usr/gnu/src/bash-2.0/support/mkclone -s /usr/gnu/src/bash-2.0 .

The mkclone script requires Bash, so you must have already built Bash for at least one architecture before you can create build directories for other architectures.

Installation Names

By default, `make install' will install into `/usr/local/bin', `/usr/local/man', etc. You can specify an installation prefix other than `/usr/local' by giving configure the option `--prefix=PATH'.

You can specify separate installation prefixes for architecture-specific files and architecture-independent files. If you give configure the option `--exec-prefix=PATH', `make install' will use `PATH' as the prefix for installing programs and libraries. Documentation and other data files will still use the regular prefix.

Specifying the System Type

There may be some features configure can not figure out automatically, but needs to determine by the type of host Bash will run on. Usually configure can figure that out, but if it prints a message saying it can not guess the host type, give it the `--host=TYPE' option. `TYPE' can either be a short name for the system type, such as `sun4', or a canonical name with three fields: `CPU-COMPANY-SYSTEM' (e.g., `sparc-sun-sunos4.1.2').

See the file `support/config.sub' for the possible values of each field.

Sharing Defaults

If you want to set default values for configure scripts to share, you can create a site shell script called config.site that gives default values for variables like CC, cache_file, and prefix. configure looks for `PREFIX/share/config.site' if it exists, then `PREFIX/etc/config.site' if it exists. Or, you can set the CONFIG_SITE environment variable to the location of the site script. A warning: the Bash configure looks for a site script, but not all configure scripts do.

Operation Controls

configure recognizes the following options to control how it operates.

--cache-file=FILE

Use and save the results of the tests in FILE instead of `./config.cache'. Set FILE to `/dev/null' to disable caching, for debugging configure.

--help

Print a summary of the options to configure, and exit.

--quiet

--silent

-q

Do not print messages saying which checks are being made.

--srcdir=DIR

Look for the Bash source code in directory DIR. Usually configure can determine that directory automatically.

--version

Print the version of Autoconf used to generate the configure script, and exit.

configure also accepts some other, not widely used, boilerplate options.

Optional Features

The Bash configure has a number of `--enable-FEATURE' options, where FEATURE indicates an optional part of Bash. There are also several `--with-PACKAGE' options, where PACKAGE is something like `gnu-malloc' or `purify'. To turn off the default use of a package, use `--without-PACKAGE'. To configure Bash without a feature that is enabled by default, use `--disable-FEATURE'.

Here is a complete list of the `--enable-' and `--with-' options that the Bash configure recognizes.

--with-afs

Define if you are using the Andrew File System from Transarc.

--with-curses

Use the curses library instead of the termcap library. This should be supplied if your system has an inadequate or incomplete termcap database.

--with-glibc-malloc

Use the GNU libc version of malloc in `lib/malloc/gmalloc.c'. This is not the version of malloc that appears in glibc version 2, but a modified version of the malloc from glibc version 1. This is somewhat slower than the default malloc, but wastes less space on a per-allocation basis, and will return memory to the operating system under some circumstances.

--with-gnu-malloc

Use the GNU version of malloc in `lib/malloc/malloc.c'. This is not the same malloc that appears in GNU libc, but an older version derived from the 4.2 BSD malloc. This malloc is very fast, but wastes some space on each allocation. This option is enabled by default. The `NOTES' file contains a list of systems for which this should be turned off, and configure disables this option automatically for a number of systems.

--with-purify

Define this to use the Purify memory allocation checker from Pure Software.

--enable-minimal-config

This produces a shell with minimal features, close to the historical Bourne shell.

There are several `--enable-' options that alter how Bash is compiled and linked, rather than changing run-time features.

--enable-profiling

This builds a Bash binary that produces profiling information to be processed by gprof each time it is executed.

--enable-static-link

This causes Bash to be linked statically, if gcc is being used. This could be used to build a version to use as root's shell.

The `minimal-config' option can be used to disable all of the following options, but it is processed first, so individual options may be enabled using `enable-FEATURE'.

All of the following options except for `disabled-builtins' and `usg-echo-default' are enabled by default, unless the operating system does not provide the necessary support.

--enable-alias

Allow alias expansion and include the alias and unalias builtins (see section Aliases).

--enable-array-variables

Include support for one-dimensional array shell variables (see section Arrays).

--enable-bang-history

Include support for csh-like history substitution (see section History Expansion).

--enable-brace-expansion

Include csh-like brace expansion ( b{a,b}c ==> bac bbc ). See section Brace Expansion, for a complete description.

--enable-command-timing

Include support for recognizing time as a reserved word and for displaying timing statistics for the pipeline following time. This allows pipelines as well as shell builtins and functions to be timed.

--enable-cond-command

Include support for the [[ conditional command (see section Conditional Constructs).

--enable-directory-stack

Include support for a csh-like directory stack and the pushd, popd, and dirs builtins (see section The Directory Stack).

--enable-disabled-builtins

Allow builtin commands to be invoked via `builtin xxx' even after xxx has been disabled using `enable -n xxx'. See section Bash Builtin Commands, for details of the builtin and enable builtin commands.

--enable-dparen-arithmetic

Include support for the ((...)) command (see section Conditional Constructs).

--enable-extended-glob

Include support for the extended pattern matching features described above under section Pattern Matching.

--enable-help-builtin

Include the help builtin, which displays help on shell builtins and variables.

--enable-history

Include command history and the fc and history builtin commands.

--enable-job-control

This enables the job control features (see section Job Control), if the operating system supports them.

--enable-process-substitution

This enables process substitution (see section Process Substitution) if the operating system provides the necessary support.

--enable-prompt-string-decoding

Turn on the interpretation of a number of backslash-escaped characters in the $PS1, $PS2, $PS3, and $PS4 prompt strings. See section Controlling the Prompt, for a complete list of prompt string escape sequences.

--enable-readline

Include support for command-line editing and history with the Bash version of the Readline library (see section Command Line Editing).

--enable-restricted

Include support for a restricted shell. If this is enabled, Bash, when called as rbash, enters a restricted mode. See section The Restricted Shell, for a description of restricted mode.

--enable-select

Include the select builtin, which allows the generation of simple menus (see section Conditional Constructs).

--enable-usg-echo-default

Make the echo builtin expand backslash-escaped characters by default, without requiring the `-e' option. This makes the Bash echo behave more like the System V version.

The file `config.h.top' contains C Preprocessor `#define' statements for options which are not settable from configure. Some of these are not meant to be changed; beware of the consequences if you do. Read the comments associated with each definition for more information about its effect.

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