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DEL-MISS.DOC
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1993-04-05
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183 lines
DEL-MISS - The Files Updater
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Programmed by Dave Gorski @2:250/107
Docs performed by Phil Burden @2:250/101
History.
~~~~~~~
We all know how big our file areas grow,particularly when you
use programmes like Tick,FileManager,Allfix etc running in
auto mode,which requires little or no work on the part of the
sysop.The trouble is,files also get deleted when new versions
arrive,or you delete files on a date basis,in order to
conserve on valuable disk space.The trouble is,when you do
that,you have to edit your files.bbs to remove the entries
concerning deleted files,or else your filelist is full of
Missing or "stored offline" or whatever your fileslist maker
puts when the file is missing.Well,along comes DEL-MISS,to do
that menial task for you.As an added bonus,from v1.03
onwards,it will even sort the resultant files.bbs if
required.
System Requirements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DEL-MISS will run on any PC compatible computer,having at
least MSDos 3 or later.It was written in Turbo Pascal,running
under MsDos 5.
Guarantees
~~~~~~~~~~
There are none,beyond the fact that it takes up disk space.You
are advised to make backups before running DEL-MISS,just in
case!.No Liability is implied or accepted for any mishaps
that may or may not occur. Since it's cost you nothing,you
can't expect much,right?.
Files in the Archive
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DEL-MISS.EXE the executable file
DEL-MISS.DOC your reading it!.
Command Line arguments.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are several command line options,detailed here,but if
you get stuck type DEL-MISS -? for the help screen.
Defaults for ALL options EXCEPT -c (Upper Case) is OFF.-C is
by default ON.
-d turns debug on, gives extended info in case of
errors.Only displays info to screen,NOT to the
logfile.
-pFileSpec and filename of the text file to read to
find the directories to work on,not needed if you
are running Remote Access and have the RA
environment variable set.
-b tells DEl-MISS to create Files.Bak as it goes.
(recommended!)
-lFileSpec tells DEL-MISS the location & name of it's
optional logfile.
-s Sort the files.bbs, intelligent enough to sort
entries between comment lines.Sort is
alphabetical by Filename.
See addenda for what constitutes a comment line.
-c By default all filenames are converted to upper
case, use this option if you prefer Lower case.
-i Internal buffering,for use with large files.bbs,or
a lot of them,can reduce scan time & disk access.
-- Forces DEL-MISS to treat any lines which start with
a '-' to be a comment line, usually it would treat
the character as a valid DOS filename and remove if
if was missing.
-? or H gives a brief help screen
Installation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That depends on your bbs software.DEL-MISS was written with
Remote Access in mind,and uses the Files.RA file that RA uses
to find the filearea directories.If you don't run RA,then all
is not lost,but a little work is needed to use DEL-MISS.
a) For those running Remote Access
Ensure that the environment variable RA is set,
if not use the -p option as detailed below.
If the RA variable IS set,the -p option need
not be specified.
b) For those NOT running Remote Access,but using a
Files.bbs type files database.For this,you'll need
a text file,detailing all the directories you
want DEL-MISS to operate on.
A sample file might look something like this:
e:\File\fileecho
c:\geo\Works
c:\geo\art
c:\geo\back
c:\geo\font
c:\sds\Uk\admin
c:\sds\Uk\utils
d:\File\fossil
d:\File\lannet
d:\GENE\DEMO
d:\GENE\FILE
d:\GENE\JEW
A trailing backslash will be added by DEL-MISS if
you don't put one,so don't worry about that.
Use the -P option to tell DEL-MISS the location and
name of the text file you create.
1) Unpack DEL-MISS into a dir of your choice.
2) If you run RemoteAccess, either set the environment
variable RA to point to the directory your files.ra
is in. Or use the -p option with your own list.
3) Create a small batch file to save typing all those
commands in each time,a sample may look something
like this:
cd\binkley\files
del-miss -d -i -pfile.dir -s -b -lm:\logs\delmiss.log
cd\binkley
Simply put,it tells DEL-MISS to show debug info,use
internal buffering,creates files.bak as it goes,sort the
files.bbs,use the text file called file.dir in the same
dir as DEL-MISS and log everything to delmiss.log
Bug reports,enhancements etc.
Yell at Dave Gorski, 2:250/107, he wrote it, I was
suckered into doing the first tests with it!.
Finally..
Have fun,this software was written with the spirit of Fidonet
ringing in the authors ears. It is freeware,though the
copyright belongs to the author.If you like it,drop him a
netmail telling him so,if you don't like it,don't use
it.That's all folks!..
Addendum
~~~~~~~~
How does DEL-MISS know a comment line from a filename!
The following characters are always treated specially, should
DEL-MISS encounter any of these in the first column (position
1) of a FILES.BBS it will be assumed a comment line.
Illegal Characters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0 to 32 - Null to Space
"*+,./:;<=>?[\]|
127 to 255 (Extended)
If the line passes the above requirements but does not have a
SPACE separator, (Filename Description) format, then the line
will be treated as a comment. If the '--' option is specified
then a SPACE character in position 2..x will not be looked for,
only Illegal Characters above and the '-' character.
If any of these restrictions cause problems please let me know
so the software can be updated.