Compiling MOST requires an ANSI C compiler. In addition you MUST have a copy of the S-Lang library version 2.X. Version 1 is no longer supported. This library is available from . INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS On Unix, you should be able to simply type: ./configure; make at the Unix prompt. If you are using CYGWIN, you will need to ensure that libslang.dll is on your PATH; otherwise the chkslang program will not run. If using DJGPP or MINGW32, do: cd src make -f makefile.w32 For VMS, edit the file `vmsmake.com'. When finished, either type `@vmsmake' or `@vmsmake gcc' at the VMS prompt. Once MOST has been created, it must be installed as a foreign command. This means that you must first type: $ most :== $device:[dir.containing.most]most.exe I suggest that you first build MOST then view the doc file using MOST (`most most.doc'). If you need help, hit the `h' key from within MOST. MOST understands the following environment variables: MOST_SWITCHES MOST_EDITOR, SLANG_EDITOR, EDITOR MOST_INITFILE MOST_HELP 1. MOST_SWITCHES is a list of commonly used switches. 2. MOST_EDITOR and SLANG_EDITOR are formatted strings describing what editor to use. The string can contain %s and %d formatting descriptors that represent the file name and line number, respectively. For example, if JED is your editor, then set MOST_EDITOR to 'jed %s -g %d'. Since MOST is just one of several programs that use the S-Lang library, I suggest that you use SLANG_EDITOR instead of MOST_EDITOR. 3. MOST_INITFILE specifies a configuration file for MOST. One can specify keymaps, colors, etc. via this file. In the absence of MOST_INITFILE, the program will look for a file call .mostrc in the home directory (most.rc on non-Unix systems). See `lesskeys.rc' for an example of a key definition file that causes MOST to emulate the `less' pager. See also most-fun.txt for a list of functions that can be used for key definitions. The file `most.rc' list the bindings that are built-in to the viewer. 4. If MOST_HELP is defined to point to an existing file, MOST will load a file as a help file. This is useful for describing custom keymaps. Any problems with MOST should be reported to jed@jedsoft.org. [Note also that this is really the first non-trivial C program that I ever wrote. Because of this, much of the code appears very amateurish. For example, I tried very hard to avoid C constructs that some authors strongly discourage, e.g., goto, continue, break. Of course this made some of the code convoluted, e.g., contrast int test = 1; while (test) { function (); if (-1 == some_function ()) test = 0; if (test) some_other_function (); } with: while (1) { function (); if (-1 == some_function ()) break; some_other_function (); } I have since concluded that many text-book authors never actually wrote anything non-trivial. Whenever I work on MOST, I try to make some changes in an effort to clean it up. ] --John Davis