Ed-0.2
Prev | Chapter 6. Installing basic system software | Next

## Ed-0.2

The Ed package contains a spartan line editor.

    Approximate build time:  0.1 SBU
    Required disk space:     3.1 MB

Ed installation depends on: Bash, Binutils, Coreutils, Diffutils, GCC, Glibc, Grep, Make, Sed.

### Installation of Ed

| Note
Ed isn't something which many people use. It's installed here because it can be used by the patch program if you encounter an ed-based patch file. This happens rarely because diff-based patches are preferred these days.

Ed normally uses the mktemp function to create temporary files in `/tmp`, but this function contains a vulnerability (see the section on Temporary Files in http://en.tldp.org/HOWTO/Secure-Programs-HOWTO/avoid-race.html). Apply the following patch to make Ed use mkstemp instead, a secure way to create temporary files:

    patch -Np1 -i ../ed-0.2-mkstemp.patch

Now prepare Ed for compilation:

    ./configure --prefix=/usr --exec-prefix=""

The meaning of the configure option:

- `--exec-prefix=""`: This forces the programs to be installed into the `/bin` directory. Having the programs available there is useful in the event of the `/usr` partition being unavailable.

Compile the package:

    make

To test the results, issue: `make check`.

Install the package:

    make install

### Contents of Ed

Installed programs: ed and red (link to ed)

### Short descriptions

ed is a line-oriented text editor. It can be used to create, display, modify and otherwise manipulate text files.

red is a restricted ed -- it can only edit files in the current directory and cannot execute shell commands.

Prev | Up | Next
Diffutils-2.8.1 | Home | Kbd-1.12