• bobef (2/2) Jul 19 2005 I dont know if this is a bug but the linker doesnt work for paths with
• Jarrett Billingsley (4/6) Jul 19 2005 Have you put quotes around the path? Remember, in DOS, a space is the
• bobef (2/13) Jul 19 2005 Yes, I remember. I have put quotes.
• bobef (3/18) Jul 19 2005 Also I am not calling the link.exe directly I call dmd.exe if this
• Derek Parnell (10/12) Jul 19 2005 A known limitation with the linker. I guess it was written in the days
• Walter (5/13) Jul 23 2005 +'s and -'s also cause problems.
• Derek Parnell (8/26) Jul 24 2005 I guess somebody with enough knowledge about the data structures could
• Walter (23/36) Jul 24 2005 Fixing

bobef <bobef lessequal.com> writes:

I dont know if this is a bug but the linker doesnt work for paths with 
spaces...

"Jarrett Billingsley" <kb3ctd2 yahoo.com> writes:

"bobef" <bobef lessequal.com> wrote in message 
news:dbjc1b$cml$1 digitaldaemon.com...
I dont know if this is a bug but the linker doesnt work for paths with 
spaces...

Have you put quotes around the path?  Remember, in DOS, a space is the 
delimiter between parameters to a program. 

bobef <bobef lessequal.com> writes:

Jarrett Billingsley wrote:
 "bobef" <bobef lessequal.com> wrote in message 
 news:dbjc1b$cml$1 digitaldaemon.com...
 
I dont know if this is a bug but the linker doesnt work for paths with 
spaces...

 
 
 Have you put quotes around the path?  Remember, in DOS, a space is the 
 delimiter between parameters to a program. 
 
 

Yes, I remember. I have put quotes.

bobef <bobef lessequal.com> writes:

bobef wrote:
 Jarrett Billingsley wrote:
 
 "bobef" <bobef lessequal.com> wrote in message 
 news:dbjc1b$cml$1 digitaldaemon.com...

 I dont know if this is a bug but the linker doesnt work for paths 
 with spaces...



 Have you put quotes around the path?  Remember, in DOS, a space is the 
 delimiter between parameters to a program.

 
 Yes, I remember. I have put quotes.

Also I am not calling the link.exe directly I call dmd.exe if this 
matters...

Derek Parnell <derek psych.ward> writes:

On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 20:07:55 +0300, bobef wrote:

 I dont know if this is a bug but the linker doesnt work for paths with 
 spaces...

A known limitation with the linker. I guess it was written in the days
before spaces where allowed in DOS file names. Putting quotes around the
names doesn't help. Walter doesn't seem interested in bringing it up to
speed either.

I found out all this when testing the Build application.

-- 
Derek Parnell
Melbourne, Australia
20/07/2005 8:26:47 AM

"Walter" <newshound digitalmars.com> writes:

"Derek Parnell" <derek psych.ward> wrote in message
news:do56c8errgrh.h9hawt4w82xp.dlg 40tude.net...
 On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 20:07:55 +0300, bobef wrote:

 I dont know if this is a bug but the linker doesnt work for paths with
 spaces...

 A known limitation with the linker. I guess it was written in the days
 before spaces where allowed in DOS file names.

+'s and -'s also cause problems.

 Putting quotes around the
 names doesn't help. Walter doesn't seem interested in bringing it up to
 speed either.

The problem is the linker is written entirely in assembler language. Fixing
it is not easy.

Derek Parnell <derek psych.ward> writes:

On Sat, 23 Jul 2005 20:34:41 -0700, Walter wrote:

 "Derek Parnell" <derek psych.ward> wrote in message
 news:do56c8errgrh.h9hawt4w82xp.dlg 40tude.net...
 On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 20:07:55 +0300, bobef wrote:

 I dont know if this is a bug but the linker doesnt work for paths with
 spaces...

 A known limitation with the linker. I guess it was written in the days
 before spaces where allowed in DOS file names.

 
 +'s and -'s also cause problems.
 
 Putting quotes around the
 names doesn't help. Walter doesn't seem interested in bringing it up to
 speed either.

 
 The problem is the linker is written entirely in assembler language. Fixing
 it is not easy.

I guess somebody with enough knowledge about the data structures could
write a new one in D. If you send me the documentation for the structures
and algorithms required I could have a go.

-- 
Derek Parnell
Melbourne, Australia
25/07/2005 12:20:05 AM

"Walter" <newshound digitalmars.com> writes:

"Derek Parnell" <derek psych.ward> wrote in message
news:10qs3anldrsil.1wdkp8k4z3r2d.dlg 40tude.net...
 On Sat, 23 Jul 2005 20:34:41 -0700, Walter wrote:

 "Derek Parnell" <derek psych.ward> wrote in message
 news:do56c8errgrh.h9hawt4w82xp.dlg 40tude.net...
 On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 20:07:55 +0300, bobef wrote:
 Putting quotes around the
 names doesn't help. Walter doesn't seem interested in bringing it up to
 speed either.

 The problem is the linker is written entirely in assembler language.


Fixing
 it is not easy.

 I guess somebody with enough knowledge about the data structures could
 write a new one in D. If you send me the documentation for the structures
 and algorithms required I could have a go.

I wish that would be so easy. Linkers are conceptually simple programs, and
used to be simple. But over time they grew into bloated feature monsters
(take a look at the list of switches to it). The reasons I keep optlink
around are:

1) it's *still* way, way faster than any other linker
2) it's essentially unchanged for the last 10 years, and only 1 bug has
surfaced (it dies on very large static data segments), despite being used
tens of millions of times.

It was a very expensive piece of software to write, and duplicating it would
be pretty expensive as well.

BTW, the file formats used are:

1) Intel OMF with 32 bit extensions
2) Microsoft PE portable executable format
3) Windows resource file format, source and binary
4) module definition file format
5) DOS executable file formats (MZ and COM)
6) Windows 3.0 executable file format
7) LIB file format
8) All the various debug symbol formats
9) MAP file format