                    Zile FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

     Copyright (c) 1997-2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

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     provided the copyright notice and this notice are preserved.

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INDEX

1. General questions
   1.1. What does `Zile' mean?
   1.2. Why another clone of Emacs?  Why not just use Emacs?
   1.3. How small does Zile get?
   1.4. I like the xyz function of Emacs but it's not in Zile!
   1.5. Does Zile support Unicode/UTF-8?
   1.6. Zile doesn't compile.
   1.7. Zile has a bug!

2. Functionality
   2.1. How do I quit Zile?
   2.2. Why are my settings being ignored?
   2.3. How do I handle non-ASCII characters?
   2.4. The META/ALT key doesn't work.
   2.5. The `C-h' key is bound to <BS>/<DEL>; help doesn't work.

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1. General questions

1.1. What does `Zile' mean?

    It stands for `Zile Is Lossy Emacs'. It is just another recursive
    acronym like `GNU'.

1.2. Why another clone of Emacs?  Why not just use Emacs?

    Zile is a small, portable Emacs for systems and situations in
    which Emacs would be unsuitable, including small systems and quick
    editing sessions.

1.3. How small does Zile get?

    On Ubuntu 8.10 i386, Zile 2.3.1 built with gcc 4.3.2 -O2 weighs
    in at 127Kb when stripped.

1.4. I like the xyz function of Emacs but it's not in Zile!

    Zile was written to be small but fast and powerful enough.

    In general, if you need something more powerful, use Emacs. You
    could also try Jed, which emulates Emacs, is not much bigger than
    Zile, and has syntax highlighting, a macro language and more
    (http://www.jedsoft.org/jed/).

    If you still think that a certain function should be implemented
    in Zile, please send a message to the developers (see question
    1.7).

1.5. Does Zile support Unicode/UTF-8?

    No.

1.6. Zile doesn't compile, or its tests don't pass.

    Zile has been successfully built on a wide range of POSIX systems.
    If you have problems building Zile on a POSIX system, please
    report your difficulties to the maintainers in as much detail as
    possible.  If you manage to get Zile working on a non-POSIX system,
    the maintainers would be delighted to know, and receive any patches
    you found necessary.

1.7. Zile has a bug!

    For instructions on reporting bugs, see the file BUGS, or send email to
    <bug-zile@gnu.org>.

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2. Functionality

2.1. How do I quit Zile?

    Type `C-x C-c' (that means holding CONTROL while typing X,
    releasing them, then holding CONTROL while typing C)

2.2. Why are my settings in ~/.zile being ignored?

    Since Zile 2.2.16, booleans are, as in Emacs, `t' and `nil' rather
    than `true' and `false'. If you haven't yet updated your .zile,
    you should do so.

2.3. How do I handle non-ASCII characters?

    Zile uses the operating system's locale support, so you need to
    set an appropriate locale; how you do this depends on your OS.
    However, Zile only works with 8-bit locales.

2.4. The META/ALT key doesn't work.

    This is probably because you are using "8-bit input".  Using the
    following X resources should make things work:

      XTerm*eightBitInput: false
      UXTerm*eightBitInput: false

    Typically you'll want to put these lines in your ~/.Xresources
    file.

2.5. The `C-h' key is bound to <BS>/<DEL>; help doesn't work.

    Search for "Better bindings" in the sample configuration file, and
    uncomment the lines that follow.

    This might also be an operating system bug; for example, versions
    of Mac OS X up to and including 10.4 (at least) have conflicting
    settings for the terminal and terminfo. A good solution is to use
    a terminfo file that matches the default terminal settings, as
    explained at:

        http://community.livejournal.com/evan_tech/64392.html
