What does this error means: TCC: Unknown command "C:\Program"

[georgearoush]

Hi,<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
My version of TCC is: "TCC 9.00.103 Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]"<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
The problem that I'm having is this: when I try to execute some programs from within TCC shell, I get this error: "TCC: Unknown command "C:\Program"" One of the programs that gives me this error is Rational's ClearCase, cleartool.exe. It works fine when I execute it from plain old Windows CMD.<o:p></o:p>

Can you tell me how I can figure out what's the issue and fix it?<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
Thanks.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
-- George<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>

 

[Charles Dye]

Re: What does this error means: TCC: Unknown command &quot;C:\Program&quot;

If you type SET COMSPEC at the prompt, what do you see?

 

[georgearoush]

Here is what I get:

[C:\]set COMSPEC
C:\TOOLS\TCMD9\tcc.exe

If you type SET COMSPEC at the prompt, what do you see?

 

[Charles Dye]

Re: What does this error means: TCC: Unknown command &quot;C:\Program&quot;

Here is what I get:

[C:\]set COMSPEC
C:\TOOLS\TCMD9\tcc.exe

Well, that's obviously not it. (As I should have known from the error message; it's a TCC message, so TCC.EXE is being started.)

I wonder if something is maybe passing TCC a bad command tail. Perhaps trying to start something under "C:\Program Files", but not correctly quoting the filename. One thing you might try is adding a line DEBUG=3 to your TCC.INI file, underneath the [4NT] section header. That directive will cause TCC to display its command tail every time it's started, which might be helpful in tracking down the problem.

Another thing you might try is temporarily changing the COMSPEC variable to point to CMD.EXE, and seeing whether that prevents the problem:

set comspec=%windir\system32\cmd.exe

 

[georgearoush]

Changing the comspec to Windows's cmd.exe fixed the problem -- but this is not a solution, just a confirmation.

Adding "DEBUG=3", here is what I get:

When I restarted TCC:
TCC tail is: ["C:\TOOLS\TCMD9\TCC.EXE"]
Press any key to continue ...

When I execute my program:
[R:\project.src\tools]ct lsvtree -g test.exe
TCC tail is: [C:\TOOLS\TCMD9\tcc.exe /c "C:\Program Files\IBM\RationalSDLC\ClearCase\bin\clearvtree" "test.exe"]
Press any key to continue ...
TCC: Unknown command "C:\Program"

Now, the following works (this is invoking "clearvtree" directly while "ct lsvtree -g test.exe" seems to be spwaning "clearvtree" ):
[R:\project.src\tools]clearvtree test.exe

Let me know what else I can try.

 

[Charles Dye]

Re: What does this error means: TCC: Unknown command &quot;C:\Program&quot;

Well, I'm confused. It still looks to me like an unquoted argument, but the command tail shows everything properly quoted. Odd.

What is CT -- an executable, a batch file, an alias? ( WHICH TC should tell you.) Do you have a TCSTART.BTM which references the %1, %2 etc. parameters?

Changing COMSPEC may be a reasonable workaround. As far as I know, TCC never uses it. It's just there for programs which spawn subsidiary command shells -- and such programs are likely to expect CMD.EXE anyway. You could add a SET to your TCSTART file to set it more-or-less permanently. Or, you might use an alias to change it on-the-fly for just that one command:

alias ct=`set comspec=%windir\system32\cmd.exe & *ct & set comspec=%_cmdspec`

Sorry, without a better understanding of what's going on, that's about the best I can come up with....

 

[georgearoush]

"ct" is a batch script, here is it's content:

@echo off
REM redirect ct to cleartool
setlocal
cleartool %*
if errorlevel 1 goto cleartool_failed_so_exit_with_non_zero_val 2>nul
endlocal

If I call "cleartool" directly, I get the same error:

[R:\project.src\tools]cleartool lsvtree -g test.exe
TCC tail is:  [C:\TOOLS\TCMD9\tcc.exe /c "C:\Program Files\IBM\RationalSDLC\ClearCase\bin\clearvtree" "test.exe"]
Press any key to continue ...
TCC: Unknown command "C:\Program"

If you need anything more data or want me to try anything else to help narrow down this issue, I be glad to do so.

