[14268] in Athena Bugs
sun4 7.7V: autocad
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (dot@MIT.EDU)
Wed Mar 27 09:18:08 1996
From: dot@MIT.EDU
Date: Wed, 27 Mar 1996 14:18:05 GMT
To: Mike Jacknis <mjacknis@MIT.EDU>, bugs@MIT.EDU
Cc:
Hi Mike,
You reported this bug:
>Autocad seems to have a problem locating certain global default startup
>files, such as acad, text, help, menu files etc., depending on the
>directory I'm in when I start autocad.
>
>If I start it from my homedir or from /usr/tmp, everything is fine.
>However, if I start it from
>
>/mit/21w785/senior-house-archive/Private/dxf-files/
>
>a bunch of pop-up warning windows appear upon startup telling me about
>lots of files that it cannot seem to find.
>
>I have full access to the above named directory. I don't know what
>other directories it may have a problem with.
>
I believe you have encountered the AutoCAD internal pathlength
limitation. We had to play games with the AutoCAD installation because
there is an internal limit to the length of pathnames. Since AutoCAD
uses the actual path rather than any symbolic links, it is rather easy
to hit the limitation.
The best way around this is to shorten paths wherever you can. For
instance, I suggest that you:
1) Create a new directory /mit/21w/785/.dxf-files
2) Set the acl on this directory appropriately. (By the way, why is
this directory protected? We don't usually expect course lockers to
have private files.)
3) Make /mit/21w785/senior-house-archive/Private/dxf-files a soft link
to /mit/21w785/.dxf-files.
4) Continue to refer to and use the original path just as you have been
doing. AutoCAD will simply find the shorter "real" path and be
happy.
Dorothy Bowe
-----------
Dorothy Bowe
Academic Computing Support
Faculty Liaison
email: dot@mit.edu
phone: (617)253-0170
fax: (617)258-8736
