WSSFill for OS/2 version 1.02

Copyright 1998 by Robert W. Babcock and WSS Division of DDC

Fully-functional shareware, ASP author member

Intro

WSSFill is a tool for copying files from hard disk to floppy while minimizing wasted disk space. Long file names are preserved by storing the original name in the .LONGNAME extended attribute (all other extended attributes are deliberately discarded). If you drag a file with a .LONGNAME extended attribute back to an HPFS disk, the long name is restored. The WPS will also preserve long names this way, but IBM does not supply a command line copy command which does this.

The intended use of WSSFill is for archiving downloaded files. Since you might want to do something with the files besides copy them to floppies, WSSFill will optionally move files to another directory after the copy to separate them from files which have not yet been archived.

Installation

The WSSFill distribution ZIP file includes an authentication check. If you unpack it with PKUNZIP, you should see the message: 
   Authentic files Verified!   # RLQ256
   Software by WSS Division of DDC
Other unpackers, such as InfoZip, may ignore the authentication information.

Install.cmd is a simple installation script. It prompts for an installation directory, creates the directory if necessary, copies in the necessary files, and creates an icon on the desktop.

Manual installation

The only files needed for operation are wssfill.exe and touch.exe (used to set timestamp of copied files; see GNU files below). Touch.exe may be installed in the same directory as wssfill.exe or anywhere on the path. WSSFill takes 4 optional command line arguments:

Usage

WSSFill uses the DIR command to make a sorted list of files. It then starts from the top of this list and makes tentative selections of files to be copied. Most likely, the first pass through the list will not yield a set of files which will exactly fill the target disk. To reduce the wasted space, an iterative procedure is used, dropping files from the bottom of the list of selections and adding files further down in the complete list until a set of files is found which exactly fills the disk or until all possible combinations have been tried. In practice, this algorithm usually works well, but there is no guarantee that it will terminate in any reasonable length of time. The Accept button, which is only enabled during the search for a best-fit, terminates the search and uses best the set of files found up to that point.

Generally, the above algorithm works best if files are sorted by size, largest first. But, other considerations may mandate using a different sort. For example, you might sort by date, oldest first, to get old files out of your download directory. Sorting alphabetically might tend to put related files on the same floppy.

Files which have long names cannot simply be copied to a FAT-formatted disk. For such files, WSSFill generates abbreviated names. The original name is preserved in the .LONGNAME extended attribute. Thus, you will see the long names if you look at the floppy with a WPS tool such as the drives folder. (OS/2 stores the extended attributes in a hidden file with blanks in the name called "EA DATA. SF". WSSFill accounts for the changing size of this file when calculating the disk space used.) You can change the short names to something more meaningful before the copy.

Having copied some files to floppy, you need to keep track of the fact that these files have been archived, but you may still want to leave them on your hard disk. To accomodate this need, WSSFill will move the copied files to another subdirectory on the same disk if you check the Move files after copying checkbox.

If you are archiving to floppies, you probably want to assign unique volume labels to distinguish the disks. If you check Auto-label, WSSFill will assign sequential volume labels to the disks it writes. (Volume labels do not use any file space.) When you check Auto-label, a dialog box allows selecting the text part of the label, the number of digits in the numeric part of the label, the starting sequence number, and whether the text or the number comes first. The default labels are DISK-001, DISK-002,...

Safety considerations

WSSFill takes precautions to avoid losing data. It does not delete files after copying, and it will not copy a file over another file of the same name. If it detects an anomalous condition, it displays a message and quits.

System requirements

WSSFill was developed on a Warp 4 system. It works with either classic Rexx or Object Rexx (Rexx support must be installed). It will probably work with Warp 3, and maybe earlier versions of OS/2, but it has not been tested in those environments. While I use the word "floppy" when talking about the target disk, any FAT-formatted media should work. (WSSFill will create and delete a small test file to determine the allocation unit size on anything other than a 1.2 or 1.44 MB disk.)

Licensing

WSSFill is shareware. If you continue to use it after an evaluation period of 60 days, you must register it. The single-user registration fee is $7.50 (US funds drawn on a US bank or Mastercard or Visa). You may deduct 20% for 10 or more licenses, 40% for 50 or more licenses, or 60% for 100 or more licenses. An order form is included in file WSSF-ORD.HTM. It is formatted to be viewed and printed by a web browser such as Netscape or Web Explorer. Licenses are on a per-user or per-machine basis at your choice.

Distribution restrictions

The only restriction on the distribution of WSSFill is that the package must be distributed in its entirety without modifying any of the included files. (Repackaging with a different archiver is allowed.) Specifically allowed are inclusion in Internet file archives, CD-ROM or DVD-ROM file collections and BBS file libraries.

Contact info

Robert W. Babcock
WSS Division of DDC
4 Reeves Road       (16 Sweeney Ridge after about Jan 22, 1999)
Bedford, MA 01730
781-275-1183
wssddc@gis.net
http://www.gis.net/~wssddc/links/otherware.html

GNU files

The WSSFill distribution package includes touch.exe which is part of the GNU file utils. The license for touch.exe is described in file COPYING. See the WSSFill order form or online help if you would like to obtain the complete GNU file utils package from the web, or at cost from WSS-DDC. Touch.exe performs a minor function (setting the timestamp of copied files); its inclusion does not effect the cost of registering WSSFill.

DrDialog

WSSFill is written using DrDialog, a graphical interface to Rexx, which is IBM EWS (Employee Written Software) by David C. Morrill. WSSFILL.RES is included in the distribution package. This is the WSSFill source code, and you can modify it for your own use using DrDialog. Modified versions of WSSFill may not be distributed without permission from WSS-DDC. Note that while WSSFill supports Object Rexx, DrDialog itself needs a small patch to make DrsAide work.

Update history

1.02 - 12/4/98 1.01 - 9/21/98