PATCH: NMAKE 1.4 on Windows 95 Won't Stop on Errors

ID: Q132084

The information in this article applies to:

The Program Maintenance Utility (NMAKE.EXE) included with: - Microsoft Visual C++ for Windows, versions 1.5, 1.51, 1.52 - Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Edition, version 1.0

SYMPTOMS

On Windows 95, NMAKE version 1.4 will not stop building if a command in the makefile returns an error. For example, if the command invokes the Visual C++ compiler (CL.EXE) and the file being compiled causes a compiler error, NMAKE ignores it and continues the build. This is not the expected behavior. By default, NMAKE should stop on error returns from commands in a makefile.

NOTE: The problem occurs only when running NMAKE 1.4 on Windows 95.

RESOLUTION

On Windows 95, use version 1.5 or later of NMAKE.EXE or use NMAKER.EXE.

NOTE: NMAKE version 1.5 is a 32-bit executable that requires a 32-bit operating system. It will not work on Windows version 3.x. You need to continue using NMAKE version 1.4 under Windows version 3.x.

NMAKER.EXE ships with 16-bit Visual C++, versions 1.x, and is in the \MSVC\BIN directory. If you are building external makefiles from within the development environment, you must rename NMAKE.EXE to another filename, and then rename NMAKER.EXE to NMAKE.EXE.

If you own Visual C++, 32-bit edition, version 2.x, NMAKE version 1.5 is available in the \msvc20\bin subdirectory. If you copy NMAKE.EXE to another directory, copy NMAKE.ERR (an error text file for this version of NMAKE) to the same directory.

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Software Library:

 ~ Nmake15.exe (size: 51928 bytes)

For more information about downloading files from the Microsoft Software Library, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q119591
   TITLE     : How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was corrected in NMAKE version 1.5.

Additional query words: win95 fail fails spawn spawnslaunch launches

Keywords          : NmakeIss 
Version           : WIN3X:1.5,1.51,1.52;WINNT:1.0;
Platform          : NT WINDOWS

Last Reviewed: October 9, 1997