Mail Archives: djgpp/1997/07/03/11:16:47
First of all, I disagree with the original premise that there are too many
pieces. Secondly, I disagree with your conclusion that the solution to
this non-problem is to create an unsupported, feature-reduced,
documentation-deficient, "EZ" distribution.
The root cause of the original poster's problem is most likely that
some FTP clients (namely Netscape):
a) limit the number of files which can download simultaneously, and
b) lack a scripting mechanism,
so downloading a large number of separate files requires that the user
manually pick each file (or at best a small number of files) and wait for
it to finish downloading before they pick the next file. Even at work
where I have a *fat* connection to the internet, the complete download
took several hours of babysitting, since I was not able to start it at
quitting time and let it run unattended overnight.
The solution to this problem comes in two parts:
1) A piece of Java-script sitting on one of DJ's web pages which would
automate the download, thereby allowing it to run unattended, and
also ensuring that newbies download all of the required files. It
could even cause the README.1ST to display in the browser window
during the download.
2) An FTP script to automate the download for non-browser-based ftp
clients.
This solution would produce a minimal installation roughly twice the size
of what you proposed, but has the advantage that it is easier to maintain
since the configuration control mechanism resides in a file on DJ's
server, rather than being built into a distinct zip file with unlimited
distribution. For example, when a new version of make is released, you
will have to rebuild your EZ zip, upload it to simtel, and then hope that
nobody who has a copy of your old zip gives it to a friend since it is no
longer up-to-date (we still see an occasional post along the lines of "I
just got EZGCC v1.08 ....."). The only maintenence required for the java
script solution is that DJ will have to change one line in each script to
point to the new zip file on simtel.
If you still feel the need for your EZ distribution, I have some specific
problems with the details as you laid them out.
On 21 Jun 1997, George Foot wrote:
>
> FYI, what I did is (approximately):
>
> 2) deleted the following directories: gnu, manifest, zoneinfo
In order to diagnose problems after the NEXT full release, we will need to
have an accurate manifest in the EZ release. Sooner or later somebody is
going to do a partial upgrade over an EZ installation, and Eli will be
pulling his hair out (assuming he still has some) trying to determine
which versions of which programs are installed on the newbie's system.
> 3) removed all docs except the libc reference, the info docs and the dir
Distributing binaries without the documentation is at best irresponsible
and a disaster waiting to happen, especially since one of your goals is to
have it fit comfortably on a handful of floppies. This is likely to
generate a plague of questions along the lines of:
I just received DJEZGPP on floppies and installed it on my system. How
do I invoke make?
> 4) created a directory called `faq' and put the djgppfaq.txt there
Given the frequency at which people ignore the 6-page long README.1ST
file, how many people do you think will read 180 pages of flat-text FAQ?
Since there are already HTML versions of both the FAQ and the docs
available, why not include the easier-to-navigate HTML versions rather
than flat text? The extra space required for HTML tags would be less than
the space required for the info viewer (which seems to frighten newbies
anyway), and Web browsers have become pretty much ubiquitous.
> leaving the following files out of the distribution:
>
> STRINGS.EXE STRIP.EXE STUBEDIT.EXE
Since two of the most frequently asked frequently asked questions are:
1) Why are the executables so big, and
2) Why can't I declare a 513 kByte automatic variable
I would be tempted to leave strip and stubedit in the EZ distribution.
> and a "Please please please
> don't even consider asking on the mailing list if you have trouble".
This is arguably the most ridiculous part of your proposal. From Section
6.12 of the FAQ:
A : DJGPP News group is famous for its outstanding user support. To get
a fast and effective solution to your problem, you will have to
supply the relevant info about your system, and describe exactly
how things went wrong for you.
If you are suggesting that the EZ distribution will be unsupported, then I
think your efforts will be counterproductive. Newbies will find the EZ
distribution, spend a bunch of time downloading it (even a 2Meg zip file
takes SOME time), discover a problem, post the question despite your plea,
and then (assuming Eli can learn to restrain himself and NOT answer the
question), they will get the response "Download the full distribution".
--Phil Galbiati
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