Thió filå describeó á simplå meanó oæ optimizinç á faiò portioî oæ thå automatiã disë accesseó á Ú baseä systeí does® Thå basiã ideaó werå takeî froí thå Sagå advicå (puî intended¬ buô nï disrespect© iî thå TCJ26.MZÇ filå oî thå ZSIÇ directorù oæ LILLIPUTÅ #± anä Ricë Charne'ó neaô tricë iî ARUNZNDR.ARÔ (oò .AZT¬ maybe...) Whilå thå maiî poinô herå ió tï presenô thå aliaó UPDINPLÃ (anä itó relateä aliaó CPYINPLC© somå backgrounä regardinç thå pointó madå bù Jaù Sagå mighô indicatå tï yoõ whù you'ä wanô theí. Jaù Sage¬ iî thå formeò article¬ talkó abouô squeezinç extrá performancå froí á disë systeí bù thå strategù oæ placinç thå mosô ofteî accesseä fileó aô thå loweò trackó immediatelù followinç thå directory® Believå me..® thió makeó á morå thaî appreciablå difference® Hå noteó thaô thå matteò oæ whaô ió accesseä mosô ofteî caî bå subtle¬ sincå betweeî paths¬ shells¬ erroò handleró anä aliaseó yoõ enä uð readinç á loô morå files thaî yoõ explicitlù specify® Hå haó á shorô buô gooä discussioî oæ fileó tï consideò foò speciaì placement¬ anä ho÷ tï gï abouô puttinç theí therå witè á zeø filå wheî makinç á fresè systeí disë (nothinç oî thå destinatioî disk)® Geô thå articlå iæ yoõ don'ô havå iô already® I'vå includeä mù initiaì versioî oæ sucè á zeø file¬ jusô tï offeò somå ideaó foò á possiblå configuration® Thå onlù unusuaì poinô iî thå zeø filå regardó thå "savå ± b:reserved.ali¢ anä thå "sfá b:reserved.ª /r/o¢ lines. Theså arå jusô intendeä tï creatå placå holderó iî thoså lo÷ trackó tï allo÷ foò lateò expansioî oæ thå fileó thaô arå copieä directlù beforå them® Thå SFÁ ..® /R/O jusô keepó theí around untiì yoõ actuallù neeä them. Thå Ricë Charneó articlå mentioneä giveó á nicå tricë foò makinç softwarå thaô doesn'ô kno÷ anythinç abouô useò areaó oò nameä directorieó respecô theí usinç ARUNZ® Verù neaô trick¬ anä thå EDIÔ aliaó ió takeî virtuallù verbatií froí there. THE ONLY NEW THING HERE. Thå onlù thinç thaô ió reallù ne÷ herå (aô leasô sï faò aó É know...© ió thå additioî oæ thå UPDINPLÃ aliaó (whicè useó UPDATÅ tï prevenô commanä linå overflow.© Thå ideá foò thió camå abouô becauså É aí aî aliaó addict¬ beinç aó lazù aó É am® É aí ofteî amazeä aô thå amounô oæ timå I'í willinç tï spenä writinç stufæ tï savå á fe÷ keystrokes. Anyhow¬ havinç youò ALIAS.CMÄ anä VFILER.CMÄ fileó dowî iî thå lo÷ trackó oæ youò disë ió onlù oæ benefiô iæ theù staù there¬ anä iæ yoõ uså aliaseó anywherå neaò aó mucè aó É do¬ thaô meanó á loô oæ messinç arounä eacè timå yoõ ediô ALIAS.CMÄ tï geô iô bacë wherå iô belongs, and the same goes for VFILER.CMD, which changes every other time I use my system. Thå UPDINPLÃ (UPDÉ ió enough..® thå resô followó thaô wonderfuì littlå ARUNÚ period© wilì leô yoõ ediô á filå withouô movinç iô froí itó relativå positioî oî thå disk® Iô doeó thió bù copyinç thå filå yoõ specifù tï anotheò witè thå samå namå anä qualifieò .UPD¬ anä lettinç yoõ ediô that® Then¬ oncå yoõ leavå thå editor¬ iô eraseó thå sourcå file¬ freeinç uð itó spacå oî thå disk¬ copieó thå .UPÄ filå yoõ modifieä bacë dowî there¬ anä deleteó thå *.UPÄ filå. Yoõ can keeð the *.BAK file (just in case) or add an erase command to get rid of it. Thió allowó yoõ tï painlesslù changå youò variouó *.CMÄ fileó withouô losinç theiò placemenô oî thå disk¬ anä thaô placemenô makeó enougè differencå thaô yoõ enä uð noô mindinç thå extrá copyinç timå anä sï fortè involveä iî thå process® Bù thå way¬ iæ yoõ expanä onå oæ theså fileó intï á ne÷ extenô whilå editinç it¬ iæ yoõ havå á RESERVED.ª file¬ á littlå judiciouó copyinç anä erasinç wilì geô thaô seconä extent dowî therå too® Yoõ caî checë thió witè DU3'ó M command, and it is worth doing occasionally. Alternately, there is somthing called DMAP.COM that came out on SUS 8 or 9 that is essentially the DU3 M command and nothing else. That's what I use. CPYINPLÃ ió á similaò concept¬ whicè allowó yoõ tï copù sucè á filå froí onå disë tï another¬ anä iæ iô existó oî thå destinatioî disk¬ iô wilì bå copieä tï thå samå spoô oî thå destinatioî disk® Oncå again¬ commentó regardinç itó sizå relativå tï whaô waó therå apply¬ anä hopefullù you'lì stilì havå á RESERVED.