Compu-Fix/Compu-Fix.iso/misc/program5/dfl.doc

Text File | 1993-03-01 | 113.1 KB | 2,464 lines

                         DUPLICATE FILE LOCATOR
                              Version 3.11

                           Table of Contents

                               Topic                          Page

        1         Introduction to DFL. . . . . . . . . . . .  4
        1.1       DFL Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
        1.2       System Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . .  5
        1.3       Technical Support. . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
        1.4       Registration Info. . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
        1.5       Software License . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7


        2         Using DFL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
        2.1       Command Line Options . . . . . . . . . . .  8
        2.1.1     /?  List Options . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
        2.1.2     /d  Drive List . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
        2.1.3     /w  Working Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
        2.1.4     /f  Filename Mask. . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
        2.1.5     /m  Scan Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
        2.1.6     /l  List Output File & Auto Mode . . . . . 10
        2.1.7     /mono  Use monochrome colors . . . . . . . 10
        2.2       Environment Variables. . . . . . . . . . . 11
        2.2.1     DFLDISK=  Working Disk . . . . . . . . . . 11
        2.2.2     DFLCFG=   Save File Directory. . . . . . . 11
        2.3       The Interactive Interface. . . . . . . . . 12
        2.3.1     Menu or Non-menu Access. . . . . . . . . . 12
        2.3.2     Help System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
        2.3.3     Scan Status Window . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
        2.3.4     Scan Style Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
        2.3.5     Disk Status Window . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
        2.3.6     Duplicate List Window (Non-menu mode). . . 14
        2.4       Running DFL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
        2.4.1     Unattended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
        2.4.2     A Fresh Start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
        2.4.3     Resorting  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
        2.5       Duplicate File Search Modes. . . . . . . . 15
        2.5.1     Name Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
        2.5.2     FastAlias Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
        2.5.3     FullAlias Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
        2.5.4     Length Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
        2.5.5     Partial Name Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
        2.5.6     Dos Path Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
        2.6       The Filename Mask. . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
        2.7       The Drive Scan List. . . . . . . . . . . . 17
        2.8       Saving the Duplicate List. . . . . . . . . 17
                                                       Page 2


        3         DFL Online Functions . . . . . . . . . . . 17
        3.1       Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
        3.1.1     The Menu Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
        3.1.2     The Duplicate Window . . . . . . . . . . . 18
        3.1.3     The File View Window . . . . . . . . . . . 19
        3.2       Global Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
        3.2.1     ESC    Menu & Non-menu Toggle. . . . . . . 19
        3.2.2     Alt-H  Help Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
        3.2.3     Alt-S  Setup Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
        3.2.4     Alt-R  Run Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
        3.2.5     Alt-E  Exit Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
        3.2.6     Alt-X  Exit DFL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
        3.2.7     Home   Top of List . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
        3.2.8     End    Bottom of List. . . . . . . . . . . 21
        3.2.9     PgUp   Next Page in List . . . . . . . . . 21
        3.2.10    PgDn   Previous Page in List . . . . . . . 21
        3.2.11    F1     Call for Help . . . . . . . . . . . 21
        3.2.12    SF1    Display Help Topics . . . . . . . . 22
        3.2.13    F2     Drive Selection . . . . . . . . . . 22
        3.2.14    F3     Name Mask Selection . . . . . . . . 22
        3.2.15    F4     Scan Mode Selection . . . . . . . . 22
        3.2.16    F5     Begin Scan. . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
        3.2.17    SF5    Resort Scan . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
        3.2.18    F6     Select First File for Comparison. . 23
        3.2.19    F7     Start Binary File Comparison. . . . 23
        3.2.20    F8     Delete One or More Files. . . . . . 24
        3.2.21    F9     Write Duplicate List. . . . . . . . 24
        3.2.22    F10    View File Contents. . . . . . . . . 24
        3.2.23    'F'    Start ASCII File Comparison . . . . 24
        3.2.24    'T'    Toggle File Tag . . . . . . . . . . 25
        3.2.25    'U'    Untag all Files . . . . . . . . . . 25
        3.2.26    'S'    Shell to DOS. . . . . . . . . . . . 25
        3.2.27    ^C-Z   Display Drive Statistics. . . . . . 25
                                                       Page 3


        4         DFL Archive Subsystem. . . . . . . . . . . 26
        4.1       Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
        4.2       Defining an Archive. . . . . . . . . . . . 26
        4.2.1     Basic Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
        4.2.1.1   Title. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
        4.2.1.2   Extension. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
        4.2.1.3   Enable/Disable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
        4.2.1.4   Screen Save. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
        4.2.2     Archive Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
        4.2.2.1   Lister Program & Parameters. . . . . . . . 28
        4.2.2.2   Deleter Program & Parameters . . . . . . . 29
        4.2.2.3   Extractor Program & Parameters . . . . . . 29
        4.2.2.4   Compressor Program & Parameters. . . . . . 30
        4.3.3     The Test Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
        4.3.4     Archive Lister Output. . . . . . . . . . . 31
        4.3.4.1   Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
        4.3.4.2   Extension. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
        4.3.4.3   Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
        4.3.4.4   Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
        4.3.4.5   Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

        5         DFL File Viewing System. . . . . . . . . . 32
        5.1       Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
        5.2       Screen Layout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
        5.3       Viewer Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
        5.3.1     F1 - Quick Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
        5.3.2     Home & End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
        5.3.3     Page Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
        5.3.4     Arrow Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
        5.3.5     ^Home. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
        5.3.6     ^PgUp & ^PgDn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
        5.3.7     ^Right & ^Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
        5.3.8     'W' - Mask High Bits . . . . . . . . . . . 33
        5.3.9     'T' - Tab Toggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
        5.3.10    F2 - Print File. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33


        6         Useful Topics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
        6.1       Users' Questions and Answers . . . . . . . 34
        6.2       DFL Temporary Files & Directories. . . . . 38
        6.3       DOS stack overflow . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
        6.4       Error messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
        6.4.1     Online Errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
        6.4.2     Exit Errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
                                                       Page 4


        1         Introduction to DFL

        In this section, a brief introduction to the capabilities of  DFL
        is  provided.   Complete information on all of  these  topics  is
        provided in subsequent sections.

        This  manual  sometimes  mentions  other  software  programs   or
        products.   In  all such cases, any trademarked material  is  the
        property of the rightful owners.


        1.1       DFL Overview

        Duplicate  File  Locator is a complete software  system  used  to
        locate, view, compare and delete duplicate files on your computer
        system.   No   matter  where  the  files   reside:   in   various
        subdirectories,  on network drives, or even in archive  files  of
        various  formats,  DFL will find them for you, and allow  you  to
        view, delete or retain them as you see fit.

        After DFL has assembled a list of all of the files to be  consid-
        ered, DFL will search for duplicates in one of two ways.  We call
        these  NAME mode and ALIAS mode.  In NAME mode, DFL searches  its
        file list for files which have the same name; in ALIAS mode,  DFL
        looks  for files which have the same data.  For example, in  NAME
        mode,  DFL could tell you that one of your files  "SOURCE.C"  has
        been  copied into any number of places.  In alias mode, DFL  will
        tell  you that "SOURCE.C" and "SOURCE.BAK" have exactly the  same
        contents.

        DFL version 2.61 could build a list of approximately 8,000  files
        over  any number of drives.  Beginning with DFL version 3.00,  we
        have  introduced a virtual memory system to help us  build  large
        lists of files.  We can now build a list limited only by the free
        disk  space  you  have to hold our data tables.   DFL  will  need
        approximately 1 megabyte of disk space for every 25,000 files.

        DFL  provides  a number of options particularly  useful  in  NAME
        mode.   For example, different versions of files  sometimes  have
        the  version number as part of the file name.  For  example,  DFL
        has been released in the past as "DFL110", "DFL130", "DFL150" and
        "DFL261".   By  using the 3 character masking  option,  DFL  will
        locate  all of these as NAME mode duplicates.  In this  way,  you
        can see which is the most recent version resident on your  system
        or network.  We allow you to set any number of characters as  the
        width to match.

        In  NAME mode, files with the same or similar names are  located,
        but  the contents may be different.  DFL gives you the option  of
        comparing any two files to see if the contents are the same.   In
        ALIAS  mode, this comparison is already done for you as  part  of
        the search process.
                                                       Page 5


        Many of us,  especially BBS sysops, use file archive programs  to
        get more files on our disks.  DFL will use your archive  programs
        to  search for, view or delete files stored inside  your  archive
        files.   We have tested DFL with ZIP, PAK, ZOO, LZH and  ARC  ar-
        chive  programs successfully.  While we haven't tested  DFL  with
        all versions of these programs, or any other programs, we know of
        no  reason why DFL should not work.  If you have any problems  in
        this area, or any other, please let us know so we can take appro-
        priate  steps.   DFL will even find duplicates  which  reside  in
        different archive formats.

        After  DFL  has searched the file list, any duplicate  files  are
        displayed  in  the "duplicate window", with the  drive  and  path
        along  which each file was found, the file length, and  the  file
        date and time.

        You  may  scroll through the duplicate window, compare  pairs  of
        files,  view  individual files, and tag files for  deletion.   In
        addition,  you may write the contents of the duplicate window  to
        an ASCII file so you can review the list off-line.

        DFL will allow you to compare files using either a binary,  byte-
        by-byte  comparison, or by using your ASCII file comparison  pro-
        gram  FC.EXE.   The ASCII comparison is particularly  helpful  in
        checking the differences between to versions of the "same" file.

        DFL offers COMPLETE ARCHIVE SUPPORT. This means that files  which
        are compressed and stored in archives can be handled exactly like
        normal  files. They can be viewed, deleted or compared  to  other
        files regardless of the type of archive(s) in which they  reside.
        Their host archives will be treated as directories. Also,  though
        implemented  only  as  a setup/diagnostic feature,  DFL  has  the
        ability  to  add  files  to  archives  using  the   corresponding
        archive's compression formats.

        DFL includes a comprehensive 'archive definition' subsystem which
        will  allow  you  to  customize it to interface  with  up  to  10
        different  archive  compression/extraction systems. DFL  is  pre-
        customized for several popular archive systems.

        The  only  difference  between  the  shareware  version  and  the
        registered version is that the shareware version has opening  and
        closing  registration  reminder  screens.

