> With the risk of having used an outdated binary (and lacking compiler > environment for your official source-code-only release):
Install 4.01 isn't "complete" but it is "stable" for use in the next 1.1 Test distribution. By the time the Install program is ready for 1.1 (official), I'll have made a few other releases. :-) > SCREEN: INSTALL TO: > * Suppose I'd be a complete newbie to DOS: how do I know what to type > there? (a.k.a what's valid input). > * Absolute paths required? Relative paths seem to be supported, in which > case there's attempts to create subdirectory structure in current > directory. Which won't work ofcourse from cdrom > * Path isn't checked/created before starting unzipping, depending on > UNZIP itself instead to create directories? Or rather you're not > returned to initial inputfield. > * Try typing NUL into that field > * Try typing C:\DUMMY\FDOS in there if C:\DUMMMY doesn't exist For the above: I'm thinking about simplifying the input even further, asking for just the install *drive* and not a a full path. We can assume installing to \FDOS (such as C:\FDOS). Actually, the Install program might even make an educated guess for where to install FreeDOS. For example, if the Install program is executed from A: or B: or D: (etc) then maybe the Install program should suggest installing to C: (if the Installer is executed from C: then maybe it doesn't make any suggestion, and simply asks the user.) > * How to confirm/terminate install location input? pressing ENTER I > guess, but no visual indication of this (at bottom of screen) > * How to exit the program without doing anything? F3 key seems popular > in other installers. I'll add some level of confirmation of values before installing, and an easy way to "gracefully" abort the install if the user chooses to. > SCREEN: INSTALLING: > * Sometimes getting the "caution: excluded filename not matched: > SOURCE/*" when answered No to both questions. Seems odd. When selecting > to not install sources, no messages related to them are expected. That message comes from the Unzip program. I got that too, during testing, but I rebuilt the zip file it was complaining about, and the error didn't reappear. I think the problem was mixed case in the zip package file. > SCREEN: DONE > * No input on how to proceed/finish (pressing any random key?) I will add a "press any key" message. I'll borrow the NLS string from the CHOICE program. > Bugs: whatever you've described already, with most noticeable the > install everything / sources questions using first given answer. That ended up being a display error. The functionality was ok, but Install was displaying the first answer for the second question. > Documentation omissions found so far: > * INSTALL.EXE can started from anywhere, but whatever your current > directory is, a subdirectory PACKAGES must exist, which must have at > least a subdirectory BASE. I need to add better error checking for this. Although most of the time, I'd expect that the Install program is executed by the install scripts on the install CDROM. This bug becomes an issue only when the user runs commands from the live session on the CDROM, and runs the INSTALL program at the command line. But still need to check this. > * UNZIP and RESET need to be in current directory or found in %path%. > * which subdirectories are valid for PACKAGES? Rest ignored or also > processed? The Reset program is intended for debugging, if you abort the install test and need to clear your screen. But CLS does the same thing, so there's not much point in having Reset. :-) I'll remove Reset in the next update. > * SUBST/JOIN usable for floppy install? 'mount' floppy files in some > dummy "PACKAGES\BASE" directory? The new Install assumes a CDROM install source, and reads all the packages at the beginning (so it understands the total number, used in progress bar) then installs the packages. To do this using floppies, the Install program would need to be refactored. But I wonder if anyone really installs FreeDOS from floppies in 2011? > * TIMEZONE stuff required? Didn't notice anything going wrong besides > sometimes a warning. Any documentation for what is valid input for TZ? The TZ variable is used in Unzip or the UzpMain() library, not (strictly speaking) in the Install program. Not having the timezone set just results in a warning. To keep the warning from coming up, the included Unzip program sets TZ with a PST value, if TZ is not already set, just to suppress the warning message. > * Package structure described? The FreeDOS 1.0 and 1.1 package structure is in the wiki: http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/freedos/index.php?title=Package This was imported into the wiki in January 2009 from a "HOWTO" document. It was discussed on the mailing list some time before that. > * Documented that InfoZip's UNZIP is required/expect, and no others > supported (7ZIP, PKZIP, UNRAR, TUNZ, 7ZDECOD etc) ? I'll add a note in the docs. But this is one reason that I'd prefer to use UzpMain() or some other internal library to unzip/install packages. Again, if anyone can figure out why this doesn't work (currently using InfoZip's Unzip 6.0) I'd appreciate the help. > * INSTALL expects/assumes user has validated that the input is > 1) a directory (try C:\KERNEL.SYS as input if it exists as file) > 2) on an existing driveletter > 3) on a drive > 4) FAT12/16/32 > 5) with enough free diskspace > 6) valid input I think if the Install program prompts for install drive, rather than a full path, I think this will address some of these. I'll also add a check that the drive letter is valid, and error checks around making sure the destination either is a directory or can be created as a directory. The only way I can figure to test if the destination has enough space is to use hard-coded values for how big FreeDOS 1.1 will be after it is installed (with/without all packages, with/without source code.) > Question: can PACKAGES\subdirs\*.LSM now be deleted? Install doesn't > give descriptions anymore of individual packages anyway. Correct, the LSM files are no longer required. > Question: are sources installed and later deleted, or excluded by UNZIP > as was the initial intent? If you do not want to install sources, they are excluded by Unzip as the package is installed. > Possible enhancements: > scripting possibilities for: > 1) source directory > 2) destination directory > 3) automation (accepting source input by default, and finish last screen > 3 seconds or so after being all done) > 4) /ALLSETS or /BASEONLY ; /NOSOURCE ; /QUIET I'll re-add command line options. I had removed them for this version. >> There are some known issues (see doc\BUGS.TXT) but this seems stable >> enough that it can be used as an installer for the FreeDOS 1.1-test >> distribution. > > Yes, usable, will integrate it. Thanks for the work so far. > (and I'll throw UPX over it to reduce size of binaries) If you do, please use UPX-UCL instead of NRV. -jh ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ All of the data generated in your IT infrastructure is seriously valuable. Why? It contains a definitive record of application performance, security threats, fraudulent activity, and more. Splunk takes this data and makes sense of it. IT sense. And common sense. http://p.sf.net/sfu/splunk-d2d-c2 _______________________________________________ Freedos-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