Using the workaround that you suggested, do I lose any TCC features?

 

[georgearoush]

I'm trying the workaround; where do I find "TCSTART" to set COMSPEC?

There is an option to set COMPEC from TC's GUI properties, when I did so, I lost all of my TC goodies.

....
Changing COMSPEC may be a reasonable workaround. As far as I know, TCC never uses it. It's just there for programs which spawn subsidiary command shells -- and such programs are likely to expect CMD.EXE anyway. You could add a SET to your TCSTART file to set it more-or-less permanently. Or, you might use an alias to change it on-the-fly for just that one command:

alias ct=`set comspec=%windir\system32\cmd.exe & *ct & set comspec=%_cmdspec`

Sorry, without a better understanding of what's going on, that's about the best I can come up with....

 

[Steve Fabian]

georgearoush wrote:
| "ct" is a batch script, here is it's content:
|
|
| Code:
| ---------
| @echo off
| REM redirect ct to cleartool
| setlocal
| cleartool %*
| if errorlevel 1 goto cleartool_failed_so_exit_with_non_zero_val 2>nul
| endlocal
| ---------
|
| If I call "cleartool" directly, I get the same error:
|
|
| Code:
| ---------
| [R:\project.src\tools]cleartool lsvtree -g test.exe
| TCC tail is: [C:\TOOLS\TCMD9\tcc.exe /c "C:\Program
| Files\IBM\RationalSDLC\ClearCase\bin\clearvtree" "test.exe"] Press
| any key to continue ...
| TCC: Unknown command "C:\Program"
| ---------
|
| If you need anything more data or want me to try anything else to
| help narrow down this issue, I be glad to do so.
|
| Using the workaround that you suggested, do I lose any TCC features?

It appears CLEARTOOL.EXE spawns a new instance of the command processor
("shell") to execute CLEARVTREE, instead of doing it directly, and passes
the program name incorrectly: it is quoted, indicating that no further
interpretation is needed, but the file extension (presumably .exe) is
missing.

IIRC the workaround that had been suggested is to change the COMSPEC
environment variable to CMD, not TCC, before CT.BAT is executed. Since
COMSPEC is used only by moderately well behaving programs (i.e., not
hardcoded for CMD.EXE, but expecting its exact syntax), it will be used only
when CLEARTOOL wants to pass a command to the shell. Since CLEARTOOL expects
CMD, no TCC features are required, and so no features are lost. You should
probably write a small .BTM file to make the COMSPEC change temporary,
before CT is invoked.

REX:
----
It seems CMD.EXE can receive a quoted, fully qualified but incomplete
filename, i.e., one with path but without extension, as the command to be
executed, and make the usual "path extension" search, thus locating the
program file. Do you think this "feature" ought to be emulated in TCC for
those migrating from CMD?
--
Steve

 

[samintz]

I can verify what George is seeing.

This command line generates the error:
C:\4nt10\TCC.EXE /c "C:\Program Files\Rational\ClearCase\bin\clearvtree"
"mk.cmd"

This one succeeds:
C:\4nt10\TCC.EXE /c "C:\Program
Files\Rational\ClearCase\bin\clearvtree.exe" "mk.cmd"

And the command line without the leading tcc.exe /c also succeeds:
"C:\Program Files\Rational\ClearCase\bin\clearvtree" "mk.cmd"

I don't understand George's comment about losing TC goodies however. I
routinely set ComSpec to CMD.EXE and I haven't had any issues with TC
features not working.

