(Excerpts from a message dated 10-20-99, Mike Roark to Linda Proulx)

Hi Linda--

 LP> Does OS/2 need an uninstall program like Win does?  If yes,  what are
 LP> good ones?

MR>Do you mean to get rid of all those extra files that the Win programs
  >put in places that are hidden to normal eyes? OS/2 doesn't operate
  >in the same manner. Most of the GUI programs have an un- install
  >with them, and those that don't can simply be deleted. About the
  >only directory that gets a lot of stuff is the \os2\dll directory.
  >But it isn't nearly as bad as Win.

    I have been using 32-bit versions of OS/2 since Spring, 1993; I
never have had an application (other than those that were distributed
with OS/2 itself) install any DLLs in the boot-drive DLL directory
(\OS2\DLL).  Some of the "performance analysis" applications I have
installed include pseudo-device drivers (for interaction with the
kernel), in addition to private DLLs.  Other application programs
include only the private DLLs.  In all these cases, including those
stand-alone applications purchased from IBM, the drivers (if any) and
the private DLLs are installed in the same directory as the rest of the
application (or in a subdirectory thereof).  While it certainly would be
possible for a programmer's "install" procedure to load his product's
private DLLs into \OS2\DLL, I can see no reason for any rational
programmer to do so.

    If I would let a stupid application-installation program modify my
CONFIG.SYS file, it would put an entry into the LIBPATH string so that
the system could find the application's DLLs if I ran that application
from any old command line.  Rather than let someone else muck up my
CONFIG.SYS file, I (usually) run such applications from a desktop
"Program Object" using the application's own directory as a working
directory.  Since any well-organized LIBPATH string contains the ".;"
entry (meaning: "look in the current directory") near the beginning, the
system has no trouble in finding the necessary DLLs to run the
application.  Thus, I usually don't need to correct my CONFIG.SYS file
when I install or delete an application.

    The exceptions to this practice are my home-grown "external
function" DLLs for REXX and the PL/I RTL DLLs, all of which are in a
directory named MYDLLS (not in the boot drive) that is listed in
LIBPATH.  These DLLs are used by multiple home-grown application
programs that aren't all in the same directory.

    BTW, there is a nifty little vintage-1994 utility named CHKDLL32.EXE
(I don't remember where I got it) that will test a 32-bit OS/2 EXE or
DLL file and tell you whether or not it can find all the DLLs required
and where it found them.  Very handy.  I've never needed this utility to
dig out a DLL that an "install" program put in some strange place, but
it could serve that purpose.  Note, however, that it will "find" any
OS/2 "system" DLLs (API calls) that are used by that program.  These
will (most likely) be in \OS2\DLL and should _not_ be deleted when
deleting the calling program.

    Regards,

        --Murray

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 * MR/2 2.25 #120 * Happily hitchhiking on the Information Highway

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