Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 09:59:16 +0300 (IDT)
From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
X-Sender: eliz AT is
To: Laurynas Biveinis <lauras AT softhome DOT net>
cc: "Salvador Eduardo Tropea (SET)" <salvador AT inti DOT gov DOT ar>,
        DJGPP Workers <djgpp-workers AT delorie DOT com>
Subject: Re: LBInstDJ
In-Reply-To: <001201be8507$aa8bb360$75003bd4@default>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.990413095849.29746F-100000@is>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Reply-To: djgpp-workers AT delorie DOT com
X-Mailing-List: djgpp-workers AT delorie DOT com
X-Unsubscribes-To: listserv AT delorie DOT com
Precedence: bulk


On Mon, 12 Apr 1999, Laurynas Biveinis wrote:

> 1) If user knows how to setup multiconfigurations, he will be able to
> install DJGPP by himself.

I disagree; I've seen too many examples to the contrary.

I suggest the following approach to the multi-config case:

  - detect it (look for "%config%", and make sure you compare
    case-insensitively, as many people right %Config% etc.);

  - ask the user to which configurations they want to add the DJGPP
    setup, and allow to say ALL or give a list;

  - for each configuration name, go to the end of the autoexec.bat and
    add something like this:

      if "%config%"=="CONFIG-NAME" PATH C:\DJGPP\BIN;%PATH%
      if "%config%"=="CONFIG-NAME" set DJGPP=C:\DJGPP\DJGPP.ENV

You will still need to find out if there are any lines that invoke
other batch files not through CALL (in which case the end of
autoexec.bat is never reached), but you need to deal with this
anyway.

The above still has some cases not covered, but those would be rare
(in my experience).

>      * Use the same rule as for updating whole autoexec.bat, just stay in
>        the bounds of one conf.

You cannot do that in many cases, since configurations are not
necessarily disjoint.  For example, the following case is very common:

   @echo off
   if "%config%=="simple" goto simplecfg
   ...
   ...
   :simplecfg
   ...

In these cases, the common part is after the :simplecfg label.

> BTW, about user's interface: how about porting it to turbo vision?

I think the installer should be as non-demanding on system hardware
and software as it can.  A simple ASCII interface would be the best
approach for the first approximation.  Once you have the basics
working, you can add bells and whistles.  There's nothing as
frustrating as a runaway installer with a cute display...