-*- Text -*- This is the GRUB. Welcome. This file contains instructions for compiling and installing the GRUB. The Requirements ================ GRUB depends on some software packages installed into your system. If you don't have any of them, please obtain and install them before configuring the GRUB. * GCC 4.1.3 or later * GNU Make * GNU Bison 2.3 or later * GNU gettext 0.17 or later * GNU binutils 2.9.1.0.23 or later * Flex 2.5.35 or later * Other standard GNU/Unix tools On GNU/Linux, you also need: * libdevmapper 1.02.34 or later (recommended) For optional grub-emu features, you need: * SDL (recommended) * libpciaccess (optional) * libusb (optional) To build GRUB's graphical terminal (gfxterm), you need: * FreeType 2 or later * GNU Unifont If you use a development snapshot or want to hack on GRUB you may need the following. * Python 2.5.2 or later * Autoconf 2.60 or later * Automake 1.10.1 or later * Autogen 5.10 or later Prerequisites for make-check: * qemu, specifically the binary 'qemu-system-i386' * xorriso 1.2.9 or later, for grub-mkrescue and grub-shell Configuring the GRUB ==================== 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. It may also create one or more `.h' files containing system-dependent definitions. Finally, it creates a shell script `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 you need to do unusual things to compile the package, please try to figure out how `configure' could check whether to do them, and mail diffs or instructions to the address given in the `README' so they can be considered for the next release. If at some point `config.cache' contains results you don't want to keep, you may remove or edit it. The file `configure.ac' 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'. Building the GRUB ================= The simplest way to compile this package is: 1. `cd' to the directory containing the package's source code. If you don't use a release tarball you have to type `./autogen.sh'. Type `./configure' to configure the package 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 the package. 3. Optionally, type `make check' to run any self-tests that come with the package. 4. Type `make install' to install the programs and any data files and documentation. 5. 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 the package for a different kind of computer), type `make distclean'. There is also a `make maintainer-clean' target, but that is intended mainly for the package's developers. If you use it, you may have to get all sorts of other programs in order to regenerate files that came with the distribution. Compiling For Multiple Architectures ==================================== You can compile the package for more than one kind of computer at the same time, by placing the object files for each architecture in their own directory. `cd' to the directory where you want the object files and executables to go and run the `configure' script. `configure' automatically checks for the source code in the directory that `configure' is in and in `..'. Installation Names ================== By default, `make install' will install the package's files in `/usr/local/bin', `/usr/local/man', etc. You can specify an installation prefix 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', the package will use PATH as the prefix for installing programs and libraries. Documentation and other data files will still use the regular prefix. In addition, if you use an unusual directory layout you can give options like `--bindir=PATH' to specify different values for particular kinds of files. Run `configure --help' for a list of the directories you can set and what kinds of files go in them. If the package supports it, you can cause programs to be installed with an extra prefix or suffix on their names by giving `configure' the option `--program-prefix=PREFIX' or `--program-suffix=SUFFIX'. Please note, however, that the GRUB knows where it is located in the filesystem. If you have installed it in an unusual location, the system might not work properly, or at all. The chief utility of these options for the GRUB is to allow you to "install" in some alternate location, and then copy these to the actual root filesystem later. 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: not all `configure' scripts look for a site script. 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 package's 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.