Building Emacs.app (OS X) – make bootstrap or not?

by

BACKGROUND:

I’ve downloaded Emacs from Github’s Emacs mirror (commit f92c4be63204ed0bd914). Using Mac OS X 10.6.4, I’m now about to compile and install Emacs.app.

MY QUESTION:

The nextstep/INSTALLATION doc states nothing about make boostrap. Whereas, at various places on the Internet (following the ./configure --with-ns step but before the make step), I often see that ‘boostrap’ part included in the installation process.

I’m just wondering what make bootstrap does, and if it’s beneficial or even needed?

Answer

Per the Makefile, ‘make bootstrap’ will recompile all Emacs Lisp files using the current source, then rebuild Emacs, as opposed to using the previously compiled .elc files that come with in the source tarball.

Can’t really answer the “is this benefical” part of the question, but it seems like something that won’t hurt (excepting the extra amount of time it takes in the build).

Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Henrik , Answer Author : genehack

Leave a Comment