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DFE95 version 3.2 Copyright 1997-1998 Will Weisser, all rights reserved
The DJGPP Front-End for Windows 95
readme.txt file
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DFE95 was programmed by Will Weisser - kased811@ix.netcom.com
DFE95 web page maintained by Jean-Philippe Couture - jcouture@videotron.ca

----http://pages.infinit.net/x86/jcouture/dfe95/index.html----

CONTENTS
--------

I. Installation
II. Usage
	A. Basic Commands
	B. Working With Source Files
	C. Working With Projects
III. Known Bugs and Issues
IV. License
V. Ending Notes

I. Installation
-------------------------------------

	Installing DFE95 is really rather easy.  Just use winzip or pkunzip
(or any other extracting utility) to extract the archive (it should be called
dfe95xxb.zip, where xx is the version number) into your base djgpp directory.
At this point the installation is complete; the executable is placed in
your \contrib directory.  You may want to go to View->Options... to change
the default options.  The options are as thus:

Debug info option on for new projects and sources - This option, when
checked, makes the "debug info" command line option on by default when
creating a new file.

Auto-Indenting - Enables or disables the auto-indenting feature when editing
source.  This is useful to turn off if you happen to be editing assembly
code, a makefile, or just think this feature is annoying.

Clear messages - Lets you decide whether you want to clear the message
window before every build, so it doesn't get too cluttered.

Program Paths - Lets you specify the path for the programs this application
acts as a Front-End for.

Font - Chooses the font for the source window.

II. Usage
-------------------------------------

A. Basic Commands

	You can run commands from the toolbar or the menus...these are all
pretty self-explanatory.  The Make command runs make on whatever makefile 
you choose.  Debug runs gdb, while Link provides a shortcut for linking 
files.  Finally, the Run command lets you simply run an executable file; 
you can use this to test out any applications you create with djgpp. Also, 
you may have noticed the message window floating around which you can't 
get rid of...if DFE95 wants to tell you something, it'll put it in here.
For example, when you're compiling it will tell you the command line its
using to make your file, and if there are errors, you can see them here
and double-click on them to go to that file.

B. Working With Source Files

	Source files are just text files; for the purposes of the compiler
they should have the extension .c, .cc, .cpp, .cxx, or .s.  You'll
notice that when editing c or c++ files the auto-indenting will help
you out; don't fight it...just go with the flow.  Also remember you
can access some commands quickly by right-clicking in the source
window.
        DFE95 lets you build individual sources without putting them in
projects.  Selecting "QuickCompile" will automatically compile the source
into an object file of the same name.  If you execute the "Build Source..."
command, you can specify the executable filename, the library names to link,
additional command line options, etc. etc. etc.

C. Working With Projects

	OK, that was simple, wasn't it? Now, lets get into some more
advanced stuff.  Projects let you compile several source files together at
once.  The main advantage to using them, besides the tidy organization (you
can double-click a source file name to bring it up in an editing window),
is incremental compiling.  What that means is that DFE95 will compile each
source into a .o (object file) which it stores in the same directory as the
project file.  
	When you select "Build Project" from the project menu, the
front-end checks to see if the sources have changed since they were last
compiled.  If they haven't, then it will only link them together to form
the executable.  This certainly saves time, although it does have its
disadvantages. For example, if you change some code in a header (.h) file
and not in the .c file, the front-end will not notice the change and will
skip compiling that file!  In this case, select "Rebuild All" from the
project menu to rebuild every source file and link them regardless of 
whether or not they have changed.  You can change the compiling options
by selecting "Set Compile Options..." or "Set Linking Options..." from the
project menu.
	Note that 
III. Known Bugs and Issues
-------------------------------------

	1. Projects with a large number of files (8-9) may not compile
correctly...this is no fault of mine, but rather an inevitability of the
fact that dos can only handle 127 characters maximum on the command line.
MS says that adding the line shell=c:\windows\command.com /u:250 /p
to your config.sys file will increase the limit to 250 characters, but
I can't get this to work.  All complaints about this bug
should be directed to: bill_gates@microsoft.com
	--Update--
	If you are having trouble compiling due to this bug, select 
"Export as Makefile" or "Export and Make" from the project menu, which
will use make to build the project.  This should solve any problems
related to this bug.

IV. License
-------------------------------------

	DFE95 is free, which means you can copy it and redistribute it at
your leisure, as long as you give credit to the original author (i.e. Will
Weisser). Likewise, the source is provided as reference and can be
redistributed freely as well.
Here are the things you CAN'T do with DFE95: 
1. Sell it (or use it in any commercial package) without Will Weisser's
   permission.
2. Distribute any changes to it without Will Weisser's permission. 
3. Complain to Will about how lame are his source is. 
Also, this software comes with no warranty and Will Weisser can't be held
responsible for anything it does to your computer.

V. Ending Notes
-------------------------------------

	I would just like to thank everyone who tries DFE95 escpecially all
those who sent in suggestions for the second version.  Thanks a lot to
Jean-Philippe who runs the web page (once again,
http://pages.infinit.net/x86/jcouture/dfe95/index.html), he lives up to his
claim of being "The HTML guru" and has never complained once even though I
can get incredibly rude when my programming isn't going well.  Also thanks
a lot to Zhivago on #C, who is by far the best programmer (if not the 
smartest guy) I know.  Please visit the web site and have tons of fun and
profit programming with DJGPP and DFE95!!!!!

P.S. People who whine about version numbers are lamers!
