Gold Medal Software 2/Gold Medal Software Volume 2 (Gold Medal) (1994).iso/utils/go57.arj/GO.HST

Text File | 1993-06-20 | 18KB | 424 lines

The following is a list of revisions to GO:

version 5.7 20 Jun 1993

    - Improved the speed when searcing CD-ROM drives.

version 5.6 15 May 1993

    - Bug-fix release.  Fixed a bug with the K option that resulted in the
      program going to a different drive/directory when multiple drives are
      installed.

    - BSG's name has formally changed to Black Forest Computing and our new
      name has been placed into the program.

version 5.5 13 October 1992

    - With the proliferation of CD's becoming a reality, I added the ability
      to search these drives with the /CD switch.  The default is not to
      check the CD.  Earlier versions had the nasty tendency to check these
      drives enabling the user to take a long coffee break during searches.

    - Changed the algorithm for conducting searches in order to improve
      performance.

version 5.4C 15 July 1991

    - Enhanced the file move operation for greater speed.

    - Added the ability to quit from a file search once the desired file was
      found.

    - Added the ability to jump to the desired directory when the desired
      file was found.

version 5.4B 20 April 1991

    - Corrected the bug that did not completely erase the previous entry
      during move file operations.

    - Corrected the bug that, on some machines, would attempt to access
      either drive A or drive B during kill directory operations if the
      directory's name began with either an A or a B.

version 5.4a 20 March 1991

    - Speeded up the move file algorithm.  The user should see improvements
      of between 30% - 50%.

    - Removed display of the cursor during move operations.

    - Corrected a few other minor bugs floating around the system.

    - Stopped distributing INFO.EXE and source code.  INFO was developed by me
      to explore new ground.  I gave it into the public domain for any and
      all to use as they wished; however, a couple of users decided to send
      nasty letters with no comments about GO and no return address/telephone
      information complaining about INFO (guess they couldn't read that it
      was public domain...) so I've decided to remove it.  For those of you
      who provided me w/recommendations for INFO's improvement, I apologize.
      I will enhance INFO.EXE but will distribute it separately and without
      code.  It will remain a public domain utility.  Those wishing the source
      code may obtain it by contacting me telephonically or by sending a pre-
      formatted disk with a pre-self-addressed mailer to my home address as
      listed in the README file.

version 5.4  6 November 1990

    - Modified the move algorithm in order to improve speed.  I have included
      the performance results for the curious.  The tests were conducted on
      an 80386, 16mhz with 32ns SRAM, 28ns 40MByte hard drive and a 3.5",
      1.44 MByte floppy drive.  I should have included this modification in
      version 5.3D but got caught up on other projects.

version 5.3D  2 November 1990

    - Modified the output display on the move feature.  Now, instead of disp-
      laying each move file on a different line, each file will display on
      the same line.

version 5.3C  23 October 1990

    - Added the /q switch to the file find function.  The /q will prompt the
      user to quit the search each time a match is found.  This is the same
      as the /j switch; however, /q will return the user to the directory
      from which the search was started instead of to the directory containing
      the found file.

    - Cleaned up the display in the move file feature.

version 5.3B  17 September 1990

    - Corrected a bug in the kill directory feature that would hang the
      system on some directories while working properly on others.

version 5.3A  9 September 1990

    - Corrected a bug disabling the kill directory feature.

version 5.3 4 September 1990

    - I corrected a bug that prohibited a user from using the speed attribute
      change feature when clearing all bits of a class of files

    - I added the ability to move all files within a directory without having
      to add a back-slash and *.*.  This makes the move feature function more
      like DOSs' copy command as far as syntax goes.

    - I have reworked a couple of algorithms in order to keep the size of the
      program down and improve performance.  In addition, I have LZEXE'd the
      program to further reduce space.

    - Eliminated free registration to various groups.  Complaints from those
      who did register energized me into action (besides, the more money I
      get, the happier I am...).

    - I have included a simple registration form starting with this release
      in order to simplify matters.  I realized (actually, some users sugg-
      ested) that it would be more beneficial to provide the bulk registration
      scaling as opposed to users trying to get in contact with me.  Although
      I have an answering machine, I sometimes have problems returning calls
      immediately (say within 48 hours).  This should correct, or at least
      reduce, that problem.

version 5.2 19 June 1990

    - A bug was reported recently that could have devestating effects on
      a users' hard or floppy disk.  If a user requested that a directory
      be killed, and the requested directory was not on the current drive,
      the current directory was killed.  I have corrected this but notifying
      the user that it is not possible to kill directories outside of the
      current drive.

