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

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Ben Key <address@hidden>
> Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:17:29 -0500
> Cc: address@hidden
> 
> 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.

Thanks.  I suggest a slight rewording as follows:

  Because of limitations of the stock Windows command shells, special
  care is needed to pass some characters in the arguments of the
  --cflags and --ldflags options.  Backslashes should not be used in
  file names passed to the compiler and linker via these options.  Use
  forward slashes instead.  If the arguments to these two options
  include the `=' character, like when passing a -DFOO=bar preprocessor
  option, the argument with the `=' character should be enclosed in
  quotes, like this:

    configure --cflags "-DFOO=bar"

  Support for options that include the `=' character require "command
  extensions" to be enabled.  (They are enabled by default, but your
  system administrator could have changed that.  See "cmd /?" for
  details.)  If command extensions are disabled, a warning message might
  be displayed informing you that "using parameters that include the =
  character by enclosing them in quotes will not be supported."

> 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!

You can delete that warning.  You can also delete the parts of the
batch file which probe the environment for enough space, that problem
is also specific to command.com.  But please make these two changes a
separate commit, because they are unrelated to the issue of passing
options with the `=' characters.

> I would like to know if I can safely use labels that are longer than 8
> characters now.

Yes, you can.  But don't feel compelled to do that if you don't have
to ;-)

Thanks again for working on this.