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Text File | 1991-02-07 | 19KB | 287 lines

4DVC: 4DOS Version Control Thanks for looking into 4DVC. To get started, make sure that all 4DVC files are either in your current directory or in a directory defined in your PATH Environment Variable. Then simply enter "4DVC" from the 4DOS Command-Line. Select option "I" for information about 4DVC and its uses/requirements. Minimum Requirements: 1) 4DOS 3.02 * 2) PK(UN)ZIP 1.1 * 3) At least 128 bytes of free Environment Space 4) KEYSTACK.SYS loaded as a Device Driver in your CONFIG.SYS file. * 4DOS is copyright Rex C. Conn and J.P. Software * PKZIP and PKUNZIP are copyright PKWARE, Inc. ================================================================================ Release Notes: 2.11 - First Public Domain Release 2.20 - Added logic to scan the PATH for 4DVCREAD.ME so that the file does not have to reside in your current directory. 2.21 - Added instructions at front-end of 4DVC to ensure that all files used by 4DVC are accessible via the PATH. Also added a check to ensure that enough Environment Space is available before allowing 4DVC to run. 2.22 - Moved edit-checks to a separate .BTM file (4DVCCHK.BTM). Edits now include checks to make sure that PK(UN)ZIP is addressable via the PATH, a CONFIG.SYS file is defined, KEYSTACK is loaded as a device driver. There are also checks to make sure that the versions of PK(UN)ZIP are 1.1 or higher, although these checks are commented-out. They tend to slow-down the start-up process to an unaccetable point, but if you wish to include them, just uncomment the lines. 2.30 - ALLRIGHT ALREADY! Geez! C'mon folks, I'm glad you are finding good uses for 4DVC, but as I said, THIS IS NOT MENT TO COMPETE WITH OTHER COMMERCIAL PACKAGES! This release will be the last for a while (unless someone finds "real" bugs). Your comments and suggestions are welcome, and I will attempt to include them in future releases, but you will have to make attempts to fix "problems" yourself on an immediate basis. Since I posted the first Public Domain version of 4DVC on 10/22/90, this makes the 5th release in as many days! From now on, you can expect enhancements once every 2 to 4 months at best - no sooner unless a real logic problem is found. This is just 4DOS BTM files, guys. I know they are a little complex, but an hour or two of study will answer all questions and allow you to make "fixes" on-the-fly. These are the changes made in release 2.30 (note that you might need a STACKS= in your CONFIG.SYS because of the now large nested levels of processing): - Added a change to the EXTRACT and KILL functions so that they won't hiccough on comments that contain unusual or wierd characters. These processes "worked" before, they just didn't pull the comments from the ZIP file. - Added logic into 4DVC.BTM to test the command line for processing options and automatically execute them if found (if not found, user input is prompted for just like 4DVC used to always run). Rules for the command line parameters are: 1) Format: 4DVC c 1 2 3 ... n where c = A X K P or I (Add, Xtract, Kill, Pack, Information) 1-n = filespecs for the A, X, & K commands (ignored for P&I) 2) Only 1 command can be processed per run of 4DVC; all other parms on the command line are taken to mean "filespecs" options for the primary command entered. 3) After execution of the command, 4DVC exits to the 4DOS prompt. 4) If 1-n are not provided, user input is prompted for. 5) If the command is invalid, 4DVC runs as if no command line parameters were provided (user input is prompted for). 2.40 - At Last - a "real" bug!. Thanks to R. M. Chmela of Lindenhurst, N.Y. for catching it. I assumed (we all know what happens when one ASS-U-ME s) that files to be archived would be fairly recent, not spread-out over a year-break. 4DVC now tests the file-dates in "YYMMDD" format instead of the default 4DOS "MM-DD-YY" format. A byproduct of this fix also recognizes when an archive file is completely empty and sets the new version number of your file to "001". Mr. Chmela also suggested 2 enhancements, both of which were a breeze to install, so here they are: - 4DVCCHK.BTM checked for CONFIG.SYS on the current drive. This has been changed to specifically drive C. If you run CONFIG.SYS off of a drive other than C:, change 4DVCCHK.BTM to point to the proper drive (or you can eliminate the test altogether). - 4DVC.BTM now issues a SETLOCAL at the very start of processing followed by an UNALIAS *. This will assist those of you who have defined aliases for commands like COPY, DEL, REN, MOVE, etc. (don't worry, 4DOS will restore all of the aliases upon termination of the 4DVC batch processing via an implied ENDLOCAL command). 