[mdlug] OT: Windows XP + Cygwin + OpenCOBOL, solution is dos2unix.

[Richard Staff]

Cygwin is very finicky.
When the configure script had a dos style line end, carriage return <cr> 
line feed <lf>, or was that <lf><cr>,  got a syntax error at line 21.
It did not matter whether it started with elif or else if.

In my struggles with Cygwin, I discovered a useful plugin for gvim, 
i.e., bash-support.vim.
bash-support.vim added a Bash item to the menu bar.  In its drop down 
was a choice for syntax checking.
Syntax checking revealed the line 21 error and some kind of funky 
control character, i.e., ^M
Then I remembered that dos files had an extra <cr> in its line endings, 
so I ran dos2unix on the configure file.
Voila, syntax error disappeared!!!

I had to run dos2unix on every script configure called and one file make 
was using.
Ta da, I now have cobol compiler on Windows XP.

Peace out, Rick