auctex: Prerequisites
1.2.1 Prerequisites
-------------------
* GNU Emacs 24 or higher
Using preview-latex requires a version of Emacs compiled with image
support.
Windows
Precompiled versions are available from
<ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/windows/>.
Mac OS X
For an overview of precompiled versions of Emacs for Mac OS X
see for example
<http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/EmacsForMacOS>.
GNU/Linux
Most GNU/Linux distributions nowadays provide a recent variant
of Emacs via their package repositories.
Self-compiled
Compiling Emacs yourself requires a C compiler and a number of
tools and development libraries. Details are beyond the scope
of this manual. Instructions for checking out the source code
can be found at <https://savannah.gnu.org/git/?group=emacs>.
* A working TeX installation
Well, AUCTeX would be pointless without that. Processing
documentation requires TeX, LaTeX and Texinfo during installation.
preview-latex requires Dvips for its operation in DVI mode. The
default configuration of AUCTeX is tailored for teTeX or
TeXlive-based distributions, but can be adapted easily.
* A recent Ghostscript
This is needed for operation of preview-latex in both DVI and PDF
mode. Most versions of Ghostscript nowadays in use should work
fine (version 7.0 and newer).
* GNU make
Recent AUCTeX uses GNU make specific capabilities in the Makefiles.
If your OS's default 'make' command is not GNU make, you have to
obtain it in order to build AUCTeX by yourself. GNU make is
sometimes provided under the name 'gmake' in your OS's binary
package system.
* The 'texinfo' package
Strictly speaking, you can get away without it if you are building
from the distribution tarball, have not modified any files and
don't need a printed version of the manual: the pregenerated info
file is included in the tarball. At least version 4.0 is required.
For some known issues with various software, see 
(preview-latex)Known problems.
Info Catalog
auctex: Installation
auctex: Configure