Message-ID:	<3265A6E6.7F6@cs.com>
Date:	Wed, 16 Oct 1996 20:24:22 -0700
From:	"John M. Aldrich" <fighteer AT cs DOT com>
Reply-To:	fighteer AT cs DOT com
Organization:	Three pounds of chaos and a pinch of salt
MIME-Version:	1.0
To:	grendel AT ananke DOT amu DOT edu DOT pl
CC:	DJ Delorie <dj AT delorie DOT com>, eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il, djgpp-workers AT delorie DOT com
Subject:	Re: Install thingy
References:	<Pine DOT NEB DOT 3 DOT 95 DOT 961016190357 DOT 14188H-100000 AT ananke DOT amu DOT edu DOT pl>

Mark Habersack wrote:
> 
> >2) Write the installer as a djgpp program and bind it with the _custom_
> >stub, then use a batch file similar to mine to interpret any resulting
> >error.
> That's the route to take.

If you haven't already, you can grab a copy of the latest alpha of
djverify and get the modified stub code and the makefile I use to
compile it.  It shouldn't be at all difficult to modify it for your
needs.

> Isn't Ctrl-Break handled by BIOS and intercepted by DOS which is, in turn,
> intercepted by our signal handler?

As I recall, Ctrl-Break as handled by CWSDPMI completely kills the
program, bypassing any signal handlers the program may have installed. 
I imagine you could get around this with a direct keyboard interrupt
hook, but that's a bit complex for so simple an issue.  Note that I
don't really care what happens when Ctrl-Break is hit, except that I
_don't_ want a program exit code of 255.

I'll test it tonight and tell you what happens.

> They say there are zip2sfx converters that allow you to run a specified file
> in the end of unpacking process. Have any idea on where to find one?

I've no idea.  I suggest a web search or a search of the SimTel archive.

> Well, there's always RAR with its script language. What do you think?

I have never heard of it.  This of course exemplifies what I said
originally, that we should try to keep things as simple and internally
consistent as possible.  Using an archive format that is radically
different from the format of the rest of the djgpp files can only lead
to user confusion.

Besides, I would like to contend the following points in regards to
"user intelligence," or whatever we want to call it.  :)

First, the djgpp files themselves are distributed in .zip format.  Users
have complained about many, many things on the newsgroup/mailing list,
but I have never heard anybody ask, "What's a .zip?"  Perhaps DJ has;
nevertheless the number of users who have access to the Internet and
don't know about zip/pkzip AND can't find out on their own probably
numbers in the low hundredths of a percent (not counting AOLusers, of
course).

Second, any user who has not only used the 'net, but has heard about
djgpp and is willing to learn to use it probably ranks higher than
average in the "user intelligence" category.

Third, anyone who has programmed in or intends to learn programming in C
almost has to know _something_ about the way computers work; at least
enough to know what DOS is and how to type "install" from a command
line.  Most games are installed this way, in fact.

I contend that it is possible to deal with the very few users who do not
fit at least one of the above criteria (and still try to obtain djgpp)
on a personal basis without wasting enough time to justify an elaborate
solution to the problem.  Making a self-extracting zip with an
"install.bat" file for the user to run should be more than sufficient.

-- 
John M. Aldrich, aka Fighteer I <fighteer AT cs DOT com>

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