Oh, almost forgot...

I think that EMACS is skimped on in the base install as a matter of system
bloat, probably more than licensing issues.  (GPL'ed tools, such as gcc,
ARE included; it is licensing issues that keep them out of the
kernel.  Also, I gather, licenses may cause preferential treatment to
non-GPL'd tools that do similar jobs.)

If you don't like vi, there's always ed...and sed, and awk...*grin* (I
rather like vi, personally...)

But, no one is keeping you from using EMACS if you want it.

  cd /usr/pkgsrc/editors/emacs
  make install
  cd ../xemacs
  make install
  cd ../xemacs-packages
  make install
  ^D
  rehash

...just be prepared to wait a while for the sources to get downloaded &
compiled.

Alternatively, you should be able to grab a pre-built binary package for
most software, especially if you are using the common i386 type of system.  
But I prefer to let the system build from sources, since it avoids
problems with revisions of libraries, etc.


Good luck.


  "I probably don't know what I'm talking about."  --rkr@rkr.kcnet.com