AUTOCALC.EXE
                                ------------

This program is a little utility to remove the tedium from working out the
space requirements of your application when preparing your WINSTALL.INF
file. It automates the process of calculating the space requirements and
writes the results to a file which you can then import into your INF file.


Specifically, the program does the following;

[a] read the $DISK      lines in your WINSTALL.INF file
[b] read the $WINDIR    lines in your WINSTALL.INF file
[c] read the $SYSDIR    lines in your WINSTALL.INF file
[d] read the $TEMPDIR   lines in your WINSTALL.INF file
[e] read the $OPTIONAL  lines in your WINSTALL.INF file
[f] check for all the files on those lines
[g] obtain the sizes of the files (if a file is compressed, it gets
    the size of the expanded image of the file)
[h] total the sizes of all the files in the installation set
[i] total the sizes of the files that make up each user option
[j] total the sizes of the files that go into the Windows directory
[k] total the sizes of the files that go into the Windows SYSTEM directory
[l] total the sizes of the files that go into the TEMP directory
    (for $SWAP-SPACE)
[m] add 0.5% to each of the figures, as a safety margin (because of disk
    cluster sizes)
[n] display the results on the screen
[o] write the result into a file (OPTIONS.LOG), and/or the Windows clipboard
    in the format required for the INF file (you can then paste from the
    clipboard, or import the contents of the file into your INF file) to
    replace the
        $SPACE
        $WINDIR-SPACE
        $SYSDIR-SPACE
        $SWAP-SPACE
        $USER-OPTION
    lines

It would be a lot easier if these lines were grouped togther, near the
beginning of your INF file.

Please try to ensure that the directory in which the files are only contains
files that will go on your installation disks - otherwise, the calculations
might be wrong. Also, try to be a little specific in your use of wildcards
on $DISK lines (especially if your installation set consists of more than 1
disk) - e.g., do NOT do something like;

   $DISK1=*.*
   $DISK2=*.*
   $DISK3=*.??_
   $DISK4=*.??_

This will only confuse the program, and the same files will be processed
over and over again. One common cause of inaccurate space calculations by
AUTOCALC is the indiscriminate use of wildcard characters. Please NOTE this
point.


The program is a simple Windows program. If run without any argument, it
looks for WINSTALL.INF, and the installation files, in the current directory
and writes its output to OPTIONS.LOG in the current directory. Note that
only one directory is checked for the installation files. Thus it is
advisable to have all your installation files in a single directory on a
hard drive, and run this program there before copying the files onto
floppies.


It can also take 2 arguments. If arguments are used, they must be in the
following format;

arg 1 = the directory in which your installation files are located
        (your WINSTALL.INF file must also be in that directory)
arg 2 = the name of the output file


If you are going to use the *second* argument, you MUST use both of them
(because the directory must always be the first argument).

e.g., if you have prepared all the file for your installation disks
      and they are currently in a directory called C:\FINAL, waiting
      for copying to the installation disks, you can run the following
      command, to finalise you WINSTALL.INF file's details;

        AUTOCALC c:\final c:\temp\myopt.txt

     or

        AUTOCALC c:\final


NOTES:
------
1. AutoCalc sometimes gives you a negative value for $SPACE (or any of the
   others). In such cases, simply replace the negative value with a ZER0.
2. Sometimes the space calculations produced by AutoCalc are not accurate.

   There are many causes for wrong calculations by AUTOCALC. The primary
   cause is indiscriminate use of wildcards in your INF file. Other causes,
   which might be related to the one already mentioned are:

            [a] Mixing wildcards and full file names on $DISK, $SYSDIR,
                $WINDIR, $TEMPDIR, and $OPTIONAL lines - this might
                result in some files being processed more than once.

            [b] Having files in the directories being processed by
                AUTOCALC which files are not going to be on your
                distribution disks.

    The bottom line is this - if you are going to use wildcards on your
    $DISK and/or $OPTIONAL lines, you need to think very carefully about
    what you are doing. It is up to you to arrange your lines so that no
    file is liable to be processed twice - this is because AUTOCALC
    processes your INF file _exactly_ as it finds it.

