Q: I've installed DJGPP just like explained in the README.*
files, but when I run gcc, my machine crashes/hangs/needs cold boot.
Q: I get errors I can't figure out when I try to compile something.
A: Add the -v switch to the GCC command line and run it again.
It will print all the subprograms (compiler passes) it is running. Then
you can see which subprogram caused the error, or where your machine
crashes. This might give you a hint on what's wrong.
One cause of such problems might be that your system is set up
inefficiently. If GCC doesn't get enough free RAM, it will run very
slowly, and you might think it crashed when in fact it didn't. (This
kind of problem usually happens on memory-starved machines.) Invoking
go32-v2 with no arguments will report the amount of memory
available to DJGPP programs; large programs might require up to 20MBytes
to compile, sometimes more. If you run from the DOS box on Windows 9X,
set its DPMI memory property to 65535KB (64MB) and try again. Check out
the system configuration advice, earlier in this FAQ list, for other suggestions about
your system configuration.
Sometimes, if the TMPDIR environment variable points to a full
disk, GCC may hang or crash as well. Make sure you have enough free
disk space where TMPDIR points.
A similar case is when DJGPP programs are run off a CD-ROM: in this
case, the default setting of TMPDIR points to the CD drive, which
is unwritable. You need to point TMPDIR to a writable directory.