Documentation - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)

Documentation of the GNU Project

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How To Get GNU Documentation

GNU documentation is available by several different methods:

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Source for most GNU manuals and reference is included with the source code in one file archive, and is not separately distributed.
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Get Postscript or HTML versions from these Free Software Documentation sites.
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Photocopy a friend's.
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Frequently Asked Questions

FAQs are articles that contain answers to Frequently Asked Questions. They are common on USENET.

GNU Chess FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) posted monthly to gnUSENET newsgroup (50k characters): gnu.chess. The FAQ-Archive-name is "games/chess/gnu-faq".

Descriptions of GNU Documentation

Here are descriptions of the GNU manuals. See below for a list of their ISBNs. To order one of these manuals direct from the FSF, use the FSF Order Form.

These descriptions needs more work. They should be expanded from the back cover text on each manual, and/or from the inside front cover text, and/or from the introduction in each manual, and/or other useful ways.

Ideally each manual would also have it's own page, that would include thumbnail and full size graphics of the manual's spine, front cover, and back covers, a link to the FSF Order Form, a link to an (up-to-date) HTML version, a link to the page on this site under http://www.gnu.org/software/*/ that describes the software, etc. Ideally, older cover designs would also be on a history page for each manual. We need volunteers to scan the covers and spines onto the Internet.

If you would like to help do any of this work, please e-mail webmasters@www.gnu.org.

Debugging with GDB (For Version 4.17) tells you how to run your program under GNU Debugger control, examine and alter data, modify a program's flow of control, and use GDB through GNU Emacs.
The GNU Emacs Manual (13th Edition for Version 20) describes editing with GNU Emacs. It explains advanced features, including outline mode and regular expression search; how to use special programming modes to write languages like C++ and TeX; how to use the tags utility; how to compile and correct code; how to make your own keybindings; and other elementary customizations.
Programming in Emacs Lisp: An Introduction (Edition 1.04) is for people who are not necessarily interested in programming, but who do want to customize or extend their computing environment. If you read it in Emacs under Info mode, you can run the sample programs directly.
The GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual (Edition 2.5 for Version 20.3) and The GNU Emacs Lisp Reference, Japanese Edition (Japanese DRAFT Revision 1.0, from English Edition 2.4 for Version 19.29) cover this programming language in depth, including data types, control structures, functions, macros, syntax tables, searching/matching, modes, windows, keymaps, byte compilation, and the operating system interface. The source code is available in FTP directory ftp://etlport.etl.go.jp/pub/doc/gnu-jp/elisp-manual/.
GAWK: The GNU Awk User's Guide (Edition 2 for Version 3.0.3) tells how to use GAWK. It is written for those who have never used awk and describes features of this powerful string and record manipulation language.
GNU Make (For Version 3.77) describes GNU make, a program used to rebuild parts of other programs. The manual tells how to write "makefiles", which specify how a program is to be compiled and how its files depend on each other. Included are an introductory chapter for novice users and a section about automatically generated dependencies.
The Flex manual (Edition 1.03 for Version 2.3.7) teaches you to write a lexical scanner definition for the flex program to create a C++ or C-coded scanner that recognizes the patterns defined. You need no prior knowledge of scanners.
The Bison Manual (November 1995 Edition for Version 1.25) teaches you how to write context-free grammars for the Bison program that convert into C-coded parsers. You need no prior knowledge of parser generators.
Using and Porting GNU CC (For Version 2.8) tells how to run, install, and port the GNU C Compiler to new systems. It lists new features and incompatibilities of GCC, but people not familiar with C will still need a good reference on the C programming language. It also covers G++.
The Texinfo manual (For Version 3.11) explains the markup language that produces our online Info documentation & typeset hardcopies. It tells you how to make tables, lists, chapters, nodes, indexes, cross references, & how to catch mistakes. This second edition describes over 50 new commands.
The Termcap Manual (3rd Edition (revised) for Version 1.3), often described as "twice as much as you ever wanted to know about termcap," details the format of the termcap database, the definitions of terminal capabilities, and the process of interrogating a terminal description. This manual is primarily for programmers.
The C Library Reference Manual (Edition 0.07 for Version 1.09) describes the library's facilities, including both what Unix calls "library functions" & "system calls." We are doing small copier runs of this manual until it becomes more stable. Please send fixes to bug-glibc-manual@gnu.org.
The Emacs Calc Manual (Edition 2.02 for Version 2.02) is both a tutorial and a reference manual. It tells how to do ordinary arithmetic, how to use Calc for algebra, calculus, and other forms of mathematics, and how to extend Calc.

ISBNs of GNU Manuals

Here is a list of International Standard Book Numbers for the GNU manuals.

GNU Emacs Manual for Version 20.1: ISBN: 188211406X
Using and Porting GNU CC for Version 2.8: ISBN: 188211437X
GNU Software for MS-Windows and MS-DOS: ISBN: 1882114574
Debugging with GDB Version 4.17: ISBN: 1882114752
GNU Make, Version 3.77: ISBN: 1882114809
GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual for Emacs Version 20: ISBN: 1882114728
GAWK: The GNU Awk User's Guide (2nd edition): ISBN: 1882114272
Programming in Emacs Lisp: An Introduction: ISBN: 1882114418
The GNU C Library Reference Manual for Version 1.09 Beta: ISBN: 1882114531
Texinfo: The GNU Documentation Format for Version 3.11: ISBN: 1882114655
Flex: The Lexical Scanner Generator, Version 2.3.7: ISBN: 1882114213
The Bison Manual: Using the YACC-compatible Parser Generator, for Version 1.25: ISBN: 1882114450
The Termcap Manual: The Termcap Library and Data Base (3rd edition): ISBN: 1882114876
Calc Manual: GNU Emacs Calc Version 2.02: ISBN: 1882114183

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