Gretl uses GNU autoconf.  Here's the quick way to get going:

  ./configure
  make
  make check
  make install

* You may want to do "./configure --help" first to see what options are
  available.  

* By default the installation goes under /usr/local.  To install
  elsewhere use "./configure --prefix=/your/prefix".  See also the
  notes on gnome below.

* On systems where GNU make is not the default you may need to use the
  "--with-gmake" option to ./configure.

* See below the "Dependencies" section for discussion of further
  configure options.

Dependencies: gretl relies on various libraries and auxiliary
programs, as follows:

Package     gretl status   functionality
===============================================================

gtk          required       provides the gretl GUI

xml          required       open and save data files in the
                            default format

gnuplot      required       generate graphs

gdk-pixbuf   recommended    handle graphs in PNG format; make
                            gnuplot graphs interactive

readline     optional       provides a nice editable command line
                            in gretlcli, the command-line program

gnome        optional       gretl is integrated into the gnome
                            desktop (file icons and associations,
                            HTML help system and so on)

GMP          optional       supports gretl's Multiple Precision OLS
                            plugin

=================================================================

Notes:

* It is possible to turn off the dependency on gdk-pixbuf by using the
  option "--disable-png-graphics" with configure.  You will still be
  able to generate graphs, they just won't be interactive.  This
  reduces gretl's functionality and is not recommended.

* By default gretl attempts to build against the new gtk 2.0
  libraries.  If you want to prevent this (i.e., if you have gtk 2.0
  installed but would prefer to build gretl using the traditional gtk
  1.2) specify the option "--without-gtk2".  This slightly reduces
  gretl's functionality.

* By default gretl looks for an installed version of libole2 to link
  against; if you want to prevent this, specify the option
  "--without-libole2".  Then gretl will use the subset of libole2 code
  supplied in the source package.  This does not reduce gretl's
  functionality.  

* When gretl is built against gtk 1.2, by default it looks for an
  installed version of libgtkextra to link against; if you want to
  prevent this, specify the option "--without-gtkextra".  Then gretl
  will use the subset of gtkextra code supplied in the source package.
  Again, this does not reduce gretl's functionality.

* The gretl configure script looks for the gnome desktop, and arranges
  for gretl to be built with gnome support if gnome is found on your
  system.  If you want to disable this, add the option
  "--without-gnome" when running ./configure.

* By default, gnome-specific gretl files (e.g. pixmaps, help files,
  the gretl.desktop file) are installed under the prefix that is
  returned by the command "gnome-config --prefix" (gnome 1.4) or
  "pkg-config --variable=prefix libgnome-2.0" (gnome 2.0).  This will
  generally be correct, but if you want to override this behavior you
  may use the option "--with-gnome-install=DIR" when running
  configure. Substitute for "DIR" the prefix you want to use.

* If you want to build gretl without a dependency on GMP, even though
  libgmp is on your system, specify the option "--without-gmp".  This
  reduces gretl's functionality and is not recommended.

Allin Cottrell, August 2002.