Problems installing emacs ESS using make

Question

I am trying to install emacs ESS using GNU make. i follow the installation instructions for ESS found in the following link:

steps 2 and 3 :

http://ess.r-project.org/Manual/ess.html#Installation

for each step i get errors when using make: below are the instructions and the error messages for each step:

First Instruction:

Optionally, compile elisp files and build the documentation with: cd /path/to/ESS/ make Without this step, info, pdf and html documentation and reference card will not be available.

My Action:

C:\Program Files\ESS\ess-17.11>make

System Messages:

cd etc; make all
make[1]: Entering directory `/cygdrive/c/Program Files/ESS/ess-17.11/etc'
make[1]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/cygdrive/c/Program Files/ESS/ess-17.11/etc'
cd lisp; make all
make[1]: Entering directory `/cygdrive/c/Program Files/ESS/ess-17.11/lisp'
emacs -batch -no-site-file -no-init-file -l ./ess-comp.el -f batch-byte-compile ess-custom.el
emacs: not found
make[1]:  [ess-custom.elc] Error 127
make[1]: Leaving directory `/cygdrive/c/Program Files/ESS/ess-17.11/lisp'
make:  [all] Error 2

Second Instruction:

Optionally, install into your local machine with make install. You might need administrative privileges: make install The files are installed into /usr/share/emacs directory. For this step to run correctly on macOS, you will need to adjust the PREFIX path in Makeconf. The necessary code and instructions are commented in that file.

My Action:

C:\Program Files\ESS\ess-17.11>make install

System Messages:

cd etc; make install
make[1]: Entering directory `/cygdrive/c/Program Files/ESS/ess-17.11/etc'
mkdir -p /usr/share/emacs/etc/ess/icons
mkdir -p /usr/share/emacs/etc/ess/ESSR/R
cp -p .IS.RELEASE git-ref *.S sas-keys.* ess-sas-sh-command *.jl /usr/share/emacs/etc/ess
cp -p icons/*.xpm /usr/share/emacs/etc/ess/icons
cp -p ESSR/LOADREMOTE ESSR/VERSION /usr/share/emacs/etc/ess/ESSR
cp -p ESSR/R/*.R ESSR/R/.*.R /usr/share/emacs/etc/ess/ESSR/R
chmod +x /usr/share/emacs/etc/ess/ess-sas-sh-command
chmod: not found
make[1]: *** [install] Error 127
make[1]: Leaving directory `/cygdrive/c/Program Files/ESS/ess-17.11/etc'
make: *** [install] Error 2

I'll appreciate you help with installing ESS using make.

Thanks Rafael

Borislav Aymaliev Borislav Aymaliev · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-08T09:23:15

You are trying to execute under Windows commands, which are for Linux environments. Specifically, your installation fails at the following lines:

emacs -batch -no-site-file -no-init-file -l ./ess-comp.el -f batch-byte-compile ess-custom.el
emacs: not found

and

chmod +x /usr/share/emacs/etc/ess/ess-sas-sh-command
chmod: not found

There is no chmod command under Windows. Here is the cmd equivalent: https://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/windows-change-access-permissions-from-the-command-line.html

The ESS Manual you provided suggests the following approach:

Note for Windows and macOS users: The most straightforward way to install Emacs on your machine is by downloading the Emacs binary by Vincent Goulet; either Emacs Modified for macOS or from Emacs Modified for Windows.

I also suggest that you install the Emacs Modified for Windows, as installation via make under windows will be too difficult/costly - virtually impossible.

Problems installing emacs ESS using make

1 Answers