        1.2       System Requirements

        DFL.EXE will run on any PC XT/AT or compatible machine, using any
        80x86  processor chip, monochrome or color display,  under  MSDOS
        3.0+  in  about 400k of memory.  Additional memory is  needed  to
        interface with external archive systems.  For some, this is  only
        90k.  Others need 190k.  Check the documentation for the specific
        archive  programs you use.  DFL runs in about 540k of memory  (or
        less) with the ZIP, PAK, ZOO, LZH and ARC archive programs.
                                                       Page 6


        1.3       Technical Support

        As a DFL user, you may reach us in the following ways:

            1. Write:       W. S. Ataras Engineering
                            40 Laughton Street
                            Upper Marlboro, Md. 20772

            2. Voice mail:  1-301-249-1141 (East coast)
               Voice mail:  1-408-648-3662 (West coast)

            3. BBS:         Ed's BBS 1-408-384-3658 for the current version.

                            Leave message to BILL ATARAS.
                            Look for DFL*.*

            4. CompuServe:  William Ataras
                            70322,1514
                            IBM System\Util. Forum


        1.4       Registration Information

        This  is the REGISTERED version of DFL.  You  will  automatically
        receive  any  new releases issued to correct bugs  identified  in
        this  version  at  no additional charge.  In  addition,  you  may
        register  for future versions at reduced rates  in order to  have
        the  most up-to-date features of DFL economically.

        DFL REGISTERED USERS RECEIVE:

             1. The latest version.
             2. Any releases issued to correct bugs found in your version.
             3. No shareware reminder screens.
             4. Phone & modem support.
             5. Printed manual.
             6. A 30 day money-back satisfaction guarantee.
             7. Upgrade & follow-up notifications.

        We appreciate your registration, and hope that DFL is of continu-
        ing  value  to you in the future.  If you discover bugs  in  DFL,
        please  tell us; if you are satisfied with DFL, please tell  your
        friends  and  associates, and pass on to them your  copy  of  the
        SHAREWARE version of DFL included on your distribution disk.
                                                       Page 7


        Unfortunately, in our society, it is necessary for us to let  you
        know  that  we  can only be responsible for what we  do.   W.  S.
        Ataras Engineering and its affiliated individuals hereby disclaim
        all  warranties  relating to this software,  whether  express  or
        implied,  including without limitation any implied warranties  of
        merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.  We will not
        be liable for any special, incidental, consequential, indirect or
        similar damages due to loss of data or any other reason, even  if
        we  or an agent of W. S. Ataras Engineering has been  advised  of
        the possibility of such damages.  In no event shall our liability
        for any damages ever exceed the price paid for the license to use
        software, regardless of the form of the claim.  The person  using
        the software bears all risk as to the quality and performance  of
        the software.


        1.5       Software License

        The software license agreement is shown below.

        DFL (tm) Duplicate File Locator Version 3.11
        Copyright 1991, W. S. Ataras Engineering
        All rights reserved.

        You are free to use DFL on any single computer, provided:
         - no fee is charged for its use
         - it is not modified in any way

        You  are free to distribute the SHAREWARE version of DFL on  your
        distribution disk provided
         - no fee is charged for its use, copying or distribution
         - it is not modified in any way

        If you want to charge a fee for distributing either the shareware
        or  registered  versions  of  DFL,  please  contact  W.S.  Ataras
        Engineering as described in this documentation. We are more  than
        happy  to make DFL accessible to everybody but must give  written
        permission first.

        The files on your distribute disk can be identified as follows:

         DFL311R.EXE   - Your personal registered copy of DFL
         DFL.SAV       - The default configuration file
         DFL.DOC       - This file providing the manual for DFL.
         READREG.ME    - Read Me file with misc. notes
         WHATSNEW      - List of new features.
         VENDOR.DOC    - Information for vendors.
         INSTALL.EXE   - DFL installation program.
                                                       Page 8


         DFL311.ZIP    - Your SHAREWARE copy of DFL and related files.
                         This shareware distribution file contains
          DFL311S.EXE  - The shareware executable program
          DFL.SAV      - The default configuration file
          DFL.DOC      - The manual
          ORDER.DOC    - The program registration order form
          DFLREAD.ME   - Read Me file with misc. notes
          WHATSNEW     - List of new features.
          VENDOR.DOC   - Information for vendors.
          INSTALL.EXE  - DFL installation program.


        2         Using DFL

        2.1       Command Line Options

        DFL  can be invoked from the DOS command line, or from  within  a
        batch  file,  These command line options allow you  to  configure
        and  run  DFL without any interaction.  They are  described  com-
        pletely below.

        The  command line has the form: DFL [options], where each  option
        begins  with a slash and is followed by a space if there are  any
        subsequent options on the command line.

        The above options are used to set DFL's startup operating parame-
        ters.  All of these parameters (except '/w=' - Working disk)  can
        be changed online via the functions described below.  For details
        on each of the online functions, please examine the corresponding
        context help as described below.


        2.1.1     /?  List Options

        This option is used to obtain a complete screen of help  informa-
        tion which describes all of the other command line options.   DFL
        will display the screen and return to the DOS command line.   You
        can then compose the command line which you need.

        EXAMPLE: DFL /?


        2.1.2     /d  Drive List

        This  option is used to specify the drives to be scanned  in  the
        subsequent  processing.   If this option is not  used,  only  the
        current default drive will be processed.

        EXAMPLE: DFL /d=cd
                                                       Page 9


        2.1.3     /w  Working Disk

        This option is used to direct DFL to use a specific disk,  rather
        than the default disk, as the working disk.  The working disk  is
        used for virtual memory caching

           /w=  - Working disk. Default - Current.

        Specifies  an  alternate disk for virtual  memory  caching.  This
        option  overrides the DFLDISK environment variable  above.  DFL's
        performance  can be increased by caching to a faster device  such
        as  a  ramdisk.   DFL needs about 1meg of disk  space  for  every
        25,000  files.  Also, DFL extracts archived files to the  working
        disk  for  the View and Comparison functions.  The  working  disk
        should  have enough free space to hold any two archived files  as
        well as the virtual memory  itself.
        At  startup, the root directory of the working disk  is  searched
        before the path for the external archive programs (defined  under
        'Archive  Laws') and file compare program (defined under  'FC.EXE
        Laws').   You can greatly enhance archive processing by  insuring
        that  the desired archive programs are in the working  disk  root
        directory prior to running DFL.

         EXAMPLE: DFL /lw=d


        2.1.4     /f  Filename Mask

        This option is used to select the files which participate in  the
        file  data  acquisition process.  DFL begins  its  processing  by
        forming  a list of all files, on all of the scanned disks,  which
        match  the file name mask.  Once this list is built  internal  to
        DFL, it will begin to look for duplicates by name or content.  If
        one or more of the archive file processing functions are  active,
        DFL  will include in the file data list any matching files  found
        within the archives.

           /f=[Scan Mask]

        The  default  file name mask is *.*.  In the example  below,  DFL
        will acquire data only on C-language source files.

        EXAMPLE: DFL /f=*.c
                                                       Page 10


        2.1.5     /m  Scan Mode

        This  option is used to set the duplicate search mode.   If  this
        option is not used, DFL will default to the name mode.

           /m=[Scan Mode]
        If  this option is not used, DFL will default to Name mode.   The
        list of valid options is:

            Mode        Parameter               Comment
            -------------------------------------------------------
            Name       /m=name           Find equal file names
            Length     /m=length         Find equal file lengths
            FastAlias  /m=fastalias      Find equal file CRCs. Very fast.
            FullAlias  /m=fullalias      Find equal file contents.
            Dos Path   /m=path           Find executables on the path
            Name 1-11  /m=n1...n11       Find 1st 'n' equal name letters

        EXAMPLE: DFL /m=n4

        2.1.6     /l  List Output File & Auto Mode

        This option is used to identify a file name to contain the dupli-
        cate  information.  DFL will process automatically based  on  the
        options given, and defaults for the options not given.  Then, the
        contents  of the duplicate window will be written to  this  file.

        DFL will exit to DOS when processing is complete.

           /l(a/w)=[List file]

        If the option letter is followed by "a", the new information will
        be  appended to the existing file;  if the option letter is  fol-
        lowed  by  "w", the file, if it exists, will  have  its  contents
        discarded before writing the dup info.  The default is "w".

        EXAMPLE: DFL /lw=LIST    write dup info to file "LIST"
                 DFL /la=LIST    append new dup data to the end of "LIST"


        2.1.7    /mono   Use monochrome colors

        DFL attempts to auto-detect the type of display card/monitor  you
        are  using. ON monochrome cards, DFL uses monochrome  colors.  On
        color  cards, colors are used. There may be a chance that DFL  is
        unable  to  detect  your hardware and adjust  its  colors  to  be
        readable.  For example, if you can read some of the  screen,  but
        not  all,  try the /mono option. This will use  black  and  white
        colors that should be visible on any screen.
                                                       Page 11


        2.2       Environment Variables

        There  are  two DOS environment variables which can  be  used  as
        described below.


        2.2.1     DFLDISK = Working Disk

        Use "SET DFLDISK=[drive letter]" in your AUTOEXEC.BAT or from the
        DOS  command line to define a working disk for DFL.  The  working
        disk is used for virtual memory caching.  The '/w=' command- line
        option  described below overrides this.  The default is the  cur-
        rent disk.

        DFL's performance can be increased by caching to a faster  device
        such as a ramdisk.  DFL needs about 1 MB of disk space for  every
        25,000  files.  Also, DFL extracts archived files to the  working
        disk  for  the View and Comparison functions.  The  working  disk
        should  have enough free space to hold any two archived files  as
        well as the virtual memory files.

        At   startup, the root directory of the working disk is  searched
        before the path for the external archive programs (defined  under
        'Archive  Laws') and file compare program (defined under  'FC.EXE
        Laws').   You can greatly enhance archive processing by  insuring
        that  the desired archive programs are in the working  disk  root
        directory prior to running DFL.


        2.2.2     DFLCFG = Save File Directory

        Use "SET DFLCFG=[directory spec] in your AUTOEXEC.BAT or from the
        DOS  command  line  to define the directory  which  contains  the
        DFL.SAV  file. DFL uses the following priorities  in  determining
        this directory:

            1. Check the DFLCFG environment variable.
            2. Search the current directory for DFL.SAV.
            3. Search the path for DFL.SAV.
            4. Use the DFL.EXE host directory.

        DFl.SAV  is used to store the Archive Definitions and other  mis-
        cellaneous  data.  If it does not already exist in the  directory
        determined above, it will be created and initialized.

        The  basic  idea  is that once you tuck away  DFL.EXE  &  DFL.SAV
        somewhere  on your path, you won't have to worry about them  any-
        more.
                                                       Page 12


        2.3       The Interactive Interface

        When  DFL initializes, you will see a menu bar at the top of  the
        screen, three status windows below the menu bar and a big  window
        at  the bottom of the screen.  The status windows  are  described
        below.   The large window at the bottom is the Duplicate  Window.
        That is where the list of duplicate files will appear.

        You can interface with DFL in either of two windows.  DFL  begins
        in the first window, the pull down menu window.  While in a menu,
        use  the Up and Down arrow keys to move the menu cursor bar.  You
        may  activate  the function under the bar  by  striking  <ENTER>.
        Context sensitive help can also be obtained by striking <F1>.  To
        jump  to another menu, either strike its hot key or use the  Left
        and  Right arrow keys to cycle around.  All functions  and  menus
        can be accessed independently with their corresponding hot keys.

