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* RE: "start" for Cygwin
@ 2002-03-03  3:53 Robert Collins
  2002-03-03  3:58 ` David Starks-Browning
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 20+ messages in thread
From: Robert Collins @ 2002-03-03  3:53 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: David Starks-Browning, cygwin

I think cygstart or something like that will eliminate the potiential
for touble.

Rob

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Starks-Browning [mailto:starksb@ebi.ac.uk] 
> Sent: Sunday, March 03, 2002 8:32 PM
> To: cygwin@cygwin.com
> Subject: RE: "start" for Cygwin
> 
> 
> On Saturday 2 Mar 02, Stephan Mueller writes:
> > Note though, that on Win9x, start is a standalone file (I forget if 
> > it's start.exe or start.com) on the path. Cygwin still 
> supports 9x, so 
> > fears about consternation in some quarters still apply 
> (it's just that 
> > they're different quarters than Charles originally had in mind :-)
> 
> I use Win9x, and I don't think it's a problem for the 
> cygutils package to introduce /usr/bin/start.  People who 
> install the cygutils package can probably figure out what's going on.
> 
> My opinion, anyway.
> 
> David
> 
> 
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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 20+ messages in thread
* RE: "start" for Cygwin
@ 2002-03-04  7:17 Roth, Kevin P.
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 20+ messages in thread
From: Roth, Kevin P. @ 2002-03-04  7:17 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: cygwin

I prefer start over cygstart. Here's my $0.02, FWIW:

 o Newbies are more likely to find "start" than "cygstart". And
   they'll be impressed that "start appname" JustWorks(tm).

 o Oldies (like me, who can't always remember things very well)
   wouldn't have to learn a new command name.

 o "most" people probably have cygwin/bin at the beginning of 
   their path when using BASH, but towards the end of their path
   (at least after their windows directories) when running under
   COMMAND.COM or CMD.EXE. If they don't, it's my personal 
   opinion that they should. Under this scenario, win9x's 
   command.com will find windows' start.exe, while bash will 
   find cygutils' start.exe; keeping both very happy.

 o for those (few most likely?) who are running win9x/me, and
   have cygwin/bin at the beginning of windows' PATH, *and* have
   loaded the non-default package cygutils, will eventually 
   figure out why start may no longer work...

 o If cygutils' start.exe can be made to work just like 
   windows' start.exe (when called from a windows command.com
   shell), then we theoretically eliminate all problems, right?

Thanks,
--Kevin



-----Original Message-----

>On Sunday 3 Mar 02, Robert Collins writes:
> > I think cygstart or something like that will eliminate the potiential
> > for touble.

At 12:58 3-3-2002, David Starks-Browning wrote:
>Indeed, that would solve it!

From: Michael Schaap [mailto:cygwin@mscha.org]
It would.

I have mixed feelings about this, though.

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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 20+ messages in thread
* RE: "start" for Cygwin
@ 2002-03-02 22:22 Stephan Mueller
  2002-03-03  0:46 ` Dr. Carsten Bormann
  2002-03-03  1:31 ` David Starks-Browning
  0 siblings, 2 replies; 20+ messages in thread
From: Stephan Mueller @ 2002-03-02 22:22 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Charles Wilson, Robert Collins; +Cc: Michael Schaap, cygwin

Note though, that on Win9x, start is a standalone file (I forget if it's
start.exe or start.com) on the path.
Cygwin still supports 9x, so fears about consternation in some quarters
still apply (it's just that they're different quarters than Charles
originally had in mind :-)

stephan();


-----Original Message-----
From: Charles Wilson [mailto:cwilson@ece.gatech.edu] 
Sent: Saturday, March 02, 2002 10:16 PM
To: Robert Collins
Cc: Michael Schaap; cygwin@cygwin.com
Subject: Re: "start" for Cygwin


Ah -- and that explains why one previously had to do "cmd /c start foo" 
from a bash shell.  Okay, according to my tests (I put a 'start' shell 
script in my /usr/bin directory.)  From bash, 'start foo' causes my 
script to run.  From cmd, 'start foo' causes the builtin cmd command to 
run (even tho D:/cygwin/bin is in the front of my PATH).

This is good -- I withdraw my objection (such as it was).

Anybody else think this is a good cygutil?  I think it *probably* is...

--Chuck


Robert Collins wrote:

> Start is a cmd builtin - there is no start.exe
> 
> Rob
> 
> 
> 
> 
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Charles Wilson [mailto:cwilson@ece.gatech.edu]
>>
> Anyway, I personally have no objection to including start in cygutils 
> --
> 
> but the sudden appearance of a 'start.exe' command in /usr/bin (which
> could hide WINNT/start.exe) may cause consternation in some quarters.
> 
> FYI, I've just completed the following HOW-TO-CONTRIBUTE (to cygutils)
> document.  It will show up in /usr/doc/cygutils-X.Y.Z/ in the next 
> release of cygutils.
> 
> --Chuck
> 
> 
> 



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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 20+ messages in thread
* RE: "start" for Cygwin
@ 2002-03-02 22:04 Robert Collins
  2002-03-02 22:16 ` Charles Wilson
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 20+ messages in thread
From: Robert Collins @ 2002-03-02 22:04 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Charles Wilson, Michael Schaap; +Cc: cygwin

Start is a cmd builtin - there is no start.exe

Rob



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Charles Wilson [mailto:cwilson@ece.gatech.edu] 
Anyway, I personally have no objection to including start in cygutils --

but the sudden appearance of a 'start.exe' command in /usr/bin (which 
could hide WINNT/start.exe) may cause consternation in some quarters.

