24 May 1985 ==================================== Root Directory for Standard Toolkits ==================================== by Don Amby Delco Systems Operations General Motors Corporation Post Office Box 471, M/S 1A21 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201 (414)768-2682 GM Network: 8/521-2682 logical name: TOOLS_ROOT The logical name TOOLS_ROOT is assumed to point to this directory, and is set by the SETLOGS.COM file. This is the root directory for all of the Toolkits that have been set up by D. Amby, to aid in the development of tools, documents, and other Toolkits (Tools to develop tools, to develop tools, and so on). Be aware also, that this system of tools is presently a dynamic system, as I am presently doing work on coming up with new tools, and improving how they are managed. As such, I would appreciate any feedback regarding them (good or bad), if I am to improve them. Important Files --------------- The following is a list of some of the important files that are to be found in this directory. DESCRIP.MMS DEC/MMS descriptor file to build everything. BUILDKITS.COM Builds help libraries, and setup files, for all Toolkits below this directory. SETLOGS.COM Defines logical names for ALL Toolkits. SETSYMBS.COM Defines global symbols for ALL Toolkits. SETUP.SET Overall Toolkits startup file. Standard Toolkits ----------------- The following is a listing of the Standard Toolkits that are found below this directory (as subdirectories). Each will have a SETLOGS.COM and SETSYMBS.COM file, and will have a BUILDKIT.COM (to build the HELP.HLB, SETUP.SET, and SETSYMBS.HLP files) file. Directory Description of Contents ------------- ----------------------------- [.AMBY] Don Amby's Personal Toolkit. [.DOCTOOLS] Document Development Toolkit. [.FILETOOLS] File Tools Toolkit. [.MGMT] Toolkit Management Toolkit. [.SWTOOLS] Software Development Toolkit. [.UNIX] Unix-Like Toolkit. Toolkit Standard Directories ---------------------------- For a toolkit directory (and this directory, in some cases) there are to be found some standard subdirectories. [.DOC] Documentation directory. [.RETIRED] Tools, etc, that have been retired. [.SRC] Source directory (Pascal or C programs, help, and document source). [.TEST] Test directory. [.UTILS] Utilities (*.EXE,*.COM, etc files) that implement\ the tools. Accessing Toolkit ----------------- There are three ways that you may access the tools and files that are in this Toolkit. The most important point to be kept in mind, is that the SETLOGS.COM procedure MUST BE RUN FROM THIS DIRECTORY ONLY! 1. Guaranteed Access Method The following method will always work, as the setup (SETLOGS.COM and SETSYMBS.COM) procedures are run from within this directory. $ SET DEF this-directory $ @SETLOGS $ @SETSYMBS $ SET DEF where-you-came-from 2. Access Using SETUP.SET File The second method is to use the SETUP.SET command procedure, for a Toolkit main directory. This can only be done after you are sure that the SETUP.SET file has the proper directory name within it. The SETUP.SET file must have been created with the BLDSETUP tool, that is part of the Toolkit Management Toolkit. This file will have the complete directory specification (including device) inside of it. 3. Access After Logical Names Defined The third, and best method, is to have the system manager use the SETLOGS.COM procedures to define the logical names in the system (or group) logical name tables. This can be accomplished easily as the SETLOGS.COM procedure allows a parameter of GROUP or SYSTEM to be passed, that will have it define system or group logical names. After the logical names are defined then all you need to do is the following. $ @tool-kit-logical-name:SETSYMBS Building Files for First Time ----------------------------- If you are setting up these tools for the first time, then you can use the BUILDKITS.COM file, to create the help libraries, and other files. Prior to that, you must have all of the necessary logical names defined. This can be accomplished with the following. $ SET DEF this-directory $ $ @SETLOGS SUPPORT ! defines all logical names $ @SETSYMBS ! defines all global symbols $ $ @BUILDKITS ! builds HELP.HLB, etc. files Updating Toolkits with DEC/MMS ------------------------------ To update the toolkits, I have used DEC/MMS. While this may be a problem for those of you that do not have it, I apologize, but since we do (and I feel it is the best way to manage these tools) I use it. In fact, I highly recommend it, as I feel it is more than worth it's weight in GOLD. Every directory that has anything to be built with MMS will have a descriptor file (DESCRIP.MMS) in it, and will link (via CHECK.PNT files and the MMS .INCLUDE directive) to any descriptor files in subdirectories. Given that you have the logicals (using SETLOGS.COM) and the global symbols (via SETSYMBS.COM) defined, there will be a symbol (STMMS) that you may use to update everything. This will access some standard MACRO and RULES files (for MMS). All that you need to do, to update everything with MMS is the following. $ SET DEF this-directory $ STMMS Updating Toolkits without DEC/MMS --------------------------------- For those of you that do not have DEC/MMS (shame on you), the BUILDKIT procedures can be used (for help libraries), and you can modify them to do what the DESCRIP.MMS files specify. The other alternative is to convince someone (with the money) in your organization to aquire DEC/MMS for you. Toolkits Directory Structure ---------------------------- The directory hierarchy structure, below this directory (in the present environment) is shown in the following diagram. It also exists as the file TOOLKITS.PIC, and was generated with the DIRGEN tool, found in the AMBY toolkit (and uses the DECUS supplied SD tool). directory structure of wizard::sys$user:[amby.toolkits] | +- amby ------+- doc | +- retired | +- src -----+- dm | | `- sd | `- utils +- doc +- doctools --+- retired | +- rno | +- src | +- test | `- utils +- exptools +- filetools -+- retired | +- src | +- test | `- utils +- lbl -------+- bin | +- lpr | +- man | +- msg | +- src | +- tmp | `- usr +- mail +- mgmt ------+- src | +- test | `- utils +- src +- swtools ---+- cprims | +- doc | +- pasprims -+- obj | | +- retired | | `- src | +- src | +- test | `- utils `- unix ------+- src `- utils