README

This is the very first release of the vecinstall package which aims to make
the process of installing other packages a bit easier to do.

The dependencies are:
	vecpkg (the version that comes with Vector Linux 4.0)
	installpkg (any version that is dated year 2001 or higher)
	make 3.80 - actually you just need make 
	Xdialog 2.2.1
	checkinstall 1.5.3

And things will probably work with earlier stuff but I haven't tried it.

The major feature of this very simple program is to allow users who are afraid
of the command line to try to compile well-behaved packages.  As such, 
typing in vecinstall will start up an xdialog widget that asks the user if they
want to install or remove a package (this uses vecpkg), compile a package
(here's the new stuff), or Quit.

It's not very fancy at all, but it's led my wife to at least consider 
compiling things in her deepest dreams - something she hasn't done since
her one semester C class.

For this to work, the package must be well behaved.  That is, the program 
expects one to compile code using the following steps:
	./configure
	make
	make install	-OR- checkinstall

The program checks the file type.
	If it's tgz, it prompts the user to confirm that they want to compile
	since this is the slackware package type. If they confirm, it will
	execute tar -xzvf packagename.tgz and then change into the directory
	and compile, otherwise, it will try installing the package using
	installpkg or quitting.

	If it's gz, the program gunzips the file and then tries changing 
	into the directory and then compiling.

	If it's tar.gz, the program  will uncompress the package using
	tar -xzvf packagename.tar.gz and then proceed as before.

	If it's tar, the program will uncompress the package using
	tar -xvf packagename.tar and again proceed as before.

There is room to add a checker for bz2 filetypes and anything else folks want.

There is also no error checking on the compilation.  If you look in the tailbox
and see words like Error(1): aborting or something like that, it means that
you need to compile code in a more sophisticated manner.

Currently, the code does not support compiler switches because it is assumed
that beginners have no idea what those are.

As with all tools, this can probably be dangerous.  Don't turn it on and look
down the barrel.

Cheers,
Tim Niiler
copyright 2004
