In this document I'll explain how you can create a package with FDPM. I will do this with a small example.
The example is LEDIT, version 2.0.3 (Release 5) by Bob Meersman.
This utility is a very small line editor. The files which need to distributed are:
Before you start working with FDPM, you will need to have an FDPM database to store your information. You create an FDPM database using the DBTOOL program. To create a new database, type:
dbtool /c C:\FDPM\
The trailing backslash is important.
You'll see some text on the screen that indicates that the FDPM database file was created successfully. After this, you'll need to set the environment variable:
SET FDPMDB=C:\FDPM\
The message from DBTOOL will remind you. FDPM uses this environment variable to locate the FDPM database.
In order to build the package we need to write the specification files. Three files need to be created: the specification file, the description file and the list file.
Let's start with the easiest thing: the description file. Just take a plain ASCII file (like this one) and write a description of the program. When you are writing a description, make sure that the file isn't longer than 400 characters or FDPM will complain about that. In our example this could be something like:
This program is a small line editor. It allows you to open and save text files. A help file is included.
We save the above text in a file called ledit.dsc.
Now we are going to create the list file. The list file is line oriented. Every line contains a path to a file which need to be included in the package. Each line has the following format:
x:\path\to\file.ext;path2\to2\
The part before ; is a filename including a complete path. The part after ; is just a path which FDPM will use, when it installs the package, to find out where the file is required to be placed.
In our example this becomes:
c:\ledit\ledit.exe;bin\ c:\ledit\ledit.hlp;help\ c:\ledit\readme.txt;ledit\ c:\ledit\license.txt;ledit\ c:\ledit\news.txt;ledit\
When LEDIT is installed the executable is placed in the BIN directory, the help file in the HELP directory and the other files in the LEDIT directory. Be aware: the user can give a so-called install path. E.g. the user installs LEDIT using the following command:
fdpm /i ledit.fdp /p c:\beta4\
The given directories in the list file will become subdirectories of the BETA4 directory. The list file is saved as ledit.lst.
Now create the most important ifle: the specification file. The specification file is required to build a package. It contains keywords which FDPM uses to create the header of the package.
The following keywords can appear in the specification file.
| Keyword | Required | Length |
|---|---|---|
| %name: | Yes | 8 |
| %distribution: | No | 15 |
| %version: | No | ? |
| %release: | No | ? |
| %author: | No | 20 |
| %group: | Yes | ? |
| %summary: | No | 75 |
| %copyright: | No | 30 |
| %description: | Yes | ? |
| %list: | Yes | ? |
Important: the colon after each keyword is required. The lengths given are the maximum lengths possible. Where length is equal to ?, it means that a length cannot be given because that keyword requires a specific format.
A explanation of the keywords:
%name:
This keyword identifies the package name and also the base filename.%distribution:
Identifies the name of the distribution.%version:
Gives a version number to the package. Has the following format: xxx.xxx.xxx (where x is a digit from zero to nine).%release:
A release verion. Format: xxx%author:
Specifies the name of the author or email, etc.%group:
Specifies the group where the package belongs to. The following groups are available: base, edit, source, lang, utils. Needs to specified in small letters.%summary:
Gives a small description of the package.%copyright:
Copyright statement of the contents in the package.%description:
Path and filename of the file which contains the description.%list:
Path and filename of the file which contains the file listing.
The contents of the specification file of our example:
%name: ledit %version: 2.0.3 %release: 5 %author: Bob Meersman %group: edit %copyright: 2000, Bob Meersman %description: c:\ledit\ledit.dsc %list: c:\ledit\ledit.lst
This file is saved as: ledit.spc.
Now we have created all the required specification files and we can build the package. And that is very simple. Just run FDPM like this:
fdpm /bv c:\ledit\ledit.spc
The v option is optional. It gives some extra information during the build process. When the building is done, you'll find a package called ledit.fdp in the current directory.
To find out that every is ok, you can use the /qp option to view information about the package.
The next thing to do is: distribute your program to everyone.
Copyright (c) 2000, Andy Peeters.
All rights reserved.
You may distribute this document without prior notice, but you may not change it.
When you find something needs to be changed in this document, mail me: andy.peeters@advalvas.be