FIX: Return Value Not Ignored with NMAKE's Dash (-) Command (122220)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Program Maintenance Utility (NMAKE), when used with:
- Microsoft Visual C++ 1.5
- Microsoft Visual C++ 1.51
- Microsoft Visual C++ 1.0
- Microsoft Visual C++ 2.0

This article was previously published under Q122220

SYMPTOMS

When using the dash command (-) in a makefile to turn off error checking for a given command, return values that are greater than 255 will not be ignored. NMAKE will detect an error and the make process will be terminated, as shown below:

NMAKE : fatal error U1077: 'C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CMD.EXE' : return
code '0xYYY'
Stop.

YYY is the hexadecimal value of the return code from the command that generated the error.

RESOLUTION

Use the !CMDSWITCHES (+/-) I directive to work around this problem. For example:

   !CMDSWITCHES +I
   mylabel:
        mycommand
   !CMDSWITCHES -I

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was fixed in Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Edition, version 4.0.

MORE INFORMATION

Sample Code

The following makefile will prematurely terminate after the mycommand statement if an error MYCOMMAND.EXE returns is a value greater that 255. A small MS-DOS- or Windows NT-based console program returning a value can be used as mycommand.

mylabel:
     -mycommand

Modification Type:	Major	Last Reviewed:	12/1/2003
Keywords:	kbfix KB122220