
                  32-bit Command Interpreter "read me!"

         Copyright (c) 1993-2004,2009 Jonathan de Boyne Pollard.

          Jonathan de Boyne Pollard <J.deBoynePollard@Tesco.NET>


Guarantee and Software licence


The 32-bit Command Interpreter is copyrighted software, with all rights
reserved by the author, which the author encourages everyone to share and
to use freely.  The terms and conditions of the software licence, and the
guarantee information, are contained in the on-line help document CMD.INF.


Before Installation


Some commands in this package require the 32-bit Unicode Console API in
order to execute.  The Runtime DLLs for this API are not shipped with this
package, but are available separately.  You must obtain and install the
Runtime DLLs for the 32-bit Unicode Console API before installing the
command interpreter.

The Runtime DLLs for the 32-bit Unicode Console API are available from the
Hobbes FTP site run by New Mexico State University, from the LEO FTP site,
from TSR BBS in the U.S., and from Air Applewood BBS in Europe.  The
filename should be CONRT.ZIP or CONRT.RAR .  The distribution archive
contains its own set of full installation instructions.


Installation and Configuration


This version of the Command Interpreter follows the TAU application
installation and configuration philosophy:

   The package installs in a "JdeBP\CMD" subdirectory of your
    chosen Applications files directory.
   Configuring your system to use the package involves setting some
    environment variables and/or DLL search paths.

To install, simply pick an Applications files directory, if you don't
already have one, and unpack the archive there.  For example, if your
applications directory is C:\APPS, denoted by the %APPS% environment
variable, extract as follows:

    PKZIP -extract -dir=curr CMD %APPS%\ *

( This assumes that the distribution archive that you received was in
  ZIP format, and that you are using PKZIP version 2.50 for OS/2. )

To configure, you must make the following configuration file changes

    To run the command interpreter executables:
        Add %APPS%\JdeBP\CMD\Bin     to your PATH environment variable
        Add %APPS%\JdeBP\CMD\Data    to your DPATH environment variable
        Add %APPS%\JdeBP\CMD\DLL     to your LIBPATH

    To replace another command interpreter as the default command
    interpreter invoked by other programs:
        Set %APPS%\JdeBP\CMD\Bin\CMD.EXE as your COMSPEC environment
            variable
        Set %APPS%\JdeBP\CMD\Bin\TextCMD.EXE as your OS2_SHELL environment
            variable

    To access the command interpreter on-line documentation:
        Add %APPS%\JdeBP\CMD\Help    to your HELP environment variable
        Add %APPS%\JdeBP\CMD\Book    to your BOOKSHELF environment variable

    To access the command interpreter development toolkit:
        Add %APPS%\JdeBP\CMD\Include to your C++ compiler's
            include path (variously IPATH, INCLUDE, or OS2_INCLUDE for
            different compilers)
        Add %APPS%\JdeBP\CMD\Lib     to your C++ compiler's
            library path (variously LIB or LIBOS2 for different compilers)

and take appropriate steps to ensure that those changes take effect.

On IBM OS/2 this involves changing CONFIG.SYS and restarting the system.

On a TAU system, this involves editing a configuration file, and either
logging out and back in again or restarting the system, depending from
wheter the configuration file is a login environment configuration file or
a global system initialization environment configuration file.

A sample TAU environment configuration file is provided as CMD.RUN in the
%APPS%\JdeBP\CMD\ReadMe directory.


Conflicts with OS/2 and utilities supplied with OS/2


The command interpreter has, of course, the same name (CMD) as the command
interpreter supplied with OS/2, as do some of the external commands
supplied with it (e.g. HELPMSG).

This is deliberate, because they are intended to be enhanced 32-bit
replacements for IBM's 16-bit command interpreter and utilities, allowing
one to remove those particular 16-bit vestiges from OS/2 Warp.

To use the 32-bit Command Interpreter and its accompanying utilities in
preference to the 16-bit utilities supplied with OS/2, ensure that
%APPS%\JdeBP\CMD\BIN is ahead of %_BOOT%:\OS2 in the relevant environment
variables.


Duplicating quirks of the IBM command interpreter


The front ends and the external utilities supplied with the 32-bit
command interpreter provide a consistent syntax and behaviour across all
commands.  This results in behavioural differences from the commands in
IBM's 16-bit command interpreter in several cases.

For details, see the on-line documentation.  The sample TAU environment
configuration file contains commented-out settings for several of these
quirks.


Adding a folder to the Workplace Shell Desktop


One can add a folder to the Workplace Shell desktop, containing objects
that will invoke the command interpreter front ends and open the on-line
documentation.

To create this folder, run the supplied MakeObj.CMD REXX command script.
If you have installed the 32-bit command interpreter in %APPS%\JdeBP\CMD,
run

    %APPS%\JdeBP\CMD\Bin\NotPATH\MakeObj.CMD

The folder will be created in your "Programs" folder.  It may be deleted
by simply dragging and dropping it onto the Shredder.  The 32-bit Command
Interpreter does not install any modifications into the Workplace Shell
itself.


Getting help after installation


The on-line documentation is in the book CMD.INF.  To read it, either
double-click on the file on your Workplace Shell desktop or run the
command

    VIEW CMD

at the command line.  You can go directly to the help for individual
commands by specifying the command name as a second argument:

    VIEW CMD DIR

Each command also presents a short summary of its syntax in response to
the /? option.  To use this, /? must be the first option on the command
line for the command, and may not be combined with other options.  For
example, to see the summary for the FOR command, type

    FOR /?

( See the note on message files below. )

