Software Vault: The Gold Collection/Software Vault - The Gold Collection (American Databankers) (1993).ISO/cdr23/chansw53.zip/CHAINSAW.TUT

Text File | 1993-05-24 | 16KB | 464 lines

                                    CHAINSAW

                            Tutorial and Examples

                            Copyright 1992, Ted Davis



































                                                     CHAINSAW TUTORIAL


          This tutorial will take you through most of the modes and
          some of the message patterns, one or two steps at a time.
          It will also provide examples of both command line and batch
          file operation.

                 For learning purposes, we will use a floppy disk.
          The lessons assume drive 'A:', if you are using another
          drive, just replace the 'A:' or 'a:' part of the path with
          the drive you are using.  This tutorial assumes that you
          have read the manual, or at least scanned it and found the
          default password.  If you don't know the password, you can't
          make the program work.  CHAINSAW must not be on the scratch
          disk, it must be on a different drive, we will assume 'C:'.

                 First we will see what happens if you don't get the
          command tail right:
          Change the default drive and directory to the one that has
          CHAINSAW in it or make sure CHAINSAW is in the path;
          invoke CHAINSAW with no command tail -

                 CHAINSAW <Enter>

          which should get you the barf message.

          Now we will try something more useful, cleaning out a \temp
          directory:
          Prepare a scratch disk by inserting a
          blank, formatted diskette in the drive you wish to use and
          invoking the MKSCRTCH batch file -

                 MKSCRTCH A 1 <Enter>

          for the 'A:' drive (or B, or C, or D, etc.).

                 The batch file will create a directory tree and copy
          itself to each directory (with several different names). Use
          DIR, DOSSHELL, or some other utility to look at the scratch
          disk - you should find 25 files in the root and three
          subdirectories and sub-sub (etc.) directories.
                 Now for the test - invoke CHAINSAW with its default
          switches and a:\temp as the target directory with this
          command line, replacing {password} with the default password
          given in the manual.

                 CHAINSAW a:\temp {password} <Enter>

          You should have gotten this response:



                 Now take a look at the directory structure - there
          should be nothing left except the root and its files, \foo
          and its files, and \temp and its files.




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                                                     CHAINSAW TUTORIAL


                 But maybe you want the \temp directory completely
          empty, instead of just devoid of subdirectories.  Rebuild
          the scratch disk with the same MKSCRTCH command and try this

                 CHAINSAW a:\temp {password} /f <Enter>

          (making sure that the 'f' is lower case).

                 The summary should show five more files deleted.  Now
          look at the \temp directory and note that it is completely
          empty of both files and subdirectories.  Note also that the
          root and \foo directories are completely untouched.

                 For even more through cleaning, try

                 CHAINSAW a:\temp {password} /g <Enter>

          and note that now the entire \temp directory is gone.  You
          could try that again after running MKSCRTCH again but the
          effect is the same.  Note also the above 'g' switch must
          be lower case.

                 Now lets add some list messages.  To save time, we
          will combine that with the /r switch.  Without rebuilding
          the scratch disk (it still has ten files in two
          directories), we invoke the program this way -

                 CHAINSAW a:\ {password} /frdl <Enter>

          which enables file removal from the given directory,
          operation in the root directory, and listing of both file
          and directory deletions.  Note that all switches are lower
          case.

                 DIR a: now shows that only the volume label is left
          on the disk.

                 It isn't always that easy; sometimes there are
          hidden, read-only, or system files to be removed.  Invoke
          MKSCRTCH again to rebuild the scratch disk, this time with
          some of the files protected -

                 MKSCRTCH A 2 <Enter>

          which marks one file in each directory read-only, one
          hidden, and one both hidden and read-only.

                 Repeat the last invocation of CHAINSAW (/frdl) only
          this time, redirect the output to a file.  For the example
          we will assume that the destination file is
          c:\temp\chainsaw.lst.  The command line is -

          CHAINSAW a:\ {password} /f r,d;l > c:\temp\chainsaw.lst <Enter>




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                                                     CHAINSAW TUTORIAL


          which also illustrates alternate ways of entering the
          switches.  Now use your word processor or editor to look at
          the list file and also look at the disk.  You should note
          that the directory structure is still intact and that each
          directory shows one file (the read-only one) but that the
          total files line in the DIR response includes two more that
          don't show.  The list file contains a lot of failure
          messages: one for each protected file and one for each sub
          directory.  Lets get rid of the leftovers and wipe the disk
          clean.

                 CHAINSAW a:\ {password} /frdlp <Enter>

                 Note that the program now leaves the disk blank,
          except for the volume label, and the list now shows the
          protected files and all subdirectories as successfully
          removed.   The unprotected files were removed on the
          previous pass.

                 Since it isn't feasible to demonstrate the network
          drive protection switch on a floppy, we will just skip it.
          If you have a network, you could set up a dummy directory
          and files and use the /n switch to enable their removal.
          Just be careful to specify the dummy directory as the base
          and use the /f or /g switches.

                 So much for the mode control switches, now lets try a
          few variations of the message control switches.  Let's also
          play around with using CHAINSAW from a batch file.   The
          file CHTST.BAT contains the call to CHAINSAW, less the
          password.  It also invokes MKSCRTCH for drive A:.  If you
          are using some other drive for the scratch disk, use a text
          editor to change 'A:' in the CHAINSAW command tail and
          the 'A' in the MKSCRTCH call to whatever drive you are
          using.  Also change the c:\temp\chainsaw.lst redirection to
          whatever you want.  The modified file must be in ASCII format.
          In any case, examine the batch file to see what the command
          tails are for the various modes.  The batch file uses the
          DOS batch file CALL command.  If your version of DOS does
          not support it, change CALL to COMMAND /C

                 CHTST 1 {password} <Enter>

          displays the copyright and summary on the screen and sends
          the list of deleted files to c:\temp\chainsaw.lst.  It uses
          the switch string /freDL, 'fr' to enable removing files from
          the root, 'e' to send everything to STDERR (the screen), and
          'DL' to enable listing and send the lists to STDOUT
          (redirected to c:\temp\chainsaw.lst).  This shows that later
          switches ('D' and 'L') can override earlier ones ('e').

