Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 08:45:52 +0300 (IDT)
From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
To: Robert Humphris <r DOT humphris AT indigo-avs DOT com>
cc: "'djGpp list'" <djgpp AT delorie DOT com>
Subject: RE: DJGPP IS in way too many pieces
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Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.970626084512.13075A-100000@is>
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On Wed, 25 Jun 1997, Robert Humphris wrote:

> Would it be a good idea if DJGPP were broken down into 1.44mb zip files,
> so that a disk set could be made up, say a 10 disk set,

Most of DJGPP is files less than 1.44MB, so they will fit on floppies
as they are.

> an installation
> program could be implemented so that things such as the environment
> variables, and directory structures were set in a predefined manner.

A preliminary version of a DJGPP installer is available from DJ
Delorie's server.  I don't know why didn't it evolve beyond alpha
release.  Perhaps people weren't using it too much (which might
suggest it's not such a necessity afer all).

> This would probably cut out 90% of the newbie questions, which will save
> the amount of mail that you people with a low speed connections have to
> down load.

Unfortunately, my experience leads me to a sad conclusion that
*nothing* could cut as much as 90% of the newbie questions.  Heck, I'd
settle for 50% decrease, but no such luck.  The statistics of the
traffic on this group (as far as my impressions go) is steady for the
last few years, although no effort has been saved to make
newbie-friendly docs available in every imaginable form.

> Even more radicaly! Have one big file for people like me who download at
> work, and zip onto 10 disks go home and unzip.

It is virtually impossible to produce such a file that will make
everybody happy.  Some people want C++, some don't.  Some would like
Allegro, some won't.  Some need RHIDE, others want Emacs.  In short,
one man's convenience is another's nuisance.  IMHO, it won't work any
better than the late Soviet Union did.

However, this is only my opinion.  If you feel strong about the
necessity of such a beast, by all means go ahead and make it happen.
When you think you have a releasable version, write to DJ Delorie
<dj AT delorie DOT com> and ask him to make it available from the usual DJGPP
sites.