To all, During this discussion thread, Megan Davis asked whether my simple Perl backup program is available in Macintosh version.
I've considered and want to do the extension so the program will run on a Mac using MacPerl, but that work is not complete at this point. Dave Shaw has offered to make the changes that would let the program run Stuffit instead of WinZip. I'm working on my Perl programming now, so the extension is a good "learning" project for me. I believe the core program functions should all work in MacPerl - it's just standard Perl code and should be very portable to other systems. However, it's been a while since I've fired up my Mac, and I need to get a day or two to do that and evaluate what details might need changes. I think the main issue now is that I've built in a number of functions to make sure that directory/folder/file paths are structured correctly. Because the program is written for DOS/Windows, the separators in those folder names are slashes. The modification to use the Mac style ":" separators is easy, but I need to also double-check the way the program cleans up the use of quotes in specifying paths. An alternative is that a stripped down copy of the program which ASSUMES that the paths are set up absolutely correctly by the user COULD be made available for Mac use quite quickly, I think... I think it should be possible to produce a single "code module" that would run correctly on both DOS/Windows and Mac platform. I also think the extension to Unix/Linux could be included if anyone out there would be interested in that. In summary, I am planning the extension to the Mac, have received expressions of interest from a couple people running Ebase on Macs, and feel the work is doable, but the final product isn't available yet. I think I might be able to fit this work into my schedule within the next couple weeks. Of course, if I know there are potential Mac users of the program out there, I'll prioritize that work a bit higher... I just think it's tragic to have problems just for lack of frequent backups... ************************************************************** Larry F. Bednar Consulting in Statistics, Quality, Data Management Portland, OR 503.493.8542 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************************************** ------------------ Reminder to each recipient: To change your list account preferences, go to http://email.sparklist.com/scripts/lyris.pl?enter=support and enter the email address you used to subscribe to the ebase support list:: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- ebase - Relationship Management for Nonprofits, http://www.ebase.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------
