From: "John M. Aldrich" Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp Subject: Re: Stupid guy needs help Date: Mon, 28 Jul 1997 20:38:30 +0000 Organization: Two pounds of chaos and a pinch of salt Lines: 70 Message-ID: <33DD0346.2185@cs.com> References: <5rghe7$hge AT news DOT ox DOT ac DOT uk> <19970728054500 DOT BAA14091 AT ladder01 DOT news DOT aol DOT com> Reply-To: fighteer AT cs DOT com NNTP-Posting-Host: ppp107.cs.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp Precedence: bulk Lovecraft wrote: > > You'll notice that it gives a specicfic file name. Being new to this I > figured it was correct as written. Only after looking at other DJGPP web > sites did I find that I should put ALL of the needed files in one > directory and do a global pkunzip. Hmm. I guess that one is pretty much assumed, although we do get the occasional question about it. But I thought that the language in the readme file was pretty clear: "Unzip the zip files from that directory, preserving the directory structure." Note that it says "files", not "file", and makes no mention of alternate directories for each file. When in doubt, I find that it is best to apply Occam's Razor - the simplest answer is usually right. BTW, there are a few exceptions to this general rule; Allegro being the biggest. That's why I always look at the contents of any zipfile with "pkunzip -v" or equivalent before extracting any files. This has saved my neck on a number of occasions. Nobody really intends to jump down your throat on these things, but in order to keep the signal-to-noise ratio of the ng down to size, we try to pay particular attention to those questions that are not fully or clearly explained in the docs, or that apply to particular programming situations. Questions like, "Why doesn't your stupid compiler work?" really annoy us because we like to think that users have put some effort into solving their problems before they come to us for help. We welcome commentary on DJGPP programs of any sort, particularly suggestions and bug reports, and we enjoy chatting about various topics (see the message headers in the newsgroup for examples). Some of us, like myself, will even take time to answer completely off-topic questions instead of simply brushing people off, as long as we aren't too busy. Then there are people who just get angry at everything and sound off at will. You have to be patient with us; we're a mixed bunch. > My reason for going on about this is to ask what is this group for? > Beginners? Intermediates? Or experts of a select club? It takes all kinds to make a development environment like DJGPP successful. Many of us forget that we started out as beginners, too. I've fallen into that trap a few times myself. The best guideline to keep in mind when asking a question is whether you have done everything you can do to solve the problem yourself. Sometimes the answer is right at your fingertips; other times you need the wisdom of others. > The responses I've gotten remind me of the DOOM newsgroups. > > DJGPP Rules!!!!! > > There. Is that better? No. In fact, that's the sort of brainless comment that I detest most. _Why_ does DJGPP rule? Give specific examples. Better yet, why _doesn't_ it rule, and what can we do to remedy the situation? > I will be hesitant to ask anymore questions here. Don't do that; it won't solve anything. But feel free to trod on the toes of certain people when they get out of hand. Good luck! -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- | John M. Aldrich | "It may be better to be a live jackal| | aka Fighteer I | than a dead lion, but it is better | | mailto:fighteer AT cs DOT com | still to be a live lion." | | http://www.cs.com/fighteer | - Lazarus Long | ---------------------------------------------------------------------