Hi Brian, thanks for your impressive answer!
At the moment I can live again with my REBOL installation (as I wrote earlier) but surely I will save your e-mail in order to be able to use it when any such problem comes up again. Luckily enough I use an account with administrator rights and I don't use REBOL from any other accounts currently. That makes the case a lot less complicated for me then. Your suggestion to create a full-proof install-script sounds like a great idea. Perhaps it would be even better to also have the script clean-up any old REBOL installs before it does a new install? (In fact RT should also improve the install part or, perhaps even better, remove "installation" as it is done now.) All in all a very good idea Brian! I think it could help a lot of people. Thanks again. Met vriendelijke groet / with kind regards, Arie van Wingerden http://home.zonnet.nl/rebolution/ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brian Hawley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, May 07, 2004 6:58 AM Subject: [REBOL] Re: [The Gimp] clashes with REBOL on Windows 2000 > > Hi Ari! > > You've run into a problem that tripped me up for a while: > REBOL doesn't put its data in the proper places on Windows > 2000 and above - in other words, it is not "logo-compliant". > REBOL's default install puts its program file and data files > in a directory under Program Files. Since Windows security > settings prevent a standard user from writing to these > program directories, only a "Power User" or administrator > has sufficient permissions to use REBOL/View by default. > > Fortunately you can hack a REBOL/View install manually to > make it mostly logo-compliant, and thus allow it to be used > by ordinary users without being a security risk. Here's a > quick overview, assuming a standard install of Windows 2000 > or above and REBOL/View 1.2.1 to 1.2.8 (please bear with me > if you know some of this, I'm trying to make it useful to > others that have the same problem): > > First, let REBOL/View install itself into some central place > such as "C:\Program Files\REBOL\View". This will set up most > of the global settings in the registry and some of the local > ones. Close REBOL. REBOL may have downloaded some files to > this directory for the desktop - if this is a new install, > you can delete everything but the program files. > > Next you need to create the local user settings. These are > stored in the user profile directory, sort of like a user's > home directory on Unix. Windows 2000 and above store their > profiles in directories under "C:\Documents and Settings", > earlier versions of NT under C:\WINNT\Profiles. If you have > trouble finding your profile an environment variable named > USERPROFILE points to it automatically - this is like the > Unix variable HOME, which is not defined by default on > Windows. The Gimp uses USERPROFILE on Windows by default. > > Now, you'll need to repeat this for each user that already > has a user profile created. Find the "Application Data" > folder in the profile directory. It will be hidden. If you > aren't sure where it is, there is an environment variable > APPDATA that points to it. Create a REBOL subdirectory in > that folder. That will be your REBOL home folder - make a > note of where it is, it's time to hack the registry. > > Open a registry editor and find the key: > HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\REBOL\View > Under that key there will be a string value named HOME, > which will contain a REBOL-format directory name without > the % - change that value to match the REBOL home folder > you created earlier, for example: > /C/Documents and Settings/Ari/Application Data/REBOL/ > > You should be set now. When you start REBOL now it will > start the program in "C:\Program Files\REBOL\View" and > use your REBOL home as its working directory. If you moved > over your data to that folder it should work right away; > otherwise REBOL will download the files it needs. > > Now here comes the tricky part. You may have noticed that > in under that same registry key there is another string > value named Product. That key is the marker that REBOL > uses to determine whether it is installed and current. > The problem is that this key is in absolutely the wrong > place - it should be under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, as it is > a global setting, and treated as such by REBOL. It is a > global setting because REBOL associates .r files with > the REBOL executable, something that can only be done > globally, and also registers an uninstaller with the > Add/Remove Programs control panel (which can be done in > a per-user way but they don't). Since this setting is > under HKEY_CURRENT_USER every user that runs REBOL for > the first time triggers a reinstall, which then messes > up the registry settings for everyone. This key can't > be moved to the right place either, because REBOL looks > for it where it is. This is a long-standing REBOL bug. > > All this means that you need to create REBOL directories > and REBOL\View registry keys for every user on the system > and for the default user as well, just to make sure that > none of the other users can mess up anyone's settings by > accident. If you are an administrator you can find the > registry settings in the subkeys of HKEY_USERS that don't > end in _Classes - just replicate the Software\REBOL\View > settings, adjusting HOME accordingly, and don't forget > Product. The default user's profile folder is the hidden > "Default User" folder in the profiles directory. Be sure > to create a REBOL folder in its "Application Data" as > well, so it will be copied to new user profiles. While > you're at it, you might as well get rid of the uninstall > reference to REBOL in the registry too - it doesn't do > much and isn't secured against use by Users. REBOL is > easy to uninstall manually anyway, except the plugin > version. > > I hope this info helps. It should even be enough to aid > in the creation of a installer script if anyone is so > inclined. This method will even work on Windows 9x, but > you'll need to follow the registry key versions of the > environment variables that 9x doesn't define - ask me > for details if you need to. I'd be quite happy to rewrite > the REBOL built-in installer script if anyone would be > interested. > > Good luck, Ari! > > Brian Hawley > > At 04:30 PM 5/2/04 +0200, Arie van Wingerden wrote: > >Hi all, > > > >when I tried to install The Gimp on Windows 2000 I found out that there is a > >clash with REBOL. > >I've set the environment variable HOME to point to the REBOL/View > >executable. > >However, The Gimp seems to take HOME as it's place to write user dependent > >info and tries to create directories and files at that place. > > > >Does anybody know whether there is an alternative name for HOME to point to > >the REBOL stuff, or to direct The Gimp elsewhere? > > > >I already tried to remove HOME temporarily, then letting The Gimp create > >it's stuff (now in an appropriate user dependent place). When I then start > >The Gimp later it works fine. However, when I reintroduce HOME, The Gimp > >gets lost again and wants to use HOME again. > > > >Met vriendelijke groet / with kind regards, > > Arie van Wingerden > >http://home.zonnet.nl/rebolution/ > > > >-- > >To unsubscribe from this list, just send an email to > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe as the subject. > > -- > To unsubscribe from this list, just send an email to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe as the subject. -- To unsubscribe from this list, just send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe as the subject.
