[comp.sys.ibm.pc] MKS related patches in COMMAND.COM

pfales@ttrde.UUCP (Peter Fales) (12/05/88)

A short while ago, Jerome Schneider posted a couple of patches to
improve the functionality of command.com with the MKS toolkit.  Thanks
Jerome!
 
> The first patch improves functionality when an MKS /etc/passwd file entry
> specifies command.com as the login shell. 
 
> The second patch eliminates the "Specified COMMAND search path bad" error
> from programs that call command.com (via the system() or EXEC functions).
> Many applications written in MSC 4.x or 5.x use the system() library call
> that fails to examine the switch char (- or /) before issuing a hard-wired
> exec on ($COMSPEC /c "string to be executed").
 
I have not tried the first (login) patch yet, but the second is great. Like
Jerome, I think the toolkit is great, but this business with "$COMSPEC /c" 
has been a frequent problem, now hopefully over.

It would be nice if MKS (are you listening Gerry?) could include this
in their patches to COMMAND.COM, but it is a little difficult since the
patch address changes from version to version. 

For those who might be interested, the patch address that Jerome found 
at 0DA7 in PC-DOS 3.1 is at 0DE5 in both the generic MS-DOS 3.2 and the
"AT&T Personal Computer DOS Version 3.20 Rev 2.02"
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