                 CHTST 2 {password} <Enter> shows what happens if
          there are removal errors: the list of removals still goes to
          the file, but the list of failures goes to the screen.



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                                                     CHAINSAW TUTORIAL


                 CHTST 3 {password} <Enter> uses a variation of the
          'e' switch ('eo') to send the failure messages to the file
          also.  Here is a bit of a trick that you can use to get the
          successes and failures in separate files.  The 'E' switch
          could be used instead of 'eo' but would send the copyright
          and summary messages to the file also.  Ignore the DOS error
          messages: DOS is trying to copy over read-only files and
          reset the attributes of hidden files left over from CHTST 2.

                 FIND "***" c:\temp\chainsaw.lst > a:\bad.lst <Enter>
                 FIND "..." c:\temp\chainsaw.lst > a:\ok.lst <Enter>

          will create two files on the scratch disk with the list of
          deletions in ok.lst and the list of failures in bad.lst.

                 Let's get fancy.  If you do not have a copy of some
          version of AWK that accepts standard AWK scripts, you will
          need to get one to complete this example.  I recommend GAWK,
          which is freeware from the Free Software Foundation.  There
          are several AWK scripts in the CHAINSAW package.  We will
          use SPLITLST.AWK to send the success and failure lists to
          separate files.  The script creates its destination files in
          the default directory unless you tell it otherwise.  For the
          example, we will accept all its defaults.

                 Rebuild the scratch disk with -

                 MKSCRTCH A 2 <Enter>

                 Then -

          CHAINSAW a:\ {password} /frEDL | AWK -f splitlst.awk <Enter>

          creates the two files DONE.LOG and FAIL.LOG for the success
          and failure messages respectively.  You could also use
          /frb | AWK -f splitlst.awk > other.log to create three
          files: one for success messages, one for failure messages,
          and one (OTHER.LOG) for all the other messages.  The 'b'
          switch sends all messages to STDOUT, and AWK then splits
          STDOUT into three streams, two to named files and the
          residue back to STDOUT for further processing or
          redirection.

                 If you don't know about AWK, you should.  It is one
          of the most difficult, but also most useful, utilities to
          be had anywhere, at any price.  Some versions are even free.
          The example script only hints at its power.


                 By now, you should have a fair idea of what CHAINSAW
          is and what it can do.  Let's move on to setting up your own
          custom version.  You will certainly want to change the
          password, or even eliminate it and in all likelihood, you
          will want the default switches to be somewhat different.



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                                                     CHAINSAW TUTORIAL


                 First, we will remove the password, then install a
          new one.

                 CHAINSAW /Z {password} <Enter>

          removes the default password.  The program is now as open as
          FORMAT to use by any fool who comes along and wants to play
          games with your machine.  It is also somewhat easier for you
          to use.  The choice is yours.

                 We do not have to remove the password to install
          another, that just showed how to do it.  Now install a
          temporary password for practice.  Use "White.Rabbit".

                 CHAINSAW \zWhite.Rabbit <Enter>

                 Call CHAINSAW to test it -

                 CHAINSAW a:\ White.Rabbit -fr <Enter>

                 Note that either '/' or '-' is acceptable for the
          switch marker.

                 You should get a report that the program did nothing.
                 You should not get the bad password message.

                 Now try introducing an error, omitting the period -

                 CHAINSAW a:\ WhiteRabbit -fr <Enter>

                 You should have gotten the bad password message.

                 Now select a personal password, up to 15 characters,
          not including  <, >, |, space, or tab, unless within a
          quoted string.  Write it down and put it somewhere safe.
          Now install it -

                 CHAINSAW /z{new password} White.Rabbit <Enter>

          and repeat the above tests to be sure it works correctly.
          If you make a mistake that you cannot remedy, unzip another
          copy of CHAINSAW.EXE from the distribution package and start
          over.

                 Last, but not least, we practice changing default
          switches.  The program comes configured for safety rather
          than convenience.  For practice, lets make the defaults
          /BGNprfSW instead of /BGNPRsw -

                 CHAINSAW /a/BGNprfSW {password} <Enter>

                 Now

                 MKSCRTCH A 2 <Enter>



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                                                     CHAINSAW TUTORIAL


                 CHAINSAW a:\ {password} <Enter>

          and experience a moment of panic - no messages at all, but
          the scratch disk is cleaned off completely.

                 MKSCRTCH A 2 <Enter>
                 CHAINSAW a:\ {password} /w <Enter>

          brings back the messages by overriding the default 'W' with
          the given 'w' switch.

                 Restore the defaults -

                 CHAINSAW /A {password} <Enter>

                 You may eventually want to set up several versions of
          the program with different defaults.  That works fine.  You
          can rename the program and have several versions with
          different names in the same directory with no problems or
          interference; each version knows its own name.  You can also
          have different versions with the same name in separate
          directories; the program also knows where the copy in use
          lives, as well as its name.

                 Thus ends the tutorial; I hope it was enough to get
          you started and to show the most important aspects of the
          program.

          T.E.D. 1/12/92




























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