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UPDATE.TXT
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1994-03-05
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TurboPower Software
Electronic Maintenance System
Policies and Procedures
***-----------------------------***
Updated 94/02/09
Introduction
--------------------------------------------------------------------
TurboPower Software now provides maintenance updates of its products
at no charge beyond the cost of a download. "Maintenance updates" are
defined as those that change the version number by only 0.01. Updates
of a larger degree must be purchased on disk from TurboPower as usual.
The maintenance updates are provided in the form of a patch script
generated by Pocket Soft's .RTPatch utility. This utility compares a
group of files and generates a compressed list of differences in a
single patch file. This file is processed by a utility named
PATCH.EXE, which applies the patches to your existing copy of the
library, thus updating it to the newer version.
A single patch script is capable of updating only one minor version at
a time. For example, a single script could update Object Professional
1.21 to 1.22. It could *not* update OPRO 1.20 to 1.22. To do that,
you'd need two scripts, one for 1.20 to 1.21 and another for 1.21 to
1.22.
If your cost of downloading patches, applying them, or rebuilding
dependent files exceeds $20 for a particular product, it is sensible
to order a complete disk set containing the current version from
TurboPower. See the end of this file for contact information. Be sure
to have your serial number handy when ordering.
TurboPower's Fast Update Plan, which was an annual subscription
service for obtaining maintenance updates on disk, is no longer
available. Updates can now be obtained by using the Electronic
Maintenance System as described in this document, or by ordering
individual updates as they become available. TurboPower has also begun
to publish a quarterly newsletter for all registered customers. Among
other topics, this newsletter lists the current version numbers of all
products.
General Instructions
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow these general instructions to take advantage of the Electronic
Maintenance System.
1. Download and read UPDATE.TXT (this file).
2. Download PATCH.EXE (about 45KB) and store this utility in a
directory on your DOS PATH. This utility is used to apply all patch
scripts. It is not stored within the patch script files. (Note that we
are using version 2.01 of PATCH.EXE. If you have an earlier version of
PATCH, it may or may not work with our patch scripts.)
3. If desired, download files matching NAME.VVV (e.g., OPRO.122).
These are small text files that describe the bugs fixed and new
features added in a given version of a product. These files allow you
to decide whether it's worth the time to download the patch file
itself.
4. Download one or more patch files, whose names match NAMVVV.exe
(e.g., OPR122.EXE). The file names are limited to 6 characters for
compatibility with CompuServe. The patch file is a self-extracting
archive based on the LZH format. Move the EXE file into the main
directory of the associated TurboPower product (e.g., into the \OPRO
directory of Object Professional). Then execute the EXE file, which
will extract itself into a DOC file (e.g., OPRO122.DOC), one or more
patch scripts (extension RTP), and perhaps a batch file.
5. Read the DOC file for instructions specific to the product and
version. In some cases it will instruct you to run PATCH.EXE directly.
In other cases you will run a supplied batch file. The DOC file also
specifies limitations and restrictions of the patch.
NOTE: At the time this document is written, the Electronic Maintenance
System is brand new. Although it has been field tested, opportunity
certainly exists for additional problems. Generating the patch scripts
is a fairly complicated process that is subject to error. If you have
any problems with the patching process, please contact TurboPower as
soon as possible with all relevant details.
Available Patch Files
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The following table lists all available patch files. Patches are not
available for all versions of TurboPower products. We chose to start
the patches with the Borland Pascal 7.0 compatible versions of our
Pascal products, and the next-to-last version of our C/C++ products.
We ruled out earlier patches for several reasons:
a) in many cases it was inconsistent with our 0.01 minor revision
rule;
b) it would be uneconomical to download and apply 8 patch files to
bring an early version of Turbo Professional up to date, for
example;
c) it would be unfair to people who have previously paid for the
Fast Update Plan or a series of individual updates.
The version number in the table corresponds to the new version that
you want to obtain. You must have the version immediately preceding
this version for the patch to work.
Product Version Patch File Summary File
----------------------- ------- ---------- ------------
Object Professional 1.21 OPR121.EXE OPRO.121
" 1.22 OPR122.EXE OPRO.122
Turbo Professional 5.21 TPR521.EXE TPRO.521
" 5.22 TPR522.EXE TPRO.522
Async Professional 1.11 APR111.EXE APRO.111
" 1.12 APR112.EXE APRO.112
Async Professional C/C++ 1.01 APC101.EXE APC.101
B-Tree Filer (Pascal) 5.41 BTF541.EXE BTREE.541
Object Professional C/C++ 1.04 OPC104.EXE OPC.104
TSRs & More (C/C++) 1.01 TSM101.EXE TSM.101
Win/Sys Library 1.02 WS102.EXE WINSYS.102
Data Entry Workshop 2.01 DEW201.EXE DEW.201
Turbo Analyst 7.01 TA701.EXE ANA.701
The size of the patch files varies significantly depending on the size
of the product and the magnitude of the changes. The smallest patch
files are about 40KB and the largest are over 400KB. In future
TurboPower product updates we'll be minimizing the number of
"artificial" changes that we make (file version numbers, date stamps,
etc.) in order to keep the patch sizes as small as possible.
