From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: Ambitious suggestion for a DJGPP add-on
Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1999 09:38:28 +0200
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On Thu, 21 Oct 1999, Damian Yerrick wrote:

> >   - it must be able to run with no DPMI server installed (otherwise it's
> >     a chicken-and-egg problem, since CWSDPMI is distributed in a zip
> file).
> 
> Enclose CWSDPMI in djinst1b.zip
> Or build it with MS Visual C++

A much better solution is to bind with PMODE/DJ, as Laurynas pointed
out.

> >   - it must detect and cope with a case of insufficient environment space
> >     (after you add the DJGPP variable and enlarge PATH).
> 
> Ask the user if s/he wants the environment enlarged in
> the SHELL= line in config.sys.

The main problem is how do you *detect* the insufficient environment
in the first place.  (That's the _parent_ environment, mind you;
programs don't have a good way of reaching the parent environment.)

In addition, most CONFIG.SYS files don't even have the SHELL= line.
If you create one, you need to know what the user's shell is, which is
also non-trivial.

> > DJGPP v2.03 already includes the required
> > entries in stock DJGPP.ENV.
> 
> And is it officially out yet?

No.  But it certainly *will* be before the project you are
suggesting.  (At least I hope so. ;-)

> Start menu items *are* shortcuts.

I know.  Your wording was confusing, that's all.  Most people don't
refer to the Start menu as shortcuts, they reserve shortcuts for
something else.

> > Why not arrange a shortcut for DJGPP?
> 
> Shortcut to which EXE?

COMMAND.COM, of course.  What I meant was to set up a DOS box where
all the environment variables are set as DJGPP requires.  That would
prevent the need to mess with AUTOEXEC.BAT, except on plain DOS
installations.