Windowless Perl

Windowless Perl

[Chris Wagner]

Perl maintainers, I was wondering why the Cygwin Perl distribution does 
not contain a windowless Perl executable, wperl.exe.  Directly executing 
the standard perl.exe from Windows causes a command console to pop up.  
I've had it before in other distros but it would be super handy to 
execute completely headless Perl scripts with Cygwin access.

Anyone know how I could build it or how to get it added to the distro? 
Or make it its own package?

Thanks.




--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

Re: Windowless Perl

[Achim Gratz]

Chris Wagner writes:
> Perl maintainers, I was wondering why the Cygwin Perl distribution
> does not contain a windowless Perl executable, wperl.exe.

Because nobody needs it?

> Directly executing the standard perl.exe from Windows causes a command
> console to pop up.  I've had it before in other distros but it would
> be super handy to execute completely headless Perl scripts with Cygwin
> access.

That's what "run" is for, actually.


Regards,
Achim.
-- 
+<[Q+ Matrix-12 WAVE#46+305 Neuron microQkb Andromeda XTk Blofeld]>+

Wavetables for the Terratec KOMPLEXER:
http://Synth.Stromeko.net/Downloads.html#KomplexerWaves

--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

Re: Windowless Perl

[Chris Wagner]

On 2019-06-10 3:24 pm, Achim Gratz wrote:
> Chris Wagner writes:
>> Perl maintainers, I was wondering why the Cygwin Perl distribution
>> does not contain a windowless Perl executable, wperl.exe.
> 
> Because nobody needs it?
> 
>> Directly executing the standard perl.exe from Windows causes a command
>> console to pop up.  I've had it before in other distros but it would
>> be super handy to execute completely headless Perl scripts with Cygwin
>> access.
> 
> That's what "run" is for, actually.

Well I would have a good use for it.

I didn't know about run, thanks for the tip.  However when I use it to 
launch something from the Start Menu Run command, it still pops open a 
terminal window of some kind for a fraction of a second.  I'm on Windows 
7.

Thanks.

--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

Re: Windowless Perl

[Bill Stewart]

On Mon, Jun 10, 2019 at 2:13 PM Chris Wagner wrote:

> I didn't know about run, thanks for the tip.  However when I use it to
> launch something from the Start Menu Run command, it still pops open a
> terminal window of some kind for a fraction of a second.  I'm on Windows
> 7.

I wrote a little tool called Exec/ExecGUI a while back that can do it:

https://westmesatech.com/?page_id=49

Try ExecGUI with -s 0 (hidden window).

Regards,

Bill

--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

Re: Windowless Perl

[L A Walsh]

On 2019/06/10 13:12, Chris Wagner wrote:
> I didn't know about run, thanks for the tip. However when I use it to
> launch something from the Start Menu Run command, it still pops open a 
> terminal window of some kind for a fraction of a second.  I'm on Windows 
> 7.
>   
Windows has a flag set in each EXE as to whether or not it is a console
or GUI program.  There are tools that can set the flag in a given EXE file.

Perhaps that's similar to the util that Bill Stewart is talking about,
dunno.


--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

Re: Windowless Perl

[Andrey Repin]

Greetings, L A Walsh!

> On 2019/06/10 13:12, Chris Wagner wrote:
>> I didn't know about run, thanks for the tip. However when I use it to
>> launch something from the Start Menu Run command, it still pops open a 
>> terminal window of some kind for a fraction of a second.  I'm on Windows 
>> 7.
>>   
> Windows has a flag set in each EXE as to whether or not it is a console
> or GUI program.  There are tools that can set the flag in a given EXE file.

It's not a flag, it's an exported function.
If a program exports winmain(), it's a gui program, if it exports main(), it's
a console program.

> Perhaps that's similar to the util that Bill Stewart is talking about,
> dunno.


-- 
With best regards,
Andrey Repin
Tuesday, June 18, 2019 18:26:18

Sorry for my terrible english...


--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

Re: Windowless Perl

[Jon Turney]

On 18/06/2019 16:27, Andrey Repin wrote:
>> On 2019/06/10 13:12, Chris Wagner wrote:
>>> I didn't know about run, thanks for the tip. However when I use it to
>>> launch something from the Start Menu Run command, it still pops open a
>>> terminal window of some kind for a fraction of a second.  I'm on Windows
>>> 7.
>>>    
>> Windows has a flag set in each EXE as to whether or not it is a console
>> or GUI program.  There are tools that can set the flag in a given EXE file.
> 
> It's not a flag, it's an exported function.
> If a program exports winmain(), it's a gui program, if it exports main(), it's
> a console program.

No. It really is a flag.

See 
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/debug/pe-format#windows-subsystem

You are describing the behaviour of (recent versions of) the Microsoft 
linker, which guesses the default value of this flag based on what 
symbols are defined

See 
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/build/reference/entry-entry-point-symbol, 
specifically the sentence "If the /DLL or /SUBSYSTEM option is not 
specified, the linker selects a subsystem and entry point depending on 
whether main or WinMain is defined."

--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

Re: Windowless Perl

[Brian Inglis]

On 2019-06-18 12:15, Jon Turney wrote:
> On 18/06/2019 16:27, Andrey Repin wrote:
>>> On 2019/06/10 13:12, Chris Wagner wrote:
>>>> I didn't know about run, thanks for the tip. However when I use it to 
>>>> launch something from the Start Menu Run command, it still pops open a 
>>>> terminal window of some kind for a fraction of a second.  I'm on
>>>> Windows 7.
>>> Windows has a flag set in each EXE as to whether or not it is a console 
>>> or GUI program.  There are tools that can set the flag in a given EXE 
>>> file.
>> It's not a flag, it's an exported function.
>> If a program exports winmain(), it's a gui program, if it exports main(),
>> it's a console program.
> No. It really is a flag.

Strictly speaking a field flag value:

$ objdump -x $(dirname $(cygpath $COMSPEC))/csrss | grep -w '^Subsystem'
Subsystem               00000001        (NT native)
$ objdump -x /setup | grep -w '^Subsystem'
Subsystem               00000002        (Windows GUI)
$ objdump -x /bin/cygwin1.dll | grep -w '^Subsystem'
Subsystem               00000003        (Windows CUI)

> See
> https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/debug/pe-format#windows-subsystem
> You are describing the behaviour of (recent versions of) the Microsoft linker,
> which guesses the default value of this flag based on what symbols are defined
> See
> https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/build/reference/entry-entry-point-symbol,
> specifically the sentence "If the /DLL or /SUBSYSTEM option is not specified,
> the linker selects a subsystem and entry point depending on whether main or
> WinMain is defined."

-- 
Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

This email may be disturbing to some readers as it contains
too much technical detail. Reader discretion is advised.

--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple