[Orgmode] Re: [PROPOSAL] Quick and easy installation instructions

[Carsten Dominik]

On Sep 27, 2010, at 11:00 AM, Dan Davison wrote:

> Carsten Dominik <address@hidden> writes:
>
> > On Sep 26, 2010, at 3:33 PM, Dan Davison wrote:
> >
> > > I think that the documentation concerning installation should be  
> > > made
> > > more user-friendly. My impression is that the Org manual makes all
> > > this
> > > sound much harder than it needs to be, and I suspect that this is an
> > > entry-barrier for new Org users. For example, the first thing users
> > > encounter in the manual section is an instruction to edit a  
> > > Makefile.
> > >
> > > I suggest we provide a "quick and easy installation" section to the
> > > manual, that shows people how to start using the latest version of
> > > Org-mode without messing about with compilation and installation (I
> > > rarely compile and have never "installed" Org-mode). It would also  
> > > be
> > > helpful to include notes on how to find your ".emacs" file.
> > >
> > > This would involve the following changes to section 1.2  
> > > Installation:
> > >
> > > 1. The first thing it should say would be along the lines of
> > >  "A reasonably recent version of Org is included in Emacs. Are you
> > >  sure you need the latest version of Org?  If not, skip to the
> > >  Activation section and start using Org!"
>
> Hi Carsten,
>
> > I do agree that we should have this sentence, but maybe modified like
> > this:
> >
> > If you have a recent release of Emacs, a version of Org-mode
> > sufficient for all basic use is already included and you may
> > skip the installation instructions and continue with section xxx,
> > activation.
> >
> > However, Org-mode evolves fast.  Therefore, we do recommend to  
> > install
> > the
> > most recent release.
>
> OK.
>
> > Maybe we could actually have an Emacs command that will insert the
> > basic stuff
> > into .emacs and optionally compile the Lisp files.
> >
> > The installation would be:
> >
> > - download and unpack tar file
> > - emacs -l path-to-org.el
> > - M-x org-install
> >
> > org-install would figure out where org.el is, add to .emacs and query
> > for compilation.  This wouod make things independent from make and
> > other tools.
>
> Yes I wondered about making something like that yesterday (would it  
> make
> sense to have emacs do everything, including the download?

This rings a bell - I think Sebastian Rose implemented that already.   
Let search!

- Carsten

> M-x
> org-update-org?). But then I started thinking that we should
> investigate/rule out the ELPA possibilities before creating a new
> install function for Org. Maybe some people on this list have  
> experience
> of maintaining packages on ELPA and will be able to give an opinion.
>
> Dan
>
>
> > Just my 5c
> >
> > - Carsten
> >
> >
> > > 2. Then we should lay out an easy route and a full route:
> > >  1. Quick and easy
> > >     Download, set your load-path and (require 'org-install)
> > >     Optionally compile (within emacs[1]?)
> > >     Suggested text below.
> > >  2. Full install
> > >     Based on existing instructions
> > >
> > >
> > > What do people think? Is it just the info files which are the issue?
> > > What does a single-user machine gain from installation other than  
> > > info
> > > files?
> > >
> > > Dan
> > >
> > > Footnotes:
> > >
> > > [1] How about including in Org-mode a function `org-compile' based  
> > > on
> > > http://orgmode.org/worg/org-hacks.php#compiling-org-without-make
> > > and `org-reload'
> > >
> > >
> > > Example quick and Easy installation text:
> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > >
> > > 1. Download the latest version
> > >  .zip and .tar.gz version are kept at
> > >  http://orgmode.org/org-latest.zip
> > >  http://orgmode.org/org-latest.tar.gz
> > >
> > > 2. Extract the archived files
> > >  This will create a folder called "org-mode". Let's say that the
> > >  location of this folder is "~/path/to/org-mode" (for Windows see
> > >  footnote [1])
> > >
> > > 3. Add the following lines to your .emacs file (note that we're
> > > pointing
> > >  to the "lisp" folder *within* the main "org-mode" folder):
> > >
> > >  (setq load-path (cons "~/path/to/org-mode/lisp" load-path)
> > >  (require 'org-install)
> > >
> > > That's it. However, this will not install the latest info files, so
> > > these will be out of date (corresponding to whatever version of Org
> > > shipped with your emacs). See XXXX for instructions on installing  
> > > the
> > > info files.
> > >
> > > Now, Emacs should load whatever version of Org-mode you put at
> > > "~/path/to/org-mode". So to update Org in the future, simply delete
> > > that
> > > folder and replace it with a new one (steps 1 and 2 above).
> > >
> > > Footnotes:
> > >
> > > [1] On Windows, this path might look something like
> > > "C:\\path\to\org-mode"
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Emacs-orgmode mailing list
> > > Please use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
> > > address@hidden
> > > http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Emacs-orgmode mailing list
> > Please use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
> > address@hidden
> > http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode