Determine OS from within ULP

"Warren Brayshaw" <warrenbrayshaw@paradise.net.nz> wrote in message

news:iudv2t$ucs$1@cheetah.cadsoft.de...

Greetings

 

I'm developing my first ULP that needs to react differently depending on

the

operating system.

What is considered the preferred method of determining the Operating

System

from within a ULP?

I'd say use the system() function to try executing "ver" for windows..

"uname " or "lsb_release -a" for linux.. And something similar for

mac?

Not a good solution tho.

Morten Leikvoll wrote on Wed, 29 June 2011 05:51

"Warren Brayshaw" <<private_email>> wrote in message

news:iudv2t$ucs$<private_email>...

Greetings

 

I'm developing my first ULP that needs to react differently

depending on

the

operating system.

What is considered the preferred method of determining the

Operating

System

from within a ULP?

 

I'd say use the system() function to try executing "ver" for windows..

 

"uname " or "lsb_release -a" for linux.. And something similar

for

mac?

Not a good solution tho.

I looked into something like this about a year ago for the same reason.

From memory, I believe the ver command was the way I did it.  In Windows

you get back an error message and Mac and Linux give you something you can

parse.  I had to pipe it to a file and then search the file.  Ugly, but it

did work.

Cheers,

James.

--

James Morrison  ~~~  Stratford Digital

Specializing in CadSoft EAGLE

• Online Sales to North America

• Electronic Design Services

• EAGLE Enterprise Toolkit

--

Web access to CadSoft support forums at www.eaglecentral.ca.  Where the CadSoft EAGLE community meets.

Morten Leikvoll wrote on Wed, 29 June 2011 05:51

"Warren Brayshaw" <<private_email>> wrote in message

news:iudv2t$ucs$<private_email>...

Greetings

 

I'm developing my first ULP that needs to react differently

depending on

the

operating system.

What is considered the preferred method of determining the

Operating

System

from within a ULP?

 

I'd say use the system() function to try executing "ver" for windows..

 

"uname " or "lsb_release -a" for linux.. And something similar

for

mac?

Not a good solution tho.

I looked into something like this about a year ago for the same reason.

From memory, I believe the ver command was the way I did it.  In Windows

you get back an error message and Mac and Linux give you something you can

parse.  I had to pipe it to a file and then search the file.  Ugly, but it

did work.

Cheers,

James.

--

James Morrison  ~~~  Stratford Digital

Specializing in CadSoft EAGLE

• Online Sales to North America

• Electronic Design Services

• EAGLE Enterprise Toolkit

--

Web access to CadSoft support forums at www.eaglecentral.ca.  Where the CadSoft EAGLE community meets.

Am 29.06.2011 16:28, schrieb James Morrison:

I looked into something like this about a year ago for the same reason.

From memory, I believe the ver command was the way I did it.  In Windows

you get back an error message and Mac and Linux give you something you can

parse.  I had to pipe it to a file and then search the file.  Ugly, but it

did work.

Everything executed via the 'system' command has the problem that it at

least flashes the DOS shell window (when run under Windows), which is a

nuisance. If you're only interested in knowing the difference between

Windows and anything else, do it as follows:

int IsWindows() {

   //Returns 1, if EAGLE is running under Windows (0 for Linux/Mac)

   if ((strsub(argv[0],0,1)=="/") && (strsub(argv[0],0,2)!="//"))

     return 0;

   return 1;

   }

This does NOT call any external program and, for our institute, works

reliably since years. But, yes, I AM interested in getting to know how

to reliably tell the difference between a Mac and Linux...

Andreas Weidner

James Morrison: wrote

>> I looked into something like this about a year ago for the same

>>  reason. From memory, I believe the ver command was the way I did

>> it.  In Windows you get back an error message and Mac and Linux give

>> you something you can parse.  I had to pipe it to a file and then

>> search the file.  Ugly, but it did work.

