Date: Wed, 29 Jan 1997 13:57:56 -0700 (MST) From: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org> To: eivind@dimaga.com (Eivind Eklund) Cc: terry@lambert.org, jdp@polstra.com, joerg_wunsch@uriah.heep.sax.de, beckmann@mail.nacamar.de, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: 2.2 sources ? Message-ID: <199701292057.NAA17113@phaeton.artisoft.com> In-Reply-To: <3.0.32.19970129204709.00afdec0@dimaga.com> from "Eivind Eklund" at Jan 29, 97 08:47:10 pm
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> >This would let you click a "make BSD install disks" button in any > >browser that allowed ".exe" file types (ie: MS Internet Explorer 3.x) > >and end up with disks, without dicking around with rawrite or the > >other tons of excerment you have to play with now. > > I don't believe it is possible to do access the raw disks from Win95 or > WinNT; at least, it is not possible from a DOS executable. It *might* be > possible from a WinNT executable (which will also run under Win95). > However, my resident Win95/NT expert didn't know how. You must assert volume locks. These are documented in the Win95 SDK. You can open a channel to the ring 0 stub driver to get at the driver level code. This can all be done from a Windows95 executable which is a "console" application (or you can make it a Windows app). A CGI script can tell a Win95 IE3.x from a WinNT IE3.x, and provide the right executable. > >3) > >How about definining a ".sh" file type in the default mailcap for > >the FreeBSD install for NetScape or whatever, and setting up each > >port as a button which generates a .sh for the port using a CGI > >script... "click here to install this, click here to install that" > >buttons for all ports and packages. Use a CGI script to rotor, and/or > >have the user select, a mirror site to get packages from. > > I still don't like the concept of having the user *automatically* run > anything downloaded. I don't think setting ut the mailcap to do so is a > good idea, to put it mildly. (It almost give me enough paranoia to make me > want to switch to another OS; it is a large part of the reason I don't run > IE, _ever_.) IE has settings which, by default, will offer to download rather than run an executable grabbed this way. You have to override them if you want them to run. But it's one click away. If NetScape doesn't have the same "override" feature in its mailcap definition for external file type handlers, you could build a small X app to pipeline the sh handler, and provide the same feature there (but I'm pretty sure NetScape can do anything IE can do). The point is to make it *much* easier to obtain access to the programs and data on the WW server. For instance, it would have been seriously handy for setting up cvsup to not have to dick with all of the usses, and deal with a forms/checkbox/button interface instead. Regards, Terry Lambert terry@lambert.org --- Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present or previous employers.
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199701292057.NAA17113>