Games of Daze

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Text File | 1994-09-12 | 12.8 KB | 324 lines

INSTALL - a simple Software Installation System ----------------------------------------------- This small system is intended to be used by software developers or anyone who distribute files to the end users. There are some very nice installation programs on both shareware and commercial markets today. These programs give your application nice and professional look. But there are (at least) three disadvantages: 1. Installation programs occupy anywhere from 57Kb to (and over) 200Kb of your precious floppy disk space. 2. Almost all of the installation programs have their script and other control files occupying another 20Kb-100Kb of floppy disk space. 3. They cost. For average commercial installation program cost is around $250. This INSTALL does not have fancy screens or shadowed windows, but it does all the basic functions of the professional installation systems: check for DOS version, check for minimum CPU, check for available disk space, create directory structure you've defined, decompress files spread over multiple floppy disks, execute your setup program and display YOUR copyright message. Oh, and it beats those three disadvantages of the professional installers: 1. It occupy 11Kb of the floppy disk space. 2. No script (or any other control) files on the floppy. 3. It is free. Actually, it is not free. I am asking you to spend some time and e-mail me or call me if you run into any problems or have any suggestions (a simple 'Hi/Bye' is OK, too). The whole system is very simple. It is not necessary to have 'a comprehensive 300 pages manual'. All important stuff is written here. Also, take a look at the SAMPLE.SCR, sample script file. Main users of this software will be computer professionals and I know how much they (including me) hate to read User Manuals. I'll try to keep it brief. About INSTALL ------------- INSTALL was NOT written to COMPETE with other shareware or commercial installers. I needed a small, robust installation program which will do the job without overhead of the full blown installers. And I feel that probably there are some people who might benefit from my effort. I still have clients who are using old 360Kb floppy drives, so the size of installation program was important to me. INSTALL is written entirely in Assembly Language (MASM 6.11) and it does not have any 'fancy' (and sometimes unnecessary) features. I do not intend to implement windowing or updating of AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files because it will significantly increase the size of installation program itself. Besides, if you instruct your end users properly, most of them will be able to change these files by themselves. INSTBLD.EXE - Building distribution floppies -------------------------------------------- The whole system contains two programs (they must be in the SAME directory): - INSTBLD.EXE program to build distribution disk(s) - INSTALL.EXE installation program itself Use INSTBLD.EXE to build distribution disks. On the distribution disk it will: - Copy the files you specify (like READ.ME etc.) - Copy INSTALL.EXE (from its 'home' directory) - Create INSTALL.DAT containing all the distribution files (in compressed form). If necessary, INSTBLD will spread it over multiple disks. You must have one or more FORMATED (and empty) floppy disks ready. INSTBLD does not format disks nor it checks if disk is empty. It simply takes existing disk and uses all the available space. Switch to the directory where your files are and run INSTBLD.EXE. It will ask you for different parameters in order to create distribution disk(s). Parameter Description --------- ----------- Destination Destination disk, a or b (or any valid drive) File copy File name to copy (straight copy), like READ.ME etc. File copy When no more files to copy, just press <Enter> (c) text Your copyright text Header line Header line on your installation screen Min DOS Minimum DOS version required at destination Min CPU Minimum CPU type required at destination (86, 286, 386 or 486) Min dsk sp Minimum destination disk space required Sugg dir Suggested 'base' directory for installation Note: end user can change this Compr spec Specification for compression method: s = slow speed, best compression m = medium f = fast speed, poor compression Run at end Name of the program or batch file (in 'base' directory) to run after installation is done File File(s) to compress. Wildcards (*,?) are allowed. For files in your current directory type in just the file name. For files in directories below your current directory, type in the path (without leading '\') and file name. See sample script file SAMPLE.SCR. Note: when disk is full, INSTBLD will ask you to insert a new one. File When no more files to compress, just press <Enter> At this point your distribution disk is ready to be shipped out. It contains: - any files that were copied (like READ.ME etc.) - INSTALL.EXE installation program - INSTALL.DAT your distribution (compressed) files Instead of INSTBLD interactive mode (typing all these answers every time) you can create ASCII script file with all your answers (typed exactly as you would type in the interactive mode). Pass that file name to INSTBLD in command line (ie. INSTBLD script-fname). See sample script file SAMPLE.SCR. Compression specification ------------------------- Just a brief information on compression specification method (slow, medium, fast). My benchmarks was based on 102 files, all .EXE and .OBJ, in total length of 2,216,948 bytes. Here are the results: time size slow 3:19 357,354 slow speed, best compression medium 1:38 433,962 medium fast 1:09 631,561 fast speed, poor compression This is just an info. If you are short on disk space -- choose s(low). Note that decompression speed (what the end user sees) is about the same for all three files (in all these cases it took approx. 