README.1ST                       Copyright (c) 1991,96 xTech Ltd
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                 Native XDS-x86 OS/2 Edition
                 ---------------------------
                     v2.17 (pre-release)

                        Read Me First!


1. Installation
---------------

To install this pre-release, create a new directory (e.g. c:\xds)
and unzip the archive to it. NOTE: if you are using PKUNZIP*, use
the -d option, to have the files unzipped into directories.

Example

    c:
    mkdir \XDS
    cd \XDS
    unzip c:\xdsn217_os2.zip

The following directory structure will be created:

C:\XDS\
        DOC             useful *.txt and *.inf files
        BIN             executable and system files
        DEF             library definition modules
        CDEF            ANSI C interface library definition modules
        ISODEF          ISO library definition modules
        LIB             "*.lib" files
        ODEF            Oberon-2 libraries pseudo-definition modules
        SYM             symbol files
        SAMPLES         Modula-2/Oberon-2 code samples

In  the  following text we assume that you have chosen the C:\XDS
directory for installation. If another directory was used, please
use the name of that directory instead.

Now, edit your CONFIG.SYS file:

 - add the directory C:\XDS\BIN to executables search PATH

 - add the directory C:\XDS\DOC to BOOKSHELF environment variable
   which is used by on-line documentation viewer.

Shutdown and reboot your system to make the changes work.


1.1. Setting up the IDE profile path

The IDE keeps its configuration information in profiles, which may
reside in any directory. In case of network installation, you may
store the profiles either:

  - on local disks, to have unique profiles on each workstation

  - in users' network directories, to have unique profiles for each
    user, regardless of the workstation.

To specify a directory for profiles, type:

    xds /i <directory>

at the OS/2 command prompt and press Enter.


1.2. Creating Workplace Shell objects (optional)

To create the XDS desktop folder and WPS objects, type

    xdsdesk

at the OS/2 command prompt and press Enter.


1.3. Expanding file names (optional)

Names af symbol files and files containing definition modules are
initially FAT-compatible (limited to 8.3). If you have installed
the XDS package onto file system which supports long file names
(e.g. HPFS), you may expand these file names. Type

    fatfs -

at the OS/2 command prompt and press Enter.

You may revert back to short file names any time later using the
"fatfs +" command.


2. Creating the Working Directory
---------------------------------

To start working on a new project, create a new directory, make it
current and invoke the "xdswork" script to create the redirection
file and the appropriate subdirectories:

    c:
    mkdir \XDSWORK
    cd \XDSWORK
    xdswork

If you intend to use the working directory to play with XDS sample
programs, issue the "xdssamp" command instead of "xdswork". The file
DOC\SAMPLES.TXT contains a brief description of all sample programs
included.


3. How to start
----------------

To start the IDE, type

    xds

at the OS/2 command prompt and press Enter.

To start the compiler, type

    xc {options | modes} module_or_project_file {options | modes}

at the OS/2 command prompt and press Enter.

To view the on-line documentation, type

    view xdsug          XDS User's Guide
    view isom2          ISO Modula-2 language reference
    view isolib         ISO Modula-2 library reference

You can also use WPS objects if you have created them (see section 1.2.).


4. H2D
------

The H2D utility is a translator of C header files to Modula-2 definition
modules. The version included in this pre-release is rather old and the
documentation may be inconsistent. The current version has many differences
so use the supplied one only for evaluation, on short files.

Note: the h2d.red file containing redirection to h2d.cfg must be present
      in the current directory to make H2D work.


5. See also
-----------

The following text files in the DOC subdirectory contain additional
information:

    intro.txt        introduction to pre-release version of XDS
    whatsnew.txt     what is new in this pre-release
    problems.txt     possible problems, bug report
    samples.txt      description of samples
    os2api.txt       short remarks on OS/2 API support
    bench.txt        benchmark testing results
    xds.txt          pre-release version license policy

If you have created WPS objects (see 1.2.), you will find these
files in the Readme 2nd subfolder.
