Re: DOS, how long?
From: Richard Heathfield (dontmail_at_address.co.uk.invalid)
Date: 10/11/03
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Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 04:26:59 +0000 (UTC)
Gerry Quinn wrote:
> In article <bm3148$6ov$1@sparta.btinternet.com>,
> binary@eton.powernet.co.uk wrote:
>>Gerry Quinn wrote:
>
>>> My customers double-click on a setup program to install the program, add
>>> a Start Menu item and optional desktop icon. Another double-click
>>> uninstalls. I think most of them prefer it this way...
>>
>>Perhaps they do prefer it that way, and yes, it's quite convenient. But
>>how many registry keys is the installation routine messing with?
>
> It may create one to several keys under an obvious name. In principle,
> a protection system might create obscure key(s) or file(s), but that's
> not related to the installation mode, and a program installed in any way
> might do the same. No registration keys or vales are 'messed with'.
Sorry, I didn't mean to give the impression that I was talking about your
applications specifically. I was talking about applications in general.
>>How many
>>system settings is it tweaking?
>
> None (with one exception - screensavers ask whether the user wants them
> installed as the current screensaver, and do so if he says yes). But
> that has nothing to do with the installer, because your program might
> tweak settings too when it runs.
Yes, it might. But no, it shouldn't. A program should surely only mess
around with its /own/ settings.
>>How many file extensions is it co-opting?
>
> None, as none is appropriate.
Some programs most certainly /do/ co-opt file extensions, however, even if
yours don't.
> Again, nobody knows what your program does
> when it runs either. And any program that wants to co-opt extensions
> should (1) have sufficient reason, which is much more than using a
> common data type, and (2) ask the user.
Yes, they should. Not all do. Note that they should /also/ explain what the
implications are for each choice.
>>Indeed, how many /new/ registry keys is it creating?
>
> See above - it might create a few. Or it might wait until it runs, as
> yours would have to if it wanted to create them.
I think you're missing the point here. :-)
>>It doesn't take too many modern applications to be installed on a Windows
>>box before even the fastest machine starts to crawl.
>
> I think that's nonsense -
Fair enough. I don't, though.
> it may depend on the applications, but not on
> their installation methodology. If they want forty million keys, that
> is nothing to do with how they install.
True enough. Sorry, I think we must be at cross-purposes here. My primary
concern is the clogging up of the registry, not the precise time at which
the registry gets clogged up. I don't care whether the installation program
sets up the keys or whether the app itself does. Either way, the registry
gets very big very soon, and the machine slows to a (relative) crawl as a
result.
>>Have a pointy-clicky installation GUI if you must - but please lay off my
>>registry.
>
> I use it for its intended purpose.
Yeah, that's the problem. IMHO its intended purpose is flawed.
> You could install many many
> thousands of my programs without any significant impingement on your
> computer's speed
Fine. But I'm not talking theoretically here. I /know/ that my Windows
machine's performance slows down as more and more programs are installed on
it. I also know that my Linux boxes don't have this trouble. The registry,
then, is an obvious suspect.
> - and uninstallers can delete registry keys unless more
> are created at runtime. (Admittedly, this last is sometimes imperfect.)
Indeed it is.
>
> Gerry Quinn
-- Richard Heathfield : binary@eton.powernet.co.uk "Usenet is a strange place." - Dennis M Ritchie, 29 July 1999. C FAQ: http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/C-faq/top.html K&R answers, C books, etc: http://users.powernet.co.uk/eton
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