Date:	Thu, 21 Oct 1999 14:34:09 +0200 (IST)
From:	Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
X-Sender:	eliz AT is
To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject:	Re: Ambitious suggestion for a DJGPP add-on
In-Reply-To:	<L3xP3.1234$zO.44147@dfiatx1-snr1.gtei.net>
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Reply-To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
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On Thu, 21 Oct 1999, Damian Yerrick wrote:

> Active Zip Picker: a program made with RSXNTDJ
> that lets the user choose the most common setup
> (C/C++, Allegro, and RHIDE on Windows 95/98)
> or walks the user through a set of dialog boxes
> similar to the Zip Picker. It then checks for the
> latest versions. If betas are available, it asks:
>     "Do you want a stable release or the latest
>     beta that may be more or less stable?"

You are talking about an installation program.

This has come up before, and at least two people tried seriously to make 
it happen.  Perhaps they are still working on that.

Previous discussions revealed several difficulties, some of them are 
listed below:

  - it must be able to run with no DPMI server installed (otherwise it's 
    a chicken-and-egg problem, since CWSDPMI is distributed in a zip file).

  - it must be very smart and very careful about changing system 
    configuration files, AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS.  Some people use 
    very sophisticated configurations, and get pissed off when their 
    system is messed up by an installer.

  - it must detect and cope with a case of insufficient environment space 
    (after you add the DJGPP variable and enlarge PATH).

> changes DJGPP.ENV to fix the -lstdcx bug.

This should not be required: DJGPP v2.03 already includes the required 
entries in stock DJGPP.ENV.

> It then adds a shortcut to RHIDE
> (working directory not set) to the Start menu

There are no ``shortcuts'' in the Start menu.  There are shortcuts, and 
there are Start menu items--which one did you mean?

Anyway, why do this for RHIDE only?  Why not arrange a shortcut for 
DJGPP?  And what about people who didn't download RHIDE in the first 
place--why clutter their desktop?

> and associates RHIDE with .c, .cpp, and .gpr files.

That's a no-no: people might have their favorite editor associated with 
the C/C++ sources.  Perhaps suggest an option for this.

> Advantages:
> No WinZip problems.
> No missing files.
> Environment is set correctly.
> No more -lstdcx bug.

Disadvantages:

New exciting bugs we know nothing about ;-)

Never mind, that was just a silly joke of an old cynic.  Don't let it 
discourage you!

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