;@Ahk2Exe-Base Topic is solved

[JBensimon]

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Am I reading correctly that the AutoHotkey interpreters (*.exe) themselves can be used instead of the provided *.bin files to create compiled scripts?? If so, will Ahk2Exe.exe automatically look for them in its folder's parent or must a full path to the .exe(s) always be provided?

Let me use this opportunity to congratulate and thank all those who worked on the improved compiler and the embedded compiler directives: it was a major addition to AHK! (... even before I discovered today the ;@Ahk2Exe-UpdateManifest ..., UIAccess directive, saving me the hassle of ResHacking copies of the .bin files for UIAccess every time a new release dropped! )

JB

[JBensimon]

To answer my own questions:

[...] the AutoHotkey interpreters (*.exe) themselves can be used instead of the provided *.bin files to create compiled scripts??

Yes. The resulting executables are somewhat larger than if the .bin files were used, but they work.

[...] will Ahk2Exe.exe automatically look for them in its folder's parent?

No.

[...] or must a full path to the .exe(s) always be provided?

No, it suffices that Ahk2Exe.exe be copied to the same folder as the main AutoHotkey EXEs (along with mpress.exe or upx.exe, if either is specified).

[TAC109]

…

[...] or must a full path to the .exe(s) always be provided?

No, it suffices that Ahk2Exe.exe be copied to the same folder as the main AutoHotkey EXEs (along with mpress.exe or upx.exe, if either is specified).

@JBensimon
This is not the preferred location of the compiler as the Ahk2Exe compiler should only be run from the Compiler directory. You can reference the AutoHotkey executable from the Base directive thus (for example):

Code: Select all

 ;@Ahk2Exe-Base ..\AutoHotkeyU64.exe

The ..\ references the directory up one level from the current (compiler) directory.

Thanks for your kind comments.

Edit: I’ve amended the Base documentation to show that that path can be relative. It will appear when the documentation is next updated.

[JBensimon]

Thanks, TAC109.

As long as I "have" you, maybe you can allay a concern: the ;@Ahk2Exe-Bin directive example in the current documentation is commented as "deprecated". Is it that choice of directive name that is deprecated, or the use of the .bin files for compilation? The latter would be problematic because, if all scripts someday are compiled with the executables, it opens up the possibility of using an organization's trusted compiled script to run arbitrary scripts via the /script switch.

Thank again.

[TAC109]

@JBensimon
Both directives can be used with either type of base files (*.bin, *.exe); there is no limitation in this respect. For version 1 of AutoHotkey *.bin files will still be produced into the future as far as I know. (This is controlled by @lexikos.)

When the documentation says that something is depreciated it means that it is preferred that the newer form of the directive is used, however the depreciated version is still supported into the future because of the ongoing philosophy of not breaking old scripts.

Cheers

[JBensimon]

Thank you yet again.

JB