[tpm] New unfamiliar Windoze error. `perl -V` emits: "16 bit MS-DOS Subsystem"

[J Z Tam]

Lads, Lasses, 
BACKGROUND:

WindowsXPProSp3 ; ActiveStatePerl5.8.8 BUILD 822 ; cygwin ; 




ISSUE:
This is the first time I have ever seen this Windows dialogue - when running 'perl -V' from the DOS prompt.

ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS:
Not much found online.  Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places.  
Maybe it's fallout from 
a botched package install, or
undesired MS Patch Tuesday effects. . . ugh, or 
an UnPatched Adobe product, 
or ???.
All of McAfee ; HiJackThis ; sfc /scannow,  eventvwr, regedt32
       reveal nothing insightful.

When the dialog pops up, I click on "Ignore" and it actually returns with the usual output.

---------------------------
16 bit MS-DOS Subsystem
---------------------------
cmd24 - perl -V
The NTVDM CPU has encountered an illegal instruction.
CS:0e6c IP:fff0 OP:fe ff 1e 09 08 Choose 'Close' to terminate the application.
---------------------------
Close   Ignore   
---------------------------

#Click on Ignore,  and the output is rather normal as pasted below:
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.


d:\home\itjdt\  perldoc File::Find
cygwin warning:
  MS-DOS style path detected: C:\DOCUME~1\itjdt\LOCALS~1\Temp\perldoc_FileFind_T
4ccae05b_11d892.txt
  Preferred POSIX equivalent is: /cygdrive/c/DOCUME~1/itjdt/LOCALS~1/Temp/perldo
c_FileFind_T4ccae05b_11d892.txt
  CYGWIN environment variable option "nodosfilewarning" turns off this warning.
  Consult the user's guide for more details about POSIX paths:
    http://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/using.html#using-pathnames

d:\home\itjdt\  perldoc  Devel::Dump
No documentation found for "Devel::Dump".

d:\home\itjdt\  perl -V
Set up gcc environment -
Summary of my perl5 (revision 5 version 8 subversion 8) configuration:
  Platform:
    osname=MSWin32, osvers=5.00, archname=MSWin32-x86-multi-thread
    uname=''
    config_args='undef'
    hint=recommended, useposix=true, d_sigaction=undef
    usethreads=define use5005threads=undef useithreads=define usemultiplicity=de
fine
    useperlio=define d_sfio=undef uselargefiles=define usesocks=undef
    use64bitint=undef use64bitall=undef uselongdouble=undef
    usemymalloc=n, bincompat5005=undef
  Compiler:
    cc='gcc', ccflags ='-DNDEBUG -DWIN32 -D_CONSOLE -DNO_STRICT -DHAVE_DES_FCRYP
T -DNO_HASH_SEED -DUSE_SITECUSTOMIZE -DPRIVLIB_LAST_IN_INC -DPERL_IMPLICIT_CONTE
XT -DPERL_IMPLICIT_SYS -DUSE_PERLIO -DPERL_MSVCRT_READFIX -DHASATTRIBUTE -fno-st
rict-aliasing',
    optimize='-O2',
    cppflags='-DWIN32'
    ccversion='', gccversion='undef', gccosandvers=''
    intsize=4, longsize=4, ptrsize=4, doublesize=8, byteorder=1234
    d_longlong=undef, longlongsize=8, d_longdbl=define, longdblsize=8
    ivtype='long', ivsize=4, nvtype='double', nvsize=8, Off_t='__int64', lseeksi
ze=8
    alignbytes=8, prototype=define
  Linker and Libraries:
    ld='g++', ldflags ='-L"D:\Perl\lib\CORE"'
    libpth=\lib
    libs=-lkernel32 -luser32 -lgdi32 -lwinspool -lcomdlg32 -ladvapi32 -lshell32
-lole32 -loleaut32 -lnetapi32 -luuid -lws2_32 -lmpr -lwinmm -lversion -lodbc32 -
lodbccp32 -lmsvcrt
    perllibs=-lkernel32 -luser32 -lgdi32 -lwinspool -lcomdlg32 -ladvapi32 -lshel
l32 -lole32 -loleaut32 -lnetapi32 -luuid -lws2_32 -lmpr -lwinmm -lversion -lodbc
32 -lodbccp32 -lmsvcrt
    libc=msvcrt.lib, so=dll, useshrplib=true, libperl=perl58.lib
    gnulibc_version=''
  Dynamic Linking:
    dlsrc=dl_win32.xs, dlext=dll, d_dlsymun=undef, ccdlflags=' '
    cccdlflags=' ', lddlflags='-mdll -L"D:\Perl\lib\CORE"'


Characteristics of this binary (from libperl):
  Compile-time options: MULTIPLICITY PERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT
                        PERL_IMPLICIT_SYS PERL_MALLOC_WRAP
                        PL_OP_SLAB_ALLOC USE_ITHREADS USE_LARGE_FILES
                        USE_PERLIO USE_SITECUSTOMIZE
  Locally applied patches:
        ActivePerl Build 822 [280952]
        Iin_load_module moved for compatibility with build 806
        PerlEx support in CGI::Carp
        Less verbose ExtUtils::Install and Pod::Find
        Patch for CAN-2005-0448 from Debian with modifications
        Rearrange @INC so that 'site' is searched before 'perl'
        Partly reverted 24733 to preserve binary compatibility
        MAINT31223 plus additional changes
        31490 Problem bootstraping Win32CORE
        31324 Fix DynaLoader::dl_findfile() to locate .so files again
        31214 Win32::GetLastError fails when first called
        31211 Restore Windows NT support
        31188 Problem killing a pseudo-forked child on Win32
        29732 ANSIfy the PATH environment variable on Windows
        27527,29868 win32_async_check() can loop indefinitely
        26970 Make Passive mode the default for Net::FTP
        26379 Fix alarm() for Windows 2003
        24699 ICMP_UNREACHABLE handling in Net::Ping
  Built under MSWin32
  Compiled at Jul 31 2007 19:34:48
  %ENV:
    PERLDOC_PAGER="less"
  @INC:
    D:/Perl/site/lib
    D:/Perl/lib
    .

d:\home\itjdt\




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