CHECKINI.TXT Page 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. DISCLAIMER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3. IMPORTANT NOTICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3.1. NEW VERSIONS OF OS/2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3.2. NETWORK ENVIRONMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4. USING CHECKINI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4.1. COMMAND LINE OPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4.2. OUTPUT ON SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4.3. WHEN CHECKINI IS FINISHED . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5. DETAILED DESCRIPTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 5.1. PM_Workplace:Handles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 5.2. ORPHAN OBJECTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 5.3. WHAT THE PROGRAM CHECKS FOR . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5.4. EXAMPLES of OUTPUT: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 5.5. REVISION HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 CHECKINI.TXT Page 2 1. DISCLAIMER 19 December 1994 I allow you to use and distribute CHECKINI freely under the condition that I am in no way responsible for any damage or loss you may suffer. Henk Kelder, Harderwijk The Netherlands 2:280/801.339@fidonet.org 2. INTRODUCTION CHECKINI checks for, and optionally corrects, some problems in OS2.INI and OS2SYS.INI. CHECKINI only looks at information regarding the workplace shell and ONLY at information regarding the workplace shell. The make full use of CHECKINI read this document to acquire information about what CHECKINI does. The main reason for CHECKINI was the growth that the both .INI files used to to show if one used the Workplace shell heavily. Since OS/2 2.1 the total INI-file handling has been changed and the ini-files no longer show the big growth. Inconsistencies in the ini-files can however still occur. Also, all redundant information, as described in this document can still be present. Also CHECKINI helps to determine some possible cause's for workplace shell failures like loosing workplace shell objects, or situations in which a program object looses the proper executable name or current directory. Obviously, the real cause for these problems must be in the workplace shell itself, CHECKINI however could help you to determine the degree of damage that has been done. Note: CHECKINI does not work when Presentation manager has not been started. CHECKINI.TXT Page 3 3. IMPORTANT NOTICES 3.1. NEW VERSIONS OF OS/2 You should take care when using this program on new versions of OS/2 since this program interprets data from the ini-files. The internal structure of this data can change, and the program might fail or even corrupt information. The best way to test this is run checkini WITHOUT the /C option! (Optionally use the /W option to write out all checkini's findings and inspect the logfile) If Checkini reports un unusual amount of errors, the internal structure of the workplace shells data inside the ini-files might have changed. Look in CHECKINI's logfile at the "PM_Abstract:Objects & PM_Abstract:FldrContents" section with special care. If this section contains a lot of errors while your workplace shell seems to function properly there might have been a change, so: DO NOT USE CHECKINI.EXE or WPSBKP.EXE then! =========================================== (see DANGER.TXT about this) 3.2. NETWORK ENVIRONMENTS if you are normally connected to a network and run CHECKINI when you are NOT connected to this network, or when you are not logged in, CHECKINI will report errors for references to network objects. In the situation mentioned above and with the /C switch given, take care when confirming deleting or correcting problems. CHECKINI.TXT Page 4 4. USING CHECKINI From an OS/2 command prompt enter the command CHECKINI. Without any command line options CHECKINI doesn't change anything to your ini-files. 4.1. COMMAND LINE OPTIONS /C - Write corrections to ini-files. The default is to diagnose only. If this option is specified the program will ask confirmations for all changes it may want to do in your ini-files. /APath - Specify different location for ini-files to be checked. This option is useful if you have a copy of you ini files and you would like these copies to be checked. NOTE: Do NOT use this option to check ini- files not belonging to the PC you run CHECKINI on. /Llogfilename - Specify name of logfile. The default is CHECKINI.LOG in the directory you start the program in. /W - Write all output to logfile. Normally only problems are written to the logfile. This option could help you to inspect a lot about your workplace shell objects (actually workplace shell objects instances). /S - 'Silent run', only write logfile. Normally found errors are reported directly. /? - Show info. 4.2. OUTPUT ON SCREEN While running CHECKINI displays all found information on the screen. Whenever a problem is found, and the /S switch is not used the program reports the problem. The problem itself is visible in the bottom lines of the screen. Problems are always reported in CAPITALS. 