swklassen@dahlia.waterloo.edu (Steven W. Klassen) (08/02/89)
Here's a problem which I have never seen before. I screwed up in my download of emacs (I shall try it again soon) and somehow the download seems to have created a file which TOS thinks is a volume label. This doesn't show up on the normal directory but can be seen using the 'ls -la' command from msh. When I copied stuff to install emacs on my hard drive (Atari megafile 60) this file which thinks it is a volume label somehow got copied to my hard drive. I first noticed it when I tried to delete the temporary directory which it was located in. msh will not let me delete the directory as long as this file which thinks it is a volume label is present but also will not allow me to delete the file. Hence I can't get rid of my temporary directory. I then tried to delete it from the desktop. As I mentioned the file does not show up on the desktop (hence you can't delete it). When I try to drag the entire directory which contains the problem to the trash I get an error message something along the line of an object of this name already existing. Can anyone out there help me? I _really_ don't want to reformat and hence reinstall everything on my 60meg hard drive!!!!! Can I somehow 'fool' this file into thinking it is really a file and not a volume label (and hence delete it) or does someone have a utility which will let me manually kill only this file (or the directory containing it)? Question for Atari: How can something like this get there in the first place? Steven W. Klassen Computer Science Major University of Waterloo
ignac@electro.UUCP (Ignac Kolenko) (08/05/89)
In article <15591@watdragon.waterloo.edu> swklassen@dahlia.waterloo.edu (Steven W. Klassen) writes: >I then tried to delete it from the desktop. As I mentioned the >file does not show up on the desktop (hence you can't delete it). >When I try to drag the entire directory which contains the >problem to the trash I get an error message something along >the line of an object of this name already existing. > >Can anyone out there help me? I _really_ don't want to reformat >and hence reinstall everything on my 60meg hard drive!!!!! > >Can I somehow 'fool' this file into thinking it is really a file >and not a volume label (and hence delete it) or does someone >have a utility which will let me manually kill only this file >(or the directory containing it)? > >Question for Atari: How can something like this get there in >the first place? well, at least with tos 1.0, gemdos would allow you to create as many volume labels as you like, using the Fcreate() call with the appropriate bit set in the type field. but when it came to deleteing these extra labels, you couldn't, since the Fdelete() call will actually check the attribute field, and if the volume label bit is set, it will not delete it. my suggestion: try using a sector editor to get at the directory entry that became screwed up into a volume label, manually turn off the volume label bit, and then try to delete the file. you could also, (slightly more drastic) zero your hard disk partition (not the whole 60meg, just that particular partition) and re-install just the software on that partition. either one should work. -- =====Ignac A. Kolenko (The Ig) watmath!watcgl!electro!ignac===== co-author of QuickST, and the entire line of Quick Shareware!!!! "I don't care if I don't win, 'cause I don't care if I fail" from 'Youth Of Today' by SUBURBAN DISTORTION
swklassen@dahlia.waterloo.edu (Steven W. Klassen) (08/05/89)
>my suggestion: try using a sector editor to get at the directory entry >that became screwed up into a volume label, manually turn off the volume label >bit, and then try to delete the file. you could also, (slightly more drastic) >zero your hard disk partition (not the whole 60meg, just that particular >partition) and re-install just the software on that partition. either one >should work. I have been looking for a sector editor but have not been having much luck. Does anyone out there know where I can find one? I do have access to Norten Utilities for the IBM PC. Will this work running through Ditto or is the Atari file format different than the IBM? Steven W. Klassen Computer Science Major University of Waterloo
kloppen@gmdzi.UUCP (Jelske Kloppenburg) (08/06/89)
To the problem of deleting a Label:
With Floppies I had success with the following procedure:
Create a normal file with the same name,
Close it,
Delete it.
