Hi All. An off-list discussion led me to re-document the FreeDOS directory standard that we used for FreeDOS 1.0 and the distros before it. I thought we should look at this again for an eventual FreeDOS "1.1" release. Let me know if this needs updating, or if anything is missing.
Currently, we ask packages to *not* define the install directory or an absolute path, and instead let the installer program figure out where the top-most directory is located. Most users install to the default C:\FDOS. The installer then installs packages which follow this filesystem standard: * in the below, "top-level" is used several times. This means the top-level below the install directory. For example, "BIN" would expand to "C:\FDOS\BIN". BIN for binaries, such as exe and com files. And if a program is made of of a bat file, then that goes in BIN too. DOC for documentation, with each package having its own directory such as DOC\INSTALL or DOC\4DOS, etc. This allows a complicated package such as a compiler or programmable editor to include more than just a readme (perhaps sample code for the compiler, technical notes or other references, etc.) HELP for the help files. I think the original FD directory structure was based on a UNIX-like directory tree, and the HELP directory was originally going to have subdirectories a-la UNIX 'man' sections: HELP\1, HELP\2, ... But that didn't make much sense in the end, so only the top-level HELP directory stuck. Later, we added an html-based Help program, so that needs its own directory for html files. I don't use the htmlHelp program, but it looks like the top directory for its files is in HELP\EN (i.e. the language.) That makes sense, I suppose. SOURCE for source code (when installed) with each package having its own directory. The following came up during my off-list discussion, and I wanted to propose an extension to the above standard: LIB for libraries. We never really defined a "lib" before because FreeDOS doesn't support the shared-library model, and developers used different compilers which may not be able to share each others' *.lib files. But if we need it, then a LIB directory is a good place for it. INCLUDE would be a good place for any *.h files that are associated with the libraries in LIB. But I don't think I'd put them under LIB. This should be a top-level directory. -jh ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2005. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