        The  second window is the Duplicate Window.  To jump between  the
        Duplicate  Window  and  the menu window, strike  the  <ESC>  key.
        While in the Duplicate Window, use the Up and Down arrow keys  to
        move  the cursor bar through the file list.  Your relative  posi-
        tion  in the list will be indicated by a small horizontal bar  on
        the  left border.  If the path for a file is too wide to  fit  in
        the window, it may be scrolled by using the Left and Right  arrow
        keys.

        Remember  that  you can activate any function with its  hot  key.
        You need not use the menus.

        Once  you master the hot keys, you'll find it easy  to  configure
        DFL, build the list of duplicates, and examine the results.


        2.3.1     Menu or Non-menu Access

        DFL  has two primary windows: the Menu window and  the  Duplicate
        List  window.   The Menu window is used to enter  commands  under
        normal circumstances.  It also offers context sensitive help  for
        each menu function before the functions are selected.

        You  use the ESC key to switch between windows.  However, as  you
        gain experience with DFL, you may want to remain in the duplicate
        list  window and execute the functions directly.  The  designated
        keys to do this are described below; they are also listed in  the
        pull-down windows.
                                                       Page 13


        2.3.2     Help System

        DFL is equipped with a complete, on-line, context sensitive  help
        system.   At  virtually any time, you can press the  F1  key  and
        obtain specific help about the menu choice which is  highlighted.
        Press the ESCAPE key to return to the program.

        If  you need more help after looking at the context help  window,
        press F1 again to obtain access to the entire help text.  You can
        then scroll through the help information using the cursor control
        keys.   Press  ESCAPE from this help window and  you  will  again
        return to the menu system.

        Help is also available when you are viewing a file.  Again, press
        F1  to access help information specifically written to  give  you
        assistance about the file viewing functions available.


        2.3.3     Scan Status Window

        You  will find the following items in the upper three windows  on
        the  main screen.  These windows report basic  statistics  deter-
        mined while DFL is running.

          Directories - Total directories scanned.
          Files       - Total files scanned.
          Duplicates  - Total duplicate files found.
          Dupe Bytes  - Total bytes in the duplicate files.

        2.3.4     Scan Style Window

          Mask        - Current scan mask.
          Mode        - Current scan mode (Alias/Name/Length/Name 1-11 ).


        2.3.5     Disk Status Window

          Disk        - Current drive being displayed.
          Disk total  - Total bytes on current drive.
          Disk free   - Total free bytes on current drive.
          Disk dups   - Total bytes in duplicate files on current drive.
                                                       Page 14


        2.3.6     Duplicate List Window (Non-menu mode)

        After  the list of duplicate files has been generated,  the  list
        appears  in the duplicate list window.  You can move between  the
        duplicate list and menu windows by simply pressing the ESCAPE key
        whenever DFL is waiting for a key-stroke.

        All of the cursor keys are active while you are in the  duplicate
        list  window.   The horizontal motion cursor keys will  move  you
        from one entry to another in the main menu bar at the top of  the
        screen.   The vertical cursor motion keys will move  you  through
        the  sub-menu items for each main function.  Select any  function
        by pressing the ENTER key.

        2.4       Running DFL

        DFL  can  be run in three different ways: from  the  DOS  command
        line, from a batch file, and interactively using the menu system.


        2.4.1     Unattended

        You can run DFL unattended by installing the DFL command line you
        want  to use, making sure to include the list file  option  (/l).
        This option directs DFL process using either the default  parame-
        ters or the command line parameters, to write the duplicate  list
        to a file automatically and then return to DOS.


        2.4.2     A Fresh Start

        If for any reason you wish to rebuild the list of files, you  can
        activate the "BEGIN SCAN" function in the "RUN" menu.  Any exist-
        ing  list will be discarded.  Normally, this is not needed  since
        DFL  maintains a list of all files found internally.   But,  suit
        yourself.

        2.4.3     Resorting

        Before DFL can locate the duplicate files, it must first build  a
        list  of all of the files on the disk or disks to  be  processed.
        If enabled, this will also include files stored in archive files.
        After the list is built, DFL will sort the list according to  the
        mode selected: alphabetically if NAME mode has been selected,  or
        by file length if ALIAS mode has been selected.

        After  using the list as it was originally prepared  and  sorted,
        you  may  change the mode and resort by commanding DFL  to  start
        using  the "RESORT" option in the "RUN" menu.  In this case,  DFL
        will use the previously accumulated list of files.
                                                       Page 15


        2.5       Duplicate File Search Modes

        There  are six  duplicate search modes available.  They  are  de-
        scribed in the next four paragraphs.


        2.5.1     Name Mode

        In  NAME mode, DFL will look for files which have the same  name.
        If  your hard disk is like mine, you may have several  copies  of
        COMMAND.COM, for example, in various directories.  By building  a
        list of files and sorting the list alphabetically, files with the
        same  name will be adjacent in the list.  DFL will  then  display
        groups  of two or more files with the same name in the  duplicate
        window.  A blank line will separate each adjacent group.

        The  files  in  each group are selected based solely  on  a  name
        match.  This  means that, although the names are  the  same,  the
        contents  may  not be. For example, you will  probably  locate  a
        large  number of "README" files. Practically every program I  use
        has one.

        To see if the contents are the same, DFL gives you the option  of
        comparing the contents of any two files.  The use of this  option
        is described in detail elsewhere in this manual.


        2.5.2     FastAlias Mode

        In  FastAlias mode, DFL attempts to locate files  with  duplicate
        contents using 32 bit CRCs. That is, files with equal lengths and
        equal CRCs are assumed to be duplicate. The chances of two  files
        meeting  this criteria and having different contents are  on  the
        order  of  1  in  millions.  Under  this  mode,  files  that  are
        determined to be duplicate are PRACTICALLY GUARANTEED to actually
        be duplicate. The benefits of this mode are:

        1. The  files  are  never actually compared  byte-by-byte  as  in
           FullAlias mode (described below). This dramatically  decreases
           the search time and disk activity.
        2. Very   time-consuming  recursive  situations  that  occur   in
           previous versions of DFL are avoided.
        3. DFL  uses the same 32 bit CRC that is used in ZIP files.  This
           means  that  doing  a FastAlias search through  ZIP  files  is
           incredibly  fast  because  CRCs for  the  archived  files  are
           already  computed and files never need to be extracted  for  a
           byte-by-byte comparison.
                                                       Page 16


        2.5.3     FullAlias Mode.

        In  FullAlias mode, DFL attempts to locate files  with  duplicate
        contents  by performing byte-by-byte comparisons of the  contents
        of  equal  length & CRC files. Under this mode,  files  that  are
        determined  to  be  duplicate  are  GUARANTEED  to  actually   be
        duplicate.  This  mode  is  essentially  the  same  as  FastAlias
        (described  above)  with the addition that the  contents  of  two
        files are compared after the length and CRC are determined to  be
        equal. The benefits of this mode are:

        1. Because of the CRC layer, DFL knows ahead of time which  files
           actually  need  to  be  compared  and  thus,  performs   fewer
           comparisons.  Previous  versions of DFL took  the  John  Wayne
           approach  and compared all equal length files. Users of  older
           versions of DFL should notice a dramatic speed improvement  in
           their Alias searches.

        2. Unlike   the   1-in-millions  possibility   under   FastAlias,
           duplicate files found by FullAlias are GUARANTEED duplicate.

        2.5.4     Length Mode

        In  length mode, DFL will look for files having the same  length.
        The  files are not checked automatically to see if they have  the
        same  contents.  You must use the file compare function on  indi-
        vidual pairs of files manually to check for matching contents.


        2.5.5     Partial Name Mode

        In the partial name mode, files are added to the duplicate window
        if  the  first few characters of their file names are  the  same.
        From  the mode select menu, you can set the length of the  number
        of required matching characters to any number from 1 to 11.   For
        example,  if  this mode is run with a three character  match  re-
        quirement, the files "DFL261.EXE" and "DFL.ZIP" will be shown  as
        duplicates.  Obviously, the file comparison function must be used
        to check for duplicate contents.

        2.5.6     Dos Path Mode

        Selecting  this mode will cause DFL to scan your Path  (see  your
        dos  manual  for  a  description  of  the  Path)  for   duplicate
        executables.  The selected disks and scan mask are ignored.  Only
        files  matching *.EXE, *.COM and *.BAT on the Path are  examined.
        As  an  example,  DFL.EXE,  DFL.COM  and  DFL.BAT  are  duplicate
        executables  that,  if in the Path, can  cause  some  frustrating
        confusion.
                                                       Page 17


        2.6       The Filename Mask

        A file name mask can be used to limit the search to files  match-
        ing the given mask.  For example, you can process only executable
        files  by using the mask "*.EXE" or "*.COM".


        2.7       The Drive Scan List

        DFL  can  process any number of disk drives.  Using  the  "SELECT
        DISKS"  function in the "SETUP" menu, you can turn on or off  any
        combination  of the available drives.  All drives turned on  will
        be processed in a single processing run.

        2.8       Saving the Duplicate List

        After  DFL has generated the list of duplicates, you may want  to
        postpone  your  review of the list until a later time.   DFL  can
        help  by  allowing you to write the list to an ASCII  text  file.
        You  can then print the file, or edit it with any editor, as  you
        see fit. Use function F9.


        3         DFL Online Functions

        3.1       Overview

        When  you  operate DFL in the interactive mode, there  are  three
        active  windows, plus several status display  windows  available.
        These will all be discussed below.

        DFL has three active windows: the menu window, the duplicate list
        window,  and the file viewing window.  The menu window gives  you
        access  to all of the program functions using a system  of  pull-
        down sub-menus.  The duplicate list window is used to display the
        groups  of duplicate files after your disk drives have been  ana-
        lyzed.  And the file viewing window is used to view any file from
        the list in the duplicate window.


        3.1.1     The Menu Window

        The  first window available is the MENU window.  In this  window,
        you  can  access most of the DFL functions.  The arrow  keys  are
        used to move from function to function, with the current function
        highlighted using reverse video.  The horizontal cursor keys move
        you from one primary function to another.  For the primary  func-
        tion selected, the appropriate sub-menu will be displayed.
                                                       Page 18


        The  vertical cursor keys are used to move from one  sub-function
        to another.  For all of these functions, a context sensitive help
        window  can  be called up simply be pressing the  F1  key.   This
        window will explain the current function.

        You activate the current function by pressing the ENTER key.  DFL
        will go on to perform whatever function you have requested.   All
        of  the functions available in the menu window will be  described
        below.

        In  addition  to accessing functions using the cursor  and  ENTER
        key, DFL will also accept function commands directly at any time.
        Certain  keys will immediately activate corresponding  functions.
        These hot-keys are listed in the sub-windows and described  below
        as well.


