Re: Further to XY under XP: finding config.xy

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from "Patricia M. Godfrey"
 on Tue, 21 Aug 2007 17:51:59 -0400


> My previous attempts to embed
> commands in autoexec.nt (or autoxy.nt) failed.

Then you're doing something wrong. The AUTOEXEC certainly,
absolutely works.

> There are paths, though apparently BBBG frowns on
> one's setting them from the command line or a batch file;
> one is supposed to go through the GUI, though one does
> still have to type it in (in a wretchedly small box, in
> a wretchedly tiny typeface).

Kvetch kvetch kvetch. BBBG this, BBBG that. Think about it:
9x runs on top of DOS, so the PATH is a lot more important there
than it is in NT. NT does NOT run on DOS! PATHs are not so
important anymore. DOS apps are not common anymore! Count
yourself lucky that there is still a place to set global paths
for DOS sessions (actually, several places, if you want to delve
into the Registry). Every DOS session is unique in NT -- there
is no master underlying DOS session to adjust. Every local DOS
session inherits certain global settings as an environmental
starting point. There has to be a (non-DOS) place to enter
those global settings, and the System tab of Control Panel is
that place. That's how it is. Accept it.

Now, within any one DOS session, you can CERTAINLY redefine the
PATH or any other DOS parameter, on the command line or within a
batchfile. But when you close that session, your settings are
gone -- because DOS is gone. DOS is now a CHILD of the
operating system, not the basis of it. That's a huge difference
-- and in every possible respect, it is a change for the better.
DOS is totally outmoded.

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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