Mail Archives: djgpp/2000/04/25/14:43:21
Roger D. Hunt <rhunt AT worldaccessnet DOT com> 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.
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