-Scott


georgearoush <> wrote on 08/21/2009 10:31:31 AM:

> I'm trying the workaround; where do I find "TCSTART" to set COMSPEC?
>
> There is an option to set COMPEC from TC's GUI properties, when I
> did so, I lost all of my TC goodies.
>
>
> ---Quote (Originally by Charles Dye)---
> ....
> Changing COMSPEC may be a reasonable workaround. As far as I know,
> TCC never uses it. It's just there for programs which spawn
> subsidiary command shells -- and such programs are likely to expect
> CMD.EXE anyway. You could add a SET to your TCSTART file to set it
> more-or-less permanently. Or, you might use an alias to change it
> on-the-fly for just that one command:
>
>
> Code:
> ---------
> alias ct=`set comspec=%windir\system32\cmd.exe & *ct & set

comspec=%_cmdspec`

> ---------
> Sorry, without a better understanding of what's going on, that's
> about the best I can come up with....
> ---End Quote---
>
>
>

 

[Steve Fabian]

georgearoush wrote:
| I'm trying the workaround; where do I find "TCSTART" to set COMSPEC?

There is no TCSTART by default. You must create it explicitly. It must be in
the same directory as TCC.EXE itself, or in the directory which you can
explicitly specify using the GUI properties dialog invoked by the OPTION
command (the method I use).

| There is an option to set COMPEC from TC's GUI properties, when I
| did so, I lost all of my TC goodies.

By "GUI Properties", do you mean the GUI pop-ups activated by the TCC
internal command OPTION, or by using the "Properties" pop-up in Windows
Explorer? In neither one did I find a method to set COMSPEC.

I feel that you should set COMSPEC only while executing the CT.BAT batch
file. The CT alias in the quote below does that. An alternate is a batch
file, e.g.:

@echo off
setlocal
set comspec=%windir\\system32\cmd.exe
ct.bat %$

Alias method:
|| Code:
|| ---------
|| alias ct=`set comspec=%windir\system32\cmd.exe & *ct %$ & set
comspec=%_cmdspec`
|| ---------

Note: I added "%$" to "*ct" in the alias.
--
HTH, Steve

 

[Charles Dye]

Re: What does this error means: TCC: Unknown command &quot;C:\Program&quot;

"ct" is a batch script, here is it's content:

@echo off
REM redirect ct to cleartool
setlocal
cleartool %*
if errorlevel 1 goto cleartool_failed_so_exit_with_non_zero_val 2>nul
endlocal

Okay, new suggestion. Create a new batch file named CT.BTM, in the same location as your existing CT.BAT:

@echo off
rem   CT.BTM:  redirect CT to ClearTool
setlocal
set comspec=%windir\system32\cmd.exe
cleartool %*
quit %?

TCC looks for .BTM files before .BAT, so it will use the new batch file instead of the old one. CMD.EXE doesn't look for .BTM files at all, so it won't be affected. And since the change to COMSPEC happens inside a SETLOCAL / ENDLOCAL block, it will automatically disappear when the batch file ends.

(And you can remove the DEBUG line from your .INI file; I'm sure it must be annoying you by now....)

 

[jjdstr]

I am also encountering the same problem and would like to add the following report:

• This command line generates the error:
  C:\TC\TCC.EXE /c "C:\Program Files\Rational\ClearCase\bin\clearvtree" "mk.cmd"
• This one succeeds:
  C:\TC\TCC.EXE /c "C:\Program Files\Rational\ClearCase\bin\clearvtree" mk.cmd

So it seems that for some reason the extra quotes are affecting TCC ability to parse the command too.

I also tried configuring the PATHEXT option (thought it might have something to do with it) but it does not seem to help.

 

[jjensen]

My version of TCC is: "TCC 9.00.103 Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]"<o></o><o></o>

That's interesting. In TCC/LE 10.00.71, this was working fine. As of 10.00.76, this no longer works.

It is easy to reproduce. TCC/LE falls over when called from the Visual C++ runtime system() function when installed to the standard Program Files location.

Josh