multconf.txt

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Multiple Configuration Boot
---------------------------

We are trying to solve following problems with multiple configuration
processing:

 1. Ability to boot without processing CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT

 2. Ability to conditionally process different lines/sections of
    CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT based on a user-specified configuration,
    and to set environment variables based on that configuration

 3. Ability to interactively execute or skip any line in CONFIG.SYS,
    in order to speed up system tuning and problem determination

NOTE:  This feature does not address dual or a multi-boot option.
Dual/multi boot normally refers to an ability to boot from different
partitions or an ability to boot different operating systems.  The proposed
multi-configuration architecture is compatible with the existing dual-boot
and multi-boot software (OS/2 1.2/2.0, ROMDOS, etc).
 
Configuration blocks are defined in CONFIG.SYS through the use bracketed
headings, similar to those found in Windows INI files.  The headings are
called block names, and are single words used both to define the blocks and
to refer to them in a special block called the MENU block.  Examples of
block names are MINIMUM, NETWORK, CDROM, DATABASE, etc.

The block name MENU is a pre-defined block name used to define the menu
that is displayed at boot-time.  A MENU block can only contain certain
MENU-related commands;  all other lines are ignored.  These commands are:

    Commands        Syntax and definition

    MENUITEM        MENUITEM=blockname[,description]

                    Each MENUITEM entry for which blockname is a valid
                    block name will create a selection on the boot-time
                    menu.  The first selection is number 1, and so on,
                    up to the maximum of 9.  The description field is what
                    will be displayed on the screen;  if it is omitted,
                    then the block name itself is used.

    MENUDEFAULT     MENUDEFAULT=blockname[,timeout]

                    This establishes which of the MENUITEMs displayed will
                    be highlighted on the screen as the default selection
                    (ie, the selection that will be chosen if the user
                    presses Enter or if a timeout occurs).  When no default
                    is explicitly set, the default is selection 0 (NONE).
                    The timeout, if present, is a number from 0 to 90.
                    This establishes the number of seconds to wait before
                    automatically selecting the default configuration.  If
                    it is 0, this forces automatic selection of the default,
                    bypassing menu display.  If, however, the INTERACTIVE
                    BOOT attention key (Enter) has been pressed prior to
                    booting, the menu, if any, is displayed regardless.
                    Pressing any key while the time-out counter is counting
                    down disables time-out.

    MENUCOLOR       MENUCOLOR=x[,y]

                    x and y are numbers that define text and screen color.
                    The numbers must be one of the following:

                            0   Black       8   Gray
                            1   Blue        9   Bright Blue
                            2   Green      10   Bright Green
                            3   Cyan       11   Bright Cyan
                            4   Red        12   Bright Red
                            5   Magenta    13   Bright Magenta
                            6   Brown      14   Yellow
                            7   White      15   Bright White

                    Choose differing values for x and y, otherwise the text
                    may not be readable.  Also, on most systems, screen
                    colors 8-15 are identical to 0-7; the only difference
                    being that the text flashes.

    NUMLOCK         NUMLOCK={ON|OFF}

                    Because the menu makes use of arrow keys, this allows
                    users to configure the Num-Lock setting of the numeric
                    keypad.  Because the menu is displayed before any drivers
                    or programs are run, there is no other way to configure
                    the keyboard programatically.


The MENU block is typically placed at the top of CONFIG.SYS, but neither it
nor any other block is required to be in any particular position or order.

Here is an example of a block-structured CONFIG.SYS:

    [menu]
    menudefault=normal,30
    menuitem=normal,My normal configuration
    menuitem=database,Drivers required for my SQL database
    menuitem=reference,Drivers for my information retrieval system

    [common]
    files=20
    buffers=20
    shell=c:\dos\command.com /p c:\dos

    [reference]
    include dataBase
    device=c:\dos\ansi.sys
    device=c:\cdrom\scsi.sys

    [normal]
    device=c:\dos\setver.exe

    [database]
    device=c:\net\pcxmod.sys
    device=c:\net\pcxmoda.sys

    [common]

Any lines occuring before the first block heading will be considered
common to all configurations, and will always be executed first.  This
provides backward compatibility with setup/installation programs that simply
add lines to the top of CONFIG.SYS.  Common lines can also be explicitly
inserted at any point by using the predefined COMMON block heading.
A COMMON block should always be placed at the end of CONFIG.SYS as well,
again to provide better backward compatibility (reducing the need to
manually edit CONFIG.SYS just to make newly installed changes effective).

