FPInstall ~~~~~~~~~ Version 0.94 (7-Apr-95) © 1995 Henning Larsen/Flux Point Productions. Introduction ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Most CNet utilities has to be 'installed' in BBSTEXT and/or BBSMENU, which means changing or inserting lines in one or both of these files. Historically, this seems to be the thing, that gives the poor SysOps their greatest headaches - ONE little mistake, and NOTHING works.... FPInstall (from here on referenced as 'FPI') is a util, that simplifies the installation of other utils (pfiles) in CNet's BBSTEXT and/or BBSMENU files. The intention with this program is, that a CNet developer can release the FPI util plus a special install-file (recognized by it's extension of '.FP_install') along with his/her own util, and thereby making the instal- lation process a LOT easier (and safer) for the end user. As an example, PMK's FPDIZ util requires no less than 28 changes in BBS- MENU (last time I checked), plus a couple of changes in BBSTEXT - even if the end user is an expert in CNet pfiles installation, it's still a lot to keep track of! With FPI, the user only has to tell FPI the path/name of the .FP_install file, and the path, where he has his BBSMENU/BBSTEXT files.... the rest is a breeze... As a unique feature, FPI can also UN-install the util later on, if you so wish (a file called .FP_uninstall will be created, when you use the install-util) !! System requirements ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CNet BBS 3.05c KickStart 37.175 (2.04) or higher. COPYRIGHT ~~~~~~~~~ This software is subject to the "Standard Amiga FD-Software Copyright Note". It is MAILWARE as defined in paragraph 4b (my address is listed at the end of this file). For more information please read "AFD-COPYRIGHT" (Version 1 or higher). As stated in the "AFD-COPYRIGHT", this util is freely distributable, with ONE exeption: If you develop CNet utilities of your own, and distribute them as ShareWare or commercial products, you MUST give me a free, regi- stered copy of your product, in order to gain permission to distribute FPInstall along with your own product. If your product is of any other (free, non-crippled) kind, you may distri- bute FPInstall along with it, without gaining my permission (but you MUST still send me mail ;-) - this goes for users as well as developers). User (SysOp) Docs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Installation: 1) Copy the BBSMENU/BBSTEXT files, that you wish to have modified, to a 'safe location' (such as RAM: or T:) This step is not REALLY neccesary, as FPI is a 'safe' util - it makes backups of your old bbstext/menu file(s), with the extension '.old', before generating the new files. If a file called '.old' already exists, FPI will try with '.old1', '.old2' and so on. 2) Go to a CLI, and run the program, with the following arguments: FPInstall Let's say, that you unarc'ed the archive, with which FPI came, to RAM: and you've copied all your BBSTEXT and/or BBSMENU files to T: , then it should look like this: FPIinstall ram:FPDIZ.FP_install T: (where FPDIZ is the pfile to install) When FPI is finished, copy the new BBSTEXT/MENU files to CNET: (if you didn't work directly in CNET:). 3) Well, actually this is it! - your newly received util has succesfully been installed in BBSTEXT/MENU. You will, however, have to copy the actual pfile(s) to the location, which the maker of the util has sta- ted - FPI cannot do this for you, and was never intended to. UN-installation: 1) Follow the directions in item 1 of 'Installation'. 2) During the install process, a file with the extension .FP_uninstall was created. This file contains directions for FPI to undo the changes it has made. If FPI originally worked on more than one BBSTEXT/MENU file, seperate directions for each BBSTEXT/MENU file is listed. To start the un-installation process, you should do much as in item 2 of 'Installation' only this time you should replace the name/path of the .FP_install file, with the .FP_uninstall file. Example: FPI IMPORTANT NOTE: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DO NOT change the name (and especially not the postfix) of the install/ uninstall file(s), as FPI distinguishes between these (and therefore, exactly WHAT it should do) on the basis of their name! Also, if you install several utils, that change the SAME lines in either of BBSTEXT or BBSMENU, REMEMBER to un-install these in REVERSE order of how you installed them (or do it manually)! Last, the format of your BBSMENU file(s) MUST follow these conventions: Alias'es MUST be put BEFORE any other commands in a menu (NOT at the end of a menu, as many believe(d) - including me ;-) ). New commands MUST be listed at the END of a menu. If you have followed these simple rules, everything should be OK! (And don't nag me about'em - it's CNet standard!) If you don't develop utils of your own, the rest of this doc is probably not very interesting, but read it if you want... Installfile (developer) Docs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Installfile can consist of two blocks, one for bbstext and one for bbsmenu. Each of these blocks are initiated by the word BBSTEXT#? or BBSMENU#? on an otherwise empty line. If you have install-entries for both bbstext and bbsmenu, the BBSTEXT#? block MUST come first! The wildcards (#?) ensures that all of the bbstext/menu files in the dir, that the user specifies, will be processed. It IS possible to specify f.i. BBSTEXT1, but in that case, ONLY the file called BBSTEXT1 will be processed. After the initiating line follows pairs of install-lines, that MUST come in sequence, and may NOT have blank lines in between. bbstext: ~~~~~~~~ #: @ can be one of the following: B : Install at beginning of destination line. E : Install at end of destination line. R : Replace line entirely. bbsmenu: ~~~~~~~~ #: (actions A, D and N) or #:: (actions B, E and R) @ can be one of the following: A : Alias - line will be installed at the beginning of the specified menu. D : Delete - line (if found in source-file) will be removed from destination. Note that this works by comparing the lines byte by byte, and if ONE byte of the source-line has been changed, this action won't work. (mainly used in UNinstall-files) N : New - the line will be installed as the last line of the specified menu. The following actions need an extra argument, , which indicates the number of the BUILT-IN command that should be affected: B : Install string at the beginning of the destination-line. E : Edit - append to the end of the destination-line. R : Replace entire line. Example: BBSTEXT#? (Beginning of bbstext block) #1893:B (Install the following line before any other text on @L1100645 1100451} line 1893 of bbstext) #1993:R (Replace line 1993 in bbstext with the following line) @L1100645 1100451} BBSMENU#? (Beginning of bbsmenu block) #1:B:5 (Install the following in Menu#1, at the beginning of @| L1100645 1100451} built-in command #5) #2:E:10 (Install the following in Menu#2, at the END of built- @| L1100645 1100451} in command #10) #2:R:20 (Replace built-in command #20 in Menu#2, with the @¹¹EP following line.) . . Note, that everything MUST come in sequence! - That is; BBSTEXT: Lines must be specified in sequence, lowest to highest BBSMENU: Menu's must come in sequence, lowest to highest - in each menu, Alias'es comes first, then built-in commands (in sequence), and finally any new commands. Author ~~~~~~ If you have any questions, suggestions, ... then contact me. Henning "Stonehead" Larsen Ny Carlsbergvej 9 4 tv. 1760 Copenhagen V. Denmark EMail: FIDO 2:235/84.14 CLINK 912:2000/4.14 AMIGANET 39:141/139.14 or leave mail to user: "Stonehead" on our BBS. Support BBS: Flux Point Amiga BBS +45 3526-2527 24 H - 16k8 USR DS SysOp: PMK EMail: FIDO 2:235/202.0 CLINK 912:2000/4.0 AMIGANET 39:141/139.0