Mail Archives: djgpp/1999/01/24/04:03:02
On Sun, 24 Jan 1999, Francis Glassborow wrote:
> In article <clcm-19990121-0005 AT plethora DOT net>, Francis Glassborow
> <francis AT robinton DOT demon DOT co DOT uk> writes
> >For the benefit of other readers, in an offline exchange I have
> >ascertained that mohan is trying to execute his code with Windows98
> >without realising that such code must be run in a DOS Box
>
> I have just been asked to extend this comment. I will be brief because
> it is OS specific. Windows98 is a multitasking system which really
> hates programs that try to get at external resources (such as files)
> behind its back.
There's some kind of confusion here that I cannot fully understand.
DJGPP programs are *always* run by Windows 9X in a DOS box, no matter
how do you invoke them. You can invoke them from the COMMAND.COM
prompt in an MS-DOS window, or by double-clicking on the program's
name in Explorer or My Computer, or from the START->Run dialog, or by
dragging a filename and dropping it onto the program's name--it
doesn't matter: Windows will create a new DOS box and run the program
inside it.
"DOS box" is actually a misnomer. The technically correct term is
"Virtual Machine". DJGPP programs always get their own virtual
machine (unless run directly by other DOS programs). Some people
confuse "DOS box" as a synonym for "Virtual Machine" with "DOS box" as
the name of the window where COMMAND.COM is sitting at its prompt, and
I believe this is the source of the confusion expressed above.
> You can compile your code as a console program if your
> compiler provides support for this
DJGPP cannot produce anything *but* console programs (unless you add
RSXNTDJ).
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