        3.1.2     The Duplicate Window

        The DUPLICATE window is used by DFL to present the list of dupli-
        cate  files.   After  your disks have been  processed,  DFL  will
        display  all duplicates as separate groups in the duplicate  win-
        dow.   Along  with each file name, you will see the path  to  the
        file, the size of the file, the date it was last written, and the
        time of the last write.

        Files  which  are contained in an archive of some  type  will  be
        marked by an asterisk.  The last file name in the path for such a
        file will have the normal archive suffix.  This will indicate the
        type  of  archive which contains the file.  For example,  if  the
        suffix is ".ZIP", then the file was found in an archive processed
        by the programs offered by PKWARE, Inc.

        You can scroll through the list of files in this window,  compare
        any  two  files, view any file, delete any single file,  tag  and
        delete any number of files, or write the list of duplicates to an
        output file for later processing.  How to perform these functions
        is described in various sections below.

        On the left vertical frame of this window, a small marker appears
        and  indicates your relative position in the full list of  dupli-
        cates.  This marker moves from top to bottom as you scroll toward
        the  end of the list.  This helps you estimate where you  are  in
        the total list.
                                                       Page 19


        3.1.3     The File View Window

        The  file VIEW window allows you to view any file listed  in  the
        duplicate window.  Often, this will help you in deciding  whether
        or not to delete a file.  While you are in the duplicate  window,
        a single file is highlighted at any given time.  You can  immedi-
        ately  view  the file by pressing the F10 key.  The  VIEW  window
        will  open and replace the duplicate window with the contents  of
        the selected file.

        You  can  scroll through the file, left and right,  up  or  down,
        using  the cursor control keys.  You can also move to the  begin-
        ning  or  end  of the file by pressing the  HOME  and  END  keys.
        Naturally, a help window can be accessed using F1 to describe all
        of the active keys available.


        3.2       Global Functions

        All  of  the functions available using the  cursor  movement  and
        ENTER  keys  can be accessed directly using the  global  function
        keys described below.  In general, most of these keys are  active
        only while you are in the MENU or DUPLICATE windows.


        3.2.1     ESC    Menu & Non-menu Toggle

        The  ESCAPE  key provides a number of utility functions.   It  is
        used to toggle between the MENU and DUPLICATE windows.  When  you
        are  viewing  a  file or a help screen, the ESC key  is  used  to
        return to the prior MENU or DUPLICATE window.

        3.2.2     Alt-H  Help Menu

        You  can access context sensitive help at most times by  pressing
        the Alt-H key.  Immediately, a window will open with  information
        regarding the specific function you are considering.

        If  you press this key combination while in a  context  sensitive
        help  screen,  you  will move into the full  help  system.   From
        there, you can access all of the normal on-line help topics.

        Exit from either help screen by pressing the ESC key.
                                                       Page 20


        3.2.3     Alt-S  Setup Menu

        The setup menu is used to configure DFL for the specific process-
        ing  run you are beginning, and can be accessed by  pressing  the
        Alt-S key.  You may also define the archive functions you want to
        include in the processing run.

        DFL  can access any of the popular archive programs by  executing
        the  proper external program.  It is your responsibility  to  ac-
        quire your favorite programs and define for DFL the method needed
        to use the program.  By accessing your personal archive system in
        this way, DFL is not locked into any proprietary archive  system,
        and  you aren't either.  As these programs evolve, you need  only
        update the information in the DFL configuration file through  the
        setup menu.


        3.2.4     Alt-R  Run Menu

        The  run menu is used to start a DFL processing run, and  can  be
        accessed by pressing the Alt-R key.  If you have already built  a
        list  of files, you can have DFL resort the list for a  different
        mode, and then build a new list of duplicates.  In this way,  you
        can  save some time when making a series of different  processing
        runs.


        3.2.5     Alt-E  Exit Menu

        The exit menu is used to exit DFL and return to DOS, or to  shell
        to  DOS  temporarily, and can be accessed by pressing  the  Alt-E
        key.

        When you exit to DOS, all of the file list information accumulat-
        ed by DFL is lost, unless you have written the duplicate list  to
        a file.

        You  can shell to DOS to do whatever miscellaneous functions  you
        desire.   Since  DFL uses a virtual memory system  to  store  its
        internal data tables, a lot of memory is available to execute DOS
        functions,  and  the file list information is not lost.   If  you
        have  shelled out to DOS, you can return to DFL by typing  "EXIT"
        at any DOS prompt.

        3.2.6     Alt-X  Exit DFL

        You  can go directly to the DFL exit function by pressing  Alt-X.
        DFL  will  request  confirmation of your desire  to  exit  before
        proceeding.
                                                       Page 21


        3.2.7     Home   Top of List

        In  the  duplicate window, you can move to the beginning  of  the
        list  by pressing the HOME key.  The position marker on the  left
        window frame will move to the top of the frame.

        In  the file view window, pressing the HOME key will move you  to
        the beginning of the file being viewed.


        3.2.8     End    Bottom of List

        In  the duplicate window, you can move to the bottom of the  list
        by pressing the END key.  The position marker on the left  window
        frame will move to the bottom of the frame.

        In  the file view window, pressing the END key will move  you  to
        the end of the file being viewed.


        3.2.9     PgUp   Next Page in List

        In  the  duplicate  window, you can move up one  screen  full  of
        duplicate files by pressing the PAGE UP key.

        In  the  file  view window, you can move up one  screen  of  file
        information by pressing the PAGE UP key.


        3.2.10    PgDn   Previous Page in List

        In  the  duplicate window, you can move down one screen  full  of
        duplicate files by pressing the PAGE DOWN key.

        In  the  file view window, you can move down one screen  of  file
        information by pressing the PAGE DOWN key.


        3.2.11    F1     Call for Help

        At  any  time,  you can obtain help about the  current  topic  by
        pressing  the F1 key.  If you are already in a help  window,  you
        will  move to the full DFL help window.  In this window, you  can
        scroll through all of the help information available on-line.
                                                       Page 22


        3.2.12    SF1    Display Help Topics

        At any time, you can press the Alt-F1 and open a menu of DFL help
        topics.  You can then scroll through this window using the cursor
        keys,  and select a topic of interest by pressing the ENTER  key.
        Another  window will then pop up giving information on the  topic
        of  interest.  From any of these topic windows, you can  move  to
        the  full  help  window by pressing F1, or return  to  the  topic
        selection window by pressing ESC.


        3.2.13    F2     Drive Selection

        By  pressing  the  F2 key when in either the  duplicate  or  menu
        windows, you will move to a window which will allow you to select
        the disk drives which will participate in the file search.

        DFL defaults to the current drive.  To select a  different  drive
        or multiple drives, use this option.  You will be presented  with
        a  window  containing  a list of the  available  drives.   Simply
        position  the cursor bar over any drive letter and toggle  it  to
        'Yes'  or 'No' using the space bar.  When DFL begins  processing,
        the drives that were toggled to 'Yes' will be scanned.


        3.2.14    F3     Name Mask Selection

        By  pressing  the  F3 key when in either the  duplicate  or  menu
        windows, you will move to a window which will allow you to define
        the scan mask.

        The Scan Mask is used to determine which files DFL will  remember
        while scanning the disk(s).  The standard DOS filespec  including
        wildcards is accepted.

        For  example, using '*.*' as the mask will force DFL to  consider
        EVERY  file during the scan.  Or, you may scan every file  begin-
        ning with 'A' by using 'A*.*'.


        3.2.15    F4     Scan Mode Selection

        By  pressing  the  F4 key when in either the  duplicate  or  menu
        windows, you will move to a window which will allow you to define
        the scan mode.
                                                       Page 23


        There  are four different scan modes available.  Like all  dupli-
        cate  file locator programs, you can use DFL to search for  files
        with duplicate names.  In addition, DFL provides three additional
        modes.  These are described below in more detail.

          Name     - DFL will find files with identical names.
          Length   - DFL will find files with equal lengths.
          Name1-11 - DFL will find files with the first N matching name
                     letters.
          Dos Path - DFL  will search the path for duplicate  executables
                     like DFL.EXE, DFL.BAT & DFL.COM.
          Alias    - Also known as 'Content', an Alias scan can be time
                     consuming,  but very eye-opening.  This method  will
                     find files with identical contents, archived or not.


        3.2.16    F5     Begin Scan

        By pressing the F5 key when in either the duplicate or menu  win-
        dows, you will begin disk scanning using the mode and mask .


        3.2.17    SF5    Resort Scan

        By pressing the shift-F5 key when in either the duplicate or menu
        windows, you will resorting the internal file list using the mode
        and mask.


        3.2.18    F6     Select First File for Comparison

        By  pressing the F6 key while in the duplicate window,  you  will
        identify  the  currently  highlighted file for use  in  the  file
        comparison process.  The file line will begin blinking until some
        other file is selected.

        If you press F6 while on a selected file line, you will de-select
        the file, and it will stop blinking.


        3.2.19    F7     Start Binary File Comparison

        If  you press F7 while in the duplicate window, you will start  a
        binary  file comparison process between the file currently  high-
        lighted  and the file selected with the F6 key.  This  comparison
        will be performed as a binary, byte-by-byte comparison.  DFL will
        report the results of the comparison in a status report window.
                                                       Page 24


        3.2.20    F8     Delete One or More Files

        When  you  press F8 from within the duplicate  window,  you  will
        delete  all tagged files.  If no files are tagged, then you  will
        delete the file currently highlighted in the duplicate window.

        Any file or group of files, archived or not, can be.  Before  DFL
        begins  the  delete  process, you will be asked  to  confirm  the
        request.  If you answer no, or have no tagged files, you will  be
        asked if you want to delete the file under the cursor bar.  Write
        protected files are not deleted.

        Note that, when files are deleted, any sole survivors from  their
        group are removed from the duplicate window but not deleted  from
        disk.


        3.2.21    F9     Write Duplicate List

        When  you press F9 from the duplicate window, you  will  activate
        the  DFL function which writes the list of duplicate files to  an
        ASCII  file of your choice.  You will be prompted for  the  file-
        name.  This process may be aborted at any time by hitting the Esc
        key.

        Use LPT1: or PRN to write directly to the printer.  The  pathname
        field begins in column 51.  Paths which are longer than 30  char-
        acters may cause some 80 column printers to wrap lines.


        3.2.22    F10    View File Contents

        By pressing F10 from within the duplicate window, you will active
        the file view function.  The view window will automatically open,
        replacing the duplicate window.

        You may view any file marked by the cursor bar, archived or  not,
        by selecting this function.  While in the file viewing subsystem,
        use  the F1 key obtain a list of the various keystrokes  and  op-
        tions that are available.


        3.2.23    'F'    Start ASCII File Comparison

        By  pressing the "F" key while in the duplicate window, you  will
        activate the ASCII file comparison routine.

