1 If You Are In a Hurry

Q: Do you really mean I have to read this looongish FAQ list to get my answers?

Q: I have this problem which I absolutely MUST solve NOW! What do I do?

A: No, you don't need to read all of the FAQ unless you want to (although this is by all means recommended). The questions in this document are listed, as much as possible, in the order they appear when one goes through getting DJGPP, installing it and using it. To quickly find an answer to your question, first look at the Table of Contents. If that doesn't help, try the indices at the end of this manual. You can look up your question either by program name, or by topic name.

If you don't find anything appropriate through the indices, search this FAQ for words which are pertinent to your problem¹.

If searching the FAQ didn't help, try the DJGPP archives search, where you can find reports about similar problems and their solutions. If that doesn't help either, try asking the DJGPP gurus.

For those in a real hurry, here are some pointers to the most important topics in this FAQ list:

• How to install DJGPP after downloading it?

  Here's a brief description of the necessary steps:

  • Create a directory for DJGPP and chdir there. Do NOT install DJGPP in a directory called \dev on any drive, or in any of its subdirectories: it won't work!
  • Unzip all the *.zip files preserving the directory structure. On Windows 9X, use an unzip program which supports long file names. On Windows NT, use a DOS unzip program that does not support long file names. A free unzip program unzip32.exe is available from the DJGPP archives which does the Right Thing on both DOS, Windows 9X and Windows NT, so I recommend using unzip32.exe to unzip DJGPP.
  • If you are using WinZip or the Aladdin Expander, deactivate the option that by default creates a separate directory for every one of the *.zip files. You need to unzip them all from the same directory! I'm told that the Aladdin Expander also automatically renames directories it extracts if a directory by that name already exists; this renaming should be disabled as well. If you have ZipMagic on your machine, disable it, as it also unzips each file into its directory.
  • Edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and add these two lines:

     set PATH=C:\DJGPP\BIN;%PATH%
     set DJGPP=C:\DJGPP\DJGPP.ENV
    

    If your top DJGPP directory is other than C:\DJGPP, change these two lines accordingly!

    You can use any text editor to add these two lines. On Windows 95, right-click on AUTOEXEC.BAT in Explorer or in My Computer, then select Edit from the pop-up menu. On Windows 98, click START, then choose, successively, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Information, Tools, System Configuration, and use the AUTOEXEC.BAT tab to edit the file. On DOS, type from the command prompt edit c:\autoexec.bat.

    On Windows/NT, use My Computer->Properties->Environment to edit the default value of PATH for the DOS box, and to add a new variable DJGPP whose value is set to the full pathname of DJGPP.ENV, as shown above.

  • If you intend to run DJGPP programs off a CD drive (that is, if the file DJGPP.ENV is on a CD-ROM), you need to set an additional environment variable, TMPDIR, and point it to an existing directory on a writable disk, like this:

     set TMPDIR=c:/windows
    

    Without TMPDIR set, DJGPP programs which create temporary files will crash when run from a CD-ROM.

  • Reboot your machine (not required on NT). If, during the boot, you see error messages like this:

     Out of environment space
    

    then enlarge the size of the environment available to COMMAND.COM. On Windows, add a /E:2048 option to the command line that the DOS box runs. On DOS, edit CONFIG.SYS and add the /E:2048 option on the line that defines the shell, like this:

     SHELL = C:\DOS\COMMAND.COM C:\DOS /E:2048
    

  Your installation is now complete.

• How do I compile and link programs?

  Here are several simple commands:

  • Compile a single C source cprog.c into cprog.exe:

     gcc -o cprog.exe cprog.c
    

  • Compile and link a C++ source cxxprog.cc into cxxprog.exe:

     gpp -o cxxprog.exe cxxprog.cc
    

  • Compile several C/C++ source files into object files:

     gcc -c cfile1.c cxxfile2.cc
    

  • Link several *.o object files into myprog.exe:

     gpp -o myprog.exe cfile1.o cxxfile2.o
    

  To compile with optimizations, add the -O2 switch to the command line. In addition, use of the -Wall switch is highly recommended: it turns on many useful diagnostic messages.

  The DJGPP User Guide includes a tutorial introduction for first-time programmers.

• How to ask experienced DJGPP users for help?

  Use the DJGPP News group or mailing list. For most questions, you will have your answer in a day or two. See the details on how to ask the gurus.

• What is the best way to configure my system for DJGPP?

  This depends on your hardware and software. Detailed instructions are in system configuration guidelines.

• Some files I need seem to be missing. Where do I find them?

  Check out list of required and optional packages.

• How do I subscribe to or unsubscribe from the DJGPP mailing list?

  See subscription instructions. However, it is better to read the comp.os.msdos.djgpp news group if you have access to Usenet News.

• How can I search News group/mailing list traffic for some info?

  See the DJGPP archive search server in this FAQ. The search facility described there is set up by DJ Delorie, and you should use it whenever you have any questions or look for an information on a DJGPP-related subject.