[Info-vax] Some questions on software for VMS 7.3 VAX

[hb]

On 01/25/2016 03:38 PM, lists at openmailbox.org wrote:

> This got me further and Emacs did start (well, it started to start). But
> then I got additional messages that various files couldn't be found. They
> were still using the LOCAL directory. Apparently this is baked-in fairly
> deeply. I don't know if it's just scripts that could be tracked-down or
> whether it's also in code.

LOCAL, as configured during the build, shows a couple of times in the
GNU_STARTUP.COM. But changing thes instances to use any other directory
is not enough. Emacs barfs:

Warning: arch-dependent data dir
(BLD_ROOT:[LOCAL.LIB.EMACS.21_2.ALPHA-DEC-VMS8_3]) does not exist.
Warning: arch-independent data dir (BLD_ROOT[LOCAL.LIB.EMACS.21_2.ETC])
does not exist.
Warning: Lisp directory `BLD_ROOT:[LOCAL.LIB.EMACS.SITE-LISP]' does not
exist.
Warning: Lisp directory `BLD_ROOT:[LOCAL.LIB.EMACS.21_2.LISP]' does not
exist.

Searching the "local tree" shows, that these strings are hard coded in
EMACS-21_2.EXE, the image.

It seems you have to build emacs yourself or to use the directory tree
as is. You can place the LOCAL directory anywhere, below your login
directory or on any disk, you just have to define BLD_ROOT as a
concealed device to point to the parent directory of LOCAL.