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From: kbad@atari.UUCP (Ken Badertscher)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Pexec Cookbook, and pseudolegal system calls...
Keywords: Pexec Cookbook, desktop.inf, shel_get, shel_put
Message-ID: <1423@atari.UUCP>
Date: 2 Apr 89 14:31:48 GMT
Organization: Atari Corp., Sunnyvale, CA
Lines: 56


  Several people have asked how to get the Pexec Cookbook.  It is
available to registered developers, who can find it in the usual online
places.  It will also be included with the TOS 1.4 release notes, which
will be sent to all* registered developers.  It is also being folded
into the developer documentation, so if you buy that documentation, you
can get it that way too.  Complete Atari ST developer documentation (not
schematics, they are available seperately) is available from Atari Corp. 
for $100.  If you're looking for "real" ST documentation, this is the
first and best place to get the inside facts.  Believe me, you get quite
a stack of documentation for your hard-earned C-note!

================

In article <1409@atari.UUCP> I wrote:
>As someone mentioned, there is the shel_get call.  However, it only
>returns the address of the AES internal buffer which is sometimes used
>to store DESKTOP.INF data, ***AND*** the format of that buffer is
>SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.
>  In other words, don't try to use what you find there, or your software
>will surely break in the future.
 ... 
>it is NOT a good idea to go peeking
>around in the AES' private variable space.  The AES and Desktop are a
>very tangled intertwining convoluted piece of work, and you stand a very
>good chance of breaking something before you would add a useful
>enhancement if you tried to modify the way the Desktop handles window
>templates.

Ignac Kolenko writes:
 if the shel_get() call returns values which are *internal* to the desktop
 only, then why, oh why, is this call sitting around for us programmers
 to use???????????????? The tos 1.4 developer docs do not say that there
 is anything inherently wrong with using shel_get()!!! (i had to phone
 a friend who has the docs to find out this info)
 
Quite a few things in TOS are documented and have no useful function.
That does not mean that programmers can or should have carte blanche to
use these features.  Nor should anyone assume that the useless features
will retain the same behavior in future TOS revisions.  It is
unfortunate that the BETA TOS developer documentation was unclear on the
lack of usefulness of the shel_put() and shel_get() AES calls, but that
oversight will be corrected in the final release notes.
 
  Don't do illegal stuff with your software, please.  We are no longer
constrained to strict software compatibility in future TOS revisions,
and I, for one, intend to take advantage of that fact.  This means that
I will be implementing enhancements which will almost certainly break
software that either a) didn't follow the rules in the first place, or
b) was built on bad assumptions about the internal workings of TOS.
 
  P.S.  Have a nice day. ;-)
-- 
 Ken Badertscher                 | #include <disclaimer>
 Atari R&D                       | No pith, just a path:
 Software Engine                 |   {portal,ames,imagen}!atari!kbad