OS: Windows 7 Ultimate

With fossil.exe installed in C:\Windows\system32, "fossil ui" and "fossil server" fail to start the web server. On each attempted access to http://localhost:8080 , the command prompt outputs:

<pre>'"fossil"' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.</pre>

Windows Firewall is off and there are no other firewalls installed.

<hr /><i>anonymous claiming to be Arnel added on 2010-10-08 18:03:34:</i><br />
Are you able to edit your PATH variable and add another folder (e.g., C:\Users\<username>\Documents) where you can transfer fossil.exe instead? Fossil probably does not understand %SystemRoot%\system32, which is what's on PATH for that folder.

<hr /><i>wolfgang added on 2010-10-10 12:32:16:</i><br />
This is not a problem of fossil.

The mentioned error message is a MS Windows message, documenting, that the requested command is not found in the path.

So you should check:
  *  is the path really correct
  *  how do you call fossil, MS Windows doesn't use the path variables in all call variants

<hr /><i>anonymous claiming to be arichardson (op) added on 2010-10-15 09:10:18:</i><br />
>Arnel added on 2010-10-08 18:03:34:<br>
>Fossil probably does not understand %SystemRoot%\system32, which is what's on PATH for that folder.

I think you've hit on the problem here. It works perfectly well on XP though, which is why I'm puzzled. I will try your suggestion but ultimately will end up with Fossil back in system32, where (IMO) it belongs.

>wolfgang added on 2010-10-10 12:32:16:<br>
>This is not a problem of fossil.

I believe it is. Please see below for my reasons.

>The mentioned error message is a MS Windows message, documenting, that the requested command is not found in the path.<br>
><br>
>So you should check:<br>
><br>
>is the path really correct<br>
>how do you call fossil, MS Windows doesn't use the path variables in all call variants<br>

Looks like you didn't read my ticket. I'll explain again:

At the command prompt, I'm running "fossil ui". ("fossil server" does the exact same thing.) There is a known good, open fossil in the working directory. Fossil opens a web browser (Firefox in this case) and gives it the path "localhost:8080" as expected.

The problem occurs when Firefox accesses localhost:8080. Fossil is definitely listening on 8080/tcp because it reacts to connections on localhost:8080. The way it reacts is to output this error on stdout:

'"fossil"' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

instead of returning a web page to the browser.

You're right that this error is generated by the OS, but I believe the flaw is in Fossil. IMO Arnel's suggestion is correct, that Fossil is not interpreting %SystemRoot%\system32 properly. I will now attempt to prove it.


<hr /><i>anonymous claiming to be arichardson added on 2010-10-15 09:13:21:</i><br />
I mean, I will attempt to prove it in 8 hours or so, when I get home from work and have access to my Windows 7 box.


<hr /><i>anonymous claiming to be Arnel added on 2010-10-15 11:28:11:</i><br />
I can confirm "fossil server" works with fossil.exe inside the %SystemRoot%\system32 folder from a Windows 7 box I'm using. 

With "fossil ui" I'm getting the "'http:' is not recognized...batch file" message. Which is odd, considering I can run "start http://127.0.0.1:8080/" from within the C:\Windows\system32 folder.

<hr /><i>anonymous claiming to be Arnel added on 2010-10-15 11:34:02:</i><br />
Sorry, I forgot to add: "fossil ui" does provide the error message I described earlier when I ran it from the command-line, *BUT* if I open a browser and go to http://localhost:8080/ it opens the web UI for Fossil.

<hr /><i>drh added on 2010-10-15 13:58:28:</i><br />
I think the problem comes about because Fossil tries to run a copy of
itself by calling system() with argv[0] being used as the command name.
Apparently on windows, argv[0] is not a reliable name for the program
that is being run.

Does anybody have any suggestions for an alternative way to get a
windows program to run a copy of itself?

<hr /><i>rwilson added on 2010-10-15 15:30:22:</i><br />
is this recently introduced?  i've been using fossil on windows 7 64 bit since it was released with no problems (not counting a few hiccups along the way in the win32 build).  i haven't updated my build for about six weeks, so i'm not experiencing this issue (Fossil version [7aae4ef068] 2010-09-03 01:57:41).

<hr /><i>drh added on 2010-10-15 16:13:52:</i><br />
Nothing has changed in this area recently.  I think the people that are
having problems simply have an unusual windows configuration.

<hr /><i>wolfgang added on 2010-10-15 16:37:14:</i><br />
For my XP machine, argv[0] is correctly filled with the complete path. A windows 7 Home Premium machine shows only the filename(fossil.exe), not the complete path. Both tests used a standard cmd.exe console starting fossil with <kbd>fossil help ver</kbd> and fossils install directory in environemt variable PATH. =>
  *  on XP argv[0] seems to be filled with the complete path, so that the environment is not used
  *  on Win 7 is only the filename stored in argv[0]. This way it depends on the environment/registry settings, whether fossil is found or not.

The contents of argv[0] can be tested with

fossil help ver

The name of the binary, displayed in the output is replaced with argv[0]. 

Windows uses diffent ways to find a binary (calling via cmd.exe or calling by explorer,..). So if argv[0] doesn't contain a full path, the error  may appear.

I've found a link to some information, how to get the application location:

[http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms683197]:
<pre>
DWORD WINAPI GetModuleFileName(
  __in_opt  HMODULE hModule,
  __out     LPTSTR lpFilename,
  __in      DWORD nSize
);
</pre>