This is a great question! I've found the directions online to install it by hand unclear and, frankly, a bit of a pain (at least on Debian). # On Debian... Emacs on Debian doesn't come with the *Emacs Lisp Reference Manual* by default. It's [kind of silly][1], but Debian [stores it in the non-free repos][2]. Unfortunately, a regular `apt-get install` doesn't *Just Work™*. *Note:* Before proceeding, I assume you've installed Emacs from an official Debian mirror and not compiled from source or installed from some random `.deb` from some random dude on the Internet. To begin, you need to [include non-free repos][3]. Do this by appending `non-free`<sup>1</sup> to the end of each entry in `/etc/apt/sources.list`, like deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian stable main non-free You'll need to run `sudo apt-get update` to refresh the package listing. Once you've updated the package listing, install the package `emacs-common-non-dfsg`, like sudo apt-get install emacs-common-non-dfsg Note that older releases of Debian or Ubuntu may not have `emacs-common-non-dfsg`; in those cases, you'll need to add the Emacs version number, i.e., sudo apt-get install emacs25-common-non-dfsg You may need to restart Emacs, or close and restart the Emacs info-browser. # Manually installing... I have not tested this, but it also ought to be possible to just point Emacs to the appropriate file. The source is called `elisp.info` and is [available at gnu.org][5]. You'll want the "Info document" link. Check `M-x Info-default-directory-list` to see where the default `Info` directory is. You ought to be able to either place the `emacs.info` file there or add another directory to the `Info-default-directory-list` with (add-to-list 'Info-default-directory-list "/path/to/my/info") You can [read more about the info path on the EmacsWiki][6]. <sup>1</sup> **DISCLAIMER:** Although the Emacs Lisp Reference Manual is [libre][7], including non-free repos does open you to [non-free software][8]. <sup>2</sup> This [should][9] install the *Emacs Lisp Reference Manual* as `emacs.info.gz` to `/usr/share/info`. Strictly speaking, it seems like `dpkg` is the only [dependency][2], but I couldn't get Emacs to recognize the new contents in `/usr/share/info` without [install-info][10]. Maybe someone could clarify why, but that's more a Debian question than an Emacs one... [1]: https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/EmacsManualLicense [2]: https://packages.debian.org/stretch/emacs25-common-non-dfsg [3]: https://wiki.debian.org/SourcesList#Component [4]: https://packages.debian.org/stretch/emacs24-common-non-dfsg [5]: https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/elisp.html [6]: https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/InfoPath [7]: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html [8]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian_Free_Software_Guidelines [9]: https://debian.pkgs.org/9/debian-nonfree-amd64/emacs25-common-non-dfsg_25.1+1-1_all.deb.html [10]: https://packages.debian.org/stretch/install-info