The following table shows the existing LAML configurations by Scheme systems, Platform and Operating System, which correspond to the symbols scheme-system, laml-platform, and operating-system in the LAML configuration description.

A bold 'OK' means that I use the combination myself, and that it works for me. An 'OK' means that am confident that the configuration works, and that it is supported in the distribution. (Perhaps I used it earlier, I have tested it to some degree, or others have reported positively on that combination.) When a combination is OK or OK you should be able to install LAML with no or very reasonable efforts (GNU Emacs support included). If you use a combination marked '?' I will not promise anything. In case you use a combination not mentioned above, you should make some porting efforts, and this is more difficult.

You are supposed to unzip the LAML distribution into a directory of your choice. Next you have to make a few modifications to a configuration file in order to describe properties of your installation. Finally you run a particular Scheme program which effectuates the configuration process. See the LAML installation guide for details on that. We assume that you are a competent Scheme programmer, and as such that you are able to fix simple installation problems that may occur.

By processing an LAML file (a file with extension laml) the LAML Scheme expressions are translated to HTML. Thus, by processing the file f.laml you typically get g.html in the same directory. Usually f equals g (depending on the method of processing).

When we start a LAML process, we transfer a bit of context to the processing which gives us knowledge about the name of the file, on which the laml source resides, and the directory in which the source file is placed. In addition, the underlying Scheme process needs to know where the LAML software is located (and a few other options to allow correct processing using a particular Scheme engine).

We support the following LAML processing methods:

• Via the Emacs text editor
  The Emacs commands M-x laml-process-current-buffer or M-x laml-sync-process-current-buffer starts a Scheme processor on the buffer containing an LAML file. The command laml-process-current-buffer is bound to C-o in the original setup, and to C-c C-o in the hygienic setup. This is undoubtedly the most flexible method of LAML activation. The operate menu of Emacs dired is also supplied with LAML menu items, which allows LAML to be activated directly from dired.

• Via an operating system command called laml
  
  From a command prompt activate the laml command on an laml file in the current directory:

  c:\users\kurt\laml>  laml file

  From version 31 of LAML, file should include the laml extension (or a similar extension such as sdoc ). (In earlier versions the file extensions should not be given explicitly). Be sure to insert the laml/bin directory into your PATH. Also, on UNIX, make sure that the command file is executable (chmod 775 laml, for instance).

  On some platforms we also support the variant

  c:\users\kurt\laml>  absolute-laml absolute-path file

  where absolute-path is the file path leading to the file and file is the name of the file (with file extension). This variant is, for instance, useful from cron jobs that starts LAML processing at some given point in time.

  The laml command depends on bin/SETENV.EXE which does not work on NT4.0 and Windows 2000, but it works on Win95/98. Thus, it is currently not possible to use the this mode of activation on Window NT or Windows 2000. The laml command works on Unix.

• Directly from a running Scheme interpreter in Emacs
  Activation of the Emacs command M-x run-laml-interactively. This gives you a Scheme system in which LAML has been loaded. This means of LAML execution is useful for interactive experiments and for debugging purposes.
  You can control which HTML/XML mirror to use via the Emacs command M-x set-interactive-laml-mirror-library . This commands will present the possibilities, via Emacs completion. As the default, the fully validating XHTML 1.0 transitional mirror is used.
  You can use the laml procedure to process a LAML file. You can also use one of the LAML tools. Use the single-parameter procedure laml-cd to change the working directory, laml-pwd to find out about the working directory, and laml-ls to list the working directory ( laml-ls depends on directory-list ).

• Directly from a running Scheme interpreter
  First start your Scheme system.
  1. Define the variable laml-dir as the file path of your LAML directory. For instance

        (define laml-dir "c:/users/kurt/laml/")

  2. Load laml-init.scm file from the laml directory by

        (load (string-append laml-dir "laml-init.scm"))

     This loads the fundamental setup file laml.scm, and as such lib/general.scm, the necessary Scheme compatility file, and - if requested in the your installation file configuration - your laml init file. The XHTML1.0 transitional mirror is also loaded by laml-init.scm, and the LAML startup directory will be set to the LAML root directory.

  3. If necessary, relocate your position in the file system by with:

        (laml-cd  new-dir )

     where new-dir can be absolute, relative, or "..". This sets the LAML startup directory, from which all input files are read. The function laml-pwd is also helpful because returns the current LAML startup directory.

  4. Now process LAML files with the laml procedure, for instance:

        (laml "index")

     The laml procedure takes its input file from the startup directory, as set by the previous step.

  A separate guide for use of LAML from DrScheme exists.

  If possible, you can arrange that the first two steps are carried out in the init file of your Scheme system.

  Please also notice all the other LAML tools that can be activated from this level.

If specified in the configuration file, a laml init file - such as .laml from you home directory - can be used for your personal LAML customization purposes. The LAML init file is loaded as by the function begin-laml, and by its alias end-laml-loading. In the laml init file you can redefine stuff from laml.scm and general.scm. Danish authors may find it useful to add support for conversion of the national Danish characters to the HTML counterparts.