Mail Archives: djgpp/1998/04/05/08:34:52
On Fri, 3 Apr 1998, dan wrote:
> I want to use it under plain DOS (msdos 6.22 / msdos 7.x / open
> (dr-) dos 7.02), since I don't (want to) use win95.
LFN is virtually untested without Windows 95. I'm also told the LFN
TSR of NDOS is slow and buggy. Are you sure you need it that badly?
If not, just forget about long names if you don't work in Windows.
> I'd like to get rid of those LFN's completely as far as DJGPP+GNU-apps are
> concerned.
When you unzip the files on plain DOS where long file names aren't
supported, the long names are automatically truncated for you by DOS.
So you don't have to worry about them.
> BTW, is there any reason why DJ and his friends use LFN's in the
> distributions other than 'we forgot' or 'we haven't come to that yet'????
We didn't ``forget'', we did it on purpose. These long names are
there for those who use DJGPP on platforms which support LFN (Windows
9X). Truncating the long names is easy, but restoring the original
long names from the truncated ones is much harder...
> So, if I use LFN=n, is the DJGPP so 'smart' as to be able to find everything
> (libraries, includes and stuff)?
It's not DJGPP, it's DOS itself. When you set LFN=n, DJGPP uses old
DOS file-related calls which truncate long names automatically.
For this to work, you need to unzip the archives with a program which
does NOT support LFN.
> Can I then recompile the whole bunch for SFN (Short File Names).
You don't need to recompile. Set LFN=n in the environment, and the
long names are disabled.
Not that I understand why would anybody want to disable this
feature...
> I wonder how you DJGPP programmers have solved this irritating matter.
Those who use LFN work on Windows 9X. That's how it is usually
solved.
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