Error creating process on launch

[bruceh]

I compiled VLC for windows, fixing two problems along the way, (details below) , but the executable could not be launched:

(gdb) run
Starting program: /cygdrive/d/VLC/vlc-0.8.6d/vlc.exe
Error creating process /cygdrive/d/VLC/vlc-0.8.6d/vlc.exe, (error 5).
(gdb)

VLC version vlc-0.8.6.d + precompiled extra libs contrib-20070530-win32-bin-gcc-3.4.5-only.tar.bz2
Compile & Run Environment Windows XP + Cygwin, gcc (GCC) 3.4.4 (cygming special, gdc 0.12, using dmd 0.125)

Building : ./bootstrap, ./configure went ok. make failed at two points by the linker detecting undefined symbols.
First group of undefined symbols were _dca_* which I corrected by adding the library dca and invoking libtool manually as below:

/cygdrive/d/VLC/vlc-0.8.6d/modules/audio_filter/converter> /bin/sh ../../../libtool --tag=CC --mode=link gcc -mno-cygwin -Wsign-compare -Wall -mms-bitfields -pipe -L/usr/win32/lib -o libdtstofloat32_plugin.dll libdtstofloat32_plugin.a -L/usr/local/lib -shared -ldts_pic -ldca -u _vlc_entry__0_8_6

The second lot of undefined symbols were _ntohl@4, which I fixed by adding the library wsock32 and invoking libtool by hand as below:

/cygdrive/d/VLC/vlc-0.8.6d/modules/codec> /bin/sh ../../libtool --tag=CC --mode=link gcc -mno-cygwin -Wsign-compare -Wall -mms-bitfields -pipe -L/usr/win32/lib -o libflacdec_plugin.dll libflacdec_plugin.a -L/usr/local/lib -shared -lFLAC -L/lib/w32api -lwsock32 -u _vlc_entry__0_8_6

After each manual action I re-invoked 'make' and finally the process was completed apparently successfully. However, I tried every possible way of invoking the executable, none successful, and gdb gave the most explicit error message which was quoted above.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[bruceh]

Doh! chmod 755 vlc.exe.manifest and all is fine.