Message-ID:	<32620F65.4EF3@cs.com>
Date:	Mon, 14 Oct 1996 03:01:09 -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 961013203411 DOT 5686E-100000 AT ananke DOT amu DOT edu DOT pl>

Mark Habersack wrote:
> 
> >If it can be built with/for djgpp, please do it that way.
>
> Well... ok, so maybe I'll do it this way: I'll write the main install
> executable in DJGPP and add a small 'loader' utility that would run on every
> machine (it might be done in djasm).  I know that there's a stub loader for
> DJGPP programs, but it will report only that, say, it cannot find DPMI.  The
> RM loader would check for everything that's needed to start up the install:
> mainly processor type and free memory.  Such a solution would provide an
> elegant way to tell users who have incompatible machines what's wrong with
> their computers.  Loader would not be limited to few bytes for messages and
> would present users more explanative error messages.

You don't need to do that - just use my batch file!  :)  I have already
written a stub which outputs specific error codes for each error
message, and a batch file which interprets them.  You should be able to
use them as is, with suitable changes to the names in the batch file. 
The file is in the djverify.zip that I uploaded to DJ's server, or I
could email you the latest updates.  It's not always necessary to
reinvent the wheel. :)

-- 
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| John M. Aldrich, aka Fighteer I  |        fighteer AT cs DOT com         |
| Plan:  To find ANYONE willing to |   http://www.cs.com/fighteer   |
| play Descent 2 on DWANGO!        | Tagline: <this space for rent> |
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