How to install Emacs 25.1 in Ubuntu 16.04:
Besides installing the latest snapshot via the daily build PPA, it’s easy to build the 25.1 stable release by following the steps below one by one:
Remove previous Emacs if any before getting started:
1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install build tools:
sudo apt install build-essential checkinstall
Type in your password (no visual feedback) when it asks and hit Enter.
install-build-tools
2. Then install the build dependencies via command:
sudo apt-get build-dep emacs24
emacs-build-deps
1. Emacs 24 and 25 use the same build dependencies.
2. For those who have upgraded Intel driver using Intel Graphics Update Tool for Linux, like me, you won’t be able to install these dependencies. You need to downgrade the intel graphcs driver first.
3. Now download the source at ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/, then extract:
emacs25-source
4. Open terminal and navigate to the “emacs-25.1” folder via command (or select “Open in terminal” from its context menu):
cd ~/Downloads/emacs-25.1
navigate-emacs-folder
5. In the same terminal window, once you’re in the source folder, run the commands below one by one:
./configure
make
For the default GTK version in Ubuntu 16.04, there’s a known bug for multiple displays.
6. Finally use checkinstall command to create .deb and install Emacs 25.1:
sudo checkinstall
While running the command, answer on screen questions, e.g., install docs, type package description, change package name, version, etc.
Emacs checkinstall
Once done, Emacs 25.1 is installed on your system and you can remove it anytime by running the command in the prompt with sudo privilege:
emacs-install-success
In my case it’s:
sudo dpkg -r emacs-25
And the last command create a .deb package in the source folder, and it can be used in another Ubuntu machine to install Emacs 25.1 (need to manually install dependencies via step 2).
Finally, run command emacs to launch the text editor, or launch it from Unity Dash (App Launcher) at next login (or next boot).
