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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="latin1" ?>
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<!DOCTYPE comref SYSTEM "comref.dtd">
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<holder>Ericsson AB, All Rights Reserved</holder>
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The contents of this file are subject to the Erlang Public License,
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Version 1.1, (the "License"); you may not use this file except in
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compliance with the License. You should have received a copy of the
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Erlang Public License along with this software. If not, it can be
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retrieved online at http://www.erlang.org/.
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Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS"
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basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See
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the License for the specific language governing rights and limitations
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The Initial Developer of the Original Code is Ericsson AB.
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<title>start_erl</title>
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<prepared>Patrik Nyblom</prepared>
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<responsible></responsible>
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<file>start_erl.sgml</file>
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<comsummary>Start Erlang for embedded systems on Windows NT®</comsummary>
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<p>This describes the <c><![CDATA[start_erl]]></c> program specific to Windows
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NT. Although there exists programs with the same name on other
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platforms, their functionality is not the same.</p>
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<p>The <c><![CDATA[start_erl]]></c> program is distributed both in compiled
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form (under <Erlang root>\\erts-<version>\\bin) and
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in source form (under <Erlang
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root>\\erts-<version>\\src).
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The purpose of the source code is to make it possible to easily
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customize the program for local needs, such as cyclic restart
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detection etc. There is also a "make"-file, written for the
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<c><![CDATA[nmake]]></c> program distributed with Microsoft® Visual
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C++®. The program can however be compiled with
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any Win32 C compiler (possibly with slight modifications).</p>
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<p>The purpose of the program is to aid release handling on
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Windows NT®. The program should be called by the
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<c><![CDATA[erlsrv]]></c> program, read up the release data file
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start_erl.data and start Erlang. Certain options to start_erl
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are added and removed by the release handler during upgrade with
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emulator restart (more specifically the <c><![CDATA[-data]]></c> option).</p>
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<name>start_erl [<erl options>] ++ [<start_erl options>]</name>
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<fsummary>Start the Erlang emulator with the correct release data</fsummary>
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<p>The <c><![CDATA[start_erl]]></c> program in its original form
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recognizes the following options:</p>
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<item>Mandatory, delimits start_erl options from normal Erlang
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options. Everything on the command line <em>before</em> the
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<c><![CDATA[++]]></c> is interpreted as options to be sent to the
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<c><![CDATA[erl]]></c> program. Everything <em>after</em><c><![CDATA[++]]></c> is
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interpreted as options to <c><![CDATA[start_erl]]></c> itself.</item>
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<tag>-reldir <release root></tag>
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<item>Mandatory if the environment variable <c><![CDATA[RELDIR]]></c> is not
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specified. Tells start_erl where the root of the
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release tree is placed in the file-system
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(like <Erlang root>\\releases). The
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<c><![CDATA[start_erl.data]]></c> file is expected to be placed in
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this directory (if not otherwise specified).</item>
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<tag>-data <data file name></tag>
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<item>Optional, specifies another data file than start_erl.data
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in the <release root>. It is specified relative to the
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<release root> or absolute (includeing drive letter
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etc.). This option is used by the release handler during
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upgrade and should not be used during normal
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operation. The release data file should not normally be
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named differently.</item>
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<tag>-bootflags <boot flags file name></tag>
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<item>Optional, specifies a file name relative to actual release
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directory (that is the subdirectory of <release
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root> where the <c><![CDATA[.boot]]></c> file etc. are placed).
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The contents of this file is appended to the command line
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when Erlang is started. This makes it easy to start the
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emulator with different options for different releases.</item>
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<p>As the source code is distributed, it can easily be modified to
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accept other options. The program must still accept the
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<c><![CDATA[-data]]></c> option with the semantics described above for the
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release handler to work correctly.</p>
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<p>The Erlang emulator is found by examining the registry keys for
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the emulator version specified in the release data file. The new
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emulator needs to be properly installed before the upgrade for
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<p>Although the program is located together with files specific to
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emulator version, it is not expected to be specific to the
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emulator version. The release handler does <em>not</em> change the
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<c><![CDATA[-machine]]></c> option to <c><![CDATA[erlsrv]]></c> during emulator restart.
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Place the (possibly customized) <c><![CDATA[start_erl]]></c> program so that
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it is not overwritten during upgrade. </p>
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<p>The <c><![CDATA[erlsrv]]></c> program's default options are not
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sufficient for release handling. The machine <c><![CDATA[erlsrv]]></c>
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starts should be specified as the <c><![CDATA[start_erl]]></c> program and
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the arguments should contain the <c><![CDATA[++]]></c> followed by desired
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<title>SEE ALSO</title>
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<p>erlsrv(1), release_handler(3)</p>