Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 13:38:37 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Mike A. Harris" <mharris AT blackwidow DOT saultc DOT on DOT ca>
Reply-To: "Mike A. Harris" <mharris AT blackwidow DOT saultc DOT on DOT ca>
To: pierre AT tycho DOT com
cc: OpenDOS Mailing List <opendos AT delorie DOT com>
Subject: Re: DOS utilities (was Re: A few FS notions)
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.3.95.970506082020.19030A-100000@55-174.hy.cgocable.ca>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.95.970506132738.16282D-100000@capslock.com>
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On Tue, 6 May 1997, Pierre Phaneuf wrote:

> On Mon, 5 May 1997, Mike A. Harris wrote:
> 
> > Also, the binary dists should NOT come with source right now
> > IMHO, and even later on, separate source distribs make more
> > sense.
> 
> I was thinking about a scheme like Red Hat RPMs, where you can get
> .i386.rpm, .alpha.rpm and .sparc.rpm, just as well as .src.rpm...
> Developers get the .src.rpm (after installing a base package that will
> install the bare minimum AND the package manager).

Yes, sounds good, but it has to be EASIER than RPM's, and the
"RPM" file must come ready to run as either a self extracting EXE
or a ZIP file IMHO, *NOT* as an RPM file.
 
> > However one shouldn't need to download 30M of source code just to
> > get the source for SUBST either.  I think that it should be
> > broken down into several pieces such as a BASE source distrib
> > including the kernel, as well as COMMAND.COM, and the headers for
> > EVERYTHING, then one only need download the "ODfileutils" source,
> > or the "OD diskutils" source, or the "driver source", etc...
> 
> Exactly! I see the BASE package as a diskette image with FDISK, FORMAT,
> SYS, the package manager, a script or installation program to let you
> create a partition or use an existing one, format it if it isn't, SYS it
> and install the package manager. No tools, they'd come in a separate
> package, with or without sources, so you can updates your tools to the
> latest version without doing stuff all over your hard drive...

Lets decide exactly what should be in the different packages.
Sound good?  Here is my suggestion of what to start off with:

(Binary dists)
BASE package (16-bit OpenDOS version)
	IBMDOS.COM
	IBMBIO.COM
	COMMAND.COM
	FDISK
	SYS
	INSTALL.EXE
	EMM386.EXE
	OPENDOS\DRIVERS\NWCDEX.EXE
	OPENDOS\DRIVERS\ODMOUSE.EXE
	OPENDOS\DRIVERS\NWCACHE.EXE
	OPENDOS\FILESYS\FAT.SYS
	OPENDOS\FILESYS\EXT2.SYS
	OPENDOS\FILESYS\NTFS.SYS
	OPENDOS\FILESYS\HPFS.SYS
	

UTILITY package (16-bit OpenDOS version)
	OPENDOS\DELTREE
	OPENDOS\BACKUP
	OPENDOS\STACKER
	OPENDOS\RESTORE



Well, there are countless others, but this is a start.  Please
add to the list, or change it in any way that you see fit.

The BASE package SHOULD set up a MINIMUM OD installation IMHO,
without requiring any additional packages to get it working.
	
Packages should be able to be installed, removed, upgraded,
etc...  all with the smart installer program.


Mike A. Harris        |             http://blackwidow.saultc.on.ca/~mharris
Computer Consultant   |                  Coming soon: dynamic-IP-freedom...
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