Andreas Weidner wrote:

 

Everything executed via the 'system' command has the problem that it

at least flashes the DOS shell window (when run under Windows), which

is a nuisance. If you're only interested in knowing the difference

between Windows and anything else, do it as follows:

 

int IsWindows() {

   //Returns 1, if EAGLE is running under Windows (0 for Linux/Mac)

   if ((strsub(argv[0],0,1)=="/") && (strsub(argv[0],0,2)!="//"))

     return 0;

   return 1;

   }

 

This does NOT call any external program and, for our institute, works

reliably since years. But, yes, I AM interested in getting to know how

to reliably tell the difference between a Mac and Linux...

 

Andreas Weidner

Thanks for the replies everyone. If there are further methods being used by

others I would like to here about them.

My current needs, as I understand them at this point, is to be able to

determine Windows from the other two. Andreas' solution is elegant.

Other ideas:

For those installations where there are two paths in the Eagle

Options/Directories you could detect the semicolon (Windows) or colon

(Linux-Mac) in eaglerc.usr

Detecting eaglerc.usr or .eaglerc may be possible also but gives no more

than Andreas' solution.

That said it would be good to determine a technique that does differentiate

between Linux and Mac.

Something like detecting a root folder lib (Linux) or Library (Mac)? Or var

(Linix) vs System (Mac)?

In a well locked down institution, can a user still detect the presence of

these folders?

I have been trying a few ideas via JavaScript or vbs to get past the

flashing command window and this could be another path to obtaining the OS

but comes with security issues.

Would be OK for institutions with a certificate server.

Right now I'm having an issue with the system() command (I think)  adding

eagles install path ahead of my path. Yet to solve that one, if its possible

Regards

Warren

On 6/29/2011 12:33 PM, Andreas Weidner wrote:

Am 29.06.2011 16:28, schrieb James Morrison:

>> I looked into something like this about a year ago for the same reason.

>> From memory, I believe the ver command was the way I did it. In Windows

>> you get back an error message and Mac and Linux give you something you

>> can

>> parse. I had to pipe it to a file and then search the file. Ugly, but it

>> did work.

 

Everything executed via the 'system' command has the problem that it at

least flashes the DOS shell window (when run under Windows), which is a

nuisance. If you're only interested in knowing the difference between

Windows and anything else, do it as follows:

 

int IsWindows() {

//Returns 1, if EAGLE is running under Windows (0 for Linux/Mac)

if ((strsub(argv[0],0,1)=="/") && (strsub(argv[0],0,2)!="//"))

return 0;

return 1;

}

 

This does NOT call any external program and, for our institute, works

reliably since years. But, yes, I AM interested in getting to know how

to reliably tell the difference between a Mac and Linux...

 

Andreas Weidner

isn't there a way to run the shell window minimized in windows? i think

a shortcut that is declared to be minimized and just passes args to

cmd.exe would do the trick.

i think it is also possible to run a program in windows completely

invisibly but it can't be done from the OS interface, you have to hex

the shortcut file. it's documented but i haven't had much luck with it.

Andreas Weidner wrote:

 

Everything executed via the 'system' command has the problem that it

at least flashes the DOS shell window (when run under Windows), which

is a nuisance........

Because of this flashing DOS window I now use Windows Scripting Host (WSH)

which is included in all Windows releases.

It interpretes Visual Basic Script or JavaScript files.

It is a little bit harder to code than a DOS batch as your batches are now

.vbs or .js files.

I  went the vbScript route as it was little easier to get  grips with it

with more examples on the web. That said I think JavaScript is more ULP like

Performance is great when displaying a pdf and the flashing command window

does not exist. The calling Eagle app is only locked until wscript gets

going which is very short.

The ULP line calling the test1.vbs file with wscript

system("wscript \"J:
WINDOWS
Desktop
test1.vbs\"");

Contents of test1.vbs

Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")

objShell.Run chr(34) & "J:\WINDOWS\Desktop\MyPdf.pdf" & chr(34),1

Set objShell = nothing

WScript.Quit

Enjoy

Warren