Arachne at FreeLists---The Arachne Fan Club!
On Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:54:38 -0800, Eric S. Emerson wrote:
> Hi Greg M.,
> I agree with you that a new user
> may not know how to do that.....and maybe...
> some more experienced users might have
> some difficulty with it...BUT...it is not recommended
> that the new user should install Arachne in other
> than the primary subdirectory of any drive.
Nor is it recommended that he should NOT do so. There is no
recommendation either way for the new user when he opens the installer.
Indeed, since the new user is offered a choice of where to install, he
could legitimately infer that any drive and path is fine.
> That note is meant as a warning to the user
What note is that?
> and should maybe be headed "WARNING".
> Any deviation from the default could cause
> installation problems.
Agreed. But as I said above, the new user would know nothing about that.
> I sure don't want the wizard changed so that I
> have to do special editing just to set Arachne
> up in any drive besides C:.
Naturally!
I have just now tried making a new install of 190J1 to F:\A190J1 which
gives the following lines in ARACHNE.CFG
[system]
Hotlist .\hotlist.htm
History .\history.lst
CookieFile .\cookies.lst
CacheIndex .\cache.idx
CachePath c:\arachne\cache\
Cache2TEMP Yes
MailPath c:\arachne\mail\
DownloadPath c:\arachne\download\
As you can see, the addresses for Hotlist, History, CookieFile and
CachePath are fine; they are all specified relative to the current
directory where arachne is running.
However, MailPath and DownloadPath are given _absolute_ addresses
that point in this case to the wrong drive and the wrong directory!
It is no wonder that a new user gets confused.
> I think that someone whose computer setup
> is complicated enough to require installing
> Arachne in other than X:\arachne should have
> the knowhow to create the needed directories.
Not necessary, as the installer software creates all the directories as
it runs.
All the user would know is that as the installer starts up, it suggests
installing arachne in "C:\ARACHNE" and then offers a choice of selecting
another subdirectory name, with no warnings or stated limitations!
> I have been using Arachne now for over 10 yrs.
> on several computers and not yet have I found
> it necessary to install in other that X:\arachne .
It is occasionally _very_ useful.
I have several times installed new versions of arachne while keeping the
old version on the hard drive in case I wanted to go back to it. In such
a case, the old version would be in d:\ARACHNE and the new one in
another directory, for example d:\A190J1.
> Perhaps, providing a wizard to setup the needed
> directory structure could be provided eventually.....
If the new user is to be offered a choice of drive and directory, then
that is a most necessary feature.
Or a README file could be supplied, and possibly automatically opened,
to inform the user which paths need to be modified, and where it is
easiest to do it, if alternate drives and/or directories are to be used.
> but...right now making the connection to the ISP/
> Internet more friendly is a priority issue.
If that is your top priority, by all means go for it.
But someone said they were having problems so this thread would also
appear to be equally valid.
,-./\
/ \ From Greg Mayman, in beautiful Adelaide, South Australia
\_,-*_/ "Queen City of The South" 35d 01'44"S 138d 32'13"E
v
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