Mail Archives: opendos/1997/03/22/23:33:58
On Thu, 20 Mar 1997, Tim Bird wrote:
> > Again, since the standard would ONLY BE A RECOMMENDATION, other
> > users would NOT have to abide by it anyways. Those who did
> > however would benefit greatly by the features of the standard.
>
> Mike has hit the nail on the head here. If this is on the wishlist,
> it should be separated into 2 parts: a file system standard, and
> a "smart installer" facility. Both would be applicable not only
> to OpenDOS, but also to MSDOS systems. The smart installer could
[BIG SNIPPAGE]
The way that you just described the 2 parts is exactly how I
envision it. The redhat package manager is very much the type of
thing that is needed. If and when the smart installer is made,
it should definately use a DOSish archive format though. I
recommend ZIP by default, but ANY archiver should be able to
work. In other words, the smart installer should understand RAR,
ARJ, TGZ, ZOO, UC2, EXE self extractors, etc... it should be
upgradeable as well. If this is done, then it is theoretically
possible to make the smart installer work with almost ALL old
applications. For example:
DOOM.ZIP (Just a hypothetical example...)
SMINSTALL DOOM.ZIP
The smart install program now makes a temp dir, and unzips DOOM
into it (first checking to see if there is enough disk space,
etc...). Then, it displays a list of executable files found in
the archive. From this, you can either run one of the
executables (INSTALL.BAT) or view text files via the built in
file viewer. Since the DOOM Install program will want to pick
C:\DOOM as it's default, the smart install program should display
a message such as:
The program you have chosen to install is an older program
which predates the DOS file system standard. As a
result, this Smart Install program cannot install it
automatically for you. Therefore you must decide which
executable file is the installer for this program. Such
install programs are usually named something like:
INSTALL.EXE, INSTALL.BAT, SETUP.EXE, etc... If you are unsure
which file to execute then you can use Smart Installs built in
file browser to view the text files that come with the program
you are trying to install. Look for a file called
something like README.TXT, README.1ST, READ.ME, HELP.TXT,
MANUAL.DOC, MANUAL.TXT, or some other file.
Although you are free to install programs wherever you like on
your hard disk, your computer will be more organized and will
comply with the new DOS file system standard if you install
this piece of software into it's own subdirectory off of the
directory: C:\GAMES. So when the actual install program asks
you where to install, pick: C:\GAMES\GAMENAME
> Since the hardest thing to do to get a project off the ground is come
> up with the name, I'll suggest one: The OpenDOS Package Manager
> (OPM for short) Hopefully no one will misunderstand when
> someone says "I really need OPM!" :^)
>
> Tim Bird
Either that or "Caldera Package Manager" sounds good. I think
I'll start refering to this program as "OpenDOS Package Manager"
from now on though. I'm going to start a section in the wishlist
for it now that ideas are starting to take shape.
TTYL
Mike A. Harris | http://blackwidow.saultc.on.ca/~mharris
Computer Consultant | Coming soon: dynamic-IP-freedom...
My dynamic address: http://blackwidow.saultc.on.ca/~mharris/ip-address.html
mailto:mharris AT blackwidow DOT saultc DOT on DOT ca
DJGPP: Free 32 bit DOS C compiler.
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