From: Bill Guindon <agorilla@...>
Date: 2004-09-18T06:32:46+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby on WinXP (was Debugging wxruby programs.)

On Sat, 18 Sep 2004 04:59:10 +0900, Cristi BALAN <mental@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I'm using the oneclick installer and it already sets .rb files to be
> automatically ran. I also noticed it sets another thing beside what
> you mention.
> PATHEXT=.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.RB;.RBW

Hadn't spotted that one, or at least hadn't tied it to the installer. 
The instructions could still come in handy for other install methods,
or if you mistakenly break the association.
 
> Also, from the cmd /? output, there is another (probably more cleaner)
> way of setting startup options for every shell. Since if you start a
> shell from some other app that doesn' use your shortcut you won't get
> the environment you are used to, this probably covers more cases.
> ...
> If /D was NOT specified on the command line, then when CMD.EXE starts, it
> looks for the following REG_SZ/REG_EXPAND_SZ registry variables, and if
> either or both are present, they are executed first.
> 
>    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun
> 
>        and/or
> 
>    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun

Nice touch!  atm, I like the fact that I have one main ruby shell, and
my standard shell is normal, but the more I use it, and tweak it, I'm
more likely to want them all to behave the same.
 
> But, I actually hate the cmd.exe and I use the unxutils package from:
> http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/

May give it a shot.  One problem is the msvcrt.dll requirement.  Know
of an "easy" place to get that?

> and instead of the sh that comes with it i use the one from:
> http://winbash.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectDocumentList
> Besides being bash, this also has the advantge that it works if
> started on a UNC path, where cmd refuses to start unless you map the
> path to a drive.
> 
> If you're feeling adventurous you can set the %COMSPEC% env var to
> point to bash.exe instead of cmd.exe, but be prepared for some(a lot)
> of applications crashing or not working as expected because of shell
> escaping/spawning differences.

a brave soul indeed!
 
> Also, as a speed enhancer, I use the wonderful total commander from
> http://www.ghisler.com/ . If you are stuck with explorer.exe, there
> are registry settings or apps that allow starting a shell from the
> current directory or add a split with a shell in it below the files.

Thx for the links, and the info.  I've added them to the
CustomCmdPrompt page, and now I have some new toys to look at :)


-- 
Bill Guindon (aka aGorilla)