[erlang-questions] compile and install from source? Where is this documented?

[Mikael Pettersson]

Dennis Clarke writes:
 > 
 > Just curious about the process for building from sources. I have been
 > looking around http://erlang.org/doc/search/ and I did find :
 > 
 >      http://erlang.org/doc/installation_guide/INSTALL.html
 > 
 > Excellent. I have otp_src_20.0 and in there I see a "HOWTO" with some
 > docs. Those claim that one must have either gcc or clang as the 
 > compiler.  Is the code not C99 portable? Can I try to compile it with a
 > strict C99 compiler ?

It should build with a C99 compiler.  If it doesn't, that's a bug
needing to be fixed.  However, most developers use either gcc or clang,
or sometimes MS' almost-but-not-quite C-compiler, so some cases may
be broken.

> Is there a testsuite to verify the results?

Yes.  See HOWTO/TESTING.md in the source code.  You'll want to run the
"emulator" suite to begin with.