Installation

(A copy of this chapter is in the distribution file `web2c/INSTALL'.)

Installing Web2c is mostly the same as installing any other Kpathsea-using program. Therefore, for the basic steps involved, see section `Installation' in Kpathsea. (A copy is in the file `kpathsea/INSTALL'.)

One peculiarity to Web2c is that the source distribution comes in two files: `web.tar.gz' and `web2c.tar.gz'. You must retrieve and unpack them both. (We have two because the former archive contains the very large and seldom-changing original WEB source files.) See section `unixtex.ftp' in Kpathsea.

Another peculiarity is the MetaPost program. Although it has been installed previously as mp, as of Web2c 7.0 the installed name is now mpost, to avoid conflict with the mp program that does prettyprinting. This approach was recommended by the MetaPost author, John Hobby. If you as the TeX administrator wish to make it available under its shorter name as well, you will have to set up a link or some such yourself. And of course individual users can do the same.

For solutions to common installation problems and information on how to report a bug, see the file `kpathsea/BUGS' (see section `Bugs' in Kpathsea). See also the Web2c home page, `http://www.tug.org/web2c'.

Points worth repeating:

• Before starting the standard compilation and installation you must install the basic fonts, macros, and other library files. See section `Installation' in Kpathsea.
• If you do not wish to use the standard file locations, see section `Changing search paths' in Kpathsea.
• Some Web2c features are enabled or disabled at configure time, as described in the first section below.

• configure options: Especially --with and --enable.
• Compile-time options: Unusual -D's.
• Additional targets: Breaking down the task.
• Triptrap: Running the torture tests.
• Runtime options: Array sizes and the like.

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