On Thu, Apr 25, 2024 at 9:51 AM Davi Ramos via Freedos-user <freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote: > > I installed a bunch of stuff (all editors) but when I try to run > them it doesn't seem like they're on the path. Is that the correct > behavior? Should I manually add the bins to path? If so, how?
Some larger DOS applications from the 1980s and 1990s would offer to do that for you, but not always. Generally, the tradeoff is that if you have a bunch of possible paths in your PATH variable, you can overload it. If every package added a path to the PATH variable, that could get very long. Also, this could confuse things. For example, I like to install a few compilers on my FreeDOS system, like IA16 GCC and OpenWatcom. If I'm developing in IA16 GCC, I set my PATH variable (and a few other variables) so I can use IA16 GCC. If I'm working in OpenWatcom, I set my PATH variable (and a few others) so I can use OpenWatcom. I'm not likely to be developing in both at the same time, though - and I don't need to compile stuff every time I boot FreeDOS - so I don't load those values in my PATH by default. If you need a path added to your PATH, and it didn't get added for you, you can just edit the FDAUTO.BAT file yourself. You can also type the PATH command on the command line to experiment before you edit your FDAUTO file. For example, I have FED (programmer's text editor) installed on my system but I don't have it in my PATH. FED is installed in C:\APPS\FED by default, and the program name is FED.EXE. To add FED to the PATH, I could type this at the command line: > PATH C:\freedos\bin;C:\apps\fed That sets a completely new PATH variable that says "look in C:\freedos\bin first .. then look in C:\apps\fed" when running programs. So with this PATH set, when I try to run FED.EXE on the command line, FreeDOS will first try to execute any FED.EXE in the current directory (because it always looks in the current dir first) then will try to run C:\freedos\bin\FED.EXE - but FED isn't there, so it will then try to run C:\apps\fed\FED.EXE (and that will work, because that's where FED.EXE lives). If you already have a bunch of things in your PATH variable and you don't want to retype the whole thing just to add one new entry to your PATH, you can use the %PATH% variable expansion like this: Let's say my PATH was already set to C:\freedos\bin;C:\freedos\links .. if I wanted to add C:\apps\fed to the end of that, I can type this: > PATH %PATH%;C:\apps\fed Now the new value of PATH is C:\freedos\bin;C:\freedos\links;C:\apps\fed _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
