# IMPORTANT NOTE: this file is obsolete and documents a procedure which
# no longer works on the Windows machines I have access to. Sorry.
#
# K.B.

##########################################################################

This is a self-installing binary for Windows from the **stable** branch of
PARI/GP (2.3.*).

Features of this release include :

1) PDF manuals: user's and libpari manual, tutorial, reference card
   [ ... Acrobat Reader not included ... ]

2) full online help ( gphelp )
  Try out ??sin, ???sin
          ???"elliptic curves"@
          ??readline
          ??tutorial
          ??refcard
          ??
Note: you need Acrobat Reader installed for the last 3.

3) Readline line-editing facilities, including command history and contextual
completion.
  Try out <TAB> and the cursor keys.

4) prettyprinter ( tex2mail )
  Try \o3 before typing some (simple) commands, e.g sin(x)

5) "galdata" support files, required by polgalois() in degree > 7
  Try polgalois(x^8 - 2)

6) High-resolution plot: ploth() and friends should work now.
  Try ploth(x = 0, 10, sin(x)), and try to resize the window.

7) install() should work, at least to import private symbols from the library
  Try install(addii, GG); addii(2,3)

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

The installer sets

1) Start Menu entry

2) Desktop link  [ ... no dedicated icon yet ... ]

3) Uninstall support (via Start Menu or Windows Add/Remove)

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

Please test as much as you can! And report bugs, preferably to pari-dev
(or possibly pari-users), if something does not work as expected.

Remaining problems:
1) On my PC, M-? [ list all possible completions ] has an annoying display
bug: the last character in the edit buffer is displayed twice. E.g.

  bnf<M-?>

results in

  bnff

being displayed [ but only 'bnf' is there ]. If show-all-if-ambiguous is
set, <TAB> has the same problem. This problem does not occur under Unix,
and disappears if the prompt color is not modified. [ The gprc provided
changes it to bright yellow. ]

2) With some [ non-english ] keyboard layouts the keys '^', '~', etc. do not
work.

3) Extended online help (??sin) does not work on some machines: nothing
happens.

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

Thanks to all who reported problems or submitted ideas for bugfixes.
As always, all feedback will be much appreciated !

Have fun,

    Karim.