This document describes how to build elm under MkLinux DR2. (If you are using MkLinux DR1, different notes apply.) The notes below apply to elm 2.4, patchlevel 25, available at, e.g., ftp.myxa.com or ftp.uu.net.
Why build elm? After all, MkLinux DR2 comes with an elm binary. One reason is that the binary is misconfigured; it thinks vi lives in /bin rather than in /usr/bin. The symptom of this problem is that you can't drop into the editor when you're composing messages. Building elm yourself will give you a binary that's configured properly. (Of course, you could just make /bin/elm a symlink to /usr/bin/elm; I prefer to leave /bin alone as much as possible.)
Before you build elm, check your mail spool directory to make sure the permissions are correct.
Getting elm to compile under MkLinux is not difficult: run Configure and give reasonable answers to the questions. Some important things to note during the configuration process:
If you like, take a look at my config.sh file. You can compare it with yours if you have problems.
After running Configure, type make to build the elm distribution. To install the distribution, su to root and type make install.
If you install elm somewhere other than /usr/bin, for instance in /usr/local/bin, you should remove /usr/bin/elm (the binary that comes with MkLinux DR2) or rename it (e.g., to /usr/bin/elm~).
9 October 1996