From:	"John M. Aldrich" <fighteer AT cs DOT net>
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	Re: Testing DJGPP Installation
Date:	Sat, 29 Aug 1998 11:41:49 -0400
Organization:	Two pounds of chaos and a pinch of salt.
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To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
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Ralph Proctor wrote:
> 
> At 07:06 PM 8/28/98 -0400, you wrote:
> 
> >> How do I detect whether DJGPP is installed in a user's computer
> >> *reliably*?
> >
> >There is no 100% reliable way to do so.........................
> 
> John:
> 
> Unless you are being extremely literal with the "100%" what's wrong with
> these tests????:
> 
> 1. Run go32-v2
> 2. Run DJVERIFY
> and after those tests turn out right you want to push up toward the "100%"
> sureness level---
> 3. Make Allegro
> 
> Of course as far as I am concerned, DJVERIFY alone is enough (although I'm
> not sure what you mean by "100%" -- Are you referring to Pascal, FORTRAN,
> C++ et al.?)
> 
> I'm not picking nits here--I'm just trying to find out why you said "There
> is no 100% reliable way [to detect whether DJGPP is installed in a user's
> computer reliably]"

If djgpp is installed and working, detecting it is easy.  It's the case
where djgpp is installed incorrectly that things become difficult. 
Examples:

 - djgpp is unzipped in c:\windows\temp, without preserving the
directory structure.
 - Neither PATH nor DJGPP are set in the environment.
 - Another GNU-workalike compiler is installed and it comes with
'gcc.exe' and/or other key files.
 - DJGPP is installed on a network drive, or removable media such as a
ZIP drive.

In such a situation, finding djgpp would require searching the entire
hard drive (or all drives on a system), and possibly distinguishing
between the non-djgpp GNU compiler and djgpp.  I thought of this kind of
thing when writing DJVERIFY and decided that the best solution is to not
even try, and let the user tell me where djgpp is installed if my
program can't find it.

By all means, though, I welcome any solution you might come up with for
such a problem!  :-)

-- 
John M. Aldrich, aka Fighteer I <fighteer AT cs DOT net>  UIN# 7406319

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