Message-ID:	<32547605.20B6@cs.com>
Date:	Thu, 03 Oct 1996 19:27:17 -0700
From:	"John M. Aldrich" <fighteer AT cs DOT com>
Reply-To:	fighteer AT cs DOT com
Organization:	Three pounds of chaos and a pinch of salt
MIME-Version:	1.0
To:	DJGPP Workers Mailing List <djgpp-workers AT delorie DOT com>
Subject:	Re: Stub error messages (Was: Re: 'Cannot open')
References:	<9609300343 DOT AA13628 AT clio DOT rice DOT edu>

Charles Sandmann wrote:
> 
> You can't create this path condition - you must boot a floppy without
> a path statement to have it set up that way.  It's a DOS bug that it
> creates an environment variable with an assignment of zero length.  If
> you issue the SET command and see "PATH=" (nothing following) then this
> is the appropriate problem case.  Trying to set a zero length PATH will
> normally remove it completely, so you wouldn't see the problem.

I have just tested the modification to the stub that Charles posted and
it does in fact work on my system.  I had to jump thru hoops to get the
error condition in the first place, though!  It turns out that if you
even have a CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT, no matter what is in them, DOS
will create correct environment settings.  Considering that the only way
to cause the problem to occur is to boot from a clean floppy, and that
this also means that the other required environment settings would not
exist (DJGPP variable, for example), I'm amazed that this problem has
appeared as often as it has.

Anyway, since my custom stub will now run correctly, I'm going to have
to remember to put in a check for a NULL PATH in my program itself. 
Complications, complications...  :)

-- 
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| John M. Aldrich, aka Fighteer I  |        fighteer AT cs DOT com         |
| Plan:  To find ANYONE willing to |   http://www.cs.com/fighteer   |
| play Descent 2 on DWANGO!        | Tagline: <this space for rent> |
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