* file available if you need it. Iô woulä bå nicå tï havå á Ú utilitù tï comparå twï fileó iî termó of bytes¬ recordó anä extents¬ dependinç oî thå optioî specified¬ anä theî eitheò seô thå erroò flaç and/oò á registeò baseä oî thå comparison® Iæ somethinç likå thaô waó available¬ thå recoverù oæ thå RESERVED.ª spacå coulä bå automateä too... Any takers out there? P.S. If these are too primitive for ya... Gimme a couple months. ------------------------------- File: MAKESYS.ZEX Notes: I use this to generate new 'system' floppies. The only *.COM files in user area 0 are STRT.COM and Z.COM (this system uses the auto-install version overlayed with 3.3 and ZRDOS 1.7). These are made invisible, run once and are forgotten. STRT.COM simply sets the path to A15: and executes the COLDSTRT alias in ALIAS.CMD (which follows). The files created with names of the form RESERVED.* simply hold an extra allocation block in the low tracks for expansion of the *.CMD files immediately preceding them. You can do any variation on this that you like... sysgen A B | a15: mcopy b:=a:zc.cp go b:=a:cmdrun.com go b:=a:alias.cmd save 1 b:reserved.ali go b:=a:vfiler.cmd save 1 b:reserved.vfi go b:=a:zfiler.cmd save 1 b:reserved.zfi go b:=a:z33verr.com go b:=a:vfiler.com go b:=a:vmenu.com go b:=a:zfiler.com go b:=a:vtype.com go b:=a:vde.com go b:=a:xdir.com go b:=a:*.* n sfa b:reserved.* /r/o a0: mcopy b:=a:*.* n sfa b:*.com /sys,r/o ------------------------------- File: ALIAS.CMD Notes: This is a stripped down version of the ALIAS.CMD file I'm using. Lines that begin with blanks are continuations of the previous line. You would want to hang them back together... Commands that begin with '/' are taking advantage of a 3.3 feature that bypasses the path search and goes straight to the ECP. Remove the slashes if you're not using 3.3. EDIT is the aforementioned borrowing from Rick Charnes. UPDINPLC allows editing a *.CMD file and returning the updated copy back to its original home on the disk. This uses the aliases UPDATE, UPDIGET and UPDIPUT to avoid command line overflow. I'm sure they could be pared down to save bytes, but I haven't had a chance. CPYINPLC allows a quick transfer into a disk from another. It could (will) be used to construct another alias (REWRITE?) that will automatically remove a RESERVED.* file and replace the specified *.CMD file back in the space when it outgrows its current space. MAKESYS just runs the above ZEX script. These next two are unrelated, but handy... VFLBR defines a *.LBR file as a virtual disk and gets you into VFILER on it. (I use this with a VFILER macro so I can just point at the library and I'm in...) This is a quickie and will mature into something nicer one of these days. FLBR just removes that library definition. Both this and VFLBR need a lot more work, but are better than nothing for now. Leave VFILER on the virtual disk before 'undefining' it... (I would be interested in any variations on this theme.) COLDSTRT allows me to keep STRT.COM minimal, so I don't need to use up valuable floppy space for alias editors when a normal editor will do. E.DIT=VDE $d1$u1:;vde $:1.$.1;$d0$u0: UPDI.NPLC if ex $d1$u1:$:1.$.1;/update $d1$u1:$:1.$.1;else; echo $d1$u1:$:1.$.1 not found;fi UPDATE echo updating $d1$u1:$:1.$.1 in place;/updiget $d1$u1:$:1.$.1; /edit $d1$u1:$:1.upd;/updiput $d1$u1:$:1.$.1 UPDIGET cp $d1$u1:$:1.upd=$d1$u1:$:1.$.1 UPDIPUT era $d1$u1:$:1.$.1;cp $d1$u1:$:1.$.1=$d1$u1:$:1.upd;era $d1$u1:$:1.upd; echo $d1$u1:$:1.$.1 updated CPYI.NPLC if ex $d1$u1:$:1.$.1;echo copying $d1$u1:$:1.$.1 to $d2$u2: in place; era $d2$u2:$:1.$.1;cp $d2$u2:=$d1$u1:$:1.$.1;else; echo $d1$u1:$:1.$.1 not found;fi MAKESYS a0:;zex makesys;$d0$u0: VFLBR 0:;setrsx;lbrdsk c:=$d1:$:1.$.1;vfiler FLBR setrsx COLDSTRT 15:;public /da,db,u1,u2;ldr base.rcp;go base.ndr;z33verr q;0: