2.3.1 Installation Procedure

If you are using Linux you can get the Linux distribution archive which contains a pre-compiled binary. If you are running any other Unix (including FreeBSD, which due to a strange problem in the termios code won't run the Linux binaries properly) you have to compile the source code on your own (which usually is not much of a problem). See section A Compiling the Source Code, for more information on this.

The following describes the installation of the files from the Linux distribution archive. If you have compiled MsgEd TE yourself, you will find the files that are mentioned below in slightly different locations (much in the doc/ subdirectory), but they are all present somewhere in the source code archive as well, after you have done all build actions as described in the appendix.

1. Create a temporary working directory and change into it:

   ~ $ mkdir ~/msged-work
   ~ $ cd ~/msged-work
   

2. Unzip the Linux distribution archive:

   ~/msged-work $ unzip ~/msgte5_l.zip
   

3. Fix the file permissions of the executable file:

   ~/msged-work $ chmod guo+x msged
   

4. The executable can be either installed system-globally in `/usr/local/bin' or some other location, or locally in the `~/bin' subdirectory of your home directory:

   ~/msged-work $ su root
   Password:
   /home/someone/msged-work # cp msged /usr/local/bin
   /home/someone/msged-work # exit
   

5. At this time, for security reasons, each user that wants to use MsgEd TE needs to have his individual configuration files in his home directory. Copy the file `sample.cfg' to `~/.msged':

   ~/msged-work $ cp sample.cfg ~/.msged
   

6. You have to copy some other files as well:

   ~/msged-work $ cp msghelp.dat ~/.msged.hlp
   ~/msged-work $ cp sample.tpl ~/.msged.tpl
   ~/msged-work $ cp scheme.004 ~/.msged.colors
   ~/msged-work $ cp readmaps.dat ~/.msged.readmaps
   ~/msged-work $ cp writmaps.dat ~/.msged.writmaps
   

   Note that if you have the source code distribution, you must take `readmaps.dat' and `writmaps.dat' from the `bin/latin' subdirectory (assuming that your Unix machine uses the ISO 8859-1 character set).
7. Modify the configuration file `~/.msged' with your favourite text editor according to your needs. See section 6 MsgEd TE Configuration Reference for detailed descriptions of each keyword that can be used in this file.
8. You should now refer to the Unix specific release notes found below before trying to start MsgEd TE. They can save you from a lot of headaches ;-).
9. Also, if you plan to share a message base between Non-Unix and Unix systems, you absolutely must read the chapter devoted to problems with shared message bases in heterogenous networks (see section 2.4 Using MsgEd TE and other Fido software in networked environments).

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