Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!think!ames!pasteur!eris!korn
From: korn@eris (Peter "Arrgh" Korn)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Multi-launch under Appleshare  [was Re: What's the best NETWORK?]
Message-ID: <3191@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu>
Date: 8 May 88 08:02:53 GMT
References: <1814@uhccux.UUCP> <1815@uhccux.UUCP> <2229@polyslo.UUCP> <1072@aucs.UUCP>
Sender: news@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu
Reply-To: korn@eris.UUCP (Peter "Arrgh" Korn)
Organization: What, me organized???
Lines: 36

In <1072@aucs.UUCP>, paul@aucs.UUCP (Paul Steele) said:  
>In my early investigation of Appleshare, I was told that if you wanted
>to have 10 people running the same program, then there would have to be
>10 different copies of the software on the file server.  This was totally
>unacceptable so we went with MacJANET, which did not have this restriction.
>Does the current Appleshare allow a single copy of a program to be used
>simulataneously by any number of users?

It is indeed possible to run multiple copies of the same program under
AppleShare.  However, not just *any* program.  There is a bit called the
'shared' bit (though early versions of ResEdit got this bit confused
with the 'cached' bit) which you set in a program.  This says "I am
designed to be launched multiple times".  If you use ResEdit on MicroSoft
Word sometime, you'll notice that the 'shared' bit (or 'cached' bit, if
you are using an older version of ResEdit) is set.  And indeed, MS-Word
can be launched multiple times.

To be a multi-launch program really all that needs to happen is that
you don't write to yourself; alter yourself in any way (such as saving
the window positions of your windows to be MultiFinder friendly in the
resource fork of yourself -- if you want to do this, use a configuration
file that you save somewhere [like the System Folder maybe]).

I haven't used MacJANET, but I would be curious as to what happens when
two people try to run a program which modifies itself (like perhaps
my Graphic Load Average program, which writes to itself 'cause I took
the cheap way out for the sake of compactness & speed).  I would expect
one to crash... (but after seeing what Radius is doing with making
all menus tear-off [even ones that aren't], I'll believe most any
mac wizardry...).

Peter
--
Peter "Arrgh" Korn
korn@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU
{decvax,dual,hplabs,sdcsvax,ulysses}!ucbvax!korn