ftp.barnyard.co.uk/2015.02.ftp.barnyard.co.uk.tar/ftp.barnyard.co.uk/cpm/walnut-creek-CDROM/CPM/ZCPR33/Z3-33/Z33UPD.DZC/Z33UPD.DOC

Text File | 2000-06-30 | 18KB | 306 lines

Here is a list of features and changes in ZCPR33.

MAJOR SYSTEM ENHANCEMENTS

    1.  Transient programs are now installed automatically at execution time
        (not at load time).  No longer will you need Z3INS (or Z-RIP), and
        no longer will you have files fail to operate correctly because you
        forgot to install them.

    2.  Extended command processors (ECPs) and error handlers can now
        coexist.  If a ZCPR33-compatible ECP encounters an error in
        operation, it can return control to the command processor for error
        handling.  In fact, any program can force invocation of the error
        handler to process the command by which the program was invoked.
        This can be useful when the program detects a syntax error and would
        like to afford the user the opportunity to edit the command.

    3.  The command processor can load programs automatically to starting
        addresses other than 100H using a new type-3 environment descriptor.
        If the environment type number in the program header is more than 2,
        then the word after the environment address (i.e., the word at 10bh)
        will be used as the load address for the program.  By linking
        extended command processors and error handlers to an address high in
        memory, one can cause these programs to be loaded so as not to
        affect a transient program loaded in the TPA at 100H.  This means
        that the GO command can be used after an erroneously entered command
        has caused the ECP and error handler to be invoked.  The same could
        be done with small shell programs, such as a history shell.  The new
        FCP package loads the transient IF processor in high memory also,
        and the new RCP dynamically allocates its buffers at the top of the
        TPA, so that, again, the GO command can be used fairly predictably.
        A further use of the new dynamic loading feature is to make
        transient programs that act as pseudo-residents.  For example, one
        can now have a transient SAVE program (which could be much more
        powerful than the resident one).  If SAVE.COM is linked with a type-
        3 environment with a load address of 8000H, then it can be used to
        save any memory image in the range 100H-7FFFH.  Programs like
        FINDERR and MEX2Z, which have to examine the memory image left by
        the previous program that ran, can now be made to examine any part
        of memory, even at the bottom of the TPA, by linking them to load in
        high memory.

    4.  The command processor can now, like the ZCPR3 utilities, configure
        itself dynamically according to parameters set in the environment
        descriptor (Z3ENV).  The features that can be controlled by the
        environment are:
                a.  the maximum allowed drive and user number
                b.  the acceptance of the DU form (DUOK)
                c.  the addresses of the RCP, FCP, and NDR
        The ability to get the RCP, FCP, and NDR addresses from the
        environment makes it possible to allocate a single large buffer in
        different proportions under the control of an alias.


SPEED ENHANCEMENTS

    1.  The SCANCUR option now works correctly so that the command processor
        does not automatically scan the user's current directory first.  One
        can now have a command search path that looks first in the directory
        where one's most often used programs reside before searching the
        current directory.  The current directory can be omitted from the
        path so that it is scanned only when a colon is included before the
        command name.  The latter feature is particularly useful with ram
        disks.  To make it easier to get the effect of a leading colon (a
        shifted character), a period (not a shifted character) can be used
        instead.

    2.  An option allows searching of the command path and the extended
        command processor to be bypassed when an explicit directory is
        specified with the command.  Then when one makes a typing mistake or
        uses the wrong name for a file, time will not be wasted scanning the
        entire path, which may include some slow devices, before the error
        handler is invoked.

    3.  With the tremendous power offered by an extended command processor,
        a significant fraction of the user's commands may be intended for
        the ECP.  If a command is entered with a leading space, the
        processing of the command will be directed to the ECP immediately,
        saving the time of searching the path.

    4.  The minimum path and root path features have now been implemented
        correctly and efficiently (the minpath no longer takes up any room
        in the command processor).  Since the minimum path prevents the
        command processor from looking more than once in the same directory
        for a file, operating speed is improved.


COMMAND PROCESSING PRIORITY CHANGES

    1.  Commands in the resident command package (RCP) are now scanned
        before those that are resident in the command processor (CPR)
        proper.  In this way, when an RCP is loaded that supports a more
        powerful version of a command present in the CPR, the RCP command
        will take precedence.

