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From: rzi@philpav.tds.philips.se (Roman Zielinski)
Newsgroups: alt.msdos.programmer,comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: msdos backup hangs when you have a path > 127 bytes (cpath)
Message-ID: <464@philpav.tds.philips.se>
Date: 17 Sep 90 08:55:05 GMT
Organization: Philips TDS, Stockholm, Sweden
Lines: 43

during the summer cbip has distributed "cpath", a very handsome tool
allowing you to create human directory structures, when it was possible
to break through the famous 127-byte limit in the MS path-command.

Unfortunally I've got some troubles:

1. MS Windows 3.0 hangs in setup when scanning for win-applications
   (or just says "UNRECOV. APPL. ERR" when running setup via icon),
   reported earlier by me 

2. The new one:
   MS-DOS "backup" can give you any strange behaviour you want:
   - if your system or memory manager (as qemm-386) detects some 
     runtime/address errors you can get 386-exception *13* when trying 
     to execute some ascii strings or nulls...
   - you can get some runtime error (BIOS? QEMM?) as wrong date, null-pointer,
     zero-divide, ....
   - or *backup* may complain about wrong/missing source
   - or just simply hang

Has anyone discovered other commands where Microsoft introduced their 
defensive >;-) programming ideas (when they are copying zero-terminated 
strings without checking if their length is okey to put in the receiving 
buffer - I assume that it is one of the first thing one to has to learn
when programming computers????), please let me (and others) know,
I cannot live without *cpath* and *long paths* and *human directory 
structures*, so I prefere to know which commands require shorter path so 
I can make some tricks around them...

*********** black list ***********
windows 3.0 setup
backup
*tbs*
*********** ********** ***********

+-------------------------------------------+           _--~--_
| Roman M. Zielinski		            |   ----   /       \   ----
| Philips Tele & Data System AB             |  ----   (  |^^^|  )   ----
| S-115 84 Stockholm, Sweden	            |   ----   \  \ /  /   ---
| tel +46 8 782 1373	                    |           |=====|
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| NET ADDR:  rzi@pav.tds.philips.se         |           |=====|
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