Patches for Running Utilities Under Novell NetWare

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft LINK for MS-DOS, version 5.1

SUMMARY

When LINK is run under a Novell network, LINK may fail with the following error:

   L1085: cannot open temporary file

These problems are directly related to the network software, but may be corrected with a set of patch files available from Microsoft as an application note titled "Network Patches for Utilities" (SC0381). Application notes can be obtained by calling Microsoft Product Support Services.

This file has been removed from the Software Library but can be requested by calling Microsoft Product Support Services.

MORE INFORMATION

The following is the complete text of the application note, which includes the details of the problems mentioned above:

                    Network Patches for Utilities

The enclosed Network Patches for Microsoft Utilities disk contains the following five files:

   README.DOC
   CVPATCH.EXE
   PWBPATCH.EXE
   SETUPFIX.EXE
   LINK.EXE

Network Patch Files

When run under certain network software, some Microsoft utilities may hang. The enclosed patch files are designed to correct these problems for CodeView versions 3.00, 3.10, and 3.11; the Programmer's WorkBench (PWB) versions 1.00 and 1.10; and the C 6.00 Setup program.

To install the patches, first copy the patch files (PWBPATCH.EXE, CVPATCH.EXE, and SETUPFIX.EXE) to the directories where you have installed PWB, CodeView, and Setup, respectively. Each patch assumes that the utility file it is to patch is in the same directory.

Run SETUPFIX.EXE to patch SETUP.EXE. The original file will be saved as SETUP.BAK. Run CVPATCH.EXE to patch CV.EXE. The original file will be saved as CV.BAK. Run PWBPATCH.EXE to patch PWBED.EXE. The original file will be saved as PWBED.BAK. The patched utilities should run free of network interference.

Microsoft LINK Version 5.13

LINK version 5.13 includes code to work around another problem that sometimes occurs when running on a network. On large projects, the linker needs to open some temporary files to work around DOS memory limitations. LINK version 5.10 (supplied with C 6.00) will sometimes fail in its attempts to open a temporary file when run under certain network software.

The problem actually lies in the network software, not the linker. When the network is loaded, the return value from an open call sometimes gets corrupted. When the call fails, it is because an "Out of handles" error (EMFILE) is returned as a "No such file or directory" error (ENOENT). If this occurs, LINK 5.10 halts with an "L1085: cannot open temporary file" error.

LINK 5.13 includes a change to correct for the above situation (even though the problem is in the network software). When LINK version 5.13 receives an ENOENT error on a failed open call, it will still try to free some file handles and reopen the temporary file, regardless of the error returned.

To make the correction, locate LINK version 5.10 and replace it with LINK version 5.13 from the enclosed disk. Again, be sure to save a backup copy of the original file (LINK 5.10).