        This  function causes DFL to run and display the results  of  the
        external program FC.EXE Flaws in the Setup menu.  The default  is
        FC.EXE,  the DOS file compare program.  However, you  may  define
        your  own  provided the of the program goes to the  DOS  standard
        output  device.   Examine the documentation for the  program  you
        choose to use.
                                                       Page 25


        The  two  files may be of different  lengths.   Comparing  binary
        files may produce a lengthy or useless list of differences.  This
        function  is  normally used to compare the current version  of  a
        file  and its backup copy.  If the files are different, the  com-
        pare  program will attempt to re-synchronize to similar lines  in
        the  two files.  Because of the way this compare  program  works,
        you  will be presented with a display of the differences  between
        the two files.

        3.2.24    'T'    Toggle File Tag

        By  pressing this key while in the duplicate window, you can  tag
        or  un-tag a file for future deletion.  The file currently  high-
        lighted  by  the cursor bar will be tagged or  untagged  with  an
        arrow character appearing or disappearing on the left side of the
        duplicate window.

        Later,  every  tagged file can be deleted  automatically  by  the
        delete function.


        3.2.25    'U'    Untag all Files

        By  pressing this key while in the duplicate window,  the  delete
        tags  will be cleared from all of the files which may  have  been
        tagged.


        3.2.26    'S'    Shell to DOS

        This  function causes DFL to shell out to DOS.  DFL  will  remain
        resident in about 320k of memory.  To return to DFL, simply enter
        the command 'EXIT' at the DOS command line.


        3.2.27    ^C-Z   Display Drive Statistics

        Keys  Cntl-C through Cntl-Z select the status at the top  of  the
        main screen to reflect the corresponding disk.

        If selected in the menu window, these keys will present you  with
        the  list  of available disks.  From there, simply  position  the
        cursor bar over a desired disk and hit the ENTER key.

        For  each  disk, you will see the total used  bytes,  total  free
        bytes and total duplicate bytes.
                                                       Page 26


        4         DFL Archive Subsystem

        4.1       Overview

        The DFL archive handling system is a method which will allow  you
        to  use DFL with your favorite archive processing programs.   For
        example,  many  people choose ZIP, PAK, ZOO and  ARC  formats  to
        maintain their archives.  In some cases, you may have several  of
        these archive types present on your disks.

        DFL  can use any of these programs because we actually shell  out
        invisibly whenever we need to access one of the archives. Because
        we use your archive programs, DFL will always remain current with
        the latest archive program technology.

        Also,  during the definition process, DFL will determine  if  the
        archive file format can be accessed directly. This preferable  to
        shelling to external programs because it is much faster.

        4.2       Defining an Archive

        To  use your choice of archive program, we provide a menu  driven
        configuration process to gather the necessary information.   This
        process is described below.

        Naturally, it is your responsibility to purchase or register your
        particular  archive programs.  DFL will merely use  the  programs
        you provide.  Just as you have registered for DFL, please  regis-
        ter the archive programs you use as well.


        4.2.1     Basic Parameters

        When  you  stop to think about it, performing the  DFL  functions
        requires only four of the many archive program functions.   These
        are:

          a) output a list of the files in the archive
          b) extract a file from the archive
          c) delete a file from the archive
          d) compress a file and add it to an archive

        4.2.1.1   Title

        This  is simply used as a reference.  Currently, it only  appears
        in the list window where you previously selected this  definition
        and  in the output duplicate list.  It can be any string of  your
        choosing, preferably something meaningful.
                                                       Page 27


        4.2.1.2   Extension

        DFL  uses  the file name extension to identify  which  files  are
        archives.   For  example, using 'ZIP' will cause  DFL  to  access
        files  with  a  'ZIP' extension according  to  the  corresponding
        definition.

        If the Archive Lister can obtain a file list, the archive will be
        treated  as  a  pseudo-directory accessible as  outlined  by  the
        definition.  Otherwise, DFL assumes its an ordinary file.


        4.2.1.3   Enable/Disable

        This  is  a Yes/No option allowing you to enable  or  disable  an
        archive during the scan.  When an archive is disabled, files with
        extensions that match the Archive Extension field will be treated
        as regular files subject to the Scan Mask and Mode.

        Archives  can be quickly enabled or disabled in the Archive  List
        window where the Definitions are selected.


        4.2.1.4   Screen Save

        This  is a Yes/No option telling DFL whether to restore the  dis-
        play  screen  after executing any of  the  corresponding  archive
        programs.   It is not necessary for most programs.  We  use  this
        function to compensate for any ill-behaved archive programs which
        may be distributed.

        Start with Screen Save OFF.  Later in the definition process, DFL
        will  attempt  to create and list a sample archive  to  help  you
        describe the Lister Output format.  If the screen display becomes
        damaged, this option should be set ON.


        4.2.2     Archive Programs

        As  stated  before,  we have tested DFL with  as  many  different
        archive programs as we have been able to find.  The list includes
        ZIP,  PAK,  LZH,  ZOO, and ARC.  With  the  proper  configuration
        information, the versions of these programs which we were able to
        obtain all worked perfectly.

        To enable you to modify your DFL configuration to match a differ-
        ent  program you may come across, or to adapt to future  versions
        which may be released, DFL is equipped with a menu driven  system
        to help.
                                                       Page 28


        Some of the archive programs we tested include numerous functions
        for  your convenience.  DFL, however, requires only a very  basic
        sub-set of the possible functions.

        Perhaps  the  greatest challenge you may have  with  your archive
        files  is related to the use of encryption.  At least one of  the
        archive  packages  offers file encryption for  security  reasons.
        The password must be provided to access the archive file.   Since
        the  password  must  be provided on the DOS  command  line  which
        activates  the archive program, and this command line is part  of
        the DFL configuration information, to use encryption, all of your
        archives  must  have the same password, and the  password  itself
        must  be included in the DFL configuration file.   Most  security
        experts would object to this procedure.  We have no  alternatives
        to offer at this time.


        4.2.2.1   Lister Program & Parameters

        This is the name of the program which DFL will run when  attempt-
        ing  to get the list of files contained in an archive.  DFL  will
        search  the Dos Path for the given archive lister  program  name.
        You need not enter the extension.  DFL tries 'COM' and 'EXE'.  To
        obtain any help from the program, hit <F2>.

        At  startup,  DFL searches the DOS Path for this  program.   This
        makes it easy to run DFL on other machines without worrying about
        Paths and other related garbage.

        You will provide the name of your archive program and any command
        line  options  needed  to obtain a list of the  files  within  an
        archive.  In short, this function is the equivalent of "DIR"  for
        and archive file.

        These  specify  the parameters for the  archive  lister  program.
        These  are the same parameters that would normally be entered  on
        the  command line.  Use '%1' to represent the  Archive  Filename.
        To obtain any help from the program, press <F2>.

        For example, if you are using the ZIP system, the line

          PKUNZIP -v archive.zip' equates to DFL parameters:

          PKUNZIP(.exe) - the program
          -v %1         - the command line parameters

        Those  familiar  with the ZIP system will recognize this  as  the
        command  which generates a list of the files within  an  archive.
        DFL  will  redirect the program output to an internal  file  from
        which the necessary information will be read.
                                                       Page 29


        4.2.2.2   Deleter Program & Parameters

        This is the name of the program which DFL will run when  attempt-
        ing to delete a file contained in an archive.  DFL search the Dos
        Path  for a given name.  You need  not enter the extension.   DFL
        tries 'COM' & 'EXE'.  To obtain any help from the program,  press
        <F2>.

        At startup, DFL searches the Path for these programs.  This makes
        it easy to run DFL on other machines without worrying about Paths
        and other related garbage.

        This specifies the parameters for the Deleter program.  These are
        the  same  items that would normally be entered  on  the  command
        line.   Use '%1' to represent the Archive Filename.  '%2'  repre-
        sents  the archived file.  To obtain any help from  the  program,
        press <F2>.

        For example, if you are using the ZIP system, the line

          PKZIP -d archive.zip equates to DFL parameters:

          PKZIP(.exe)   - the program
          -d %1 %2      - the command line parameters

        Those  familiar  with the ZIP system will recognize this  as  the
        command which deletes a file from an archive.


        4.2.2.3   Extractor Program & Parameters

        This is the name of the program which DFL will run when  attempt-
        ing  to extract a file contained in an archive.  DFL will  search
        the Dos Path for a given name.  You need not enter the extension.
        DFL searches for both 'COM' & 'EXE' if necessary.  To obtain  any
        help from the program, press <F2>.

        At startup, DFL searches the Path for these programs.  This makes
        it easy to run DFL on other machines without worrying about Paths
        and other related garbage.

        This  specifies the parameters for the Extractor program.   These
        are the same items that would normally be entered on  the command
        line.   Use '%1' to represent the Archive Filename.  '%2'  repre-
        sents  the archived file.  To obtain any help from  the  program,
        press <F2>.

        For example, if you are using the ZIP system, the line

          PKUNZIP archive.zip    equates to DFL parameters:

          PKUNZIP(.exe)   - the program
          %1 %2           - the command line parameters
                                                       Page 30


        Those  familiar  with the ZIP system will recognize this  as  the
        command which extracts a file from an archive.

        4.2.2.4   Compressor Program & Parameters

        This is the name of the program which DFL will run when  attempt-
        ing  to add a file to an archive.  DFL will search the  DOS  Path
        for  a given name.  You need not enter the extension.  DFL  tries
        both  'COM'  & 'EXE' if necessary.  To obtain any help  from  the
        program, press <F2>.

        At startup, DFL searches the Path for these programs.  This makes
        it easy to run DFL on other machines without worrying about Paths
        and other related garbage.

        This specifies the parameters for the Compressor program.   These
        are the same items that would normally be  entered on the command
        line.   Use '%1' to represent the Archive Filename.  '%2'  repre-
        sents  the archived file.  To obtain any help from  the  program,
        press <F2>.

        For example, if you are using the ZIP system, the line

          PKZIP archive.zip    equates to DFL parameters:

          PKZIP(.exe)     - the program
          -ex %1 %2       - the command line parameters

        Those  familiar  with the ZIP system will recognize this  as  the
        command  which adds a file to an archive using  maximum  compres-
        sion.


        4.3.3     The Test Run

        When  each archive function is defined, DFL will request  a  test
        run. Type 'y' or 'Y' to have DFL test each specific program as it
        is defined.

        The following procedure is used by DFL automatically:

          1. Create a 32k dummy file.
          2. Add it to a dummy archive using the Compressor.
          3. List the dummy archive using the Lister.
          4. Extract the dummy file using the Extractor.
          5. Delete it from the archive using the Deleter.

        This  will allow you to confirm that DFL is properly  interfacing
        with the external programs and make any necessary changes to  the
        definition based on the results of the above tests.

        When  the  DFL configuration process is complete,  all  of  these
        temporary files are deleted.
                                                       Page 31


        4.3.4     Archive Lister Output

        Perhaps  the most challenging aspect of configuring DFL  for  and
        archive system are the steps needed to teach DFL how to read  the
        output file generated by the archive lister program.

        If DFL recognizes the archive file format, you won't be requested
        to continue here. The archives will be directly accessed.

