Re: Q: Wine -- not using "msdos" filesystem, right?

["Bryan J. Smith" <b.j.smith@ieee.org>]

On Tue, 2004-02-24 at 23:55, mike808@users.sourceforge.net wrote:
> I've installed some apps under WINE.
> It seems one of them has installed itself under "Progra~1/Common~1/Micros~1/"
> instead of in the usual "Program Files/Common Files/Microsoft".

The tilde-1 (~1) directory names are the 8.3-compliant equivalents of
the latter.  Some poorly written Win32 programs attempt to detect if
Int21h Function 43h (among others) functions do not support long
filenames, and will do this if not.  Long story short, for no less than
a half decade, Microsoft had _conflicting_ ways to do long filenames
between DOS/Win (95, 98 and ME) and NT/Win (pre-NT 5.x aka 2000/XP).

DOS/Win _never_ supported some of the Win32 functions, despite the API
being some 6-7 years old, such as for long filenames.  This is what I
mean by when I say "once Gates went with 'Chicago' (DOS-7/Win-4 aka
Win95), 'NT became DOS' bitch.'"  On the other flip of the coin, it was
not until 1999, when Windows NT 5.0 aka 2000 was released, that NT/Win
supported Int21h DOS extensions for long filenames -- which was the
"DOS/Win bastard" way to do this.  This is just one of the sad stories
of differences between DOS/Win and NT/Win.

WINE sports the full Win32 standard, as documented, and is hacked to
support various, undocumented interfaces as they are discovered -- i.e.,
emulating Windows "bug for bug."  Sounds like you found another
undocumented issue with long filenames someone else has not discovered
before.  What program is it?  WINE is supposed to do _both_ the Win32
and Int21h (DOS) functions for long filenames, so you shouldn't see this
issue.

> Can I move them over to the proper place?

Typically, yes.  The tilde-1 (~1) versions of the names _should_ be
automatically generated.

> Do I need to leave the old ~1 location laying around?

No.  There will be a conflict.  Remove them.  Either that, or use
some symlinks.

Or are you using this on a "msdos" filesystem?  If so, _that's_ the
problem.  A "msdos" filesystem under Linux _only_ supports 8.3
filenames.  That's why you use "vfat" instead.

> Would it be better to remove the ~1 directories after moving the contents
> to the proper location?
> Or should I leave hard links or soft links?

Remove the directories and see what happens.  If nothing, then it
works.  If you have issues, create the symlinks.

> Is there any registry cleanup required?

Should not be.

> Any WINE experts done this before?

It's not really a WINE issue, but a Win32 v. DOS issue -- one that
Microsoft _never_ fully addressed.  It's just one of those endless
quirks that still plagues the DOS/Win v. NT/Win world, even though
Microsoft has _finally_ killed DOS/Win (which was _never_ supposed to
have continued after 1993 -- until Gates made his fatal mistake in
1994).

> This is on a WINE system with NO pre-existing Windows installation.




-- 
Bryan J. Smith, E.I. -- Engineer, Technologist, School Teacher
b.j.smith@ieee.org



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