3.00 - Included the most frequently requested enhancements: - ERASE has been changed to KILL, and the corresponding Keystroke is now "K". I originally chose (E)rase and (X)tract instead of (D)elete and (X)tract or (D)elete and (E)xtract because of the close proximity of the D/E and D/X keys on the keyboard. A small slip of the finger might hit the wrong key and have disastrous results. But a lot of people have expressed confusion over this (they want to press E for (E)xtract and wind-up deleting an archived version instead of extracting it), so I have renamed (E)rase to (K)ill. If you press "E", nothing will happen (no (E)xtract and no (E)rase). - When adding a file to an archive, 4DVC now searches for any existing comment provided with the DESCRIBE command. If found, such comment will be the "default" comment for the archived file. If not found, date/time and original filename is still the default. Whichever is presented, you may over-type the comment (as is strongly suggested that you do). Caution: If you archived a version of a file and accepted the default of Date/Time/Filename, make sure you *NEVER* accept the default comment if you extract/modify/rearchive that file. This is because: During the 1st archive of a file (let's call it MYFILE.DAT), the default is assigned (let's assume 12-01-90 14:30 MYFILE.DAT). When you extract this version it will now have a 4DOS Comment of "12-01-90 14:30 MYFILE.DAT". If you change MYFILE.DAT then rearchive it, the default comment will now be "12-01-90 14:30 MYFILE.DAT", even if the REAL date and time is 03-14-91 and 12:32 P.M. If you accept this comment, you will now have 2 versions of MYFILE.DAT in 4DVCDAT.ZIP, both of which have the same comment. This particular request from all you folks seemed a little dangerous to me, but you asked for it, so now you have it. Be careful! - If 4DVC determines that the most recent archived version of a file is more recent than the "current" file, both the archived filename and the "current" filename are displayed along with their dates and times when the "Bypassing Archive Request" message is displayed. - The sort-order for the SELECT screen is in reverse order by filename. The consensus among people asking for this is "The most recent version of any file in an archive will have the highest-sorting 'name.ext'. So, place all versions of any given file together, and sort them so that the most recent version is presented first". I will allow that it is desirable to have the files presented this way, so I made the change as requested. However, there is a problem with this request; 4DVC will add 1 to the extension each time it archives a new version - up to 999. Then the count will roll over to 000 and start incrimenting again. In this event, version "999" will sort to the top, and version "000" will sort to the BOTTOM, even though version "000" is now the most recent! I will admit that this is not likely to happen to anyone, but you should be aware of this should it occur. Unfortunately, 4DOS lacks the richness of sort-order on the SELECT command that is available on the DIR command. When the SELECT command says it sorts on "filename", what it is really sorting on is "filename.ext". Since there is no sort-order parameter to request "filename" only (without the .ext), there is not much to be done about this potential problem. So, BE AWARE! - EXTRACT and KILL now accept full filename parameters. Previously, only the Extension was allowed to be passed, and all files in the archive were presented in the SELECT command. By allowing full filenames, only the files in the archive which match the passed parameter will be given in the SELECT command (or a message will appear designating that there are no files in the archive which match the filename in question). Wild- cards are accepted. For example, to SELECT specifically MYDATA.DAT and all .ASM files, you may enter "MYDATA.DAT *.ASM" or "MYDATA.DAT ASM". 4DVC will first present only the archived versions of MYDATA.DAT, and then present a list of all archived ASM files. This makes your task of SELECTing the proper file much easier if there are dosens of files in the archive 4DVCDAT.ZIP, with several versions of each file; if you know that you want only MYDATA.DAT and not all the other '.DAT' files, just specify the proper filename(s) when you EXTRACT or KILL. - A new function, PACK, will let you "reduce" version numbers of your archived files to "1" to "number-of-versions". For example, if you have versions 1, 2, 3, and 4 of ANYPROGM.ASM in an archive file, then go back and kill version 2, what you are left with is versions 1, 3 and 4 in the archive. A few people have asked for a function to "rename" version 3 to version 2, and version 4 to version 3, so that the archive now only contains versions 1, 2, and 3. Apparently, these folks are *REALLY* making use of 4DVC, as they are getting version numbers well up into the hundreds! This is undoubtedly a tedious process, and the speed of your hard disk will make a *BIG* difference, but here it is, folks. Make sure you have plenty of both disk space and TIME! You may walk away from your computer while this function is executing. When it is finished, you will be shown each archive file and the "status" of the packing function: a list of all files renamed in the archive; a message stating that no packing was necessary; or 1 of 2 messages stating that the function was not completed due to shortage of disk space. With any luck, the 3.0 changes should make 4DVC fairly stable. If you have any more suggestions/comments/"fixes"/bug-reports, please get them to me as quickly as possible. I would like to put 4DVC on the back burner for a while as several of you have written to say "Gee, this is a pretty nifty VCS. What about a MAKE utility to go along with it? Everybody knows that VCS and MAKE go together..." OK. I'm planning on it. But I won't start working on it until the mail about 4DVC slows down. For those of you asking for the MAKE, you can get it quicker if you will thoroughly execise 4DVC, compile your list of requests, and mail them to me ASAP. I don't want to be caught making changes to 2 utilities at the same time, especially if they are going to have to interface with each other. 