NetHack 3.5.0 Linux Elf
This README provides the instructions for using the official Linux binary,
system platform requirements, as well as steps used to create that binary.
The same steps can be used from the source distribution to create a similar
binary.
The official Linux binary has support for tty and X11 windowing systems, but
not Qt. This means you will need to have X11 libraries installed on your
system to run this binary, even in its tty flavor.
The Linux binary package assumes that you have a user and a group named
"games" on your system. If you do not, you can simplify installation by
creating them first.
Log in as or su to "root". Then, cd /, gunzip and untar the package,
preserving permissions to put the NetHack files in /usr/games/nethack and
/usr/games/lib/nethackdir. For example, if the package in in your
home directory you might perform these steps.
% su
# cd /
# tar xpvzf ~yourlogin/nethack-350-linux-X11.tgz
If you have old record and logfile entries from a previous NetHack version,
you might want to save copies before they get overwritten by the new empty
files; old saved games and bones files from 3.4.x will not work with 3.5.0.
If you are installing from the RPM, there is no need to save the old record
and logfile; they are automatically preserved.
In addition to data files for running the game, you will find other useful
things in /usr/games/lib/nethackdir (such as a copy of this README :-).
The general documentation Guidebook.txt and the processed man pages
nethack.txt and recover.txt should provide an introduction to the game.
The sample config file called dot.nethackrc can be used by copying
it to your home directory as .nethackrc and modifying it to your liking.
If you are running X11 copy the nh10.pcf and ibm.pcf font files from
/usr/games/lib/nethackdir to a X11 fonts directory (such as
/usr/X11/lib/X11/fonts/misc) and run "mkfontdir", then restart X
windows to load them. If you prefer to use the graphical tiles,
add the following to your .Xdefaults or .Xresources file:
NetHack.tile_file: x11tiles
You may need to run "xrdb -merge $HOME/.Xdefaults" (or .Xresources) after
doing this.
The official Linux binary is set up to run setgid games, which allows
multiple users on your system to play the game and prevents cheating by
unprivileged users. The usual default for NetHack is setuid games, but
this causes problems with accessing .nethackrc on distributions with
restrictive default security on home directories and users who don't know
the tradeoffs of various permission settings.
If you have problems, send us some email.
nethack-bugs@nethack.org
Steps used to build this binary release, in addition to the basic
instructions found in sys/unix/Install.unx. The step numbers below
correspond to the step numbers in sys/unix/Install.unx.
System: gcc-3.2, XFree86-libs-4.2.1, ncurses-5.2, glibc-2.3.2 (GLIBC_2.3)
3. Edit include/config.h and include/unixconf.h
config.h: define X11_GRAPHICS window support.
define USE_XPM support.
define COMPRESS as /bin/gzip as that is where it
seems to reside on newer Linux's.
define COMPRESS_EXTENSION as ".gz"
define DLB
define AUTOPICKUP_EXCEPTIONS
unixconf.h: define LINUX
define TIMED_DELAY
6. Makefile.src: define modern, non-BSD Linux and linux options throughout
CC = gcc
LFLAGS = -L/usr/X11R6/lib
WINSRC = $(WINTTYSRC) $(WINX11SRC)
WINOBJ = $(WINTTYOBJ) $(WINX11OBJ)
WINTTYLIB = /usr/lib/libncurses.a
WINX11LIB = -lXaw -lXmu -lXext -lXt -lXpm -lX11
WINLIB = $(WINTTYLIB) $(WINX11LIB)
Makefile.utl: define modern, non-BSD Linux and linux options throughout
Use bison/flex instead of yacc/lex
CC = gcc
LFLAGS = -L/usr/X11R6/lib
YACC = bison -y
LEX = flex
7. Makefile.top: GAMEGRP = games
GAMEPERM = 02755
FILEPERM = 0664
EXEPERM = 0755
DIRPERM = 0775
VARDATND = x11tiles NetHack.ad pet_mark.xbm rip.xpm
make all; su; make install
9. Additional step: As discussed in win/X11/Install.X11, convert nh10.bdf
and ibm.bdf to proper font files and place in font path.
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