Re: Supporting parameters that include the = character in configure.bat

[Ben Key]

Hello,

The following is my first attempt at rewriting the section in nt/INSTALL that used to warn against using quotes, backslashes and equal signs.  Be forewarned that writing documentation is not one of my strong points.

Because of limitations of the stock Windows command shell backslash
characters can be problematic and should not be used in arguments to
configure.  That means that forward slashes must be used in paths

passed to the compiler and linker via the --cflags and --ldflags
options.  Note that it is possible to pass a macro like -DFOO=BAR via
the --cflags and --ldflags options as long as it is enclosed in
quotes.  The code that parses the --cflags and --ldflags options

removes any surrounding quotes (but only if command extensions are
available).  If command extensions are disabled, an attempt will be
made to enable them.  If command extensions are not available a
warning message will be displayed informing you that "using

parameters that include the = character by enclosing them in quotes
will not be supported."  Note that at this time only the --cflags and
--ldflags options support using the = character.  The = character
will be treated as a separator character for all other options.

This is part of the patch I am working on to provide support for --cflags and --ldflags options like -DFOO=BAR.

Please let me know what you think of this change.

Also, I need to know if the following comments in configure.bat are still valid.

Rem WARNING -- COMMAND.COM on some systems only looks at the first
Rem            8 characters of a label.  So do NOT be tempted to change
Rem            chkapi* into something fancier like checkw32api

Rem You HAVE been warned!

I would like to know if I can safely use labels that are longer than 8 characters now.  From what I understand, we no longer support building Emacs on Windows 9x so this should no longer be a consideration.

Thanks.