nano: Building and Configure Options

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1 10 Building and Configure Options
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1 Building ‘nano’ from source is fairly straightforward if you are
1 familiar with compiling programs with autoconf support:
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1        tar xvzf nano-x.y.z.tar.gz
1        cd nano-x.y.z
1        ./configure
1        make
1        make install
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1    The possible options to ‘./configure’ are:
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1 ‘--disable-browser’
1      Disable the mini file browser that can be called with ‘^T’ when
1      reading or writing files.
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1 ‘--disable-color’
1      Disable support for the syntax coloring of files.  This also
1      eliminates the ‘-Y’ command-line option, which chooses a specific
1      syntax.
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1 ‘--disable-comment’
1      Disable the single-keystroke comment/uncomment function (‘M-3’).
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1 ‘--disable-extra’
1      Disable the Easter egg: a crawl of major contributors.
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1 ‘--disable-help’
1      Disable the help function.  Doing this makes the binary much
1      smaller, but makes it difficult for new users to learn more than
1      very basic things about using the editor.
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1 ‘--disable-histories’
1      Disable the code for the handling of the history files: the search
1      and replace strings that were used, and the cursor position at
1      which each file was closed.  This also eliminates the ‘-H’ and ‘-P’
1      command-line options, which switch on the logging of search/replace
1      strings and cursor positions.
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1 ‘--disable-justify’
1      Disable the justify and unjustify functions.
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1 ‘--disable-libmagic’
1      Disable the use of the library of magic-number tests (for
1      determining the file type and thus which syntax to use for
1      colouring — often the tests on filename extension and header line
1      will be enough).
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1 ‘--disable-linenumbers’
1      Disable the line-numbering function (‘M-#’).  This also eliminates
1      the ‘-l’ command-line option, which turns line numbering on.
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1 ‘--disable-mouse’
1      Disable all mouse functionality.  This also eliminates the ‘-m’
1      command-line option, which enables the mouse functionality.
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1 ‘--disable-multibuffer’
1      Disable support for opening multiple files at a time and switching
1      between them on the fly.  This also eliminates the ‘-F’
1      command-line option, which causes a file to be read into a separate
1      buffer by default.
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1 ‘--disable-nanorc’
1      Disable support for reading the nanorc files at startup.  With such
1      support, you can store custom settings in a system-wide and a
1      per-user nanorc file rather than having to pass command-line
1      options to get the desired behavior.  ⇒Nanorc Files for more
1      info.  Disabling this also eliminates the ‘-I’ command-line option,
1      which inhibits the reading of nanorc files.
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1 ‘--disable-operatingdir’
1      Disable setting the operating directory.  This also eliminates the
1      ‘-o’ command-line option, which sets the operating directory.
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1 ‘--disable-speller’
1      Disable use of the spell checker.  This also eliminates the ‘-s’
1      command-line option, which allows specifying an alternate spell
1      checker.
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1 ‘--disable-tabcomp’
1      Disable tab completion (when nano asks for a filename or a search
1      string).
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1 ‘--disable-wordcomp’
1      Disable word completion (‘^]’).
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1 ‘--disable-wrapping’
1      Disable all hard-wrapping of overlong lines.  This also eliminates
1      the ‘-w’ command-line option, which switches long-line wrapping
1      off.
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1 ‘--enable-tiny’
1      This option implies all of the above.  It also disables some other
1      internals of the editor, like the marking code, the
1      cut-to-end-of-line code, and the function toggles.  By using the
1      enabling counterpart of the above options together with
1      ‘--enable-tiny’, specific features can be switched back on — but a
1      few cannot.
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1 ‘--enable-debug’
1      Enable support for runtime debug output.  This can get pretty
1      messy, so chances are you only want this feature when you’re
1      working on the nano source.
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1 ‘--disable-nls’
1      Disables Native Language support.  This will disable the use of any
1      available GNU ‘nano’ translations.
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1 ‘--disable-wrapping-as-root’
1      Disable hard-wrapping of overlong lines by default when ‘nano’ is
1      run as root.
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1 ‘--enable-utf8’
1      Enable support for reading and writing Unicode files.  This will
1      require either a wide version of curses, or a UTF-8-enabled version
1      of Slang.
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1 ‘--disable-utf8’
1      Disable support for reading and writing Unicode files.  Normally
1      the configure script auto-detects whether to enable UTF-8 support
1      or not.  You can use this or the previous option to override that
1      detection.
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1 ‘--enable-altrcname=NAME’
1      Use the file with the given NAME (in the user’s home directory) as
1      nano’s settings file, instead of the default ‘.nanorc’.
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1 ‘--with-slang’
1      Compile ‘nano’ against Slang instead of against ncurses or other
1      curses libraries.
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