    2.  Command line input to the command processor now comes from four
        sources in the following order:
                a.  a running ZEX script
                b.  a running SUBMIT job
                c.  the shell stack
                d.  the user
        By moving the priority of ZEX input to the top, ZEX jobs can now run
        nicely and quickly under shells (since the shell does not have to be
        reloaded for each line of the ZEX script), and the shells do not
        have to contain complex code to check for ZEX input.  Once a ZEX job
        has been started, it is treated as if its script were a single long
        command line entered by the user.


IMPROVED SECURITY FEATURES

    1.  Security with the DU form of directory reference has been made more
        rigorous.  It is now quite possible to allow the DU form to be used
        and still have a secure system.  The highest drive and user number
        are now under control of the environment, as noted above.  In
        addition, if a user has reached a drive or user number beyond that
        range by using a named directory, the D: or U: forms cannot then be
        used to reach other drives or users that are out of range.  All
        directories accessed by any DU-type form (DU:, D:, or U:) are fully
        checked.

    2.  For enhanced performance in systems with DU accesses disabled by the
        DUOK flag or with some named directories beyond the max DU limits,
        DU expressions that reference directories for which there is a named
        directory with no password will always be accepted.  For example, if
        the maximum allowed drive is C but there is a named directory FLOPPY
        which is J0:, the commands "J0:" and "XD J0:" will work exactly the
        same as if FLOPPY had appeared in the place of J0.

    3.  For convenience, password checking of named directories can be
        automatically disabled when the wheel byte is on.

    4.  Optionally, attempts to log in illegal directories can be passed
        directly to the extended command processor for action.  One use of
        this is to display a message and a listing of the allowed areas (by
        running PWD, for example).

    5.  To reduce the nuisance to users in a secure system, password and
        range checking are not applied to references to the currently logged
        in directory.  Thus, for example, once you have entered an area
        named SECRET (B7) by using the password, commands like "XD SECRET:"
        or "XD B7:*.COM" will be accepted.  Such commands would not normally
        be entered manually but are often generated by alias scripts.  I
        have had some aliases ask me for a password four or five times for a
        directory that I am already logged into!

    6.  Password checking is no longer performed for commands scanned while
        the current IF state is false.  In ZCPR30 the user was asked for the
        password whenever a passworded directory appeared in a command, even
        if the command was not going to be executed.  As a result, complex
        aliases could result in the user being asked numerous times for the
        password even though only one of several possible commands would
        actually execute.


ENHANCEMENTS TO CPR-RESIDENT COMMANDS

    1.  The command table (and certain other information) is placed in a
        standard location in the code (as in the RCP and FCP modules) so
        that an 'H' command in the RCP or a SHOW command can display
        information about the resident commands (and other options)
        supported in the command processor.

    2.  Command errors now result in the invocation of the error handler.
        This is very important when the failure of a command could have a
        serious detrimental impact on the rest of a command line script.
        For example, if a SAVE or REN failed, later operations on the
        resulting file would not work as planned.  By vectoring to an error
        handler, the user is given the opportunity either to fix the command
        or to abort the entire script.

    3.  When the SAVE or REN command will overwrite an existing file, the
        user is prompted.  In ZCPR33 the operation of ZEX is temporarily
        suspended so that unplanned prompts like this will not upset the ZEX
        script.  If you have ever experienced this situation, you know what
        a mess it used to cause.

    4.  The command REN NEWFILE=OLDFILE has enhanced exception checking.
        Previously, if NEWFILE already existed and OLDFILE did not, the user
        would nevertheless be asked if NEWFILE should be erased.  With an
        affirmative answer, only after NEWFILE was erased would the user be
        informed that there was no OLDFILE.  Now, the existence of OLDFILE
        is checked first.

    5.  The JUMP command has been significantly enhanced so that it can now
        serve a useful purpose.  Previously, the command "JUMP 1000" left
        the default FCBs and the command tail set based on the string
        "1000".  Now the command line is reparsed after the address token.
        This means, for example, that "JUMP 100 COMMAND-TAIL" functions
        identically to "GO COMMAND-TAIL".  It is now possible to execute
        code loaded at an arbitrary address AND pass parameters to it in the
        usual way.

    6.  The SAVE command can now save a specified number of sectors using
        the syntax described in "ZCPR3, The Manual", namely, using the form
        "SAVE nn FILENAME S" or "SAVE nnH FILENAME S".

    7.  The DIR command has the additional default forms "DIR /A" and "DIR
        /S" to display all files in the directory with any attribute or with
        the SYS attribute respectively.

