CONFIGSORT 1.11

                       By Philip A. O'Malley (C)1996


1.1 INTRODUCTION

    The heart of an OS/2 system  is its config.sys file. Unfortunately, this
file starts out  as  an  organizational  mess  and  gets  worse  as numerous
applications modify it. Enter ConfigSort.

    ConfigSort will take a  config.sys  file  and  convert it into something
substantially more functional.  Additionally,  ConfigSort  also  knows about
multiple entries belonging to certain  applications  and will group any such
entries into sections at the end of the file with a helpful comment.

    The difference is quite astounding, as I'm sure you'll agree. :)


2.1 REQUIREMENTS

    ConfigSort is a REXX program which  has  been compiled using RxCls. As a
consequence you must have REXX installed, which  comes as a standard part of
the OS/2 3.0 distribution. Additionally, the  RXEXTRAS.DLL is also needed as
ConfigSort uses some of the functions contained in that library.

    For this release I've included the RXEXTRAS.DLL.


2.2 LICENCE FOR USE

    ConfigSort is an original program, copyrighted to the author. It may not
be modified in any shape or form.  It can be freely distributed providing no
charge is made beyond those to cover media expenses and the like.

    ConfigSort is provided "as  is"  and  any  damage,  actual or perceived,
caused by the program is not the  liability  of  the author. Your use of the
program signifies your acceptance of these conditions.

    If you have no problems with the above, then onwards... :)


3.1 USAGE AND SYNTAX

    ConfigSort is command-line driven. All options are invoked, or prefixed,
by keywords and are:

 1. /IN <FQFN>

    This specifies the fully-qualified file  name  of the config.sys file to
    be processed. This is the only required keyword.

 2. /OUT <FQFN>

    This specifies an output file for ConfigSort to write to.

    If this keyword is not specified then the original /IN file is backed-up
    with a .bak extension and then overwritten.

 3. /NOAPPS

    By default, multiple entries made by  an  application are grouped into a
    section at the end of the file. This keyword disables this facility.

 4. /NOSORT

    By default, all SET statements  are  sorted into descending alphabetical
    order. This keyword disables this facility.


3.2 EXAMPLES

    This section is just intended  to  visualise  the above into something a
little more tangible. Three examples of syntax are shown below:

 1. PROCESS "F:\CONFIG.SYS" (AND BACKUP TO F:\CONFIG.BAK)

    configsort /in f:\config.sys

 2. PROCESS "F:\CONFIG.SYS" AND OUTPUT TO "F:\CONFIG.NEW"

    configsort /in f:\config.sys /out f:\config.new

 3. PROCESS "F:\CONFIG.SYS" WITH ALL OPTIONS OFF

    configsort /in f:\config.sys /noapps /nosort


3.3 KNOWN APPLICATIONS

    Currently, ConfigSort knows about the following applications:

        1.  IBM DualStor.
        2.  IBM MPTS (basic support).
        3.  IBM TCP/IP v2.0 (Bonuspak IAK).
        4.  IBM TCP/IP v3.0 (Warp Connect).
        5.  SIO Serial drivers.
        6.  SUBST/2

    NB. 2.  The knowlage of Multi-Transport Protocol Services, found in Warp
            Connect, is basic  at  best.  It  comprises  the dial-up support
            drivers for TCP/IP 3.0. As  I  don't  run  a LAN based system, I
            can't include support for this area of MPTS.


4.1 VERSION HISTORY

    1.11 28/04/96

         - Added IFCONFIG.EXE to the  TCP/IP  applications sorting. This was
           an oversight and caused problems for some people.

    1.1  16/04/96

         - Removed the /SORT option. Previously it shuffled REM'd entries to
           the bottom of a configuration  section,  but as some drivers have
           to be loaded in a correct  order,  for example the sound drivers,
           unREMing those lines later caused  problems  if the correct order
           couldn't be remembered. Thus,  I  decided  that  it could be more
           trouble than it was worth, so it's now gone...

         + SET statements are now sorted into descending alphabetical order.

         + Added the /NOSORT  option.  This  stops  all  SET statements from
           being sorted.

         - An oversight in the  docs  saying  that  the RXEXTRAS.DLL came as
           part of the  OS/2  distribution.  Apologies  to  those  who, as a
           result, couldn't get the program to actually run. :(

         - A bug was introduced into 1.0 at the last moment due to brainfade
           on my part and no subsequent testing. Basically ConfigSort didn't
           strip out it's own REM statements which caused them to accumulate
           when a saved file was reprocessed. Minor but annoying.

    1.0  05/04/96

           First public release.


5.1 AFTERWORD

    ConfigSort was written as nothing else satisfied my requirements. It has
been tested extensively and  doesn't  appear  to  have  any obvious or major
flaws. It doesn't appear to have any minor ones either. ;)

    However, it is very much a program  in early development and could still
be "fleshed out"  considerably  in  terms  of  capabilities and applications
knowlage, which I intend to do when time permits.


5.2 CONTACTS

    Any suggestions or comments would be  very  welcome. I'm available for a
chat at the following addresses:

    email   : phil.omalley@zetnet.co.uk
    fidonet : "Phil O'Malley" at 2:250/107.96

Phil O'Malley, April 28th 1996.