From: Hans-Bernhard Broeker Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp Subject: Re: Question about running configure script Date: 25 Apr 2000 17:42:23 GMT Organization: Aachen University of Technology (RWTH) Lines: 48 Message-ID: <8e4ldv$i1u$1@nets3.rz.RWTH-Aachen.DE> References: <3905B9E3 DOT C6DA3661 AT worldaccessnet DOT com> NNTP-Posting-Host: acp3bf.physik.rwth-aachen.de X-Trace: nets3.rz.RWTH-Aachen.DE 956684543 18494 137.226.32.75 (25 Apr 2000 17:42:23 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse AT rwth-aachen DOT de NNTP-Posting-Date: 25 Apr 2000 17:42:23 GMT Originator: broeker@ To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com Roger D. Hunt wrote: [...] > Next they tell you to configure the software by running: > $ ./configure > which I believe is a shell script. The first line of that file is: > #! /bin/sh > which, from what I read in your mail archives, I think is a reference to the > UNIX shell (like DOS's lowly command.com). There is no DOS-equivalent shell > software on my system, so does that mean I need to download BASH or > something like that? Yes. Most definitely so. You need Bash if you want to run configure scripts. You'll also need some of the other GNU packages that wouldn't be strictly necessary otherwise, like 'fileutils', 'textutils', shellutils' and 'sed'. [...] > Now I am really lost. If I had BASH, for example, do I just type 'bash' > from the DOS command prompt and then get the $ prompt, and then proceed to > enter the commands above? If so, that sounds too simple. Seen from the outside, it *is* that simple. Most of the time. The complexity lies in the work of Eli Zaretskii and other tireless workers that ported all those wonderful GNU programs to DOS so perfectly that many things do work as seamlessly as they do. There is a pitfall waiting for you, though: 'configure' scripts generated by most (all?) versions of GNU autoconf don't work on DOS unchanged, despite all heroic efforts. You may want to try the ported DJGPP 'autoconf' and 'm4' to regenerate the 'configure' script from 'configure.in', to fix that, or you need quite a bit of knowledge about Unix shell programming to work your way around those pitfalls, manually. > I am just certain that the UNIX gods have another trapdoor planned > for me to fall through. Does BASH permit the entry of flags on the > same line as the command, as in the first example they gave, or do I > need to enter them with the 'setenv' commands? Bash is a 'Bourne-style' shell, where the shorthand syntax given by those instructions (snipped in this reply) does indeed work. Chances are that this particular program you're trying to build will not use too many of the features provided by autoconf or configure. -- Hans-Bernhard Broeker (broeker AT physik DOT rwth-aachen DOT de) Even if all the snow were burnt, ashes would remain.