        After  a sample run of the archive lister program, DFL will  dis-
        play the output file and have you position the cursor to  certain
        specific  fields in a file data line.  DFL uses this  process  to
        make  an  internal table which gives the position  in  each  line
        where  the  various  fields begin, the  field  width,  and  other
        properties.

        4.3.4.1   Name

        Use  the cursor left and right movement keys to locate the  first
        column of the name of a file within the archive.

        DFL  will  ask  if the field is right  justified,  its  rightmost
        character  will  always be in the same column.  If the  field  is
        left justified, its leftmost character will always be in the same
        column.

        Enter 'R' or 'r' if it is right justified.
        Enter 'L' or 'l' if it is left justified.

        4.3.4.2   Extension

        Some  archive lister programs output separate the file  name  and
        extension.   In  this  case, DFL must treat the  extension  as  a
        separate field and later concatenate it to the name.

        In  response to the DFL query, enter 'Y' or 'y' if there  are  no
        spaces between the file name and extension.


        4.3.4.3   Length

        Define  the position and width of the file size within a line  of
        the  sample  lister output file.  Follow  procedures  similar  to
        those described for defining the file name field, and respond  to
        the prompts given.


        4.3.4.4   Time

        Define  the position of the file time field within a line of  the
        sample  lister output file.  Follow procedures similar  to  those
        described above, and respond to the prompts given.
                                                       Page 32


        4.3.4.5   Date

        Define  the position of the file date field within a line of  the
        sample  lister output file.  Follow procedures similar  to  those
        described above, and respond to the prompts given.

        5         DFL File Viewing System

        5.1       Overview

        While  operating in the duplicate window, you have the option  of
        viewing  any file.  The present viewing feature provides only  an
        ASCII  display.  Thus, you may not be able to make sense  out  of
        what  you  see  when viewing binary files such as  .EXE  or  .COM
        files.

        Active the file viewer by pressing F10 while the desired file  is
        highlighted in the duplicate window.

        The details of the file viewing feature are described below.


        5.2       Screen Layout

        When the viewer is activated, a new window is opened, filling the
        screen with text from the file.  The top line gives the line  and
        column  number of the character in the upper left corner  of  the
        window, along with the path and name of the file.

        5.3       Viewer Commands

        The  viewer has a distinct set of command keys  identified.


        5.3.1     F1 - Quick Help

        The list of active keys and their assigned functions will  pop-up
        in a window when you press the F1 key.


        5.3.2     Home & End

        Pressing the HOME key will move the display window to the  begin-
        ning of the file being viewed.

        Pressing  the END key will move the display window to the end  of
        the file being viewed.
                                                       Page 33


        5.3.3     Page Keys

        The  PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN keys can be used to move  the  viewing
        window up or down one page of text at a time.

        5.3.4     Arrow Keys

        The cursor control keys are used to scroll the viewing window  up
        or  down  one line at a time, or left or right one  column  at  a
        time.

        5.3.5     ^Home

        The Cntl-HOME key will immediately scroll the viewing window such
        that  the  first  column of each file line is  in  the  left-most
        column of the screen.

        5.3.6     ^PgUp & ^PgDn

        Using  Cntl-PAGE  UP and Cntl-PAGE DOWN will  cause  an  animated
        scroll of the viewing window up or down a full page of text.

        5.3.7     ^Right & ^Left

        Pressing the Cntl-LEFT or Cntl-RIGHT keys will cause an  animated
        scroll of the viewing window left or right 40 columns.

        5.3.8     'W' - Mask High Bits

        Since  some text files are written with 8 bit  ASCII  characters,
        and  others  have the eighth bit set to zero, DFL gives  you  the
        option of blanking out the eighth bit if the characters displayed
        are confused. Press the W key to toggle the bit 8 mask on or off.

        5.3.9     'T' - Tab Toggle

        The readability of text files can sometimes be improved by chang-
        ing  the  number of columns assigned to each tab  character.   By
        pressing  the T key, DFL will alternately select tab spacings  of
        0, 4 or 8 columns.

        5.3.10    F2 - Print File

        You  may  print the file that is being viewed by hitting  the  F2
        key.  This function attempts to copy the file to the PRN  device.
        You  should  not  attempt to print a binary file  (one  that  has
        unreadable  characters). Printing a binary file will  cause  your
        printer to do unpredictable things.
                                                       Page 34


        6         Useful Topics

        6.1       Users' Questions and Answers

        This is a growing section which contains verbatim copies of email
        correspondence between W.S. Ataras Engineering and users of  DFL.
        If the conversation was verbal, it will appear here as a close to
        the  actual content as memory permits. We welcome questions  from
        anyone  even if they aren't registered users. Naturally, not  all
        correspondence will be published here.


        Question:

        On  the  BBS system with over 1.5 gig of HD, I let  DFL  run  for
        approx 4.5 hours and then the system deep ended (required a  cold
        boot).  I  mistakenly started running DFL on a 286/10  and  might
        have  been  successful if I had run on a 386 with more  ram.  The
        problem  is due to intensive disk operations, the BBS comes to  a
        virtual standstill while DFL is accessing the HDs (expected not a
        complaint).

        Answer:

        I'm  assuming  you've  got  a  network  and  the  286/10  was   a
        workstation  and you ran with archives ON in ALIAS mode.  All  of
        this  applies  proportionally to non-network  installations  even
        without  archives.  Just substitute references to  remote  server
        disks   with  local  harddisks  and/or  ignore  archive   program
        accesses.

        When   DFL   initializes   it  needs  to   create   2   temporary
        subdirectories  and  5 temporary files. 4 of the files  hold  the
        virtual  memory garbage and 1 is used to redirect the  output  of
        the  archive programs. The 2 dirs are used to extract files  from
        archives  for  comparison (alias mode) or  viewing.  DFL  creates
        these files/dirs in the root directory of the WORKING DISK  which
        defaults  to the disk you were currently logged to when  DFL  was
        run. If this disk was remote on the server, then, particularly in
        alias  mode, extremely heavy network traffic will result and  any
        other  machine using that disk will degrade. Also, each time  DFL
        extracts  an  archived  file,  it  must  load  and  execute   the
        corresponding archive program (pkunzip.exe etc.). At startup, the
        path  is searched for these. If they also reside on the  server's
        disk, FURTHER network degradation will result. Here would be  the
        scenario:

          1. Two archived files must be compared for alias dupes.
          2. Both archives are on the server.
          3. The archive extractor (assume unzip.exe) is on the server.
          4. The server is also the working disk.
                                                       Page 35


          DFL reads unzip.exe from the server.
          Unzip.exe reads archive 1 from the server.
          Unzip.exe writes archived file 1 to the server.
          DFL reads unzip.exe from the server.
          Unzip.exe reads archive 2 from the server.
          Unzip.exe writes archived file 2 to the server.
          DFL  begins reading both newly extracted files from the  server
          to compare.
          DFL deletes both extracted files from the server.

        This  will happen perhaps thousands of times for a big disk  with
        lots  of archives and doesn't include the scan phase  which,  for
        each  archive,  runs unzip.exe from the server  which  reads  the
        archive  on the server whose output is redirected to a  temporary
        file  on the server which is then scanned and interpreted by  DFL
        which  then  may tweak the virtual memory files  on  the  server.
        Whew.

        DFL does, however, let you specify a different working disk using
        the  environment variable DFLDISK=C or the command line  argument
        /w=c  or  starting  DFL while logged to a  different  disk.  When
        running on a workstation, consider the following:

        If the workstation has a local physical harddisk -
          Use it as the working disk.
          Try to setup a cache for it of about 1 meg.

        If the workstation doesn't have a local physical harddisk -
          Setup  a RAMDRIVE (fastest option) big enough to hold  the  two
          largest  equal  length archived files plus the  virtual  memory
          files  (at about 1meg per 20,000 files). Don't lose sleep  over
          the  two largest archived files bit. DFL won't crash  if  there
          isn't  enough space for the archiver to extract  files  (unless
          the archiver crashes). Make a guess.

        Copy the archive programs that DFL will use (pkunzip.exe etc.) to
        the  ROOT DIRECTORY of the working disk. DFL looks  there  before
        the path when running external programs.

        With  that  setup, everything from  the  aforementioned  scenario
        would  be  eliminated except for reading archives on  the  server
        disk. DFL would access the local device for all other actions  at
        full  blast.  The speed of operation and relief  to  the  network
        would improve an order of magnitude, especially with the ramdrive
        method.
                                                       Page 36


        Question:

        Other  than  the  ASCII file that you have allowed  the  user  to
        create  showing  the  dups, apparently a complete  rerun  of  the
        entire scan has to be performed to "restart" the operation. I had
        thought  that you were creating a database file that would  allow
        the  "rescan"  to be restarted and only check  "new"  or  changed
        files.

        Answer:

        That's  true. DFL currently has no way of saving and restoring  a
        session. That functionality will be released in the near future.

        We  haven't  seen a high demand for systems like DFL  which  work
        from  a 'history' database because the disks would still need  to
        be   scanned  every  time  to  verify  the   database   contents.
        Effectively, the database needs to be re-created each time DFl is
        run.  There  may be some time savings in that as  the  disks  are
        scanned,  certain  actions for files which are  'already  in  the
        database'  would  not need to happen. But then, the  overhead  of
        determining if a file is 'already in the database' would probably
        outweigh  the other gains. As you can see, we have  devoted  some
        thought along those lines. If you have any further ideas,  please
        let me know. The subject is by no means closed.

        If  "rescan"  refers to the Resort option under the run  menu  it
        works as follows:

        DFL  scan the selected disks according to the Scan Mask to  build
        the  base filelist. It then processes that list according to  the
        Scan  Mode to produce the duplicate list. Resort basically  skips
        the  scan  phase  and re-processes  the  existing  base  filelist
        according  to  the Scan Mode (which has probably  been  changed).
        This  saves whatever time and disk activity the scan phase  would
        have  needed  (it  can  be alot on a  big  system  with  archives
        enabled).  The idea is, during one session, scan your disks  once
        for  the first mode search, then search for duplicates  by  other
        modes using resort.


        Question:

        I  reran the DFL on my 40 Meg 386/20 notebook, and the scan  took
        approximately 1 hour. The results showed about 13 Meg of dups  (I
        ran  in ALIAS mode doing the compare by size. After deleting  the
        dups  that I did not want, I had a few hundred K of dups  (I  zip
        some  of  the work files that I use to save disk space)  but  DFL
        showed  over 11 Meg of dups. I could find no reason for the  very
        high  DUP count. When I tried to goto a different scan,  thinking
        that the scan would take place on the nonexistent database  file,
        I lost all information that I had.
                                                       Page 37


        Answer:

        Do you mean this happened?-

        1. Scanned by alias mode. Saw 13 megs of dupes.
        2. Tagged and deleted a chunk of files.
        3. Estimated there were a few hundred K of dupes left.
        4. DFL indicated 11 megs of dupes.

