Re: What kind of files are config.lnk and autoexec.lnk?

[Larry Alkoff <labradley@mindspring.com>]

Bart Oldeman wrote:
> 2009/4/18 Larry Alkoff <labradley@mindspring.com>:
>> In further experiments, I have found that config.sys and autoexec.bat in
>> ~/.dosemu/drive_c is not executed.  It seems config.sys and autoexec.bat in
>> /etc/dosemu/freedos/ are being executed.  Are these the files I should edit
>> to make dosemu run the way I want?
> 
> I'm not sure where your .lnk files come from but:
> have a look at ~/.dosemu/boot.log after running dosemu which directory
> is used as drive C:
> a line like:
> device: /home/bart/.dosemu/drives/c type 4 h: -1  s: -1   t: -1 drive C:
> in that case the config.sys file comes from ~/.dosemu/drives/c which
> is normally set up as a symlink to ~/.dosemu/drive_c so that's indeed
> where you should be looking.
> 
> However, in Debian/Ubuntu's DOSEMU (perhaps by accident) we have this:
> /home/bart/.dosemu/drives:
> total 0
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 bart users 26 avr 18 16:14 c -> /home/bart/.dosemu/drive_c
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 bart users 23 avr 18 16:14 d -> /usr/lib/dosemu/drive_z
> 
> /home/bart/.dosemu/drive_c:
> total 4
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 bart users   32 avr 18 16:14 autoexec.bat ->
> /etc/dosemu/freedos/autoexec.bat
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 bart users   30 avr 18 16:14 config.sys ->
> /etc/dosemu/freedos/config.sys
> drwxrwxr-x 2 bart users 4096 avr 18 16:14 tmp
> 
> So config.sys is really a symlink to the file in /etc/dosemu/freedos.
> But in dosemu installations from dosemu.org it's a writable file
> *copied* from the system file so users can edit it in DOSEMU.
> 
> /home/bart/.dosemu/drive_c:
> total 12
> -rw-r--r-- 1 bart users  556 mai  6  2007 autoexec.bat
> -rw-r--r-- 1 bart users  346 mai  6  2007 config.sys
> drwxrwxr-x 2 bart users 4096 avr 18 16:16 tmp
> 
> So yes, either edit the /etc/dosemu/freedos files using a Linux editor
> as root (but these affect all users!) or change the symlinks to
> copies.
> 
> Bart
> 


Hello Bart.

Thanks very much for your help with dosemu.
I've been using dosemu for a few years through versions of Kubuntu with 
no particular problems.  I set up my wife's computer in the same way and 
same version, particularly as regards dosemu but they seem to be working 
quite differently.

After much experimentation I proved that wife's dosemu will _only_ use 
the config and autoexec files from freedos so I edited those files in 
freedos directly as root (saving the originals of course).

This is not necessary in my dosemu which clearly uses the files in 
~/.dosemu/drive_c.  Something has changed although both sign on as 
version 1.4.0.0 and were obtained from the same distribution repository 
(Kubuntu Hardy Heron LTS).

One other important thing has changed.  My version uses symlinks to 
access important file directories, which works perfectly.  However, my 
wife's computer does not seem to recognize symlinks at all.
Here is the difference in directories between hers and mine:

Hers:  BIN TMP CPI HELP APPINFO GNU NLS TMP
Mine:  BIN TMP                              INFO  INV  PF  PUBLIC
However BIN is different because her dosemu is not seeing the symlink.

Is there any way to get a more detailed version number besides the 
sign-on message or to get information on what has changed?

Having to use config and autoexec in the root files is a minor annoyance
because they used to be 'safe' in /home which does not change when I 
change versions.  However, not recognizing symlinks is a very big 
problem for me.

Before I found out about the symlink problem (today) I was getting ready 
to download the source to try and find out exactly how config and 
autoexec are handled but my c skills are 20 years old and pretty rusty 
<g>.

Any help you could give me would be gratefully appreciated.

Larry