kloppenburg@kmx.gmd.dbp.de
UUCP: kloppen@gmdzi
In real life: Jelske Kloppenburgsaj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs) (08/07/89)
In article <15690@watdragon.waterloo.edu>, swklassen@dahlia.waterloo.edu (Steven W. Klassen) writes: > I have been looking for a sector editor but have not been having much luck. > Norten Utilities for the IBM PC. Will this work running through Ditto or Since I'm a great fan of fixing things with a sector editor, I'll jump in. DRFLOPPY is a shareware sector editor that is mostly useful for changing boot sectors, because it's a mite finicky about total sectors per track. MEMFILE is probably better all-around; I believe it is entirely free, and it was included with the PD collection distributed with the first edition of NEODESK. Neither one should be hard to find on BBS-s. Steve J.
swklassen@dahlia.waterloo.edu (Steven W. Klassen) (08/07/89)
In article <1193@gmdzi.UUCP> kloppen@gmdzi.UUCP (Jelske Kloppenburg) writes: > >To the problem of deleting a Label: > >With Floppies I had success with the following procedure: >Create a normal file with the same name, >Close it, >Delete it. > > kloppenburg@kmx.gmd.dbp.de >UUCP: kloppen@gmdzi > In real life: Jelske Kloppenburg I'll try this although the filename is also rather screwed up. (The filename is '.???' but I think that should not be a problem.) Steven W. Klassen Computer Science Major University of Waterloo
swklassen@dahlia.waterloo.edu (Steven W. Klassen) (08/08/89)
In article <9188@chinet.chi.il.us> saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs) writes: >In article <15690@watdragon.waterloo.edu>, swklassen@dahlia.waterloo.edu (Steven W. Klassen) writes: >> I have been looking for a sector editor but have not been having much luck. > >Since I'm a great fan of fixing things with a sector editor, I'll jump in. >DRFLOPPY is a shareware sector editor that is mostly useful for changing boot >sectors, because it's a mite finicky about total sectors per track. MEMFILE >is probably better all-around; I believe it is entirely free, and it was >included with the PD collection distributed with the first edition of NEODESK. >Neither one should be hard to find on BBS-s. > Steve J. Can someone e-mail these to me or at least tell me where I can ftp them? Steven W. Klassen Computer Science Major University of Waterloo
leo@philmds.UUCP (Leo de Wit) (08/08/89)
In article <15591@watdragon.waterloo.edu> swklassen@dahlia.waterloo.edu (Steven W. Klassen) writes: |Here's a problem which I have never seen before. | |I screwed up in my download of emacs (I shall try it again soon) and |somehow the download seems to have created a file which TOS thinks is |a volume label. [] |Question for Atari: How can something like this get there in |the first place? Using the Fattrib() call of GEMDOS you can make an ordinary file into a volume label. It's even worse: you can make it into a directory that is not really a directory (it doesn't have the . and .. entries, and you can't put files into it, but it _looks_ like a directory, since it has a 'mode' of 0x10). Try and replay with: if (Fattrib(filename,1,mode) < 0) { fprintf(stderr,"%s: cannot set mode\n",filename); } with mode set to 8 for a volume label, or to 16 for a directory. Leo. P.S. On a side note, all GEMDOS documentation I could get hold of says about bit 5 of the mode (0x20), that it is used to indicate that a file was successfully written to and closed. I have yet to encounter such a file (hmm, doesn't that imply all writes failed ? 8-). However, it is possible to set this bit in the mode by hand (using Fattrib()). Perhaps someone at Atari can say something sensible about the use of this bit?
swklassen@dahlia.waterloo.edu (Steven W. Klassen) (08/08/89)
In article <1062@philmds.UUCP> leo@philmds.UUCP (Leo de Wit) writes: > >Using the Fattrib() call of GEMDOS you can make an ordinary file into a >volume label. It's even worse: you can make it into a directory that is >not really a directory (it doesn't have the . and .. entries, and you >can't put files into it, but it _looks_ like a directory, since it has >a 'mode' of 0x10). > Thanks. I looked this function call up in my docs and it looks like it will do what I need. I don't know how I missed this when I was searching before my initial posting. PS. I would still like a good sector editor if anyone out there has one. Steven W. Klassen Computer Science Major University of Waterloo