Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!super!udel!rochester!cornell!mailrus!ames!oliveb!sun!pepper!cmcmanis
From: cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: Amiga Roadblocks to User Friendliness
Message-ID: <81201@sun.uucp>
Date: 12 Dec 88 21:56:26 GMT
References: <9407@gryphon.COM> <13943@oberon.USC.EDU>
Sender: news@sun.uucp
Reply-To: cmcmanis@sun.UUCP (Chuck McManis)
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mountain View
Lines: 79

About program installation ...

My startup sequence has a callout that runs the execute file
called "utility-setup". This consists of entries that look like

; PRODUCT : <name>
;
; <comments>
;
if EXISTS <install_dir>
	echo "Setting up <Application>"
	ASSIGN ASSIGN1: <install_dir>
	...
	Path <executable_dir> Add
Endif

In the case of Lattice C this looks something like :

; PRODUCT : LATTICE C
;
;  Set up for Lattice C 5.0
;
if EXISTS sys:lc
	echo "Setting up Lattice C 5.0"
	Assign LC: sys:lc/c
	Assign INCLUDE: SYS:lc/include
	Assign LIB: SYS:lc/lib
	Assign QUAD: RAM:
	path LC: add
Endif

Now to install something into the startup sequence I do two things,
one remove the old product definition. 	This can be accomplished with
an edit script that searches for the PRODUCT line and deletes lines
from there to the first "Endif" it encounters that starts in column one.
Then diddle around with the product definition stuff and assignments
and create a new temporary file PRODUCT.e and then use the AmigaDOS
Join command to tack this onto the end of my "utility-setup" file. 
Next time I reboot it does the assignments. 

As far as convention goes, I execute this just before I execute the
loadwb. 

Future Directions ...

Of course as anyone will tell you I have a zillion utilities and applications
that are on my system. And yet, everyone of them only requires that there
be "assignments" and path additions in the setup mode. (With the exception
of Manx which uses 'set'). This suggests to me that a utility "Mount" 
command may be the ticket to save a lot of disk grinding on assigns
and such like. Using a format that is something like a cross between
a mountlist and a makefile, possibly like this:

#
# Comment and delimiter of entry are the "#" marks.
#
Product
	Lattice C 5.0
Installed
	sys:lc
Assigns
	LC: 		$(INSTALL)/c
	INLCUDE:	$(INSTALL)/include	
	LIB:		$(INSTALL)/lib
	QUAD:		ram:
Addpath
	LC:
Environment
	EditorFlags	"a,b"	; An example only not needed for Lattice
# <- end of entry mark

This utility would read this entry and "setup" the application for you
with only "two" disk reads, one for the entry and one for the initial
setup utility loading.


--Chuck McManis
uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis   BIX: cmcmanis  ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.