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000310_news@newsmaster….columbia.edu _Mon Sep 8 08:47:42 1997.msg
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From: dallasii@kincyb.com
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.kermit.misc
Subject: MSDOS Kermit to Kermit/2 script conversion notes
Date: 8 Sep 1997 03:02:24 -0700
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[I'm cross-posting this to several forums where I think it will be
appropriate for discussion.
I apologize to anyone who finds it inappropriate (or long winded).]
Some notes on converting command files from MS-DOS Kermit 3.14 to
Kermit/2 (Kermit-95 (C-Kermit for Windows-95) for OS/2)
(henceforth referred to as K2, K/2 or K2.EXE)
I welcome any comments:
1) The OS/2 "EXTPROC" command seems to be the most underdocumented
OS/2 command I've come across. Few of the BIG, THICK OS/2 books
(henceforth referred to as BTOB's) had much on it. Almost nowhere
was there a real working example of it.
I expected it to be something similar to the UNIX
"#!/full/path/specification/to/the/interpreter" feature for the
first line of a script. Almost, but not quite.
The documentation all said something to the effect of:
EXTPROC <device>:\full\path\interpreter <parameters here>
I *expected* to use something like:
EXTPROC <device>:\full\path\k2.exe = %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
on the first line of the procs to use them as OS/2 commands that
would pass the parameters to the script previously used for
MS-DOS Kermit into \&@[0] ... \&@[8].
What I found was needed was:
EXTPROC <device>:\full\path\k2.exe <device>:\full\path\to\the\script.cmd
with the command line parameters being apparently automaticly being passed
to \&@[3] .. \&@[8], the first three elements of \&@ containing some
incomplete garbage about the command typed in.
The full script file name as a parameter seemed absolutly required
to make the script work from anywhere in the directory structure,
even if the file was in a directory in the PATH specification.
A further example:
file1 (ktest5.cmd):
************************************************************
EXTPROC D:\K2\K2.EXE C:\USR\COMM\Ktest6.CMD
; A--Note
; LAFN login script
; DEL 30/01/97
echo \&@[0] \&@[1] \&@[2] \&@[3] \&@[4] \&@[5] \&@[6]
IF DEFINED \&@[3] ASSIGN \%1 \&@[3]
IF DEFINED \&@[4] ASSIGN \%2 \&@[4]
IF DEFINED \&@[5] ASSIGN \%3 \&@[5]
echo \%1 \%2 \%3 \%4 \7 \7 \7 \7 \7 the input
echo Ktest5!\13\10
EXIT
*****************************************************************
file2 (ktest6.cmd):
******************************************************************
EXTPROC D:\K2\K2.EXE C:\USR\COMM\Ktest6.CMD
; LAFN login script
; DEL 30/01/97
echo Suprise, you got Ktest6 instead!\13\10
EXIT
*******************************************************************
Yes, I was suprised.
EXTPROC seems to work as a comment most of the time, and
under certain circumstances as non-returning branch.
(one of the goals here is a command "lynx <password>" that will take
me directly from the OS/2 command line to my LA FreeNet account
with Lynx active on my screen.)
2) While functioning as a comment in K/2, and apparently in
most versions of C-Kermit, EXTPROC required some bogus
definition as a macro to minimize interuption when scripts
were run back with MS-DOS Kermit, I think I just
"define EXTPROC echo" in my MSCUSTOM.INI file to allow things
to flow smoothly.
3) While this probably quibling in the age of multi-Gigabyte
harddrives, the dial files converted from DOS to OS/2 format
with the last few fields commented out with ';' seemed to be
no longer compatible with MS-DOS Kermit. This requires keeping
seperate copies to work with both (if this is desired), which
I don't like.
It would seem good to modify future versions MS-DOS Kermit so
that they read past the first ';' for the last few fields of
the dial entry might be good. I haven't really thought this
out very clearly, but maybe someone else has a better idea
on this point.
4) The GUI dialer works fine for targets where dialing in
usually goes quickly with lots of open ports. With targets
like a University mainframe on a Sunday afternoone, where
everyone is trying to get their homework assignments finished,
or my previous eMail provider, I found I needed scripts that
would keep trying till they got through. Is there someway
to set up the dialer so it will accept the userid/password
as parameters, or ask you for them, without storing them,
when invoked, then pass them to the dialup script.
This may just be a point of my own ignorance about the Dialer & GUIs.
I know it can be built into the scripts, but it seems like this
should be just as much a part of the Dialer as the ability to
store non-unique non-security issue passwords permenantly in the
Dialer database.
5) I found I was frequently having to modify portions of the
scripts to have a set of commands like:
input <n> <some string>
reinput 1 <the same string>
It seems that when it's late at night, the target/host CPU has little
to occupy it, and the not so busy phone lines allow a 28,800 connection
maybe the prompts that the target are sending sneak through before interpreter
on my feeble '386 is ready to respond, so it needs to recheck
the received input to find something that was missed. When the host is
busy and responds sluggishly, the phone lines are clogged and don't
allow such fast connections the "input" command will catch the prompt
itself. But this doesn't make any sense since everything must go through
my CPU (the one running K/2) anyway, so why should it miss anything to begin
with? Is this some sort of interupt/multi-threading issue, or am I just
working to late on this to think clearly?
Regards,
Dallas E. Legan II
(562) 862 - 4854 ext. '*'
legan@acm.org
aw585@lafn.org
dallasii@kincyb.com
"But I found that the rulers were ordinary men, too, and frequently
as bewildered as I was."
from "Solution Unsatisfactory"
by Robert A. Heinlein
I speak only for myself, and assume full responsibility for my statements.