From:             Douglas Quebbeman <dhquebbeman@theestopinalgroup.com>
To:               'robin' <robin_v@bigpond.com>
Subject:          RE: Digital Research PL/I-86 Question
Date sent:        Mon, 25 Mar 2002 15:22:15 -0500

Robin-

Please find attached to this message the ZIP file 'pli86-x.zip',
so named as to prevent confusion with any number of possible 
other copies of the DRI compiler. However, it does expect to
reside in a c:\pli86 directory.

It includes a batch file for compilation under DOS or a DOS
window. The batch file relies on the DOS APPEND command, which
appears to still work under Windows 2000 command shells. However
the user must first type

	APPEND /E

to get the APPEND mechanism activated and using the environment
variable the batch file expects. The use of this batch file isn't
required, but permits keeping the compiler binary and overlays
in a separate directory.

However, linking is critical, so if the 'pli86.bat' isn't used,
users will need to examine it or the 'lk.bat' file for linking
instructions. Basically, init.obj must be manually prefixed as
the first object in the runfile, and the package must link with
XPLILIB instead of PLILIB.

As I hope I mentioned before, migrating away from the use of
the DRI linker and librarian were the primary goals. I include
them in this distro even though not used, or usable with the
experimental extended library. Also included are the Phoenix
linker and librarian. Not included is Phonenix's magnificent
Intel/Microsoft OMF dump utility. You may want to remove these,
they have not entered into the public domain.

Breakdown of contents:

	BIN\*			compiler binary, overlays, linkers, librarians

	Misc_W-I-P\*	What it says + duplicates of stuff found elsewhere
	LIB			libraries
	LIB\LIBOBJ		individual object files from original DRI
library
	LIB\LIBPAT		replacement 'patch' modules for revised
library
	LIB\PLILIB		original library, scripts for decomposition,
etc
	LIB\XPLILIB		individual objects, revised library is built
here
	LIB\GOODMAC.PMA	PMATE macro, transmogrified a script, I think
	LIB\INIT.OBJ	INIT prefix object module needed for linking
	LIB\MKLIB.BAT	batch file to build a library
	LIB\PLILIB.LIB	original library converted from DRI L86 to MS LIB
format
	LIB\XPLILIB.LIB	revised library
	LIB\XPLILIB2.LIB	another revised library; what's the
difference? Can't recall
	NEWLIB\*		sources and objects for revised modules *
studies
	NEWLIB\DRIINIT.ASM Source for prefix module as emitted by DRI LINK86
*NOT USED*
	NEWLIB\INIT.ASM	source for prefix module as needed by MS LINK *USE ME*
	NEWLIB\TINIT.ASM	uncommented version of DRIINIT.ASM? Can't
recall *NOT USED*
	NEWLIB\PCINTRF.ASM source for PC-DOS interface
	NEWLIB\PCOVLAY.ASM source for PC-DOS overlay loader
	NEWLIB\PCSETUP.ASM source for PC-DOS environment initialization
	NEWLIB\PL1TIME.ASM source for *working* TIME() and DATE() bifs
	NEWLIB\PL1WRCHR.ASM source for PL/1-86 writechar bif? Why did I need
this?
	PL1RAND\*		beginning of re-doing the PL/1-86 random file
I/O *not used*
	IBM\*			PC-DOS interfaces, as supplied elsewhere
	MAN.RNF		My attempt to get manual back into runoff form
	PLI86.BAT		batch file for compiling
	MYTEST.PLI		Tests DATE() and TIME() bifs and other
extensions
	LK.BAT		batch file to link PL/1-86 programs
	PLI86OPT.HLP	Help text as from invoking compiler with $H option

Give it a whirl, feel free to ask any questions, I'll try to answer them.

Regards,
-doug quebbeman