Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!snorkelwacker!usc!ucsd!nprdc!malloy
From: malloy@nprdc.arpa (Sean Malloy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Retrieving the value of FILES=???
Keywords: Global File Handle Table
Message-ID: <7921@skinner.nprdc.arpa>
Date: 14 Jun 90 21:42:52 GMT
References: <605@digigw.digital.co.jp> <4057@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov>
Reply-To: malloy@nprdc.arpa (Sean Malloy)
Organization: Navy Personnel R&D Center, San Diego
Lines: 42

In article <4057@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> kaleb@mars.UUCP (Kaleb Keithley) writes:
>How about: (in psuedo-code)
>#ifdef DOS
>    fopen ("/CONFIG.SYS", "r");
>    fscanf (..., "FILES=", ...);
>    fscanf (...,  value, ...);
>    fclose (...);
>#else
>    other method appropriate for architecture
>#end
>
>Since all DOS machines have to have CONFIG.SYS in the root directory, it
>would work for any DOS box.  If the fopen fails, then assume the default.

Only if you are running a reasonably vanilla DOS system. My system
has the following startup parameters:

===============CONFIG.SYS:
	BUFFERS=1
	FILES=10
	DEVICE=C:\QEMM\QEMM.SYS RAM EXCLUDE=C600-C7FF
	<remainder of file deleted for brevity>

===============AUTOEXEC.BAT:
	C:\QEMM\LOADHI BUFFERS+39
	C:\QEMM\LOADHI FILES+30
	<remainder of file deleted for brevity>

Your example will not, then, work for _my_ DOS box, returning '10'
when there are really 40 file handles. Additionally, opening
"/CONFIG.SYS" only works if you are running the program from your
boot drive. My system has A-H as valid drives; if I try to open
"/CONFIG.SYS" on G:, I'm going to get a null file pointer back from
fopen().


                                               | "The three most dangerous
 Sean Malloy                                   | things in the world are a
 Navy Personnel Research & Development Center  | programmer with a soldering
 San Diego, CA 92152-6800                      | iron, a hardware type with a
 malloy@nprdc.navy.mil                         | program patch, and a user
                                               | with an idea."