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MARKEXE.DOC
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1996-08-01
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MarkEXE v3.0 Protect! v6.0
(C) 1993-1996 Jeremy Lilley
All Rights Reserved
INTRODUCTION:
-------------
MarkEXE is a simple utility that imbeds your copyright
messages at the beginning of any normal EXE file. Simply specify
the executable file name and the file containing the copyright
message:
MarkEXE [ProgName[.EXE]] [Message.Msg]
for example: MarkEXE MyProg MyProg.Msg
MarkEXE v3.0 was designed to be used with Protect!, but
it can be used on any normal DOS executable file (it will work
on a few larger files not supported by Protect!, and it is even
possible to use on Windows and OS/2 executables if you see the
instructions below). MarkEXE will place the message as close to
the beginning of the EXE as possible, which is at byte 32 of a
Protected exectuable. It will try to recover unused header space
first to minimize the file's expansion. It is important that you
run MarkEXE only *after* and not before running Protect! on a
file because Protect! removes MarkEXE messages. Also, MarkEXE's
messages will not be Protected from modification by Protect!
because they are not loaded into memory when the file is run.
EXAMPLE:
________
The message that MarkEXE puts in executable files is
viewable from any command or program that can look at the file
itself, including the DOS TYPE command and other utilities such
as DiskEdit:
C:\>TYPE MyProg.EXE
MyProg (C) 1996 John Doe Enterprises
Please read MyProg.DOC for instructions.
John Doe Enterprises
123 Main Street
Anyplace, USA 12345
(123) 456-7890
jdoe@anynet.com
SUGGESTIONS:
____________
You may want to add an ANSI clear screen command (like
ESC[2J) at the beginning of the file to clear the display
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(because MarkEXE can't put the message until after the first 32
bytes, ridding the screen of garbage, at least on ANSI systems,
is a good idea).
Also, the message file for MarkEXE is different from the
modification message file that is used in the registered version
of Protect!, but they could conceivably be the same or almost
the same file.
WINDOWS / OS/2 EXECUTABLES:
---------------------------
If you write Windows or OS/2 programs, it is possible to
add a copyright message with MarkEXE even though Protect! won't
work on them. DON'T just try to add the message to the EXE file
(because that will cause problems and conflicts with many of the
pointers of the Windows / OS/2 portion that MarkEXE was not
designed to deal with). What you need to do is go back to your
compiler and create a .DEF file and include it in the program's
project or make-file (if one doesn't already exist). In the DEF
file, add a STUB statement:
STUB 'EXE_STUB.EXE'
Now, create the EXE_STUB.EXE file (name it whatever you
want) with a DOS compiler. This STUB file is what is executed
when you try to run a Windows program from DOS. Normally, the
compiler defaults to a small program that tells you to load the
file from Windows, but with the STUB command, you can specify
your own message or even a DOS version of your program. Once you
have created your own EXE_STUB.EXE, you just use MarkEXE on it,
compile/link the Windows or OS/2 executable, and your new
message should appear at the beginning of the Windows or OS/2
executable.
LICENSING:
__________
This program must be distributed with Protect! EXE/COM
and be used under the same terms. You must register this
package before distributing the finished EXE files. In testing
and using, you agree not to hold the author responsible for
damages that may result from the use or misuse of this program.
CHANGES/PROBLEMS:
_________________
There have been very few changes from MarkEXE v3.0;
mostly minor changes to make it work better with Protect! v6.0.
There is still the problem that if there is an arbitrary
End Of File marker in the first 32 bytes of the EXE file, the
message can't be displayed with the TYPE command. You can get
around this by compressing or not compressing (i.e. changing the
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file size) in most cases. There is little that can be done inside
of MarkEXE for this.
CONTACT:
________
Jeremy Lilley
Protect! EXE/COM
2711 Oak View Circle
Medford, Oregon 97504
Email: jjlilley@mit.edu
Compuserve: 75060,2074
URL: http://web.mit.edu/jjlilley/www/protect.html