Op 11-7-2011 0:11, Jim Hall schreef: > Hi all, > > I've tagged version 4.01 of the FreeDOS Install program. This is a > completely new Install program, designed as a major improvement for > the "FreeDOS 1.1" distribution.
Thanks for creating this. > The new Install asks the user only a few questions: if you want to > install everything, and if you want to install source code. From > there, the installer takes over and does everything for you. After you > answer those two questions, you can walk away and let the installer do > its thing. A very obvious progress bar will show you how far along you > are in the install process. With the risk of having used an outdated binary (and lacking compiler environment for your official source-code-only release): SCREEN: INSTALL TO: * Suppose I'd be a complete newbie to DOS: how do I know what to type there? (a.k.a what's valid input). * Absolute paths required? Relative paths seem to be supported, in which case there's attempts to create subdirectory structure in current directory. Which won't work ofcourse from cdrom * Path isn't checked/created before starting unzipping, depending on UNZIP itself instead to create directories? Or rather you're not returned to initial inputfield. * Try typing NUL into that field * Try typing C:\DUMMY\FDOS in there if C:\DUMMMY doesn't exist * How to confirm/terminate install location input? pressing ENTER I guess, but no visual indication of this (at bottom of screen) * How to exit the program without doing anything? F3 key seems popular in other installers. SCREEN: INSTALLING: * Sometimes getting the "caution: excluded filename not matched: SOURCE/*" when answered No to both questions. Seems odd. When selecting to not install sources, no messages related to them are expected. SCREEN: DONE * No input on how to proceed/finish (pressing any random key?) Otherwise things seem pretty obvious :) Bugs: whatever you've described already, with most noticeable the install everything / sources questions using first given answer. Documentation omissions found so far: * INSTALL.EXE can started from anywhere, but whatever your current directory is, a subdirectory PACKAGES must exist, which must have at least a subdirectory BASE. * UNZIP and RESET need to be in current directory or found in %path%. * which subdirectories are valid for PACKAGES? Rest ignored or also processed? * SUBST/JOIN usable for floppy install? 'mount' floppy files in some dummy "PACKAGES\BASE" directory? * TIMEZONE stuff required? Didn't notice anything going wrong besides sometimes a warning. Any documentation for what is valid input for TZ? * Package structure described? * Documented that InfoZip's UNZIP is required/expect, and no others supported (7ZIP, PKZIP, UNRAR, TUNZ, 7ZDECOD etc) ? * INSTALL expects/assumes user has validated that the input is 1) a directory (try C:\KERNEL.SYS as input if it exists as file) 2) on an existing driveletter 3) on a drive 4) FAT12/16/32 5) with enough free diskspace 6) valid input ad 1): TRUENAME usable (Truename equals input --> absolute path) ? or checking for input\NUL to exist? ad 2): check if X:\NUL exists? ad 5): require 5MB free at least? That excludes CDs or running out of diskspace. Question: can PACKAGES\subdirs\*.LSM now be deleted? Install doesn't give descriptions anymore of individual packages anyway. Question: are sources installed and later deleted, or excluded by UNZIP as was the initial intent? Possible enhancements: scripting possibilities for: 1) source directory 2) destination directory 3) automation (accepting source input by default, and finish last screen 3 seconds or so after being all done) 4) /ALLSETS or /BASEONLY ; /NOSOURCE ; /QUIET > There are some known issues (see doc\BUGS.TXT) but this seems stable > enough that it can be used as an installer for the FreeDOS 1.1-test > distribution. Yes, usable, will integrate it. Thanks for the work so far. (and I'll throw UPX over it to reduce size of binaries) > Details and screenshots at http://www.freedos.org/jhall/install/ > > Download at https://sourceforge.net/projects/freedos/files/Install/ > (inst401s.zip) Installation (to harddisk!) is now a matter of: 1) Partitioning (optional if already done) 2) Formatting (optional if already done) 3) Installing 4) Copy kernel (and optional, shell) to C:\ (unless C: is USB, ah well) 5) Run SYS if user wants. 6) Create configuration files (optional, usefull) 7) Reboot (optional) Complicated by: 1) Hardware 2) USB sticks pretending to be C: Bernd ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ All of the data generated in your IT infrastructure is seriously valuable. Why? It contains a definitive record of application performance, security threats, fraudulent activity, and more. Splunk takes this data and makes sense of it. IT sense. And common sense. http://p.sf.net/sfu/splunk-d2d-c2 _______________________________________________ Freedos-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