Available Download Sites
--------------------------------------------------------------------
We are attempting to make the patch files available to a wide variety
of sites so that your download cost is minimized. The following table
shows the current availability.
Country Name Number Notes
------- ---------------- ------------ ----------------------
-any- CompuServe PCVENB LIB 6 Pascal/Windows products
-any- CompuServe PCVENE LIB 1 C/C++ products
CO, USA TurboPower BBS 719-260-9726
FL, USA TechMate BBS 407-274-0926
Germany GOLEM Warehouse +49-2132-76220 FIDO only
+49-2132-80051 MajorBBS
" Granny's In +49-4441-5404
" FRISCO BBS +49-8962-55805
Holland Multiline Paradise +31-1749-48422
+31-1749-48384
" Paradise Island +31-3200-34334
" WVD Nederland +31-30-313949
Belgium Tornado BBS +32-16-640582
Sweden Secret Blue Valley +46-46-188600
Switzerland YaCaN BBS +41-61-3022828
Special thanks to Rob Van.hoeven and Reinier de Groot of Holland for
arranging the initial European distribution network for these patch
files.
If you can download the patch files from any of the existing locations
and upload them to a reliable BBS in a different country, please let
us know the relevant information for this table so that we can
publicize it in the future. The following rules must be met for
inclusion in this table:
a) patch files for *all* TurboPower products and versions must be
transferred in a timely manner;
b) there must be no charge for downloading the TurboPower patch
files;
c) the BBS must be available on a regular basis, preferably 24
hours, 7 days;
d) the patch archives must be distributed unchanged, except for the
possibility of adding a BBS-specific header file to the archive.
Note that the download sites outside of TurboPower and TechMate are
*not* responsible for supplying technical support for TurboPower
products, nor can they forward messages to TurboPower. Contact
TurboPower or TechMate directly for technical support.
PATCH.EXE Options
--------------------------------------------------------------------
This section describes options that can be used with the PATCH.EXE
program. Generally, you don't need to know these options, because each
patch's DOC file tells you how to run the patch. You can use these
options to perform partial patches, custom patches, and so on.
General command line:
PATCH [Options] <UpdateDirectory> <PatchFile>
By default UpdateDirectory is the current directory and PatchFile is
PATCH.RTP. When a default assumption is correct, the argument can be
omitted.
Options:
/BACKUP[:<Directory>]
Causes PATCH to make backup copies of any files affected by the
updating process. If Directory is specified, the backup files are
stored in that location. If Directory is not specified, the backup
files are stored in a subdirectory of UpdateDirectory named
BACKUP.
/ERRORFILE
Causes PATCH to log all error and warning messages to a file named
PATCH.ERR in UpdateDirectory. This option is useful when the patch
summary indicates that certain files could not be updated, to
determine the name of the files and the exact problems.
/FILE:<EntryName>
Updates just the specified file from the patch.
/LIST
Lists information about the patch entries in PatchFile.
/NOSUBDIRSEARCH
Prevents PATCH from looking in subdirectories of UpdateDirectory
to find files to patch.
/PATHSEARCH
Searches the DOS PATH to find files to patch, after looking in
UpdateDirectory and subdirectories of UpdateDirectory.
/QUIET
Disables all PATCH messages except for errors.
/UNDO
Allows PATCH to undo all completed patches if an error occurs
while processing any patch. Requires enough free disk space to
back up every patched file until all patches are complete.
Contacting TurboPower
--------------------------------------------------------------------
You can contact TurboPower and TechMate directly by any of the
following methods:
Postal mail : TurboPower Software
P.O. Box 49009
Colorado Springs, CO 80949-9009
Telephone : 719-260-6641 (tech support)
719-260-7151 (fax)
800-333-4160 (sales in the USA & Canada)
719-260-9136 (international sales)
CompuServe : PCVENB section 6, or e-mail to 76004,2611
Internet : 76004.2611@compuserve.com
Postal mail : Techmate, Inc.
1177 George Bush Blvd. #401
Delray Beach, FL 33483
Telephone : 407-274-4643 (tech support)
407-274-0862 (fax)
CompuServe : PCVENE section 1, or e-mail to 75300,2214
Internet : 75300.2214@compuserve.com