        Were there dupes in archives ? How did you determine there were a
        few  hundred K of dupes ? As discussed under item 2, the  current
        filelist  is  lost  when you begin a new  scan  (unless  you  use
        Resort).  Note that the UNCOMPRESSED size of an archived file  is
        added  to the total duplicate byte count while the disk space  it
        occupies may be far less.

        Question:

        When  the scan initially starts, a time remaining is shown,  this
        time is apparently based on the size of the archive, or directory
        that is currently being tested. The time would start slow and  go
        up and down at random (random to me I am sure it would make sense
        to  you).  The time is not accurate until the  final  stage  (the
        actual comparison of same sized files.

        Answer:

        This  is  true.  The  time remaining is  very  hard  to  estimate
        accurately during an alias scan. It is a proportion of the number
        of  bytes  in files currently processed over the total  bytes  in
        files  that need to be processed and the total time expired  over
        the total time that will expire. As an example, by comparing  the
        first  10 bytes of 2 100k files, DFL may determine that they  are
        NOT duplicates, whereas the next 2 100k files may have every byte
        compared  to determine they ARE duplicates. There is not  way  to
        anticipate  the  fact  that  2 huge equal  length  files  can  be
        instantly  found  'not duplicate'. And becomes  more  complicated
        when archives are enabled. This throws off the other half of  the
        proportion, time remaining. We have considered implementing  some
        form of artificial intelligence by maintaining various statistics
        and  probabilities for the hardware DFL is running on.  This  may
        facilitate better time estimates the more DFL is used on a  given
        machine.  In fact, we'll probably be incorporating such a  scheme
        in the future, but to tell the truth, other more pressing  issues
        have needed attention.
                                                       Page 38


        6.2      DFL Temporary Files & Directories

        When  DFL initializes, it attempts to create the following  files
        in  the root directory of the working disk (See sections 2.2.1  &
        2.2.2):

          1TMP????.DFL - Subdirectory for archive file extraction.
          2TMP????.DFL - Subdirectory for archive file extraction.

          REDIR???.DFL - File for capturing output of external programs.
          VIRT????.DFL - Virtual memory file.
          VIRT????.DFL - Virtual memory file.
          VIRT????.DFL - Virtual memory file.
          VIRT????.DFL - Virtual memory file.

        These  files  are created only during the  archive  definition  &
        testing process:

          FILE????.EX  - Dummy file to be archived.
          TEST????.aaa - Dummy archive to be created.
                         The extension is variable, ARC, ZIP etc.

        The  ?'s represent numbers from 0000 to 9999. These numeric  con-
        structs  are  used to insure unique filenames for  the  following
        reasons:

        1. It  is  conceivable  that when an  external  program  receives
           control  from DFL such as the Shell (See section III.3) or  an
           archiver (See section IV.2.b), it crashes the system. When the
           system is rebooted, the temporary files would still be present
           (and possibly hidden or protected) the next time DFL ran.  See
           section IV.4, Troubleshooting.

           DFL  adheres  to our policy of non-destruction  when  creating
           temporary  files of any kind. That is, no matter how slim  the
           chance of one of these files belonging to another program, DFL
           will  not  overwrite  or  delete them  to  make  way  for  its
           temporary  data. Rather, temporary filenames  are  dynamically
           generated  to  insure that with each run DFL has  unique  disk
           workspace.

        2. A  different logical drive spec may in reality, refer  to  the
           actual working disk. Or, the working disk spec may refer to  a
           different  logical  drive. This can cause confusion  when  DFL
           scans both disks.

        3. Any of these files may already exist for a purpose other  than
           DFL.

        On exit, DFL deletes these files.
                                                       Page 39


        DFL may not be able to create these files if there are not enough
        free  entries in the root directory of the working disk. If  this
        occurs,  DFL will exit with an error message (See  section  VI.3)
        and you will need to use a different working disk or delete  some
        files in the root directory. See section IV.4, Troubleshooting.

        When  manipulating archived files (viewing, comparing etc.),  you
        may  notice that the file appears to be in one of  the  temporary
        directories above. This is normal.


        6.3       DOS Stack Overflow

        There have been some situations reported where DFL has failed due
        to  a "STACK OVERFLOW."  This was reported by a couple  of  users
        who  had one of those 3rd party disk caching programs.  To  solve
        this,  we have expanded the internal stack used by  DFL  substan-
        tially, and the problem has not been seen again when the PC TOOLS
        cache  program "PC-CACHE.COM" is in use.

        However,  the stack overflow problem did recur when  a  different
        cache  program was in use.  This was eliminated by changing  CON-
        FIG.SYS  to include the statement "STACKS=8,512".   The  original
        statement  was   "STACKS=0,0".  This change  provides  additional
        stack  space for OS programs.  We have not carried out  extensive
        experiments  with all of the available cache programs, and  there
        may be a combination of cache program and STACKS statement  which
        cause  the  DFL stack to overflow. If you find  such  a  problem,
        please  experiment with your STACKS statement.  If this does  not
        solve the problem, by all means report it to us.  We will need to
        know  the version of DOS you are using, which cache  program  and
        parameters you have, your CONFIG.SYS file, and the type of memory
        used  for your cache.  This will help us solve this  problem  for
        you and anyone else who runs into it.


        6.4       Error Messages


        6.4.1     Online Errors

        Many  of the self-explanatory errors are signaled by a beep  from
        the speaker.  These are errors such as:

            1. Typing past the end of an entry space.
            2. Entering an invalid character in a filespec.
            3. Typing 'Z' when asked to entry 'Y' or 'N'.
            4. Etc...

        Other  error and status report messages appear on the  screen  to
        give you specific information if importance.  These messages  are
        identified below in alphabetical order.
                                                       Page 40


        6.4.1.1   "<filespec> not created."

        This  error  may occur when you are configuring DFL to  use  your
        particular  archive program.  During the  configuration  process,
        DFL  will test run your archive program to confirm that the  con-
        figuration information is correct.

        When DFL test ran the archive program, trying to add a dummy file
        to a non-existent archive, the new archive was not created.  This
        indicates  that something may be wrong in your definition to  DFL
        on how to run the "add file" option of your archive program.  You
        should  have  seen some kind of error message  from  the  archive
        program.  Perhaps  the  program needs more memory  to  run.   Try
        removing any TSRs from memory before running DFL.  DFL uses about
        340k.  The archive programs we have tested with DFL require  less
        than 200K to run.  Since DFL itself uses 340K, you should have at
        least  540K  available.  Run "CHKDSK" to see how much  memory  is
        available on your system.


        6.4.1.2   "A disk drive must be selected to begin processing"

        This  error will occur if you try to start DFL without  selecting
        at least one disk drive for processing.  Select function <F2> and
        choose at least one disk for DFL to scan.


        6.4.1.3   "Can't create <filespec>"

        This  error  may occur when you are configuring DFL to  use  your
        particular  archive program.  During the  configuration  process,
        DFL  will test run your archive program to confirm that the  con-
        figuration information is correct.

        When  DFL attempts to test run the external archive programs,  it
        first creates a 32k dummy file to be archived.  This error  could
        indicate a lack of directory space, a lack of disk space, or that
        the file <filespec> already exists.  Identify the specific  cause
        of the problem and retry.


        6.4.1.4   "Can't extract that file."

        In attempting to View an archived file, DFL was unable to extract
        it from the host archive.  Select function 'R' to see the  output
        of  the last run archive program.  If the archive extractor  pro-
        duced any error messages, they will appear.  You may need to free
        more  memory prior to running DFL.  Also, some  archives  contain
        files that have been encrypted with a password. The only way  DFL
        can  extract these files is if you add the  appropriate  password
        option  to  the extractor program's parameter line.  See  section
        4.2.2.
                                                       Page 41


        6.4.1.5   "Can't find that program. Try again."

        You are trying to enter the name of an external program. If it is
        not on the path, you must specify drive and directory along  with
        the  filename. If you do not specify the extension, DFL will  try
        COM and then EXE before giving up.


        6.4.1.6   "Can't log to disk"

        You tried to display the statistics of an invalid drive.


        6.4.1.7   "Can't open current file."

        DFL was unable to access either the marked file or the file under
        the  cursor bar for the comparison function. If the file  is  ar-
        chived,  select  function 'R' to see the output of the  last  run
        external  program.  If the archive extractor produced  any  error
        messages, they will appear here. You may need to free more memory
        prior to running DFL. Also, some archives contain files that have
        been  encrypted  with a password. The only way  DFL  can  extract
        these files is if you add the appropriate password option to  the
        extractor program's parameter line. See section IV.2.b.

        If the file is not archived, then you are faced with a  situation
        where  DFL    has  in memory the name of a file the  was  scanned
        moments earlier but doesn't exist now. This can happen if you are
        running  in  a multitasking environment and  other  programs  are
        'diddling'  things  in the background. Perhaps one of  the  back-
        ground  programs  deleted the requested file. DFL has no  way  of
        knowing what other programs or TSRs are during in the background.


        6.4.1.8   "Can't open marked file."

        DFL was unable to access either the marked file or the file under
        the  cursor bar for the comparison function. If the file  is  ar-
        chived,  select  function 'R' to see the output of the  last  run
        external  program.  If the archive extractor produced  any  error
        messages, they will appear here. You may need to free more memory
        prior to running DFL. Also, some archives contain files that have
        been  encrypted  with a password. The only way  DFL  can  extract
        these files is if you add the appropriate password option to  the
        extractor program's parameter line. See section IV.2.b.

        If the file is not archived, then you are faced with a  situation
        where  DFL    has  in memory the name of a file the  was  scanned
        moments earlier but doesn't exist now. This can happen if you are
        running  in  a multitasking environment and  other  programs  are
        'diddling'  things  in the background. Perhaps one of  the  back-
        ground  programs  deleted the requested file. DFL has no  way  of
        knowing what other programs or TSRs are during in the background.
                                                       Page 42


        6.4.1.9   "Can't run C:\COMMAND.COM"

        There  was some problem in loading and executing COMMAND.COM  for
        the  Dos  Shell function.  The path and filename of  the  command
        processor are sought using the environment variable COMSPEC.   If
        that is not found, DFL defaults to C:\COMMAND.COM.


        6.4.1.10  "DFL is unable to run that program"

        There was some problem in loading and executing the corresponding
        archive program.  It may be too big, or not exist at all.


        6.4.1.11  "DFL temporary files have been damaged. Must exit."

        When  the Dos Shell function is invoked, DFL hides  and  protects
        all  of its temporary files and directories.  On return from  the
        Shell,  they are unhidden and unprotected.  If DFL is  unable  to
        restore any of them, it must exit.


        6.4.1.12  "Different size files can't be the same."

        The  binary byte-by-byte comparison function is useless for  dif-
        ferent  length files. Use the external ASCII  comparison  program
        for different length ascii files.


