Date:	Mon, 17 Apr 2000 10:47:51 +0200 (IST)
From:	Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
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To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject:	Re: DJGPP and Win2K
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On Mon, 17 Apr 2000, Damian Yerrick wrote:

> What lets DJGPP.ENV-less systems run DJGPP programs?

DJGPP.ENV is not required to run DJGPP programs.  For example, Quake 
worked flawlessly on many systems that didn't have DJGPP.ENV.

> Only the development toolchain really _requires_ DJGPP.ENV, right?

*No* DJGPP program _requires_ DJGPP.ENV.  Just rename that file and run 
your programs: they will work.  If the startup code doesn't find 
DJGPP.ENV, it doesn't blow up.

DJGPP.ENV is really an installation aid: it avoids the messy business to 
set up plethora of environment variables required to tell many ported 
packages where to find their auxiliary files.  (These variables aren't 
needed on Unix/Linux, because there the places where those files live 
are hard-wired into the binary when it is compiled on the target machine.)
DJGPP.ENV also makes sure the toolchain will work if you move the whole 
tree to another place on disk.

If you remove DJGPP.ENV, some ported packages will stop working, but you 
can get them back into business by setting the appropriate variables in 
the environment.  Other packages don't need DJGPP.ENV at all, so they 
will continue working even if you remove that file.

GCC is the single exception from the above rule: it *refuses* to work if 
the DJGPP variable is not defined.  But it does so not because it needs 
DJGPP.ENV, but because it has its own code to use the value of %DJGPP% in 
order to find its subprograms and support files.

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