start_erl(1)

1start_erl(1)                     User Commands                    start_erl(1)
2
3
4

NAME

6       start_erl - Start Erlang for embedded systems on Windows systems.
7

DESCRIPTION

9       The start_erl program is specific to Windows NT/2000/XP (and later ver‐
10       sions of Windows). Although there are programs with the  same  name  on
11       other platforms, their functionality is different.
12
13       This  program  is  distributed  both  in  compiled  form (under <Erlang
14       root>\\erts-<version>\\bin)  and  in   source   form   (under   <Erlang
15       root>\\erts-<version>\\src).  The purpose of the source code is to ease
16       customization of the program for local needs, such  as  cyclic  restart
17       detection.  There  is also a "make"-file, written for the nmake program
18       distributed with Microsoft Visual C++. This program  can,  however,  be
19       compiled with any Win32 C compiler (possibly with minor modifications).
20
21       This  program  aids release handling on Windows systems. The program is
22       to be called by the erlsrv program,  read  up  the  release  data  file
23       start_erl.data,  and  start Erlang. Some options to start_erl are added
24       and removed by the release handler during upgrade with emulator restart
25       (more specifically option -data).
26

EXPORTS

28       start_erl [<erl options>] ++ [<start_erl options>]
29
30              The  start_erl  program in its original form recognizes the fol‐
31              lowing options:
32
33                ++:
34                  Mandatory. Delimits start_erl options from normal Erlang op‐
35                  tions.  Everything  on  the command line before ++ is inter‐
36                  preted as options to be sent to the erl program.  Everything
37                  after ++ is interpreted as options to start_erl itself.
38
39                -reldir <release root>:
40                  Mandatory  if  environment  variable RELDIR is not specified
41                  and no -rootdir option is specified. Tells  start_erl  where
42                  the  root  of the release tree is located in the file system
43                  (typically <Erlang root>\\releases). The start_erl.data file
44                  is  expected  to be located in this directory (unless other‐
45                  wise specified). If only option -rootdir is  specified,  the
46                  directory is assumed to be <Erlang root>\\releases.
47
48                -rootdir <Erlang root directory>:
49                  Mandatory  if  -reldir is not specified and no RELDIR exists
50                  in the environment. This specifies the  Erlang  installation
51                  root   directory   (under   which  the  lib,  releases,  and
52                  erts-<Version> directories are located). If only -reldir (or
53                  environment  variable  RELDIR) is specified, the Erlang root
54                  is assumed to be the directory exactly one level  above  the
55                  release directory.
56
57                -data <data file name>:
58                  Optional. Specifies another data file than start_erl.data in
59                  the <release root>. It is specified relative to the <release
60                  root>  or absolute (including drive letter, and so on). This
61                  option is used by the release handler during upgrade and  is
62                  not to be used during normal operation. Normally the release
63                  data file is not to be named differently.
64
65                -bootflags <boot flags file name>:
66                  Optional. Specifies a file name relative to the release  di‐
67                  rectory  (that  is, the subdirectory of <release root> where
68                  the .boot file and others are located). The contents of this
69                  file is appended to the command line when Erlang is started.
70                  This makes it easy to start the emulator with different  op‐
71                  tions for different releases.
72

NOTES

74         * As the source code is distributed, it can easily be modified to ac‐
75           cept other options. The program must still accept option -data with
76           the  semantics described above for the release handler to work cor‐
77           rectly.
78
79         * The Erlang emulator is found by examining the registry keys for the
80           emulator version specified in the release data file. The new emula‐
81           tor must be properly installed before the upgrade for this to work.
82
83         * Although the program is located together with files specific to the
84           emulator version, it is not expected to be specific to the emulator
85           version. The release handler does not  change  option  -machine  to
86           erlsrv  during  emulator  restart. Locate the (possibly customized)
87           start_erl program so that it is not overwritten during upgrade.
88
89         * The default options of the erlsrv program are  not  sufficient  for
90           release  handling. The machine started by erlsrv is be specified as
91           the start_erl program and the arguments are to contain ++  followed
92           by the desired options.
93

NAME

DESCRIPTION

EXPORTS

NOTES

SEE ALSO