    - I have included with this release a registration form to both ease the
      registration process and provide cost information.

    - Also with this release, I no longer provide certain users with "no cost"
      registration.  I received numerous complaints about the unfairness of
      my policy and must admit that a change was needed.

version 5.1  24 April 1990

    - Wouldn't you know it, as soon as I release version 5.0, I receive two
      separate requests to modify the attribute changing function.  Oh well.
      I have added the /C switch which will turn off ALL bits for either a
      single or class/group of files.  The difference between this and
      returning a file to "normal" is the turning off of the archive bit.
      The archive bit is turned on anytime a file has been created and/or
      modified.  This is how backup programs determine if a file should be
      backed up during incremental and/or differential backups.  Once files
      have been backed up, the the archive bit is turned off (depending on
      the type of backup performed.  This is always true for full backups).

    - I have elected not to remove the file display from speed archival
      changes due to the limited amount of savings possible versus the
      amount of recoding and increased code size necessary to make the
      change.  Maybe later...

version 5.0  24 April 1990

    - Added the ability to remove entire directories (K) containing both files
      subdirectories.  Directories that contain less than three characters
      (which could be your entire hard disk) will require user verification
      prior to directory kill being performed.

version 4.2  18 March 1990

    - Before attempting to move a file across drives, a check is made to
      ensure that enough space remains on the target drive to hold the new
      file.  If it does, the move is made otherwise the user is informed that
      there isn't enough space.

    - Reworked a couple of algorithms to improve speed.

version 4.1F  6 March 1990

    - Improved the information returned if a requested file does not exist
      during the move function.  The user is now told that the file does not
      exist.

    - Tightened up a couple of the algorithms slightly improving speed.

version 4.1E  5 March 1990

    - Getting the bugs out of the move feature inadvertently created a bug
      in the rename a directory feature.  This has been corrected.

version 4.1D  2 March 1990

    - Corrected a bug that would cause some files transferred from root,
      while the user was in root, to fail.

    - Corrected a bug that would cause a move failure when transferring files
      to a RAM disk.

version 4.1C  23 February 1990

    - Corrected a minor annoyance which prohibited the movement of a file
      to a child sub-directory unless the absolute (full) path was given.
      It now works as expected.

version 4.1B  22 February 1990

    - This release is a bug fix to the move files feature.  Following is a
      list of corrected bugs:

        -- moving files from the root directory failed - corrected
        -- moving files from one drive to another would work but changed
           the files' date and time stamp - corrected
        -- moving wildcard files (group of files) resulted in the creation
           of zero byte files but no move occured - corrected

version 4.1  20 February 1990

    - Corrected bugs when moving files between directories, to and/or from
      the root directory, and others.

    - Added the ability to move files between designated drives, hard or
      floppy.

    - When a move is attempted into a directory where a file already exists
      with the same name as the selected file, you will be informed that the
      move did not take place and that a file probably already exists with
      the requested files' name.

    - During a file search, when GO cannot find the requested file, it will
      tell you that the file does not exist or was probably entered wrong.

    - Added the /s option for attribute changing allowing the user to bypass
      the Y/N requirement for each file during mass file changes.

version 4.0  6 February 1990

    - GO is now a 6-in-1 DOS utility!

    - Added the ability to move a file or group of files.  Since this op-
      eration simply changes the file pointer in the directory, there is
      no actual moving; therefore, it is fast than a copy and eliminates the
      need to remove the file afterwards.  Currently, this feature will only
      move files across directories of the same drive.  I am working on an
      enhancement that will enable a file to be moved across drives.

    - Modified the help screen when no arguments are given thereby taking up
      less screen space.

version 3.46 4 February 1990

    - Added the option to quit a search when you've found the file(s) you
      want.  This option is activated when the screen is filled and before
      the program continues searching for files.

version 3.45 14 January 1990

    - Removed the clear screen commands from within the program.  Several
      users recommended this as they wished to use it for comparison purposes.

version 3.44 19 December 1989

    - Created two versions of GO:  One for color monitors only (smaller) and
      one supporting both monochrome and color monitors through auto detect.
      This was out for only a short time when I came back home and found on
      my board several recommendations to do this.

version 3.43 19 December 1989

    - Added auto detect for either monochrome or color monitors.

    - Corrected a bug that would not ignore floppy drives designated as
      anything above b:

version 3.40 14 November 1989

    - Added the ability for users to move to the directory containing a
      searched file via the additional "/j" switch.  If the switch is
      omitted, operation will be simply a search for file(s) matching the
      requested criteria.  With the switch, the program will stop at each
      occurence of a file meeting the requested criteria and prompt the user
      as to whether or not he/she would like to go (jump?) to the directory
      containing the displayed file.  If the answer is 'N', then the program
      will continue its search.  If the answer is 'Y', then the program will
      change the active directory and terminate program execution.

