Q: Do you really mean I have to read this looongish FAQ list to get my
answers?
Q: I have this problem which I absolutely MUST solve NOW! What do I
do?
A: No, you don't need to read all of the FAQ unless you want to (although this is by all means recommended). The questions in this document are listed, as much as possible, in the order they appear when one goes through getting DJGPP, installing it and using it. To quickly find an answer to your question, first look at the Table of Contents. If that doesn't help, try the indices at the end of this manual. You can look up your question either by program name, or by topic name.
If you don't find anything appropriate through the indices, search this FAQ for words which are pertinent to your problem1.
If searching the FAQ didn't help, try the DJGPP archives search, where you can find reports about similar problems and their solutions. If that doesn't help either, try asking the DJGPP gurus.
For those in a real hurry, here are some pointers to the most important topics in this FAQ list:
Here's a brief description of the necessary steps:
chdir there. Do NOT
install DJGPP in a directory called \dev on any drive, or in
any of its subdirectories: it won't work!
*.zip files preserving the directory structure. On
Windows 9X, use an unzip program which supports long file names. On
Windows NT, use a DOS unzip program that does not support long
file names. A free unzip program unzip32.exe is available from
the DJGPP archives
which does the Right Thing on both DOS, Windows 9X and Windows NT, so I
recommend using unzip32.exe to unzip DJGPP.
*.zip files. You need to unzip them all from the same
directory! I'm told that the Aladdin Expander also automatically
renames directories it extracts if a directory by that name already
exists; this renaming should be disabled as well. If you have ZipMagic
on your machine, disable it, as it also unzips each file into its
directory.
AUTOEXEC.BAT file and add these two lines:
set PATH=C:\DJGPP\BIN;%PATH% set DJGPP=C:\DJGPP\DJGPP.ENV
If your top DJGPP directory is other than C:\DJGPP,
change these two lines accordingly!
You can use any text editor to add these two lines. On Windows 95,
right-click on AUTOEXEC.BAT in Explorer or in
My Computer, then select Edit from the pop-up menu. On
Windows 98, click START, then choose, successively, Programs,
Accessories, System Tools, System Information, Tools, System
Configuration, and use the AUTOEXEC.BAT tab to edit the file. On
DOS, type from the command prompt edit c:\autoexec.bat.
On Windows/NT, use My Computer->Properties->Environment to edit
the default value of PATH for the DOS box, and to add a new
variable DJGPP whose value is set to the full pathname of
DJGPP.ENV, as shown above.
DJGPP.ENV is on a CD-ROM), you need to set an additional
environment variable, TMPDIR, and point it to an existing
directory on a writable disk, like this:
set TMPDIR=c:/windows
Without TMPDIR set, DJGPP programs which create temporary files
will crash when run from a CD-ROM.
Out of environment space
then enlarge the size of the environment available to
COMMAND.COM. On Windows, add a /E:2048 option to the
command line that the DOS box runs. On DOS, edit CONFIG.SYS and
add the /E:2048 option on the line that defines the shell, like
this:
SHELL = C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS /E:2048
Your installation is now complete.
Here are several simple commands:
cprog.c into cprog.exe:
gcc -o cprog.exe cprog.c
cxxprog.cc into cxxprog.exe:
gpp -o cxxprog.exe cxxprog.cc
gcc -c cfile1.c cxxfile2.cc
*.o object files into myprog.exe:
gpp -o myprog.exe cfile1.o cxxfile2.o
To compile with optimizations, add the -O2 switch to the command
line. In addition, use of the -Wall switch is highly
recommended: it turns on many useful diagnostic messages.
The DJGPP User Guide includes a tutorial introduction for first-time programmers.
Use the DJGPP News group or mailing list. For most questions, you will have your answer in a day or two. See the details on how to ask the gurus.
This depends on your hardware and software. Detailed instructions are in system configuration guidelines.
Check out list of required and optional packages.
See subscription instructions. However, it is better to read the comp.os.msdos.djgpp news group if you have access to Usenet News.
See the DJGPP archive search server in this FAQ. The search facility described there is set up by DJ Delorie, and you should use it whenever you have any questions or look for an information on a DJGPP-related subject.