Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!sun-barr!texsun!csccat!egsner!u-word!egs
From: egs@u-word.Dallas.TX.US (Eric Schnoebelen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Question on Env Space Size
Keywords: shell command.com environment
Message-ID: <133@u-word.Dallas.TX.US>
Date: 13 Jun 89 19:02:36 GMT
References: <6173@pdn.paradyne.com> <1554@cod.NOSC.MIL>
Reply-To: egs@u-word.Dallas.TX.US (Eric Schnoebelen)
Organization: John W. Bridges & Associates, Inc., Lewisville, Tx.
Lines: 65

Looks like it might be time for a Frequently Asked/Answered Questions
monthly posting for this group....

In article <1554@cod.NOSC.MIL> baird@cod.NOSC.MIL (John M. Baird) writes:
- From article <6173@pdn.paradyne.com>, by bowhall@gumby.paradyne.com
	 (Richard Bowhall):
- > How do I set the size of my environment space so that it can be larger   
- > then the DOS default?
- (Here we go with another endless series of partial answers, similar to the
- @ECHO OFF series. On-line DOS help has the following to say. The part you
- want is the /E option of the SHELL line in your CONFIG.SYS file.
- - John Baird, Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego                       )
- 
-                                 SHELL
- 
-     SHELL=[d1:][pathname1]filename1[.ext1] [d2:][pathname2] /P [/E:nn]
- 							[/MSG]	[DOS 4.0 only]
- 

	Well, It looks like the on-line DOS help isn't quite correct.
The flags listed are only good for Command.com, and other command
processors that chose to implement them.  ( Few other command processors
exist, and probably none of them implement this set of flags, I know
mine doesn't. )

	The shell statement can be used to start any program as the
default shell.  Unfortunately, DOS ( at least through 3.3 ) doesn't
start a shell in the same environment as it does an application started
from a shell.  Shells must know that they are being invoked as such,
and remember to allocate the default environment, etc.  But that is
getting somewhat off the track.

- [d1:][pathname1]filename1[.ext1] is the name and location of the program to 
-     be loaded at system startup time to respond to (process) command lines 
-     entered from the keyboard, sometimes called the command processor. 

	This should be the complete pathname of command.com.

- [d2:][pathname2] is the path to be used after system startup if the program
-     needs to be reloaded from disk into memory.
- 
- /P keeps the program from trying to unload itself when AUTOEXEC.BAT
-    terminates. It is not required, but something will break if it is
-    left off.

	Actually, without /P, AUTOEXEC.BAT is not executed, and the
user will get an error ( bad or missing command interperter ) if they
type exit at the lowest level shell..

- /E specifies the size of the DOS environment space where SET variables are
-     stored. 
- 
[....]
- 
- The SHELL command permits you to write and use your own program to process  
- keyboard commands. Few people do that.

	Ask me about writing replacement shells for MS-DOS.  I love
sharing information...

-- 
Eric Schnoebelen,			JBA Incorporated, Lewisville, Tx.
egs@u-word.dallas.tx.us				...!killer!u-word!egs
	Real Programmers:   Real Programmers have trouble suppressing
		homicidal tendencies when asked, "Are you sure?"