RE: New INIT Idea

[ncp@gnh-cathouse.cts.com (Neal Pitts)]

I believe I'm finally going to offer my thoughts on this subject.

I believe the idea of a "system manager" that watches for illegal calls is
difficult and could probably be done with only limited success, but when
combined with a DATABASE of known incompatabilities between programs and INITs
and what not, the "system manager" becomes much more effective.  The problem
with this idea is such a database would be quite big and possible hard to
maintain, and such a thing would not be so great as an INIT.  I would suggest
then a INIT/App combo - the INIT could keep track of bad calls, the app or
extension that made them, and have the "system manager" app take a look at the
results and see if there is a detailed (or even fuzzy) record of the problem
or maybe the INIT could make sense of the problem right away.  The INIT could
have forknowledge of what a simple and compatabile setup is and be able to
suggest some things; the app could let you enter error strings and check it
against a database record.  The app could also preanalyze the system for
potential conflicts in programs and extensions and system software.   If the
INIT could record the problems but the program couldn't be brought up on the
users machine, the program could be run elsewhere to make a diagnoses.  The
INIT could also potentially have another way to save data on some medium in
case the entire system couldn't get booted.  All this would need to be
supplemented by good documentation explaining potential problems and such.

The Macs have two published programs which act as datatbases for potential
conflict (one of them is called Help! and I can't remember the other).  It
does this through preanalysis and record checking.  It relies on third-party
and users descriptions for known conflicts, as well as their own record
keeping.

Whew! :)

Any comments?

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ncp                   ncp@gnh-cathouse.cts.com
                      ncp@gnh-starport.cts.com
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