3.10 - Bug fixes: - 4DVCBKP2 modified to force a leading zero on dates produced by the 4DOS DIR command. - Gil Yoder of Coalgate, OK brought the following to my attention. The 4DOS manual states that the MEMORY command always produces a list that consists of TOTAL RAM, FREE RAM, TOTAL EMS, FREE EMS, TOTAL XMS, TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, FREE ENVIRONMENT, TOTAL ALIAS, FREE ALIAS & TOTAL HISTORY. All examples and references to the MEMORY command quote this complete list, and indeed this is what I see on my system. However, it seems that the references to EMS and XMS are optional if you don't have these types of memory on your system. This caused a problem in 4DVCCHK when it tried to determine the amount of free Environment Space you have left. I had coded a "read" to line 9 of the MEMORY output (for speed, and where the free Environment would have been if the MEMORY command functioned as the manual says it does). This has been changed to a loop that starts with the first record of output from MEMORY and reads until "ENVIRONMENT" is found. Then the next record is read, which should be the amount of Free Environment Space. This should resolve any start-up problem you may have been experiencing. As this bit of code has been in 4DVCCHK from the early releases of 4DVC, and as no one else has noted this problem, I can only surmise that everyone else has EMS and XMS, everyone fixed the problem themselves without relaying a message to me, or else Mr. Yoder has a "problem" that is peculiar to his system. As regards the above-mentioned fix for the Free Environment Space, I would like to remind everyone that 4DVC "reads" the output from many different 4DOS and PKZIP operations. 4DVC is not unique in this matter; I have collected many tools from various sources that "read" such output from other utilities. Although the above problem may have indeed existed for quite a while, it should alert you to the fact that 4DVC (and any other tools you might have which read output from other utilities) can be easily rendered obsolete if the authors of the other utilities change their output! For example, if Phil Katz changes "PKZIP -v" so that the "dashed-lines" before and after the file-list is no longer produced, 4DVC will not be able to locate your files inside the *.ZIP files. If J.P. Software decides to change the output of the DIR command such that the "time" is listed before the "date", then again, 4DVC will not work properly, as it cannot properly determine the date/time stamps of the files it it is working with. As stated, this potential "gotcha!" is *NOT* unique to 4DVC; anything you may be using that reads output from another utility has the potential to become obsolete simply by installing a new release of the utility in question. To that end, I would encourage everyone to write to the authors of such utilities and request (politely, but firmly) that their existing output formats are forever frozen! If they provide new features that demand a different output format, suggest to them that such new features/output are invoked/produced if and only if a new, unique command-line switch is used. Request that existing output is not altered in any manner (no line-adds/line-deletes/field-adds/field-deletes/ field-justifications/field-positions/etc.). Should Phil Katz and/or J.P. Soft- ware change something that causes 4DVC to fail, I will attempt to address the problem. But you should note 2 things: first, 4DVC will be "dead" until I can figure-out what changed and how, and second, any such "upgrade" to 4DVC will demand that you also upgrade to the newer versions of PK(UN)ZIP and 4DOS or else stick with all the older version of both utilities and 4DVC. In summary (and stepping-down off my soapbox now), if you wish to have hassle- free, continued use of 4DVC for months (possibly years) to come, take 10 minutes and 50 cents to write 2 letters: 1 to Phil Katz and 1 to J.P. Soft- ware. Explain that you, as a *CUSTOMER*, would like them to consider the fact that automating tasks on your computer depends heavily on the output which is produced by their utilities. Let them know that, as a *CUSTOMER*, you would like to have assurances that new releases of their products do not cause your batch-file and other processes to malfunction, simply because they decided to change the output of their untilities. Make it clear that you, as a *CUSTOMER*, would appreciate their keeping this matter in mind as they improve their products. 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