Date: Tue, 29 Apr 1997 12:23:10 +0300 (IDT)
From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Request for opinions: CD-ROM installation
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.970429120159.23034U-100000@is>
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I would like to ask people to relate their views on the following problem. 
(But please do NOT post to the news group; write directly to me, and I
will post a summary after a while.)

A CD-ROM is in the works with DJGPP ports of GNU packages.  The intent is 
that most people will want to run the programs directly off the CD-ROM 
(to save some disk space).  So installation of the CD really boils down 
to updating CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT with a few commands (set PATH, 
set DJGPP env var, ensure there's enough environment space, etc.).

My opinion is that for this case, making an automated SETUP program is not
the best way to let people install the software.  The reason is that in my
experience, SETUP programs that mess with CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT get
it the wrong way many times.  One particular cause of trouble is the
multi-configuration feature in DOS 6 and later.  How many times did you
see an installation program mess your well-tuned system bt changing these
files?  How many times did you hold your breath and wished you had a fast
tape drive to back up your disks?

Since that CD-ROM needs to work in many different environments, including 
Windows 95, Windows/NT, maybe even DOSEmu, I feel that no amount of 
testing could ever ensure that the installation doesn't screw some class 
of systems somewhere.  For example, on Windows 95 there are at least 2 
different ways to edit the configuration (either globally or locally, for 
the DOS box only).  How can I tell which way is prefered by the user?

So I think that in this case, making SETUP to create a batch file and 
then telling the user to add a call to that batch file in her/his 
startup files is a much better way.  After all, most people who would use 
that CD-ROM are serious developers (I think it will cost too much for 
one-season users who just need their final assignment program to run).

I was asked by Richard Stallman to ask other developers what do they 
think about this.  Since this forum is the best place to ask about such 
problems, I'm asking all who care to please tell me about your views and 
experience with automatic SETUPs.

Once again, please DO NOT post to the news group.  Write directly to me; I
will post a summary after a while. 

Thanks in advance.