There's no ready-to-run demo. To run vile, you'll need a C compiler (we've tested with VAX-C and DEC-C). It's nice but not essential to have MMS (or its clone, MMK). Building without MMS: -------------------- If you simply want to build vile, run the script: $ @VMSBUILD The build-scripts attempt to determine which of three configurations you may have: VMS with VAX-C VMS with DEC-C on a VAX VMS with DEC-C on an AXP (alpha) We've tested directly on the first and last configurations; our information for the second (DEC-C + VAX) comes from user feedback. The result of the build is an executable, VILE.EXE Building with MMS: ----------------- The source distribution includes DESCRIP.MMS, which is the MMS script. Run MMS in the source directory; it'll find this file and compile/link VILE.EXE, e.g., $ MMS I've only used MMK installed as a foreign command; it doesn't work well with the recursive macros set in DESCRIP.MMS, in the "all" target. The standard targets in the MMS script are: "all", "clean", clobber". X Windows: --------- You may have a VMS system configuration that supports X Windows. (We don't currently). To configure for X Windows, you'll have to edit the build script (i.e., DESCRIP.MMS or VMSBUILD.COM) to comment-out the definitions for SCREEN, TARGET, SCRDEF for the VMSVT configuration, and uncomment the corresponding ones for X11. The result of the build is an executable, XVILE.EXE Running the program: ------------------- You don't have to install the program to run it. Vile can run from the build directory. You must define a foreign command to run vile (otherwise it won't get command-line arguments). The build scripts can generate a script VILE.COM (or XVILE.COM) which you can execute, defining a foreign command that lets you run vile, e.g., $ @VMSBUILD VILE_COM $ @VILE README.* or $ MMS VILE.COM $ @VILE README.* Most of vile's documentation is in the online help file VILE.HLP; it assumes that you already know something about the vi editor and concentrates on the additional functions and features that vile provides. Installing: ---------- You can install the executable for vile in the directory where you normally install user programs or tools. Define (e.g., in your LOGIN.COM) the foreign command to point to it, e.g., $ VILE :== "$ SYS$LOGIN:VILE.EXE" if you put it in your home directory. Vile looks for its help-file in a series of locations, i.e., the current directory, the directory from which VILE.EXE is executed SYS$LOGIN SYS$SYSDEVICE:[VMSTOOLS] SYS$SYSTEM SYS$LIBRARY -- Thomas Dickey (dickey@clark.net)