    8.  The GET command will not allow a file to be loaded over the first
        page of memory (this happened often in the past because of the
        documentation error that indicated that the first parameter with GET
        was supposed to be the page address rather than the full address).


MISCELLANEOUS NEW FEATURES

    1.  The address of the environment descriptor is passed in the HL
        register when a program is called.  This affords an alternative
        method for automatically installing programs, one that does not
        depend on the standard 'Z3ENV' header at the beginning of the
        program.

    2.  The address of the beginning of the current command is always kept
        in the message buffer at address Z3MSG+4.  Formerly this occurred
        only when there was an error, and the information was going to be
        needed by the error handler.  With the new code, programs can make
        whatever use they wish of this information.  In Z33FCP (soon to be
        released) this feature is used to determine easily whether or not an
        explicit directory or colon occurred before an IF command.  Shells
        can use this feature to determine precisely how they were first
        invoked by the user, namely with an explicit DU: form, an explicit
        DIR: form, or neither.

    3.  The drive/user area from which a program was actually loaded by the
        command processor is put into the S1 (user) and S2 (drive) bytes of
        the external FCB at offsets 13 and 14 into the FCB.  Programs can
        thus determine where the CPR was able to locate them.  (Note that
        once the file has been loaded, only the name and type fields of the
        FCB need be preserved for use by programs; the remaining bytes can
        be used for any purpose.)

    4.  The two entry point vectors in the command processor have been
        replaced by relative rather than absolute jumps.  The byte at offset
        2 that is freed up contains a version ID (33H) that programs can use
        to determine whether they are running under version 3.3 of ZCPR.
        After the second jump (i.e., at offset 5) there are three
        configuration bytes, where each bit indicates whether or not a
        specific optional feature of ZCPR33 has been implemented.  The
        structure of these bytes can be determined from the source code, and
        they will be documented later.  Here is one example of a use for
        this.  A program can determine whether or not SCANCUR (automatic
        inclusion of the current directory at the head of the path) is in
        effect in the command processor and can then follow the same
        convention.  ARUNZ used to scan for the ALIAS.CMD file with SCANCUR
        enabled.  In a future version, I will make ARUNZ follow the command
        processor.  Another use is with a version of the SHOW command that
        will tell one much more about the CPR configuration.  (Note that the
        table of commands now begins at an offset of 08H in the CPR; the "H"
        command in my experimental RCP145 will have to be modified to work
        correctly -- it presently looks for the command table at an offset
        of 6.)


BUG FIXES AND CODE ENHANCEMENTS

    1.  The length of the command tail that is copied from the command line
        to the tail buffer at 80h is now length limited so that the tail
        cannot overwrite code at 100h.  If the tail is too long, it will be
        truncated and a warning message will be displayed.  Processing will
        continue, however.  Without this checking, the system could easily
        be crashed or even damaged by entering commands with very long
        tails.

    2.  The default file control blocks are now properly initialized and
        filled when the extended command processor is invoked.

    3.  The root path element is now computed correctly with the minimum
        path feature enabled (in fact, the latter is no longer an option --
        it is always enabled).

    4.  The command processor will no longer go into an infinite loop when
        the error handler cannot be found.  The built-in error handling will
        always take over under this condition.

    5.  When a command error occurs during a false IF condition, invocation
        of an external error handler was futile, because the error handler
        command line would be flushed.  Results would be unpredictable and
        invisible.  Now, when error handling is invoked during a false IF
        state, the internal error handler is always given control, and it
        echoes the flushed command line to the screen so that the user knows
        what has happened.

    6.  In ZCPR30 the code for loading a file into memory made sure that the
        CPR was not overwritten, but it did not allow for the case where a
        resident system extension (RSX) was present that protected memory
        even below the CPR.  ZCPR30 could overwrite the RSX code.  In ZCPR33
        the address of the highest free memory is calculated correctly.

    7.  The sending of carriage-return-linefeeds during invocation of the
        extended command processor has been fixed so that the ECP looks
        exactly like the normal command processor (in ZCPR30 there used to
        be another new line for each ECP invocation).

    8.  The code for previously existing functions has been significantly
        shortened by using better algorithms, by eliminating redundant or
        unused sections of code, by rearranging the code to eliminate jumps,
        and by using the special Z80 opcodes.  The previously existing
        functions were implemented so much more efficiently that most of the
        new features are accommodated without an increase in total code
        size.  The logical arrangement of the code has been greatly
        improved, routines now being grouped by function and placed into
        modules.  The code is now fully, clearly, and extensively commented.