To install groff, follow the instructions in the file INSTALL.gen. This file contains information that supplements those instructions. groff is written in C++, so you will need a C++ compiler. The C++ source files use a suffix of `.cc', so your C++ compiler must be able to handle this. If you don't already have a C++ compiler, I suggest gcc 2.7.1 or later (gcc version 2 includes GNU C++ as well as GNU C). From gcc 2.5, it is no longer necessary to install libg++: the C++ header files needed by groff are created by the gcc installation process. To override configure's choice of C++ compiler, you can set the CXX environment variable. If you have a library that provides a faster malloc than your system's usual malloc, it is good idea to include it in LIBS. For example, using the malloc that comes with GNU Emacs version 20 can give a worthwhile (and sometimes spectacular) performance improvement. When you have built groff, you can use the test-groff script to try groff out on one of the man pages. (Use the .n files not the .man files.) The test-groff script sets up environment variables to allow groff to run without being installed. The current directory must be the build directory when the script is run. For example, you could do ./test-groff -man -Tascii groff/groff.n | less If you want to install gxditview (an X11 previewer), follow the instructions in the INSTALL file in the xditview directory. To get PostScript versions of the documentation resp. reference files for the `me' macros and the `pic' preprocessor, simply say `make' in the `doc' subdirectory. If you have problems, read the PROBLEMS file. If this doesn't help send a bug report using the form in the file BUG-REPORT.