    In my view, it advisable to AVOID mixing wildcards and full file names
    on $OPTIONAL lines. Either use ONLY wildcards, or ONLY full file names.
    But if you are NOT relying on AutoCalc for your space calculations, then
    you can freely mix wildcards and full file names.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

                              "ADVANCED" FEATURES
                              --------------------
These features are meant for those who are not worried about getting
their hands dirty. If seemingly complicated INI files and stuff is not 
your cup of tea, then please STOP reading now!

AUTOCALC has been revamped in many ways. You can still run it EXACTLY as
described above - but there is added functionality. It will optionally
produce a full template for an INF file (in a file called FINAL.INF), in
which you can later fill in the details.

For these purposes, AUTOCALC can use an INI file (default = AUTOCALC.INI) to
get details about your program's files. This file is a sort of "MAKE" file,
which AUTOCALC will parse before processing and writing out your full
template.

Any $USER-OPTION option and $OPTINAL lines should be in a file called
OPTIONS.INF. This file will be read to process your USER OPTIONS and the
processed information will eventually by written by AUTOCALC into your
template INF file (by default, this is called FINAL.INF)

To activate this new functionality, you need to supply /FULL as the *first*
parameter to AUTOCALC.EXE.

The *second* parameter (if /FULL is the first parameter) can be either;

          [a] a directory path (this is where all your program's files
              are) - this directory willl be scanned, and ALL the files in
              it will be used to create $DISK lines.

           or

          [b] /f=<INIfilename>


NOTE that if you do not have an AUTOCALC.INI file in the directory from
which AUTOCALC is run, then you must supply a second parameter (after
/FULL). If you have the AUTOCALC.INI file, then it will be read for details
about your program's files. The format of the INI file is as follows;

       $SOURCEDIR = the directory where ALL your program's files are
                    (this directory must contain only the files which
                    are going to be on your disktribution disks, and
                    must include files which will go into the $SYSDIR
                    $WINDIR and $TEMPDIR directories as well)

                    If you have more than 1 disk, then you should create
                    a subdirectory under this directory for each of the
                    other disks, and put each disk's files into its own
                    subdirectory. AUTOCALC will automatically scan
                    $SOURCEDIR for subdirectories called;

                      DISK2, DISK3, DISK4, etc., each of them representing
                      files for other disks in your installation set.


       $OPTIONS   = filename which contains your user option declarations

       $SYSDIR    = directory which holds the files which go into $SYSDIR
                    (you can put dummy files with zero bytes here).
                    If this line is empty, AUTOCALC will look for the
                    files in $SOURCEDIR\SYSDIR.

       $WINDIR    = directory which holds the files which go into $WINDIR
                    (you can put dummy files with zero bytes here).
                    If this line is empty, AUTOCALC will look for the
                    files in $SOURCEDIR\WINDIR.

       $TEMPDIR   = directory which holds the files which go into $TEMPDIR
                    (you can put dummy files with zero bytes here).
                    If this line is empty, AUTOCALC will look for the
                    files in $SOURCEDIR\TEMPDIR.

       $INF-FILE  = the name of the template INF file to be produced
                    (default = $SOURCEDIR\FINAL.INF)


       e.g.,

       $SOURCEDIR=c:\install\new\release
       $OPTIONS=c:\install\ver16opt.inf
       $SYSDIR=
       $WINDIR=
       $TEMPDIR=
       $INF-FILE=c:\install\testing.inf


  AUTOCALC can also take a last parameter /COPY. If used, this *must*
  be the 3rd parameter passed to AUTOCALC.EXE. When used, AUTOCALC will
  try to create your installation disks for you by copying the files
  from your $SOURCEDIR and $SOURCEDIR\DISK# directories to a designated
  destination. You will be asked to supply the destination directory/drive
  at the appropriate moment. This feature is probably very buggy.

  -------------------

  Examples of running AUTOCALC with /FULL parameter;

  AUTOCALC /FULL c:\install2\release
  AUTOCALC /FULL /f=c:\install2\prog1.mak
  AUTOCALC /FULL /f=c:\install2\prog1.mak /COPY

  ---------------------------------