[clisp-list] fix for clisp startup problem on Win98

[Mark S. <sh...@ch...>]

Thanks to advice from Don Cohen, Bruno Haible & Sam Steingold (both on and 
off the mailing list), I was able to fix my clisp startup problem on Win98 
when running the archived win32 binary.

Here is my original description of the problem (2000-08-15):
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
I just installed the clisp-2000-03-06 win32 binary on my home Win98 system. 
When I start up the program (in the c:\clisp directory) by typing 
"c:\clisp\lisp.exe -M lispinit.mem", I get the usual startup banner, a 
blank line and then the following message:

[pathname.d:6727]
*** - Win32 error 2 (ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND): The system cannot find the file 
specified.
1. Break [1]>

Before installing this latest version, I had been running the previous 
1999-07-22 version and was having the same problem. However, neither 
version had any problems running on my office WinNT system. Can someone 
suggest what is going on here?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The problem is apparently that upon startup, clisp looks for an 
initialization file called "~/.clisprc". When it can't find it, it spits 
out the ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND message and does not complete all of the 
program initialization. In order to avoid this error, the solution is to 
type (assuming the files are all in the "c:\clisp" directory):

c:\clisp\lisp.exe -M lispinit.mem -norc

which avoids loading the "~/.clisprc" file. You can find this option in the 
"lisp --help" message. I hadn't realized how helpful this usage message 
was! It's not clear to me why this same problem does not show up under 
WinNT, but it's hardly a surprise.

Thanks again for the help with this problem!

Regards,
Mark

============================================
Mark Shure (sh...@ch...)
Associate Professor
Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy
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Georgia State University
Astronomy Offices, Suite 700
1 Park Place South SE
Atlanta GA  30303-2911
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phone:  404-651-1365
fax:    404-651-1389
============================================