Re: binmod.exe, NK.bin files and other beginner questions

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If you already have the EXE files on your development computer or in a
backup, you can easily add them to a new nk.bin that you are building (just
put an entry for each one in your project.bib file). You don't have to
build every component with Platform Builder each time; I'd say that you do
have to build nk.bin with it each time, however.

As you've seen, if the only place you have these EXEs is inside an existing
nk.bin, I think that the chances of success are pretty low (everything would
have to be in FILES, which is seldom the case). If you can't get the EXEs
out of the nk.bin at first try, forget about it; it's not gonna happen.
That will save at least some investigation time before you decide that you
have to charge $X, or that you'd have to charge too much to make it make any
sense, to the upgrade project.

Paul T.

<john.e.otten@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:6c2a46eb-5fcd-4cc2-b831-27a07415831a@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks for your comments, Paul.

I imagine you are correct in stating that I am thinking of this the
wrong way round. But then, I never even heard about Platform Builder
until last week, and at times I might take longer than others to "get
it." Fortunately, once I do get it, I usually (and suddenly)
understand it very well.

Of course, we do have Platform Builder here, because I have been using
a sample OS that I created with it to begin the poking and prodding.
Your previous comment about ceconfig.h was tremendously helpful in my
learning about how the nk.bin is put together. Since then, I have
gotten my hands on a different nk.bin from what I expect to be
getting, and have practiced creating an OS as close as possible to
that one.

At this point, my main concern is over the added executables and dlls
that will be in the nk.bin that I will be receiving. We know what the
basic functionality of these additional pieces are (we have most of
the specification and requirements documents), but we so far been
unsuccessful in retrieving the source code. We are hoping to avoid
having to rewrite the entire application (which consists of about a
dozen executables, and two or three dlls) from scratch. The majority
of the executables do not need to be rewritten, only about two. I am
hopeful that the changes necessary for the executables do not involve
changes to any dlls, but I am not holding my breath. I suppose that
based upon your comments, if the dlls do need to be rewritten, I would
have to recommend scrapping the effort, or state that it would cost
nearly as much as the software portion of the original effort.

I also hope that the exes and dlls that were added to the OS were
placed in the Files section. I haven't started to make sample apps in
my investigation yet, but my guess (hope) is that the default build
procedure adds them to Files? Do you really think it is not worth
trying to use the custom exes and dlls that do not need modification?
I realize that it is not the ideal situation in regards to
maintainability, but at least the new files and the rebuilt OS should
be better off than before. We are not talking about upgrading the OS
at this point, just some of the binaries.

Incidently, the original software engineer for this system was very
smart and efficient, but not particularly a team player (he left about
six months after I arrived, so I got to know him a bit, and support of
several of his projects eventually fell to me). The reason we are
having trouble getting the original source is because he didn't have
the patience to follow the CM procedures the facility had in place
(his way was always better). The organization was just starting to
implement our current procedures about a year before he left. Since
he was such a good programmer, some of the managers gave him a bit too
much latitude in regard to him doing things his own way. Oops!

Thanks again for you comments and help!
John


.

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