FYI, I've just completed the following HOW-TO-CONTRIBUTE (to cygutils) 
document.  It will show up in /usr/doc/cygutils-X.Y.Z/ in the next 
release of cygutils.

--Chuck



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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 20+ messages in thread
* "start" for Cygwin
@ 2002-03-02 14:12 Michael Schaap
  2002-03-02 21:15 ` Charles Wilson
                   ` (2 more replies)
  0 siblings, 3 replies; 20+ messages in thread
From: Michael Schaap @ 2002-03-02 14:12 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: cygwin

Hi,

I've written a little "start" utility, which is similar to "cmd /c start", 
only better.
It allows you to let Windows start a program or open a file or URL.

For instance:
  - it understands POSIX paths (e.g. "start /tmp/hello.txt")
  - it can open files which don't have the "executable" flag set (ntsec)
  - it can start things minimized, hidden, etc. (e.g. start --minimize
    hello.txt")
  - it can run non-default actions (e.g. "start --print hello.txt",
    "start --explore .", "start --action=whatever myfile.ext")
  - it's a lot faster than "cmd /c start"

I believe it should run on all Windows versions from Win95 up, but I've 
only tested it on Windows 2000.  (Anyone using Win9x/ME, can you please let 
me know if it works?)
(It's been a while since I did any serious C programming, so the code might 
be sloppy in some places.  Improvements and bug reports are welcome.)

You can download it at: http://www.mscha.com/start_0_9.zip .

(Chuck, if you think this would be a good addition for cygutils, feel free 
to include it!  After all, I did "borrow" some of the code framework from 
it.  :-) )

I'll include the output of "start --help" below.

Best regards,

  - Michael

--------------------------------8<-------------------------------

start version 0.9, by Michael Schaap

Let Windows start a program or open a file or URL.

Usage: start [OPTION]... FILE [ARGUMENTS]

Action options
   -a, --action=STRING        Use specified action instead of default
   -o, --open                 Short for: --action open
   -x, --explore              Short for: --action explore
   -e, --edit                 Short for: --action edit
   -f, --find                 Short for: --action find
   -p, --print                Short for: --action print

Directory options
   -d, --directory=STRING     Set working directory

Show options
   --hide                     Hides the window and activates another window
   --maximize                 Maximizes the specified window
   --minimize                 Minimizes the specified window and activates the
                              next top-level window in the z-order
   --restore                  Activates and displays the window. If the window
                              is minimized or maximized, Windows restores it to
                              its original size and position. An application
                              should specify this flag when restoring a
                              minimized window
   --show                     Activates the window and displays it in its
                              current size and position
   --showmaximized            Activates the window and displays it as a
                              maximized window
   --showminimized            Activates the window and displays it as a
                              minimized window
   --showminnoactive          Displays the window as a minimized window. The
                              active window remains active
   --showna                   Displays the window in its current state. The
                              active window remains active
   --shownoactivate           Displays a window in its most recent size and
                              position. The active window remains active
   --shownormal               Activates and displays a window. If the window is
                              minimized or maximized, Windows restores it to
                              its original size and position. An application
                              should specify this flag when displaying the
                              window for the first time

Help options
   -?, --help                 Show this help message
   --usage                    Display brief usage message
   --version                  Display version information
   --license                  Display licensing information
   --reference                Open MSDN reference for ShellExecute

With thanks to MSDN: 
<http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/shellcc/platform/Shell/reference/functions/shellexecute.asp>

Please report any bugs to <cygwin_start@mscha.org>.

-- 
     I always wondered about the meaning of life.   So I looked it
     up in the dictionary under "L" and there it was - the meaning
     of life.  It was not what I expected.                  - Dogbert 


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^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 20+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2002-03-16  7:28 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 20+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2002-03-03  3:53 "start" for Cygwin Robert Collins
2002-03-03  3:58 ` David Starks-Browning
2002-03-03  6:07   ` Michael Schaap
  -- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2002-03-04  7:17 Roth, Kevin P.
2002-03-02 22:22 Stephan Mueller
2002-03-03  0:46 ` Dr. Carsten Bormann
2002-03-03  5:57   ` Michael Schaap
2002-03-03 14:46     ` Dr. Carsten Bormann
2002-03-03  1:31 ` David Starks-Browning
2002-03-02 22:04 Robert Collins
2002-03-02 22:16 ` Charles Wilson
2002-03-03 10:08   ` Max Bowsher
2002-03-02 14:12 Michael Schaap
2002-03-02 21:15 ` Charles Wilson
2002-03-03  5:50   ` Michael Schaap
2002-03-03 14:53 ` Scott Evans
2002-03-13  0:11 ` Charles Wilson
2002-03-13  4:35   ` Michael Schaap
2002-03-14 21:21   ` Michael Schaap
2002-03-16  0:26     ` Charles Wilson

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