🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <857@bbt.UUCP>, djb@bbt.UUCP (beauvais) writes:
> In article <1990Jun28.211556.10833@Octopus.COM> stever@octopus.UUCP (Steve Resnick ) writes:
1 >In article <1102@valinor.ACA.MCC.COM> hang@valinor.ACA.MCC.COM (Hang Ho Ng) writes:
1 >>I have a number of paths that I want to include in the PATH variable in
1 >>autoexec.bat file. Could someone tell me how to do it?
1 >
1 >This was covered a couple of months ago. The DOS limitation on command
1 >strings (PATH=<foo> for instance) is 128 bytes. If your path is longer than 
1 >that you will either need some program to allow you to enter a longer string.
1 >(Of which I don't know of any) or you will need to limit your path to a smaller
1 >size and use batch files to assist in navigation.
> > 
2 > True, a DOS command line IS limited to 128 characters.  So, use more than
2 > one command line!  Try something like this...
2 > 
2 > path=c:\dos;c:\;d:\utils
2 > path=%path%;d:\wp;d:\edit
2 > 
2 > The %path% means "whatever the current path is."  The second line appends
2 > the new stuff to the value of %path%.  This works fine in DOS 3.3 - I use
2 > it all the time for paths longer than 132 characters.

This won't work!  Using the %PATH% expands the contents of the PATH
environment before executing the command line.  Therefore if your
PATH is say some 100 bytes long and you attempt to add another 30 bytes
and then counting for the 5 bytes for the PATH= command, your system
will either crash (depending on hardware versions, like some I've used)
or just continue truncating the path to the 128 bytes.  Unfortunately
there is no real good solution to solving this problem except by
batching or stuffing one directory full of all your executables to
get around this symptom.  Too bad newer version of DOS weren't made
to allow longer command lines!
-----
Craig