Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!b.gp.cs.cmu.edu!Ralf.Brown@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU
From: Ralf.Brown@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Redirect > nul affects procomm, why?
Message-ID: <24c29f1b@ralf>
Date: 18 Jul 89 03:08:11 GMT
Sender: ralf@b.gp.cs.cmu.edu
Organization: Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science
Lines: 38
In-Reply-To: <3817@cps3xx.UUCP>

In article <3817@cps3xx.UUCP>, gcook@cps3xx.UUCP (Greg Cook) wrote:
}[ProComm not finding various files]
}I seem to have found the problem, but it doesn't make sense to me.  I
}have some programs that I install in my autoexec.bat such as kbfix2 and
}dosedit.  I used the "> nul" to redirect the output to nothing so I 
}won't see the messages those programs put on the screen.  However, if
}I do this, procomm has problems.  It won't find the dialing directory,
}it won't run command.com when using DOS gateway, and it won't run
}script files (cmd files).  
}
}If I use > nul on only some of the programs, then procomm only acts 
}up on some things (ie. it loads dialing directory, but won't do
}DOS gateway).  This is very puzzling to me.
}
}I have two questions:
}
}1.  What exactly is the "nul" ?

The NULL device--anything sent to it goes to the bit bucket.

}2.  Why is this affecting PROCOMM?

It seems that DOS doesn't close open files when a program goes TSR.  Since the
">NUL" redirection opens a file for the duration of the program, that file
stays open after the program goes TSR (files ARE closed on non-TSR
termination).  ProComm then cannot open various files because DOS doesn't have
enough internal file table entries.  The solution is to increase the FILES=
statement in CONFIG.SYS.  You should set it to FILES=20 or higher (each
additional file uses 53 bytes of RAM).
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