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From: pshuang@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms
Subject: Re: How come?
Message-ID: <9106092229.AA03569@w20-575-105.MIT.EDU>
Date: 9 Jun 91 22:29:08 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Lines: 32


In article <7566.283e7b42@abo.fi> cburman@abo.fi writes:

 > My guess is that the WinConfusion has something to do with the way
 > Setup recognizes the progs it feels are worth setting up. But why
 > does this seem to happen only with editors?

It is not true that the confusion will occur only with editors.  Windows
Setup uses a very simple database of filenames to try and guess what
applications you have.  For example, it assumes that if you have a file
called Q.EXE that you have the application Quattro, whose main
executable is indeed named Q.EXE.  Unfortunately, QEdit also names its
executable Q.EXE.  This problem occurs oftener with editors than it
seems to with other kinds of software because many editors have very
short command names, i.e. Q.EXE, B.EXE, etc., more likely to be mixed
up.  This kind of problem is encountered by any program-finders.

I'm not sure that having the program look inside your files to make sure
that what it found is what it thinks it found would be very easy.  You
could not just have it check for file sizes or dates or CRC's because
any bug fixes on the application would render your check false.  My
personal preference is for the database to include not just the filename
of the main executable, but to check for auxillary files as well.  For
example, WP.EXE might be Wordperfect, but then again it might be a
number of other word processors on the market.  However, if the
program-finder programs discovers that the directory containing WP.EXE
also contains WP.FIL (a code overlay file), the certainty that it really
is a copy of Wordperfect has just shot up orders of magnitude.

Singing off,
UNIX:/etc/ping instantiated (Ping Huang).