PR# 11834 Target Output misbehaves if .exe suffix is given

The steps below produce an error dialog:

  Cannot load the program "C:\bug\EIFGENs\bug\W_code\x.exe"

The reason is that the generated program is actually "C:\bug\EIFGENs\bug\W_code\x.exe.exe".

After spending hours tracking down the cause of a run-time bug to this, I isolated it to this in my ECF:

  <setting name="executable_name" value="x.exe"/>

I have fixed it by doing this instead:

  <setting name="executable_name" value="x"/>

Perhaps this is by design, but it's a real gotcha. At the very least the on-line help should state that the executable name should not include the suffix; but even so it would have taken me hours to figure this out. I believe it should optionally accept a .exe or .dll suffix.

1. Create a directory "C:\bug".

2. Save "C:\bug\root_class.e":

  class ROOT_CLASS end

3. Save "C:\bug\bug.ecf":

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?><system xmlns="http://www.eiffel.com/developers/xml/configuration-1-0-0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.eiffel.com/developers/xml/configuration-1-0-0 http://www.eiffel.com/developers/xml/configuration-1-0-0.xsd" name="bug" uuid="D162B005-1528-4A90-ADC7-D75AD71199A4">
	<target name="bug">
		<root class="ROOT_CLASS"/>
		<option warning="true">
			<assertions precondition="true" postcondition="false" check="false" invariant="false" loop="false"/>
		</option>
		<setting name="executable_name" value="x.exe"/>
		<precompile name="base_pre" location="$ISE_PRECOMP\base.ecf"/>
		<library name="base" location="$ISE_LIBRARY\library\base\base.ecf"/>
		<cluster name="root_cluster" location=".\" recursive="true"/>
	</target>
</system>

4. Double-click "bug.ecf".

5. In the Choose Your Directory dialog, click OK.

6. After it compiles, hit F5 to run it. You will see the error message.

This issue is now fixed, thanks for the report.