start.exe is a Windows command line (console) applicatioin primarily for cygwin environment. Given a data filename, it invokes various Windows application based on the file's extension. With recent Internet Explorer installed, the command can be used to invoke the web browser for a URL.
Windows command prompt (a.k.a. DOS window) supports start command. Its core functionality is to simulate the Explorer's behaviour of a double click on a file. For example, typing start foo.exe starts the program foo, start foo.txt invokes a text editor (usually Notepad) to edit the file foo.txt, and start foo.avi plays back the moovie file foo.avi by a media player.
The author frequently uses the start command when working on command prompt. He sometimes types start even when he is working on the cygwin environment using bash. Unfortunately, the Windows start command is built into the command processor, and it fails.
Hence, I wrote an equivalent.
The usage is simple. Just type start filename on any command processor, such as bash, where filename is the target file name. It should cause a same behaviour as you double clicked the file on the Windows Explorer. It is the default action of the application that is associated with its file name extension, such as Edit, View, or Play.
start.exe differs from the Windows start command as follows:
Binary and source distribution files are ready for downloading. Both of them are in .ZIP archived. The source is in C.
The author used mingw gcc with cygwin to compile it. The resource was compiled (translated) by windres. (As a result, the start.exe included in binary distribution is a native Windows application, as opposed to cygwin application.)
It doesn't depend on any cygwin/gcc specific features, so it should be compiled by other development system, such as VC++ or OpenWatcom as well.