Date:	Tue, 21 Mar 1995 02:02:51 -0400 (AST)
From:	Bill Davidson <bdavidson AT ra DOT isisnet DOT com>
Subject:	Re: Problem with GRX-1.03m1
To:	Jack DanielS <dsinghal AT goober DOT mbhs DOT edu>
Cc:	djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu

On Mon, 20 Mar 1995, Jack DanielS wrote:

> how do I make it then?  and what is a separator, anyway?i keep getting 
> told i'm missing one...

This is a problem that has come up before, and I haven't heard a good 
explanation, and I don't know if it is Gnu-specific or djgpp-specific.  
However, the problem is that the GRX sources contain some inline 
assembler that contains C comments.  Everything I have read in the docs 
tells me that should be OK, but the assembler gags on those comments.  
Part of the problem is (as I recall) that the comments are within the 
assembler quoted strings, so cpp quite rightly doesn't touch them.  
However, I thought 'as' should understand them but it doesn't.
The fix I used is to edit the sources (actually only one offending file, 
I think???), locate the asm"..." sections, and take out the comments.  
Then they assemble fine.
There might be a switch to fix this (little bells are ringing, something 
about a switch that tells 'as' to treat the file as user-created rather 
than compiler-created), but I don't know what it is.  If there _is_ such 
a switch, it should have been in the makefile!
Contributed programs like GRX are *wonderful* and enhance the djgpp 
system, but is it really too much trouble for the contributors to make 
sure that they will compile as provided?  Sometimes I am editing 
makefiles and source files and I find myself grumbling "OK, how did this 
SOB compile it, and why won't he tell the rest of us?"
On the other hand, I have also blithely edited makefiles and completely 
screwed things up (silly grin and nervous laugh)!
Good luck
Bill Davidson
bdavidson AT ra DOT isisnet DOT com

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