Re: [open-cobol-list] OC on Win XP

[John Culleton]

On Monday 01 February 2010 01:32:04 Michael wrote:
> Ok it worked on my vista box!
>
> Went to http://www.kiska.net/opencobol/1.1/ and got the 32 bit windows
> binary, unzipped to C:\OpenCobol
> cd to C:\OpenCobol
> cobc -V complained as follows:
> side-by-side configuration is not correct see the application event log
> for more details.
> Control panel, admin tasks, event viewer I found the following.
>
> Activation context generation failed for "c:\OpenCobol\cobc.exe".
> Dependent Assembly
> Microsoft.VC80.CRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e1
>8e3b",type="win32",version="8.0.50727.4053" could not be found. Please use
> sxstrace.exe for detailed diagnosis.
>
> I had already installed VS2008 months ago, never used it really. So, in
> the OpenCobol folder is a file named 'vcredist_x86.exe', it will install
> the correct version of VC. After running vcredist_x86.exe I cd to
> C:\OpenCobol
> cobc -V
> cobc (OpenCOBOL) 1.1.20090206
> Copyright (C) 2001-2009 Keisuke Nishida / Roger While
> Built    Aug 01 2009 12:38:36
> Packaged Feb 06 2009 10:30:55 CET
>
> The msg above shows that the compiler did actually load and execute
> successfully.
>
> To run cobc from any location on the system (windows file system), go to
> control panel, advanced system settings. Edit the system Environment
> variable 'path', adding ';C:\OpenCobol' to the end.
> Now, from any directory in the windows file system cobc works.
>
> BTW: I have all the vista file system security turned off! -- nothing
> but a painintheass.
>
> Michael,
>
> John Culleton wrote:
> > On Sunday 31 January 2010 02:03:48 David Essex wrote:
> >> John Culleton wrote:
> >>> On Saturday 30 January 2010 11:34:07 John Culleton wrote:
> >>>> I have OC on my Linux partition. I want to set it up on
> >>>> my Win XP partition for validation on that platform. I know there is
> >>>> cygwin and mingw as potential sub hosts.  Which in your opinion is
> >>>> more suitable, easier install etc. for an OC installation
> >>>
> >>> The mingw.org site has been pirated. It now sells real estate. So
> >>> cygwin is the only current choice.
> >>
> >> Have you looked at the VC version of OC [1].
> >>
> >> In any case, the MinGW site is hosted on SF [2], so only the DSN
> >> (mingw.org) is not working. You can still download the files you
> >> require.
> >>
> >> Some hints on building OC:
> >>
> >> You can download VB-ISAM (version 2), and PDCurses (version 2.4), MinGW
> >> binaries at the TC download area [3]. The GMP libraries can be found
> >> here [4].
> >>
> >> To configure and build OC on MinGW you will need to install MSYS.
> >>
> >> Anyway, hope this helps.
> >>
> >> 1) OpenCOBOL 1.1 binaries - using VC
> >> http://www.kiska.net/opencobol/
> >>
> >> 2) MinGW on SF
> >> http://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw/
> >> http://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw/files/
> >>
> >> 3) TC on SF
> >> http://sourceforge.net/projects/tiny-cobol/files/
> >>
> >> 4) GMP for Windows Platform
> >> http://cs.nyu.edu/exact/core/gmp/
> >
> > OK I opened door number 1 and downloaded/ installed the precompiled
> > "native" version provided by Sergey. But first I downloaded/installed
> > XPS2 PSDK to get Microsoft's c compiler. I discovered the following
> > interesting things: 1. cobc needs default.conf and default.conf is
> > described as being in c:\OpenCobol\config\
> > ergo Sergey's product needs to be unzipped at the c:\ level.
> > 2. Windows can't find cobc.exe at that location either. So either cobc
> > needs to be fully qualified
> > c:\OpenCobol\cobc
> > or else the compilation needs to happen in the \Open\Cobol directory.
> > I tried both ways.
> > 3. Since this is a native Windows app I am uncertain how parameters are
> > handled. is it
> > cobc -x progname.cbl
> > or
> > cobc /x progname.cbl
> > or something else?
> > 4. No matter how I twist and turn this error message comes forth:
> > cl is not a program or a bat file.
> >
> > I thought it sounded too easy.
> >
> > I have also downloaded Bill Klein's screed on installing OC on windows. 
> > I'll try that on Monday.
>

I followed the above instructions starting with the download and indeed got 
the same results from 
cobc -V
The problem occurs later on.  I try to compile the simplest "Hello world" 
program  (resident in c:\Open Cobol and it blows up on "cl" the same as 
before. 

If we have any hope of widespread adoption of Open COBOL in the Windows world
then we have to  come up with a simplified and more foolproof install procedure 
for Windows based machines. 

I have a method to my madness. I write books. A quality book on COBOL costs 
about $100. I can write a concise book on COBOL which replaces these, and 
costs a small fraction of $100, but I want to offer the prospect of a free and 
standards compliant compiler.  Open Cobol certainly fills the bill. But Windows 
installation is a bear. I still haven't mastered it.  

I will give Open on Windows one more shot, and if I can't make it work I'll 
have to rethink my strategy.
-- 
John Culleton
"Create Book Covers with Scribus"
Printable E-book 38 pages $5.95
http://www.booklocker.com/books/4055.html