This is dictionary.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.0b from dictionary.texi. INFO-DIR-SECTION Emacs START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY * Dictionary: (dictioanry). Dictionary client for using a RFC 2229 dict server. END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY This file documents Dictionary, a client software for a RFC 2229 dict server. Copyright (C) 1998, 2002 Torsten Hilbrich Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being "A GNU Manual", and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License" in the Emacs manual. (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: "You have freedom to copy and modify this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development." This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.  File: dictionary.info, Node: Top, Next: Installation, Prev: (dir), Up: (dir) Dictionary ********** Dictionary is a Emacs(1) package for accessing a dictionary server providing word definitions. The Request for Comments 2229 `http://www.dict.org/rfc2229.txt' defines a protocol for communication between a dictionary client and a dictionary server. The dictionary server keeps several databases (containing dictionary definitions) and provides an interface for the client to list the definition for a word and to search for words matching to pattern. This software implements the client side of that protocol. It allows you to use a dictionary server (for example provided by the site `www.dict.org') from within Emacs. Please note that the dictionary protocol uses the port 2628 which is likely to be blocked by firewalls. It is possible to connect to the dictionary server through a HTTP proxy similiar to the way HTTPS connections on port 443 are relayed, *Note HTTP Proxy::. * Menu: * Installation:: Installation of the package * Usage:: User manual * Variables:: Customizing dictionary's behaviour * User callable Functions:: * Index:: Variable, functions, and concept index. ---------- Footnotes ---------- (1) In the following manual Emacs is a name for both GNU Emacs and XEmacs. If I need to differ between both Emacs variants I will use these names instead  File: dictionary.info, Node: Installation, Next: Usage, Prev: Top, Up: Top Installation ************ The dictionary client is distributes as `tar.gz' file. You can found the latest version at `http://www.myrkr.in-berlin.de/dictionary/dictionary-1.7.2.tar.gz'. Please download this file now before continue reading. Unpacking ========= To unpack the archive use the following command: gzip -dc dictionary-1.7.2.tar.gz | tar -xf - If you have a `GNU tar' installed, you can also the following command: tar -xzf dictionary-1.7.2.tar.gz A directory named `dictionary-1.7.2' will have been created by these commands. Installing the files ==================== There are several ways of installing this package. If you are a Debian user you can create a Debian Package for installation using the `dpkg' command. XEmacs users can create a XEmacs package which can be easily installed too. Other users have to compile the package using the supplied `Makefile' and manually install the files. All these installation methods are described in the following sections. Debian ------ If you are using a current Debian distribution (one that support the emacsen package system) and have the `dpkg-dev' package installed (for running `dpkg-buildpackage') you can use the supplied debian support: make debian This will create a package named `dictionary-1.7.2-1_all.deb' or similiar in the parent directory of `dictionary-1.7.2'. You can now install this package as root, it will automatically byte-compile itself for all installed emacs versions and provide a startup-file which autoloads this package. In the configuration example given below you can omit the autoload lines. If you no longer want to use this package, you can remove it using: dpkg -r dictionary XEmacs 21 --------- XEmacs starting with version 21 has support for so called _xemacs packages_. These packages are also supported, you can create them using: make EMACS=xemacs package The created package will be named `dictionary-1.7-pkg.tar.gz' and stored within the current directory. If you don't want to install this package manually, you can use the following command, provided you have sufficient privileges (if unsure, login as super user): make EMACS=xemacs package-install If you have more than one XEmacs versions installed make sure the `EMACS' argument to make points to the correct binary. Please note, dictionary is now part of the official XEmacs package distribution. This means you can install this package using the integrated package management. Manual Installation ------------------- The first step in the manual installation is the byte compilation of the lisp file for quicker loading and execution. Using the supplied `Makefile' this is quite easy, just invoke: make in the `dictionary-1.7.2' sub directory. This will use emacs as the name of the Emacs executable. If you want to use a different location or a different program (for example, XEmacs) for byte compilation, use the `EMACS' argument to the `Makefile' like in the following example for XEmacs: make EMACS=xemacs If your custom package is not up-to-date expect some warnings about free variables. The next step is the installation of the files. At the moment there is no support for this step, you have to copy the compiled lisp files (named `*.elc') to a directory within your LOAD-PATH by yourself. Usually the directories `/usr/lib/emacs/site-lisp' or `/usr/local/lib/emacs/site-lisp' are suitable locations for this. XEmacs users please use the according `xemacs/site-lisp' directory. The final step is to inform your Emacs of the newly installed package. I added a `dictionary-init.el' file to the distribution which contains some `autoload' instructions to let Emacs know of the new functions. You can now insert the contents of this file in your `.emacs' or `.xemacs' file or install `dictionary-init.el' into the `site-lisp' directory and load it using: (load "dictionary-init") Key Bindings ============ You probably want to define some key combinations to invoke the `dictionary-search' or `dictionary-match' functions. The following example shows the key bindings I'm using myself for this package. These are not supplied by this package because the `C-c' prefix key together with a letter suffix are reserved for the user itself. To activate these bindings insert them into your `.emacs' or `.xemacs' file: ;; key bindings for the dictionary package (global-set-key "\C-cs" 'dictionary-search) (global-set-key "\C-cm" 'dictionary-match-words)  File: dictionary.info, Node: Usage, Next: Variables, Prev: Installation, Up: Top Usage ***** The default setup of dictionary connects to `dict://dict.org', so the package should work without modification if you are connected to the Internet. Otherwise you should configure the package first, *Note Variables::.  File: dictionary.info, Node: Variables, Next: User callable Functions, Prev: Usage, Up: Top Variables ********* * Menu: * HTTP Proxy:: Configuration for HTTP proxy support  File: dictionary.info, Node: HTTP Proxy, Prev: Variables, Up: Variables HTTP Proxy ==========  File: dictionary.info, Node: User callable Functions, Next: Index, Prev: Variables, Up: Top User callable Functions ***********************  File: dictionary.info, Node: Index, Prev: User callable Functions, Up: Top Index ***** * Menu:  Tag Table: Node: Top1265 Ref: Top-Footnote-12587 Node: Installation2746 Node: Usage7409 Node: Variables7733 Node: HTTP Proxy7932 Node: User callable Functions8033 Node: Index8181  End Tag Table