20 seconds to decompress). File names to compress ---------------------- You must be in your 'source' directory (from which you build distribution disks). For all the files in that directory just type in file name. For all the files in directories BELOW your current, type in that directory name (no leading \), backslash (\) and file name. See sample script file SAMPLE.SCR. When no more files just press <Enter>. NOTE: INSTBLD assumes that you are distributing files from your current directory and directories BELOW it. If you specify directory on the same level as your current directory (or above), at the end user site it will be put under the 'base' installation directory. This is done on purpose. INSTALL.EXE ----------- Installation program reads INSTALL.DAT and on destination drive creates the same directory structure as defined (regardless if it already exist or not). Then it decompresses all the files in their corresponding directories. If a file with the same name already exist, it will be overwritten (no warning is given). After installation is done INSTALL switches to the 'base' directory and runs program (or batch file) you have specified (like SETUP.EXE). Error codes ----------- Both INSTALL.EXE and INSTBLD.EXE display common error messages as a text. DOS errors which are less likely to occur (like 'insufficient memory' or 'Network write fault') are displayed as codes (without text). Format is: 'DOS error n', where n is a DOS extended error code. The same code is returned by int 21h, function 59h. Possible error codes are: 1 Invalid function number 2 File not found 3 Path not found 4 Too many open files (no handles left) 5 Access denied 6 Invalid handle 7 Memory control blocks destroyed 8 Insufficient memory 9 Invalid memory block address 10 Invalid environment 11 Invalid format 12 Invalid access code 13 Invalid data 14 -reserved- 15 Invalid drive was specified 16 Attempt to remove the current directory 17 Not same device 18 No more files 19 Disk is write protected 20 Unknown drive 21 Drive not ready 22 Unknown command 23 Data error (CRC) 24 Bad request structure length 25 Seek error 26 Unknown media type 27 Sector not found 28 Printer out of paper 29 Write fault 30 Read fault 31 General failure 32 Sharing violation 33 Lock violation 34 Invalid disk change 35 FCB unavailable 36 Sharing buffer overflow 37-49 -reserved- 50 Network request not supported 51 Remote computer not listening 52 Duplicate name on network 53 Network path not found 54 Network busy 55 Network device no longer exists 56 NetBIOS command limit exceeded 57 Network adapter hardware error 58 Incorrect response from network 59 Unexpected network error 60 Incompatible remote adapter 61 Print queue full 62 Not enough space for print queue 63 Print file deleted (not enough space) 64 Network name deleted 65 Access denied 66 Network device type incorrect 67 Network name not found 68 Network name limit exceeded 69 NetBIOS session limit exceeded 70 Temporarily paused 71 Network request not accepted 72 Print or disk redirection is paused 73-79 -reserved- 80 File exists 81 -reserved- 82 Cannot make 83 Interrupt 24h failure 84 Out of structures 85 Already assigned 86 Invalid password 87 Invalid parameter 88 Network write fault 89-90 -reserved- There is a special error code -1 which means that your copy of INSTALL.EXE or INSTBLD.EXE file is not the original .EXE file from the author. This is done to prevent virus infection. Legal stuff ----------- LIMIT OF LIABILITY THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND (EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED). THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE SOFTWARE PROVE DEFECTIVE OR INCORRECT, YOU ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST OF ALL NECESSARY REPAIR, SERVICING OR ANY OTHER DAMAGE. IN NO EVENT SHALL ZORAN COMPUTING CO. (OR ITS DISTRIBUTORS) BE RELIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFIT OR ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGE CAUSED BY THE USE OF THIS PRODUCT. Distribution ------------ This software is copyrighted, but it is FREE. You can use it free. You can distribute this software in its present form as long as you do not charge more than $5 for the cost of distribution channels. Conclusion ---------- For the latest changes see WHATS.NEW. That's about it. Let me know about any problems. All suggestions and (especially) criticism are welcome. Zoran Milenovic Zoran Computing Co. 5855 N. Sheridan Rd. Suite 8-D Chicago IL 60660 phone (312) 275-0029 e-mail: zoranm@interaccess.com Copyright (c) 1994, Zoran Computing Co.