Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999 11:00:16 +0200 (IST)
From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
X-Sender: eliz AT is
To: Francis Glassborow <francis AT robinton DOT demon DOT co DOT uk>
cc: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: Need help with c!
In-Reply-To: <clcm-19990123-0004@plethora.net>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.990124105958.4501R-100000@is>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com


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).