NAME

       start_erl - Start Erlang for embedded systems on Windows systems

DESCRIPTION

       The  start_erl  program is specific to Windows NT/2000/XP (and later versions of Windows). Although there
       are programs with the same name on other platforms, their functionality is different.

       This program is distributed both in compiled form (under <Erlang root>\erts-<version>\bin) and in  source
       form (under <Erlang root>\erts-<version>\src). The purpose of the source code is to ease customization of
       the  program  for local needs, such as cyclic restart detection. There is also a "make"-file, written for
       the nmake program distributed with Microsoft Visual C++. This program can, however, be compiled with  any
       Win32 C compiler (possibly with minor modifications).

       This program aids release handling on Windows systems. The program is to be called by the erlsrv program,
       read  up  the release data file start_erl.data, and start Erlang. Some options to start_erl are added and
       removed by the release handler during upgrade with emulator restart (more specifically option -data).

              start_erl [<erl options>] ++ [<start_erl options>]

       The start_erl program in its original form recognizes the following options:

       ++
         Mandatory. Delimits start_erl options from normal Erlang options. Everything on the command line before
         ++ is interpreted as options to be sent to the erl program.  Everything  after  ++  is  interpreted  as
         options to start_erl itself.

       -reldir <release root>
         Mandatory  if  environment  variable RELDIR is not specified and no -rootdir option is specified. Tells
         start_erl where the root of the  release  tree  is  located  in  the  file  system  (typically  <Erlang
         root>\releases).  The start_erl.data file is expected to be located in this directory (unless otherwise
         specified).  If  only  option  -rootdir  is  specified,  the  directory  is  assumed  to   be   <Erlang
         root>\releases.

       -rootdir <Erlang root directory>
         Mandatory  if  -reldir  is  not  specified  and no RELDIR exists in the environment. This specifies the
         Erlang installation root directory (under which the lib, releases, and erts-<Version>  directories  are
         located).  If only -reldir (or environment variable RELDIR) is specified, the Erlang root is assumed to
         be the directory exactly one level above the release directory.

       -data <data file name>
         Optional. Specifies another data file than start_erl.data  in  the  <release  root>.  It  is  specified
         relative  to the <release root> or absolute (including drive letter, and so on). This option is used by
         the release handler during upgrade and is not to be used during normal operation. Normally the  release
         data file is not to be named differently.

       -bootflags <boot flags file name>
         Optional.  Specifies  a  file  name  relative  to  the  release directory (that is, the subdirectory of
         <release root> where the .boot file and others are located). The contents of this file is  appended  to
         the  command  line  when  Erlang  is  started.  This makes it easy to start the emulator with different
         options for different releases.

   Notes
       •   As the source code is distributed, it can easily be modified to accept  other  options.  The  program
           must  still  accept  option  -data with the semantics described above for the release handler to work
           correctly.

       •   The Erlang emulator is found by examining the registry keys for the emulator version specified in the
           release data file. The new emulator must be properly installed before the upgrade for this to work.

       •   Although the program is located together with files specific to  the  emulator  version,  it  is  not
           expected  to be specific to the emulator version. The release handler does not change option -machine
           to erlsrv during emulator restart. Locate the (possibly customized) start_erl program so that  it  is
           not overwritten during upgrade.

       •   The  default  options  of  the  erlsrv  program  are not sufficient for release handling. The machine
           started by erlsrv is be specified as the start_erl program  and  the  arguments  are  to  contain  ++
           followed by the desired options.

   See Also
       erlsrv, release_handler

Ericsson AB                                        erts 15.2.3                                      start_erl(1)