home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- LRUN.EXE VERSION 1.0 September 9, 1984
-
-
-
- Copyright (C) 1984
- Skip Gilbrech
-
- NAME
-
- lrun - load and run an executable member of a .LBR format
- library file
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- lrun lib_name[.ext] memb_name[.ext] [args ..]
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- LRUN loads and runs an executable member of an LBR-format
- library file by placing a temporary copy of the member
- (LRUNTEMP.COM or .EXE) in the current directory. It is a
- functional copy of a public domain CP/M program, LRUN.COM.
-
- If no drive or directory is specified with the library
- filename, and the file is not found in the current directory,
- the PATH environment string will be searched.
-
- If no extension is supplied for the library filename, it will
- default to "LBR."
-
- If no extension is supplied for the member filename, the
- library will first be searched for <filename>.COM, and then
- for <filename>.EXE. If an extension is supplied, it must be
- one of the above two, and LRUN will only search for a member
- file with that extension.
-
- If there isn't enough space in the current directory for the
- temporary file, a message will be printed and LRUN will exit
- after deleting what was written of that file.
-
- LRUN will run only under PC or MSDOS Version 2.0 or higher.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- -- 1 --
-
-
-
-
-
- LRUN.EXE VERSION 1.0 September 9, 1984
-
-
-
- FEATURES AND QUIRKS
-
- LRUN should work with library files created under any version
- of LU. It follows the recent standard laid out in LUDEF5.DOC
- in determining the validity of the library file with one
- exception: If the NAME and EXTENSION portions of the
- Directory Control Entry are not all blanks, LRUN prints a
- message, but does not consider it a fatal error, since I have
- noticed that at least one program in use which creates and
- updates library files does not conform to this rule.
-
- LRUN does not check the CRC of the member file, and in fact,
- doesn't look at the second 16 bytes of any directory entry.
- If there is a question about the integrity of the library
- file or a member of it, the file should be checked using LU
- with a version number of 3.0 or higher.
-
- LRUN, as far as I can determine, will pass command line
- parameters to the executed file which are identical to those
- it would have received if the file had been run directly
- from DOS command level. In particular, quoted strings arrive
- at PSP+80H with their quotes intact. It seems to be a little
- known fact that DOS will forgo its special treatment of
- certain characters (including .;,=+|<>|/[]) if they are
- enclosed in double quotes, allowing less restricted entry of
- arbitrary strings from the command line. Whether the
- executed program will take advantage of this is, of course,
- another matter.
-
- The DOS environment is passed unaltered to the program.
-
- A program run using LRUN will have about 12.5K less memory
- available to it than the same program run from DOS command
- level.
-
- By the way, LRUN never writes to or alters any library file.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- -- 2 --
-
-
-
-
-
- LRUN.EXE VERSION 1.0 September 9, 1984
-
-
-
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
-
- (The following two paragraphs are excerpted from LU8640.DOC
- by Paul J. Homchick)
-
- Gary Novosielski designed the LU format and wrote the first
- programs supporting 'LBR' files. He has continued to
- maintain and improve the LU format by distributing a file of
- the offical LU format definition. The current version of
- this definition is contained in LUDEF5.DOC. Interested users
- are directed to that file for more complete information on
- the LU format.
-
- This program [LU] had its genesis in the UNIX progam LAR.C.
- LAR was rendered into C that mortal compilers could understand
- by Tom Jennings who renamed the source to LU.C.
- (End of excerpt)
-
- LRUN was written in 'C' and compiled with version 2.12 of the
- Lattice-C Compiler. The source code is not being furnished
- since it wouldn't do anybody much good without numerous
- changes I had to make in the Lattice 2.12 fork() library
- routines to get LRUN to work properly. However, if anyone is
- interested in the source, or in working Lattice fork()
- functions, they are welcome to contact me. Also, please
- contact me to report any bugs or problems.
-
- This document was written using PMATE, and then laboriously
- formatted using WORDSTAR for lack of an alternative.
-
- LRUN is intended for public domain use and must not be sold.
-
- Skip Gilbrech
- 90 Lexington Ave. #10-G
- New York, NY 10016
- 212-685-0551
- Compuserve: 71445,534
-