    - Modified the help screen.

version 3.35  7 October 1989

    - Enhanced the ability to detect logical drives thereby supporting users
      with only a C: drive.

    - Enhanced INFO.EXE to correctly display the number of logical drives
      versus DOS's minimum 5.

version 3.30  6 October 1989

    - Corrected a bug caused by interrupt 21 function 0x0e which caused
      interrupt 21 function 0x19 (get current disk) to return an incorrect
      value on other than the C: drive

    - Corrected a bug which would display multiple listings of the same file
      on systems which have only four logical drives.  The problem was with
      DOS's function 0x0e which will never return a value less than 5 for
      versions 3.x.  I solved it by testing the fifth drive for existence.
      If it exists fine, if not, I decremented the number of logical drives
      by one.

version 3.20  29 September 1989

    - Changed the algorithm in INFO.EXE that determined logical drives.  The
      system will now recognize disks beyond drive D as well as RAM disks.

    - Modified the algorithm that determined how many drives to check.  The
      program will now search for files on all hard drives including RAM
      disks  (I switched from BIOS to DOS calls).

    - Changed the documents/readme files from *.COM to ASCII files for view-
      ing from within various shells dealing with compressed files.

version 3.10  27 July 1989

    - Added the ability to make files both read only and hidden at the same
      time.

    - If the user attempts to display attributes on a file that is not lo-
      cated in the current directory, the user will be so informed.

    - Corrected a bug that would hang the program if an improper argument is
      given by accident.

version 3.01  26 July 1989

    Corrected a omission in the "D" (display attributes) option which pre-
    vented files with "HSRA" from being display.  Also improved the "usage"
    display when no arguments are given.

version 3.0   25 July 1989

    Incorporated the Read ATtributes program into the main program in-
    creasing it to five functions while increasing code size by less than
    1K!

    I added a simple documentation file which provides several examples
    covering all the features and functions available.  See, I really do
    listen to my users!

version 2.46  15 July 1989

    Tightened up some of the code and corrected a minor bug with the attr-
    ibutes changing portion.  Also enhanced INFO.EXE with expanded memory
    functions.

version 2.45B 13 June 1989

    Corrected minor bug that would not allow sub-class attribute changes via
    <filename.*>.

version 2.45  13 June 1989

    Corrected situation where a user had to verify an attribute operation
    for a single file.  Now, when a user enters a specific file on the
    command line followed by an operation, the GO will instantly make the
    change.  When a user selects a class of files with the <filename.*> or
    <*.*> entries, he/she will be prompted for verification prior to the
    operation being performed.

version 2.43  26 April 1989

    Corrected a bug in RAT.EXE which would not return the attributes of a
    file that was both hidden and read-only.

version 2.42

    Updated INFO.EXE and INFO.C - program now reports number of logical
    drives as opposed to number designators.  When using the f option, the
    screen will stop if the number of finds exceeds 24 screen lines.

version 2.40

    Fixed the bug that would not allow a directory to be returned to its
    original stated (archive bit off).  Now, directories may be backed up
    upon becoming unhidden.

version 2.31

    Added INFO.EXE and INFO.C.  This program and its source code may be used
    by anyone.  It isn't elegant and could have been made smaller but I like
    programs with fancy colors.  There are other programs out there that do
    basically the same thing as INFO, some far more comprehensive, but I
    haven't seen any written in C.  If anyone has any suggestions, you can
    leave me a message at either HAP's HOUSE [phone] or Consulting
    Technologies [phone].  Feel free to experiment with the code and/
    or use portions of it within your own programs if they help.

version 2.30

    Users no longer need to choose between directory and file when modifying
    attributes.  This option has been moved to the command line, and for users
    who only modify files, will not be noticed.

    Information on actions performed has been redone give a more pleasing
    appearance.

Version 2.0

    Changed the algorithm which determined the total number of hard drives.
    Earlier versions failed to work properly on Zenith computers which had
    more than one hard drive, and where all hard drives were not partitioned
    for DOS, and on systems where a floppy was give a drive designator > C:.

    Added the ability to change attributes on a class of files within a
    directory.

    Solved the, "null pointer" error displayed upon exiting from the command
    line version.

    Optimized the programs for speed versus size.

Version 1.5

    Minor bug fixes.

Version 1.2  December 1988

    First shareware release version.