[fpc-pascal]Changing the directory of the invoking shell

[XHajT03 at mbox.vol.cz]

Date sent:      	Fri, 17 May 2002 09:33:10 -0700
From:           	Rich Pasco <pasco at acm.org>
To:             	fpc-pascal at deadlock.et.tudelft.nl
Subject:        	[fpc-pascal]Changing the directory of the invoking shell
Send reply to:  	fpc-pascal at deadlock.et.tudelft.nl

> Can a Free Pascal program, compiled as a Win32 console application,
> change the current directory of the invoking shell?  A Borland Pascal
> program can.
.
.

 BP program can do it under DOS, because both the shell and your 
program operate in one environment (one address space). This isn't 
true for Win32 (and other multi-tasking systems) - each program has 
its own address space, and the daughter process just inherits the 
settings of its parent at the moment of it's launch (but not vice 
versa, of course).

> and indeed, if I compile CHD.PAS with Borland Pascal for DOS (16-bit)
> that is exacty what happens when I invoke it under the Windows 2000
> shell CMD.EXE.
> 
> However, if I compile CHD.PAS under Free Pascal for Win32, then when I
> invoke it (also under CMD.EXE), it produces:
> 
>   C:\>CHD
>   C:\>
> 
> In other words, it seems that while CHD may successfully chenge the
> current directory for its own internal purposes, that change is not
> propgated back to the shell from which it was invoked, as I want. Can
> I remedy that?  How?

 I suspect you can't. The reason why it works for DOS programs is a 
special hack for these within M$ WinXX; so it's a feature of M$ 
WinXX, not of either of the mentioned compilers. It _might_ work as 
you expect if you compile your program for GO32v2 target (but beware: 
you might encounter problems with GO32v2 programs running under 
Win2000 - there should be something about this in our FAQ).

Tomas