From:	Kbwms <Kbwms AT aol DOT com>
Message-ID:	<a36b2ee9.3550fe11@aol.com>
Date:	Wed, 6 May 1998 20:19:28 EDT
To:	eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il
Cc:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Mime-Version:	1.0
Subject:	Re: Knowledge Base Found & Difficulties with Start-up Code

Dear Eli Zaretskii,

On 05-06-98 at 06:25:17 EST you wrote:
>
>
> On Tue, 5 May 1998, Kbwms wrote:
>
> > > Actually, many entries in the FAQ need to be moved into the Knowledge
> > > Base, but there are only 24 hours a day...
> > >
> >
> > Need some help?
>
> I always need help with DJGPP, thanks for offering it.  But you will
> need to get hold of the Texinfo system, which is what we use for
> writing the DJGPP documentation, before you can help in this one.  In
> particular, this means that you will probably need an editor which has
> reasonable support for writing Texinfo documents (I suggest Emacs).  If
> you are familiar with Texinfo already, then I will be glad to tell you
> how I would like this project to be done and what else is involved.
>
I'll become familiar with Texinfo and will let you know when I'm ready.
I haven't used Emacs since 1989 but I can get a handle on that fairly
quickly.

> > While I have your attention:  I notice that global variable _osmajor
> > is not correctly set at start-up.
>
> That's a feature.  In DJGPP v2.01, you need to call the function
> _get_dos_version to have these variables initialized.  When that
> function was introduced, it wasn't obvious that it should be called at
> startup, since the variables _osmajor and _osminor didn't exist
> before, and their impact on existing programs was not clear.
>
Way to go!  Call it a feature.

> In the next release of DJGPP, _get_dos_version will be called by the
> startup code, by popular demand.
>

Sounds like others out there feel lonely without it.

[Concerning the DOS limit on command lines:]

> If you call another DJGPP program, then the 126-character limit is
> increased to 16KB minus the environment size (16KB is the size of the
> transfer buffer of the parent program, and can be changed by using the
> stubedit utility).  So you shouldn't see any problems with
> command-line size, UNLESS you spawn non-DJGPP programs.
>
> DJGPP couldn't have existed unless it overcame this limitation, since
> you cannot dream of building GNU packages without breaking the
> 126-char limit: the commands issued by the GNU Makefile's are way too
> long.  So this problem was solved a long time ago.  If you have
> problems with passing long command lines to DJGPP programs, please
> describe them.
>

This problem is somehow connected to my Unix-like shell for DOS.  When
make spawns a program under the shell (from Thompson Automation), it
fails to receive a full complement of arguments.  When I switch to a
DOS window, my program receives all 38 arguments.  This is ironic since
the shell is supposed to have a huge buffer for arguments - something
like 1840 characters for a single command.  I am seeking assistance from
the supplier, as you might imagine.


I figured as much.  It simply didn't make sense on the face of it.

Regarding c1loadef.c:  I called __crt0_load_environment_file() with
"cpp" as an argument and got all I needed in INCLUDE environment
variables.  Thanks very much.

Thanks also for your helpful and informative comments.


Sincerely,

K.B. Williams

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