Introduction to AUCTeX
**********************

This file gives a brief overview of what AUCTeX is.  It is *not* an
attempt to document AUCTeX.  Real documentation for AUCTeX is available
in the manual, which should be available as an info file after
installation.

1 Installation
**************

Read the 'INSTALL' or 'INSTALL.windows' file respectively for
comprehensive information about how to install AUCTeX.

   The installation routine tries to make the modes provided by AUCTeX
the default for all supported file types.  If this does not happen in
your case, add
     (load "auctex.el" nil t t)
   to your init file and consult the section about loading the package
in the 'INSTALL' file.

   If you want to change the modes for which it is operative instead of
the default, use
     M-x customize-variable RET TeX-modes RET

   If you want to remove a preinstalled AUCTeX completely before any of
its modes have been used,
     (unload-feature 'tex-site)
   should accomplish that.

   If you are considering upgrading AUCTeX, the recent changes are
described in the 'CHANGES' file.

2 Features
**********

AUCTeX is a comprehensive customizable integrated environment for
writing input files for TeX/LaTeX/ConTeXt/Texinfo using Emacs or XEmacs.

   It lets you process your source files by running TeX and related
tools (such as output filters, post processors for generating indices
and bibliographies, and viewers) from inside Emacs.  AUCTeX lets you
browse through the errors TeX reported, while it moves the cursor
directly to the reported error, and displays some documentation for that
particular error.  This will even work when the document is spread over
several files.

   One component of AUCTeX that LaTeX users will find attractive is
preview-latex, a combination of folding and in-source previewing that
provides true "What You See Is What You Get" experience in your
sourcebuffer, while letting you retain full control.  preview-latex
comes with its own manual, see *note preview-latex: (preview-latex)Top.
For more information, see further below.

   AUCTeX automatically indents your 'LaTeX-source', not only as you
write it -- you can also let it indent and format an entire document.
It has a special outline feature, which can greatly help you 'getting an
overview' of a document.

   Apart from these special features, AUCTeX provides a large range of
handy Emacs macros, which in several different ways can help you write
your documents fast and painlessly.

   All features of AUCTeX are documented using the GNU Emacs online
documentation system.  That is, documentation for any command is just a
key click away!

   AUCTeX is written entirely in Emacs-Lisp, and hence you can easily
add new features for your own needs.  It has become recently a GNU
project.  AUCTeX is distributed under the 'GNU General Public License
Version 2'.

3 Availability
**************

The most recent version is always available at

                                   <http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/auctex/>

   WWW users may want to check out the AUCTeX page at

                                  <http://www.gnu.org/software/auctex/>

4 Contacts
**********

Various mailing lists exist.

   Send a mail with the subject "subscribe" to <auctex-request@gnu.org>
in order to join the general discussion list for AUCTeX.  Articles
should be sent to <auctex@gnu.org>.  In a similar way, you can subscribe
to the <info-auctex@gnu.org> list for just getting important
announcements about AUCTeX.  The list <bug-auctex@gnu.org> is for bug
reports which you should usually file with the 'M-x
TeX-submit-bug-report RET' command.

   If you want to address the developers of AUCTeX themselves with
technical issues, they can be found on the discussion list
<auctex-devel@gnu.org>.
