From: myknees AT aol DOT com (Myknees)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: LD looks at zip drive
Date: 4 Jan 1998 16:42:12 GMT
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Message-ID: <19980104164200.LAA27051@ladder02.news.aol.com>
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References: <Pine DOT SUN DOT 3 DOT 91 DOT 980104112900 DOT 11447C-100000 AT is>
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To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
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In article <Pine DOT SUN DOT 3 DOT 91 DOT 980104112900 DOT 11447C-100000 AT is>, Eli Zaretskii
<eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il> writes:

>> There is so much to read and learn. I have never used Unix,
>> configure
>>scripts, etc.
>
>This is all required if you want to *port* a package.  But to
>build a
>package that was already ported by someone else (as is the case
>here)
>this is not at all necessary.  You just need to follow
>the
>DJGPP-specific instructions, even if you don't really understand
>the
>reason behind some of them.
>
>As a simple example, think about using a
>utility such as Make: you
>don't need to understand the subtleties of its
>operation to use a
>Makefile that somebody else has crafted for you.  All you
>need is to
>type "make [Enter]".

With all due respect, that is not always the case.  With binutils, for example,
you must run the configuration first, but in order to do that, you need many
UNIX-type applications that a beginner will most likely know nothing about. 
Here are the relevant sections of the readme.djg for the binutils:

<<
How to compile binutils 2.8.1 for DJGPP
=======================================

At first you need the following packages installed,
which are all available for DJGPP. (I do not list here
any needed program, because I don't know exactly all
the needed programs):

  - GNU make
  - GNU fileutils
  - GNU find
  - GNU shellutils
  - GNU bash
  - GNU textutils
  - GNU awk
  - GNU sed
>>
...and also...
<<
*WARNING* The configure step will run correct ONLY, if you have
a patched ln.exe from the GNU fileutils, or better you need a
patch to the DJGPP libc-function 'symlink()' and then relink
ln.exe with that patched function. If you don't have that patch
look at DJ Delories website in the mail archive selecting the
DJGPP-workers mailing list and search there for the latest symlink
patch.
>>

So what I understood from those sections is that a beginner would have to go to
the simtel ftp site and look for the GNU things, install them, then go get the
symlink() patch from the mail archives, get patch.exe to apply the patch, get
man in order to read the documentation for patch, and finally get less so that
man.exe can function.  

After learning how to use patch and then applying the patch to the symlink
function and re-linking ln.exe, the beginner would be ready to run the
configure script.

Perhaps I'm wrong and it would not be necessary to do all that, but that's what
I was able to glean from the readme.djg for the binutils.

Now, I don't see anything wrong with going around getting UNIX stuff and
learning to use it, since I learn lots of interesting stuff along the way.  I
am starting to like all the GNU-ish utilities, especially the little ones like
ls and less and fmt.  

But the whole process is certainly not simple or easy.  

--Ed (Myknees)