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╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ║
║ QUICKFIX 1.2 ║
║ ║
║ A utility for rapid, safe application of OS/2 fixpacks. ║
║ ║
║ Jon Saxton ║
║ 10-11-99 ║
║ ║
╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Enclosed is a REXX script to make the application of OS/2 fixpacks easy.
Yes, this is yet another quick fix tool and the obvious question is "Why?".
The critical issue is safety.
The main difference between this utility and most others in the genre is that
QuickFix uses an image unpacking tool which performs CRC validation of the
diskette images before applying what could otherwise be junk to your finely-
tuned and previously functional OS/2 system. To me that seems a worthwhile
contribution.
QuickFix was derived from an earlier REXX program, DISKFP, by Trevor Hemsley
and full credit is due to Trevor for the concept. It was Trevor who alerted
me to the danger of tools such as DIUNPACK which do no validation of the
diskette image and to the damage that a bad download could cause.
Meanwhile I had tried a diskette image extractor written by Alan Arnett and
one of the items on Alan's list of planned features was CRC checking. I
harassed Alan a little and in July this year he released a version of his
program with that feature implemented.
I have modified Trevor's program to use Alan's program as well as making a
large number of usability enhancements. With Trevor's concurrence, this
program is being released under a new name.
Purely as a courtesy I have included Alan's DSKXTRCT.EXE in this submission
but it is not my intention to post QuickFix updates just to include later
versions of Alan's program. At the time of writing DSKXTR12.ZIP on Hobbes is
Alan's official release and you should get subsequent versions of Alan's
program from his submissions.
Thanks to Peter Flass and Albert Crosby for their REXX code which I have
embedded in this program.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steps for applying an OS/2 fixpack.
Preparation
-----------
1. Download all the diskette images (XR?M???.?DK for OS/2 4.0 or XR?W???.?DK
for OS/2 3.0) along with the latest release of the fix tools (FIXT140.EXE
or CS?140.DSK or CS?140.EXE at the time of writing). All of these files
should be in a single directory somewhere on your hard drive. This is
the source directory.
2. Have QF.CMD and DSKXTRCT.EXE available somewhere on your PATH. They
do not have to be in the same directory as the fixpack.
3. If necessary, clean up your system. If you've applied an earlier
fixpack then it may be necessary to commit the fixpack and/or remove
the old log files. Within limits, this program can do it for you.
4. Run QF specifying the source directory (where the disk images are). If
you are running the program from the source directory then a dot will
suffice.
5. Answer the prompts. In the absence of any error QF will unpack the
fixpack images into some directory on your hard drive (the patch directory)
and build a pair of command files or let you run the GUI fix tool.
Application
-----------
If you didn't run the GUI fix tool in step 5, then ...
6. Either boot from a maintenance partition if you have one, or boot to
a full-screen text-mode session (using Alt-F1 when the white rectangle
appears on the top left corner of the screen during the boot process).
Go to the patch directory (where QF put the patch files) and run APPLY.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steps for backing out of an OS/2 fixpack
1. Same as step 6 above except run BACKOUT instead of APPLY.
(Note that this isn't available if you chose to use the GUI fix tool.
In that case you'll have to run SERVICE yourself.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Release history:
1.0 Only worked on OS/2 4.0
1.1 Works on OS/2 3.0 and 4.0
Much-improved user interface.
1.2 Allow interactive application via SERVICE.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Planned enhancements:
1.3 Prepare command files for GUI application.
1.4 Handle BACKUP level.
1.5 Multiple ARCHIVE/BACKUP levels?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please report any bugs to
Jon Saxton <triton@attglobal.net>
or, better still, fix them and send me the modified program. ;-)