The INCLUDE command has been added to allow commands to be grouped into
logical sub-blocks and then included by larger configuration blocks.  The
primary goal is to allow any CONFIG.SYS to be structured in such a way that
each unique line appears only once in the file, simplifying upgradability
and maintainability of the file.

All lines are processed in the order they appear.  The only exception to
this ordering is when the INCLUDE command is used to include a block from
within another block.

If the boot-time menu is enabled (meaning: if a MENU block exists and a
default has not been enforced through a timeout of 0), then the following
boot menu is displayed for the specified time during DOS initialization.
Based on the above example, this menu would look like:

MS-DOS boot options:

  0. NONE
  1. MY NORMAL CONFIGURATION
  2. DRIVERS REQUIRED FOR MY SQL DATABASE
  3. DRIVERS FOR MY INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM

Select an option (ESC for clean boot):         [30]  [Interactive mode: OFF ]

with selection #1 highlighted.  The user can change the highlighted selection
with up/down cursor keys, and can choose the highlighted selection by
pressing Enter.  He can also choose any selection directly by pressing the
associated number (0, 1, 2 or 3 in the above example).  If no key is pressed
within the specified time, then the system will boot as if the user chose the
highlighted (default) selection.

Option 0 (NONE) boots without executing any blocks in CONFIG.SYS.  Only
common lines (and any explicit COMMON blocks) are processed;  AUTOEXEC.BAT
is still processed normally, and the environment variable BOOT will be
set to COMMON.  All the remaining numbered options (1,2 or 3 in this example)
will set the BOOT environment variable to the associated block name (NORMAL,
DATABASE or REFERENCE in the above example).

Other keys function as follows:

    Escape selects "clean boot", which disables all CONFIG.SYS and
    AUTOEXEC.BAT processing;  the same feature is supported by pressing the
    CLEAN BOOT attention key (Escape) prior to the display of the DOS
    boot-time menu (but after the machine has reset the disk drives, keyboard,
    LEDs, etc).  Note: for this to be useful, you will have to have a copy of
    COMMAND.COM in your root directory.

    Enter selects the currently highlighted (default) selection

    The right/left cursor keys toggle the current INTERACTIVE boot setting,
    which can either be:

        ON      Prompt before processing every line in CONFIG.SYS
        OFF     Do not prompt on every line (except for lines containing '?')
        NONE    Do not prompt on any line (even lines containing '?')

The default INTERACTIVE setting is OFF, unless the INTERACTIVE BOOT attention
key (Enter) is pressed prior to the display of the configuration menu, in
which case the default is ON.

To force interactive prompting for inidividual lines, place a '?' immediately
after the command;  eg:

    device?=c:\dos\ansi.sys

which results in the following prompt:

    DEVICE=C:\DOS\ANSI.SYS? (Yes,No,All):

Pressing Y executes the command normally, N skips the command, and A answers
Y to this and all subsequent prompts (in other words, it forces INTERACTIVE
mode to NONE).

The SET command can now be used in CONFIG.SYS to set environment variables
for the shell.  You can use SET to change the value of a previously defined
variable (only the final setting is effective), even the predefined BOOT
variable.

Like the shell's SET command, the '=' is required, and the whitespace
surrounding the '=' is significant.  So all of the following commands

    SET FOO=BAR
    SET FOO = BAR
    SET FOO= BAR

have different effects.

"SET variable=" removes variable, if any, from the environment.

"%variable%" substitution is not supported in CONFIG.SYS.

There is also no imposed limit of 128 characters per environment variable
when set from CONFIG.SYS.