FIX: Last Letter of NMAKE Command-Line Macro Incremented

MS-DOS    | OS/2

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft NMAKE for MS-DOS, versions 1.13 and 1.2
• Microsoft NMAKE for OS/2, versions 1.13 and 1.21

SYMPTOMS

When the NMAKE command line defines a macro, NMAKE may increment the last letter of the macro string by one letter. Every other letter, beginning with the letter "b", is incremented in this manner. For example, the make file example below expands the macro DIR to be "XXY" instead of "XXX".

RESOLUTION

Use one of the following three methods to work around this problem:

1. Use the /F command-line option to specify the name of the makefile. For example:

         nmake /F test.mak DIR=XXX
   

         -or-
   

         nmake DIR=XXX /F test.mak
   

2. Place any command-line option after the macro definition. For example:

         nmake DIR=XXX /A test.mak
   

3. Define the macro in the specified makefile instead of on the command line.

MORE INFORMATION

This problem occurs only when the command line specifies a makefile name other than the default name "MAKEFILE" and the command line does not include the /F option. Use the /F option to specify the name of the makefile any time it is not "MAKEFILE." For more information, please refer to page 292 of the "Microsoft Macro Assembler Programmer's Guide" for Microsoft Macro Assembler (MASM) version 6.0.

Sample Code

# Command line required to demonstrate problem: nmake DIR=XXX test.mak

ALL:

     ECHO $(DIR)