4.3. WHEN CHECKINI IS FINISHED When you have used CHECKINI with the /C argument be prepared to shutdown immediately after CHECKINI has completed. This because the workplace shell has a copy of the ini-files in memory and writes them back to disk on a timed basis. It can happen that this mechanism will undo some of the changes CHECKINI made. Sorry, you'll have to do it again if this happens. CHECKINI.TXT Page 5 A better approach is to reset the Workplace shell using RESETWPS, but even than it is possible that one must run CHECKINI multiple times before all corrections are kept. CHECKINI.TXT Page 6 5. DETAILED DESCRIPTION 5.1. PM_Workplace:Handles A special note is in place about a specific piece of information in the INI-files called 'PM_Workplace:Handles'. The workplace shell uses some obscure entity called object-handles to refer to objects. Object handles are in fact numbers. A object-handle can refer to a abstract object (a object NOT on your hard disk e.g. the colour palette) and file-system objects (files & directories). Abstract objects reside in the ini-files. File-system objects reside on your hard disk. Whenever you add a program object to your desktop and specify a program file the workplace shell determines if a handle was already assigned to the program file and if so, it uses this handle. If no handle was assigned, the shell creates a handle and assigns it to the program file. In the definition of the program object (self an abstract object) the handle for the program file is stored. When you start the program by clicking on the object the wps must have a way to refer the stored handle back to the program file. This is done by using the 'PM_Workplace:Handles' information. Unfortunately only handles are added to this information and they are not removed when a (program)file is removed from your hard disk. CHECKINI allows you to remove handles for files or directories that no longer are present or are inaccessible. 5.2. ORPHAN OBJECTS An wide spread way to remove undeletable objects is to move them to a directory, and then, in a OS/2 or DOS session remove the directory. The Workplace shell than no longer shows the objects. They are in fact NOT removed but they simply have no parent directory they will show in (no stool to sit on). Also, sometimes it is possible that suddenly several objects are lost. A reason for this could be a unintentional removal of a desktop directory. CHECKINI detect these 'orphan objects' and queries to user (when /C specified) to recreate the folder (directory) these objects where located in or as an alternative, move these objects to another (new) location. Any moved objects will appear after the workplace shell has been restarted. (after a reboot or resetwps!) If none of the above options was selected the user is presented to possibility to purge the objects from the ini-files. CHECKINI.TXT Page 7 5.3. WHAT THE PROGRAM CHECKS FOR The following ini-records (Application - Key) are checked: PM_Abstract:Objects - (all keys) (Mainly checks WPProgram objects for consistency, but also checks for 'lost-objects' - objects moved to non-existing locations. Also checks WPNetLink and WPShadow links.) PM_Abstract:FldrContent - (all keys) (Used for the check mentioned above for 'lost-objects') PM_Workplace:Handles[0/1] - BLOCKn (Checks consistency and existence of filesystem object-handles) PM_Workplace:Location - (all keys) (Checks existence of object where id-strings like point to) PM_Workplace:Folderpos - (all keys) (Checks for obsolete saved object positions, fonts, etc) PM_PrintObject:JobCnrPos - (all keys) (Checks for obsolete saved print job container positions) PM_Workplace:PalettePos - (all keys) (Checks for obsolete saved palette positions, fonts, etc) PM_Workplace:Templates - (all keys) (Checks for template-records that refer to non-existing objects) PM_Abstract:Icons - (all keys) (Checks for obsolete icons, icons for abstract objects that do not exist) PMWP_ASSOC_FILTER - (all keys) (Checks for associations with non-existing objects) PMWP_ASSOC_TYPE - (all keys) (Checks for associations with non-existing objects) PMWP_ASSOC_CHECKSUM - (all keys) (Checks for obsolete checksum record that point to non-existing objects) PM_Workplace:Startup - (all keys) (Checks if the referenced folders are in fact startup folders) FolderWorkareaRunningObjects - (all keys) (Checks for a list of open objects for a workarea) CHECKINI.TXT Page 8 5.4. EXAMPLES of OUTPUT: ================================================= PM_Workplace:Handles:BLOCK1 ================================================= 3E2DA:CHECKINI.EXE =>E:\ICON\CHECKINI.EXE<-UNABLE TO ACCESS 395F8:COPYINI.EXE =>E:\ICON\COPYINI.EXE<-UNABLE TO ACCESS 39400:GETPROG.EXE =>E:\ICON\GETPROG.EXE<-UNABLE TO ACCESS ================================================= PM_Abstract:Objects & PM_Abstract:FldrContents ================================================= Object 13087, Class WPNetLink : A network folder Linked to: \\SERVER09\SYS3\DIRECTORY1<-UNABLE TO ACCESS! Object 140AD, Class WPNetLink : SYS3 Linked to: \\SERVER09\SYS3<-UNABLE TO ACCESS! Object 15185, Class WPNetLink : SYS1 Linked to: \\SERVER09\SYS1<-UNABLE TO ACCESS! Object 15956, Class WPNetLink : A network folder Linked to: \\SERVER09\SYS3\DIRECTORY1<-UNABLE TO ACCESS! ================================================= Checking AssocCheckSum ================================================= PMWP_ASSOC_CHECKSUM:252153 points to 3D8F9 - E:\ICON\GETBLOCK.EXE<-UNABLE TO ACCESS ================================================= Checking FolderPos ================================================= PM_Workplace:FolderPos:252223@10 points to 3D93F - OBJECT DOES NOT EXIST CHECKINI.TXT Page 9 5.5. REVISION HISTORY Notes on version 1.1: o Some checks were added: PM_Workplace:PalettePos PM_Workplace:Startup Some other checkings were extended. Notes on version 1.2: o The check for PM_Workplace:Handles was moved so that it would be the last test done. o The fraise 'DOES NOT EXIST' for file objects (files & directories) has been changed to 'UNABLE TO ACCESS' since this is a better description of what CHECKINI finds. Notes on version 1.3: o The only extra in this version is that it support OS/2 2.00.1 (beta version) since in this version the internal structure of various workplace shells object data has changed. Notes on version 1.4: o Not all the data checkini apparently needs to exist. If some data checkini checks does not exist, the test is skipped. Notes on version 1.5: o Checkini now works properly after installing the servicepack dated october 1992. Notes on version 1.6: o Two additional tests were added. These test are for: - 'FolderWorkareaRunningObjects' and - 'PM_PrintObject:JobCnrPos' o When a conflict in OBJECTID's is detected (two or more objects having the same OBJECTID, CHECKINI /c can assign a new OBJECTID to the objects that claim to have an OBJECTID that is already in use by another object. o Updated the documentation files (this file) o A simple test has been build in to see if OBJECTID's can be found in the ini-files, to determine if the internal data structure of the ini-files might have been changed and CHECKINI will fail completely. This is however no guarantee that CHECKINI will function properly on new versions of OS/2 2.0. CHECKINI.TXT Page 10 Notes on version 1.7: o The 'simple test' mentioned above might block someone using CheckIni if the ini-file itself is corrupt. Now the test is only performed when /C (correct) switch is specified. Notes on version 1.8: o When checking 'PM_Workplace:Handles' a test has been put in that checks the accessibility on a volume in one strike. If the user okays the removal of all references to a non-locateable volume, all handles on that volume are removed without further checking. Notes on version 1.81: o Apparently CheckIni went bananas whenever an alternate ini directory was specified and no ini's were found. This has been corrected. o Some minor enhancements were made to the text that is being shown on the screen. These changes mainly have to do with signalling problems with OBJECTID's. o CheckIni refused to Change/Correct anything if the Desktop's Extended attributes have been damaged. CheckIni now offers a try-to-repair option. This option comes down to CheckIni re-assigning objectid to the desktop when CheckIni is unable to locate this ObjectId inside the Desktop Extended Attributes. If this corrective action has been taken CheckIni terminates and one should wait a view moments so the WPS has time to update the physical extended attribute on disk. Notes on version 1.90: o This version now supports all known versions of OS/2 2.0 and OS/2 2.1 Beta versions up till release level 6.498 (March '93) Notes on version 1.91: o The try-to-repair option will be called also now when the desktop folder doesn't contain the .CLASSINFO extended attribute at all. o When /C was specified, and lost objects were found and the user choose for 'discard object', the OBJECTID was still checked and when an error was found the program asked if a new OBJECTID should be assigned. This has been corrected Notes on version 1.92: o Several small (non-functional) errors were corrected. CHECKINI.TXT Page 11 o Verified that CHECKINI works with OS/2 2.1 GA (rev. 6.514) Notes on version 1.93: o Corrected a problem were CheckIni reported a problem with 'Not enough memory' in GetAllProfileNames. o When a directory containing objects is missing, CHECKINI now first tries to recreate this directory before trying to move the objects. (Only on local drives) Notes on version 1.94: o Due to a bug in the Workplace shell, whenever Checkini (re)assigned an OBJECTID to a Scheme Palette, all scheme's went to 'New Scheme'. The same problem could occur on OS/2 2.1 installations that were installed on top of OS/2 2.0. The problem would even then occur when the /C option was not specified. These problems have been corrected. Notes on version 1.95: o When the workplace shell had more then 64 Kb of object-handle-to-file data (PM_Workplace:HandlesX) CHECKINI would mess up. Now CHECKINI can handle multiple BLOCK records and will only write as much of these records as needed back to OS2SYS.INI (and discard any others) o Objects of class WPTransient were not recognized and therefore whenever and OBJECTID of such an object existed CHECKINI would give an error message. This has been corrected. Notes on version 1.96: o Checkini with abort when very long file names had to be presented on the screen. This has been corrected. Notes on version 1.97: o This version works with OS/2 3.0 (Warp version) o Some minor bugs where corrected. Notes on version 1.98: o In version 1.95 I added logic to handle more then 64 Kb of object-handle-to-file data. I implicitally assumed then that I would always read the multiple BLOCK records in the proper order. As it turns out this assumption is not always correct. I've changed it so I will always read the proper order.