1. Installing software & library revision naming & euAllegro
- Posted by Ray Smith <smithr at IX.NET.AU>
Dec 04, 2000
-
Last edited Dec 05, 2000
Hi There,
I have a couple of questions which don't have right/wrong answers just
individual preferences.
Installing Software:
I am getting ready to release an alpha of euAllegro and it has 2 dll's
(~350KB) and 1 Euphoria include (~170KB total).
The dll's "should" go in \windows\system and the include in
\euphoria\include.
I also have about 30 examples (with about 15 data files) which I am hoping
to put in sub directories so as to not overwelm the user. Each of these
examples need the above 3 files.
How do people feel about having files copied to other parts of their
hard disks to install software ... especially if they are only curious
and might delete it straight away. I can write a batch file to copy the
files to the correct places and create another batch file to delete them
if necessary (I hope no one needs to use this!!!).
I could also use an install program (eg. Inno Setup) that has an
uninstall option. This has draw backs since the software itself is just
a library and has no windows interface.
The other option is to copy all 3 files (make duplicates) in each
directory that has euAllegro programs. This can again be done with a
batch file but eats up HDD space (~ 450KB * 5 = ~2MB). This has the
benefit of allowing anyone to just delete the master euAllegro directory
and everything is deleted without a worry.
Another option is to not to have multiple directories and then the include
file and DLL's can be found and won't have to be copied anywhere.
The draw back obviously being about 60 files all in the one directory
(ie. a mess)
My preference at this stage is to have multiple directories with an install
and remove batch file that copies/deletes the dll's to \windows\system and
the .ew file to %eudir%\include.
Any comments??
Library Revision Naming:
Alot of software names itself depending on its version, ie. verison 1 is
somename1.[exe|dll|ew|etc] version 2 is somename2.[exe|dll|ew|etc] etc.
I don't know of anyone who does this in Euphoria and think it has benefits.
(Maybe Win32Lib could use this idea???)
The names should only change when the files aren't backward compatiable
anymore. This has the benefit of when you upgrade your library your
old programs will still work.
I'm thinking about doing this for euAllegro (probably not until I do lose
backward compatability though .. if ever 'Ha' I hear some people say!).
The draw back is you have to change the name of the include in your program
when you update it (but this shouldn't be a concern because *possibly* other
changes will be required anyway ... because we only change the name when
we lose compatiability. You also end up with a nuber of files hanging
around that you *might* not want.
Thanks
Ray Smith
