Capturing "stderr" from an application

[rmgillmore]

I'm retired now, but I still dabble in technology from the earliest days of DOS.  I have an Intel PL/M-86 compiler that reports to the stderr handle rather than the stdout handle.  I have successfully captured the stdout information, but I can't seem to capture the stderr information to a file.

Any ideas, anyone?

Thanks,

Mike

the ACME Software Deli (and Malt Shoppe)

[Jos]

The command line interpreter is very limited since vDos is intended to run programs. No way to redirect stderr.
Don’t know if this will do the trick, but you could download and try 4DOS (https://www.4dos.info/4dvers/4dos800.zip).

Jos

[rmgillmore]

Using 4Dos did not help. Too bad there is no way to redirect stderr; that would make vDos much more useful for my purposes.

>M

[joec4281]

Nov 17, 2019 15:21:54 GMT 1 rmgillmore said:

Using 4Dos did not help. Too bad there is no way to redirect stderr; that would make vDos much more useful for my purposes.

>M

Here is how I redirect to stderr with 4DOS;


C:\utils>dir asdfasfasdf*.* >&> error.txt

Volume in drive C is New Volume     Serial number is 2C1E:6E61
             0 bytes in 0 files and 0 dirs
1,476,704,837,632 bytes free

C:\utils>type error.txt
File not found "C:\utils\asdfasfasdf*.*"
Note also that you can detect, from a 4DOS .btm, whether stderr has been redirected;


C:\utils>test.btm



Volume in drive C is New Volume     Serial number is 2C1E:6E61

C:\UTILS\TEST.BTM [4]  File not found "C:\utils\adfad*.*"

             0 bytes in 0 files and 0 dirs

1,476,704,837,632 bytes free



C:\utils>test.btm >&> error.txt

Stderr is re-directed



Volume in drive C is New Volume     Serial number is 2C1E:6E61

             0 bytes in 0 files and 0 dirs

1,476,704,837,632 bytes free



C:\utils>type error.txt

C:\UTILS\TEST.BTM [4]  File not found "C:\utils\adfad*.*"
Here is the code for test.btm;

@setlocal

@echo off

if %_stderr eq 0 echo Stderr is re-directed

dir adfad*.*

endlocal

Joe

[rmgillmore]

Nov 18, 2019 23:47:36 GMT 1 joec4281 said:

Nov 17, 2019 15:21:54 GMT 1 rmgillmore said:

Using 4Dos did not help. Too bad there is no way to redirect stderr; that would make vDos much more useful for my purposes.

>M

Here is how I redirect to stderr with 4DOS;


C:\utils>dir asdfasfasdf*.* >&> error.txt

Volume in drive C is New Volume     Serial number is 2C1E:6E61
             0 bytes in 0 files and 0 dirs
1,476,704,837,632 bytes free

C:\utils>type error.txt
File not found "C:\utils\asdfasfasdf*.*"
Note also that you can detect, from a 4DOS .btm, whether stderr has been redirected;


C:\utils>test.btm



Volume in drive C is New Volume     Serial number is 2C1E:6E61

C:\UTILS\TEST.BTM [4]  File not found "C:\utils\adfad*.*"

             0 bytes in 0 files and 0 dirs

1,476,704,837,632 bytes free



C:\utils>test.btm >&> error.txt

Stderr is re-directed



Volume in drive C is New Volume     Serial number is 2C1E:6E61

             0 bytes in 0 files and 0 dirs

1,476,704,837,632 bytes free



C:\utils>type error.txt

C:\UTILS\TEST.BTM [4]  File not found "C:\utils\adfad*.*"
Here is the code for test.btm;

@setlocal

@echo off

if %_stderr eq 0 echo Stderr is re-directed

dir adfad*.*

endlocal

Joe

If I use 4DOS "inside" vDOS, stderr does not seem to be detectable.  That's the whole point.  I am running make on a 64-bit machine, so 4DOS can not be run directly.  If I go to an older 32-bit machine and run 4DOS, it works as you have described.

>M

[joec4281]

Nov 19, 2019 14:32:56 GMT 1 rmgillmore said:

Nov 18, 2019 23:47:36 GMT 1 joec4281 said:

If I use 4DOS "inside" vDOS, stderr does not seem to be detectable.  That's the whole point.  I am running make on a 64-bit machine, so 4DOS can not be run directly.  If I go to an older 32-bit machine and run 4DOS, it works as you have described.

>M

Forgive me, but I don't understand.

I am running 4DOS inside vDos. As I have demonstrated, stderr works from 4DOS inside vDos and DOSBox.

Is make a 16-bit, 32-bit, or 64-bit .EXE? Are you running make from within vDos/4DOS?

Yes, 4DOS will run on a 32-bit machine directly, using NTVDM. On a 64-bit machine, 4DOS will only run inside vDos or DOSBox.

Joe

[rmgillmore]

Okay, please allow me to give you the complete details:
My autoexec.txt:
@echo off
rem
rem mount the home directory as C, and setup a path
rem

use D: C:\vDos
use C: C:\Users\Owner
set path=C:\;C:\DOCUME~1\utils;C:\DOCUME~1\utils\PLM86T~1;C:\DOCUME~1\utils\masm4;C:\DOCUME~1\utils\MASM510\BIN
set path=%path%;C:\DOCUME~1\work\Plm86

rem
rem change to the directory where we need some work done, and get to it
rem

cd C:\DOCUME~1\work\Plm86
if exist zDosWork.bat call zDosWork.bat > STDOUT.TXT
if exist zDosWork.bat exit 0


My config.txt:
FONT = C:\WINDOWS\FONTS\CONSOLA
TEXT = 30x90

With Make, I am creating zDosWork.bat, and then executing vDos. I can successfully capture the STDOUT stream, but I can't seem to capture the STDERR stream generated in the vDos window.

>M

[Jos]

vDos is primarily intended to run end-user programs. Surely not the choice of a software developer to run tools he/she only uses.
Continuing to develop/maintain DOS programs - not run the end result - you would have to use DOSBox or one of its mods.

Jos