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1994-05-04
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275 lines
What is ARGUS.COM doing ?
=========================
ARGUS - logs essential system activities of DOS into a text file.
- works complete in the background (without screen output).
This might be usefully if a program hangs up with 'unexplicable' messages
(e.g. 'Out of Memory', 'File not found' and so on). Sometime it is
already interesting, which interrupts are 'corrupted'.
Since version 1.3 the printer output can be redirected in an file. This
makes sense, if one searchs the reason for 'char confusion' on the paper,
or if no printer is available. (printer substitute)
After that the file can be printed with: COPY /B ARGUS.PRN PRN .
The resident part of ARGUS occupies in dependence of the choosed options
between 3.4 and 5 KByte of memory, thus no impairment to the inspected
program should occure.
The file ARGUS.LOG contains an example log.
ARGUS REQUIRES: CPU 286 or above, MS-DOS 3.3 or above
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I understand this program as 'FREEWARE', i.e., anybody can get it
free of charge (in the sense of distribution to the prime cost).
'Of course' I give NO WARRANTY that ARGUS works correct on your computer.
(c) M. Heilfort
Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universitaet
FB Physik
F.-Ludwig-Jahn-Str. 16
D-17487 Greifswald
Germany
E-Mail: heilfort@ap01.physik.uni-greifswald.de
Picture postcards and helpful comments are welcome.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Description
===========
ARGUS -- log of system activities
Call: ARGUS [ log file ] [ options ] [ /P [ print file ] ]
~~~~~
Presettings: log file = ARGUS.LOG
~~~~~~~~~~~~ print file = ARGUS.PRN
options = /d/f /c
Options: /? , -? : Show this help
~~~~~~~~ /a , -a : Log all activities
/d , -d : Log access to directories
/e , -e : Log using of EMS
/em, -em : Log using of EMS and mapping
/f , -f : Log access to files
/i , -i : Log modifications of the INT table
/l , -l : Log access to drives
/m , -m : Log the memory managment
/c , -c : Complete error messages
/s , -s : Permanent saving of the log file
/p , -p : Redirect the printer output into the print file
To remove ARGUS simple run it again.
The options in detail
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/D ARGUS reports operations, which apply to directories.
~~~
/L ARGUS reports operations, which apply to drives.
~~~
/F Log of file operations. Not only FCB but also handle functions
~~~ are supervised. To save memory ARGUS doesn't remember the file name
which belongs to a handle, i.e., all file operations are logged
only with the handle number. Indeed, the reference to the file name
is given while opening a file.
/I Redefinitions of Interrupts via DOS function are reported with
~~~ INT number and address of the INT handler.
Furthermore, the INT vectors 00h..1Ch, 20h..3Fh and 60h..7Fh are
supervised with a check sum to detect 'hard' manipulations.
In the case of change a warning occures.
But not every warning reports an illicit manipulation, the
COMMAND.COM sometime goes an 'internal' way.
/M ARGUS logs memory allocation and release by DOS functions 48h..4Ah.
~~~ Additionally the size of remaining memory is reported bevor a
program is executed.
/E ARGUS only knowes the functions of EMM 3.0. In 99% of all cases
~~~ this should work. Unknown EMM functions are logged with the
contents of register AX (= function number).
/EM As the option /E. Additionally every mapping of an EMS page into a
~~~ page frame is reported. With programs heavy using EMS one should
choose this combination only, if sufficient capacity on the hard
disk is left !
/A Last not least it should be remembered that the option /A is equal
~~~ to /D/EM/F/I/L/M, i.e., it very quickly 'produces' a big log file.
/C With this option one gets complete error messages, otherwise the
~~~ logged funktion is only commented with 'OK' or 'FAIL !'.
/S The option /S is only recommented, if there is the risk of system
~~~ crash, since the permanent saving of the log file slowes down
the program execution.
NOTE: You should disable a write cache (e.g. SMARTDRV).
/P ARGUS redirects the printer output into a print file. This works
~~~ with BIOS function (INT 17h) as well as with DOS functions
(function 5, handle 4 or file 'PRN').
In the most cases it works with the 'print screen' key, too.
Remarks:
~~~~~~~~
The preseted options '/D/F/C' are only valid if there are no options
choosed in the command line. If you ADDITIONALLY want to supervise e.g.
the EMS, you've to use '/D/F/C/E'.
If one of the options '/D/E/F/I/L/M' is used together with '/A', then it
is turned off, i.e. '/A/E' is equal to '/D/F/I/L/M' (all except EMS).
You can write all options in upper cases as well as in lower cases.
The order of the parameters is equal with one exception:
If the option /P is used, the name of the log file must stand before
and the name of the print file always after this option.
Between options and file names should be at least one space.
A missing file extender will be read as '.LOG' or '.PRN'.
The file names can contain an path name. If it is omitted, the
directory is used, which is the current one, when ARGUS starts.
Later directory changes doesn't matter.
(HINT: The complete(!) file name must not be longer than 120 chars.)
It goes without saying, that during the log not only the drive and
the directory (may be difficult with floppy or network!) but also
the log file itself has to be permanently accessible.
ARGUS logs independend of the choosed options every program start and
the corresponding termination. This lines are particularly marked, so
that you easily can find which messages correspond to which program.
The allocation of user actions to the therby initiated program
activities can be done by the logged time. In the simplest way one
waits bevor every input, e.g. one minute.
You can avoid unnecessary messages within the log file, if you start
ARGUS and the supervised program directly from DOS, i.e. not within
a batch file or a user interface.
Bevor a program starts and after its termination you can get 'gaps'
into the log file. I assume that it is caused from the fact, that DOS
is not reentrant and the COMMAND.COM uses some DOS functions in a direct
way. Nevertheless, ARGUS reports this (rare) case with a line as
'log file incomplete'.
In contrast to all earlier versions ARGUS V 1.5 now automatically detects
the best position in memory and loads the resident part to this place.
Do NOT use LOADHIGH any more.
The resident size depends on the following states:
EMS logged │ complete error messages │ resident size
───────────────┼─────────────────────────┼───────────────
no │ no │ 3424 Byte
no │ yes │ 4016 Byte
yes │ no │ 4688 Byte
yes │ yes │ 4880 Byte
Structure of the log file
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1.) Header with date and time, e.g.:
~~~
ARGUS V1.51 - (c) by M. Heilfort, May 1994
May, 03 1994
02.20.30 : ------- start of log --------
: resident ARGUS occupies 4880 Byte
2.) Messages with the following structure:
~~~
time : logged function : parameter of the function
with choosed option /C in the error case a second line followes:
error numb.: error message
Example:
02.20.35 : create directory : argus.dem OK
02.20.35 : change directory : argus.dem OK
02.20.35 : query current directory: C:\ARGUS\ARGUS.DEM OK
02.20.35 : remove directory : C:\ARGUS\ARGUS.DEM FAIL !
error 16 : can'