        6.4.1.13  "FC.EXE produced no results."

        The ASCII comparison just performed produced no output.


        6.4.1.14  "Files are not equal."  &  "Files are the same."

        Possible results from the binary comparison.


        6.4.1.15  "Must specify '%1' and '%2' parameters."

        DFL  must pass the archive extractor, adder and deleter  programs
        at  least two parameters: the archive filename and  the  archived
        file.  You  must indicate where these belong with '%1'  and  '%2'
        respectively as if they were run from the command line.


        6.4.1.16  "Must specify '%1' parameter."

        DFL must pass the archive lister program at least one  parameter,
        the  archive filename.  You must indicate where it  belongs  with
        '%1' as if it was run from the command line.
                                                       Page 43


        6.4.1.17  "No duplicate files in list.  Function canceled."

        The requested function will not operate without a list of  dupli-
        cates.


        6.4.1.18  "No file is marked."

        You  must mark a file using the F6 key that you wish compared  to
        the one under the cursor bar.


        6.4.1.19  "No files have been tagged.  Function canceled."

        The untag function will not work if there are no tagged files.


        6.4.1.20  "No output available"

        The  See  Results function will only show you the output  of  the
        last  executed  external program if it was  captured.  Currently,
        there is none.


        6.4.1.21  "Not enough memory."  &  "Out of memory."

        The requested function needs more memory.  Usually, this is about
        4k.   If you see this error, you're really pushing the  envelope.
        Try to remove any TSR programs or reduce the size of the environ-
        ment space.


        6.4.1.22  "Problem creating dummy file"

        To  test  the archive definition, DFL creates a  32k  dummy  file
        named TEST????.aaa.  See section 6.1.  This error indicates  that
        DFL was unable to create the temporary file.


        6.4.1.23  "Problem extracting current file."

        The  file comparison functions must extract any compressed  files
        before  performing the compare.  Select function 'R' to  see  the
        output of the last run external program.  If the archive  extrac-
        tor produced any error messages, they will appear here.  You  may
        need  to free more memory prior to running DFL.  Also,  some  ar-
        chives  contain files that have been encrypted with  a  password.
        The only way DFL can extract these files is if you add the appro-
        priate password option to the extractor program's parameter line.
        See section 4.2.2.
                                                       Page 44


        6.4.1.24  "Problem extracting marked file."

        The  file comparison functions must extract any compressed  files
        before  performing the compare.  Select function 'R' to  see  the
        output of the last run external program.  If the archive  extrac-
        tor produced any error messages, they will appear here.  You  may
        need  to free more memory prior to running DFL.  Also,  some  ar-
        chives  contain files that have been encrypted with  a  password.
        The only way DFL can extract these files is if you add the appro-
        priate password option to the extractor program's parameter line.
        See section 4.2.2.


        6.4.1.25  "Problem running <archive lister>"

        This error will occur during the disk scan if DFL cannot  execute
        the  lister  program for an archive type that has  been  enabled.
        You  may  need to free more memory prior to running  DFL.  Select
        function 'R' to see the output of the last run external  program.
        If  the  archive lister produced any error  messages,  they  will
        appear here.


        6.4.1.26  "Problem running FC.EXE.  Check FC.EXE rules under
                  setup."

        This error will occur if DFL cannot execute the ascii  comparison
        program.  You may need to free more memory prior to running  DFL.
        Select  function 'R' to see the output of the last  run  external
        program.  If the program produced any error messages,  they  will
        appear here.


        6.4.1.27  "Problem running that program"

        This  error will occur if DFL cannot execute one of  the  archive
        programs  during the test run.  You may need to free more  memory
        prior  to running DFL.  Select function 'R' to see the output  of
        the last run external program.  If the program produced any error
        messages, they may appear here.


        6.4.1.28  "Problem writing <filename>"

        The  duplicate  list output function encountered an  error  while
        writing the given file.  If you're writing to a floppy, make sure
        the  disk is formatted and properly inserted in the drive.  Also,
        you  may have run out of disk space, especially if the  duplicate
        list is long.
                                                       Page 45


        6.4.1.29  "That extension is invalid."

        If any of these characters are used in the extension field of the
        archive  definition, it will be declared invalid- ".*?\/:".  This
        doesn't include the quotes.


        6.4.1.30  "That is a DIRECTORY. Hit a key..."

        This  error will occur if you enter an invalid list output  file-
        name.


        6.4.1.31  "That is a HIDDEN or SYSTEM file. Hit a key..."

        This  error will occur if you enter an invalid list output  file-
        name.


        6.4.1.32  "That is a READ ONLY file. Hit a key..."

        This  error will occur if you enter an invalid list output  file-
        name.


        6.4.1.33  "That's not a file !"

        This  error  is caused by attempting to perform one of  the  file
        operations  on the blank divider lines between the groups in  the
        duplicate list window.


        6.4.1.34  "The viewer couldn't open that file"

        The viewing system was unable to access the file under the cursor
        bar.  If the file is archived, then DFL attempted to extract  it.
        Select  function 'R' to see the output of the last  run  external
        program.  If the archive extractor produced any  error  messages,
        they will appear here.  You may need to free more memory prior to
        running  DFL.  Also, some archives contain files that  have  been
        encrypted  with a password.  The only way DFL can  extract  these
        files  is if you add the appropriate password option to  the  ex-
        tractor program's parameter line.  See section 4.2.2.

        If the file is not archived, then you are faced with a  situation
        where  DFL has in memory the name of a file the was  scanned  mo-
        ments earlier but  doesn't exist now.  This can happen if you are
        running  in  a multitasking environment and  other  programs  are
        'diddling'  things in the background.  Perhaps one of  the  back-
        ground  programs deleted the requested file.  DFL has no  way  of
        knowing  what is happening while TSRs or background programs  are
        active.
                                                       Page 46


        6.4.1.35  "The viewer needs about 16k more memory"

        The  viewing system needs about 16k of memory.  If you  see  this
        error, you're pushing the envelope.  Try freeing some TSRs before
        running DFL.


        6.4.1.36  "Too many lines/entry. May not work."

        The format of the archive lister output should not take more than
        about 15 lines per file entry.

        6.4.1.37  "Unable to open the file. Hit a key..."

        The duplicate list output function was not able to open the given
        file.  If you're writing to a floppy, make sure the disk is  for-
        matted and properly inserted in the drive.


        6.4.1.38  "Use caution in selecting an output path"

        In preparing to write the duplicate list, DFL changes back to the
        original disk from where it was invoked. If it has trouble  doing
        that,  this warning will be displayed before you are prompted  to
        enter  the output filename. It means that the disk  configuration
        has probably changed since DFL was started and subsequent caution
        is  advised.  This may happen if you run DFL from  a  floppy  and
        remove the floppy.


        6.4.1.39  "Why compare a file to itself ?"

        This is self-explanatory.


        6.4.1.40  "Why view a file of 0 length ?"

        This is self-explanatory.


        6.4.1.41  "You must edit the definition before enabling it."

        You can't enable an undefined or uninitialized archive type.

        6.4.1.42   "Bad file: <arcfile>"
        6.4.1.43   "Read error: <arcfile>"
        6.4.1.44   "Seek error: <arcfile>"
        6.4.1.45   "Can't open: <arcfile>"
        6.4.1.46   "Bad name field: <arcfile>"

        These  errors can occur when DFL is directly reading an  archive.
        The corresponding archive is probably damaged.
                                                       Page 47


        6.4.2     Exit Errors

        The  error messages below are reported when the execution of  DFL
        must be aborted due to some fatal error condition.

        6.4.2.1   "Virtual memory file CRITICAL READ error..."

        An interpretation window will accompany this message.  This error
        may occur if you run out of disk space or an actual error  occurs
        on the working disk.

        6.4.2.2   "Virtual memory file CRITICAL SEEK error..."

        An interpretation window will accompany this message.  This error
        may occur if you run out of disk space or an actual error  occurs
        on the working disk.


        6.4.2.3   "Virtual memory file CRITICAL WRITE error..."

        An interpretation window will accompany this message.  This error
        may occur if you run out of disk space or an actual error  occurs
        on the working disk.


        6.4.2.4   "Virtual memory file READ error..."

        An interpretation window will accompany this message.  This error
        may occur if you run out of disk space or an actual error  occurs
        on the working disk.


        6.4.2.5   "Virtual memory file SEEK error..."

        An interpretation window will accompany this message.  This error
        may occur if you run out of disk space or an actual error  occurs
        on the working disk.


        6.4.2.6   "Virtual memory file WRITE error..."

        An interpretation window will accompany this message.  This error
        may occur if you run out of disk space or an actual error  occurs
        on the working disk.


        6.4.2.7   "Disk specified by '/w=' unavailable."

        The requested working disk is not accessible by DFL.
                                                       Page 48


        6.4.2.8   "Bad filename mask in '/f=' option."

        The filename mask follows standard Dos filespec syntax  including
        wildcards.  Use 'A*.*' to scan all files beginning with 'A'.  Use
        '*.EXE' to scan all EXE files.

        6.4.2.9   "Syntax error in '/d=' option."

        To  specify  drives  'C:' and 'D:' as the  scan  disks  use  'DFL
        /d=cd'.   This is not case-sensitive.  The command  line  options
        are  all  separated  by spaces. Type 'DFL /?' to  obtain  a  help
        listing with an example of each option.

        6.4.2.10  "Syntax error in '/f=' option."

        To use '*.bak' as the filename mask type 'DFL /f=*.bak'.  This is
        not case- sensitive.  The command line options are all  separated
        by spaces.  Type 'DFL /?' to obtain a help listing with an  exam-
        ple of each option.


        6.4.2.11  "Syntax error in '/l(a/w)=' option."

        To   specify   c:\dfl.lst   as  the   output   file,   use   'DFL
        /lw=c:\dfl.lst'.   To  append  the  duplicate  list   output   to
        c:\dfl.lst,  use 'DFL /la=c:\dfl.lst'. These are not  case-sensi-
        tive.   The  command line options are all  separated  by  spaces.
        Type  'DFL /?' to obtain a help listing with an example  of  each
        option.

        6.4.2.12  "Syntax error in '/m=' option."

        To  use  the ALIAS mode type 'DFL /m=alias'.  This is  not  case-
        sensitive.  The command line options are all separated by spaces.
        Type  'DFL /?' to obtain a help listing with an example  of  each
        option.


        6.4.2.13  "Syntax error in '/w=' option."

        To  specify drive 'D:' as the working disk use 'DFL /w=d'.   This
        is  not case- sensitive.  The command line options are all  sepa-
        rated by spaces.  Type 'DFL /?' to obtain a help listing with  an
        example of each option.


        6.4.2.14  "Bad output filename."

        The  error  results  if the file specified by  the  command  line
        option '/l(a/w)=' is not accessible by DFL.  If the file is on  a
        floppy, make sure the disk is formatted and properly inserted  in
        the drive.