                    Zile FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

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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. I like the xyz function of Emacs but it's not in Zile!
   1.4. Does Zile support Unicode/UTF-8?
   1.5. Zile doesn't compile.
   1.6. 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. 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).

1.4. Does Zile support Unicode/UTF-8?

    No.

1.5. Zile doesn't start, or its tests don't pass.

    If you have problems getting Zile to work on a POSIX system,
    please report your difficulties to the maintainers in as much
    detail as possible.  If you are keen to get Zile working on a
    non-POSIX system, please do so by improving the compatibility
    code on which Zile is built; the maintainers will not accept
    non-POSIX compatibility patches to Zile.  This helps everyone:
    a wider range of systems get to run more POSIX code, and Zile
    is not burdened with special-case code.

1.6. 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 dotzile-extra.el file,
    and uncomment the lines that follow.
