Q 1.3-1) Is there a public patch directory you maintain for incremental patches to ACL? If so, how do I get to it?
Q 1.3-2) Can I find the IP adress of ftp.franz.com?
Q 1.3-3) Why are there patches on the ftp site with date stamps that are still in the future?
Q 1.3-4) [Windows only] Why am I getting an undefined function error when I use sys:update-allegro?
Q 1.3-5) Is there a list of available patches for ACL 5.0.1?
A 1.3-1) Yes. See ftp://ftp.franz.com/pub/patches/5.0.1/. See ftp://ftp.franz.com/pub/patches/5.0.1/README for an explanation on how to find and load the patches for your version of Allegro CL. As patches become available, the files in this directory will be updated, so it is a good idea to periodically check the particular subdirectories you may be interested in for changes.
Downloading patches while running Allegro CL: You can download patches while running Allegro CL (on a machine connected to the internet) by calling sys:update-allegro. This function was not documented in the original 5.0.1 documentation because it was not ready in time but it is documented in the Allegro CL 5.0.1 documentation update. The link goes to this updated documentation (if you have downloaded the FAQ, the link may not work). The README described below includes a description of sys:update-allegro as well. If you are using Windows 95 or 98, please see the Windows 95/98 note below.
General information about the available patches and how to get them is is the file README in the main version 5.0.1 patch directory.
This example shows how to access the README file in the patch directory using FTP:
% ftp ftp.franz.com Name: ftp Password: <your email address> ftp> cd /pub/patches/5.0.1 ftp> get README
For Allegro CL 5.0 patches, replace 5.0.1 with 5.0 in the above URLs.
As said above, README can also be view by looking at ftp://ftp.franz.com/pub/patches/5.0.1/README.
Windows 95/98 note: if the directory where Allegro CL is installed on Windows 95/98 is not an 8.3 name (a name of the form <filename of 8 letters of fewer>.<type of 3 letters or fewer>), with the dot and type optional, then new DLL files will not be downlaoded correctly with sys:update-allegro. See the README file described above for more information. This problem does not affect Windows NT.
Q 1.3-2) Can I find the IP adress of ftp.franz.com?
A 1.3-2) In earlier versions of the FAQ, we gave the specific IP address. Then web servers were a relatively new thing and accessing them could be problematic. The need for providing the specific address is now gone, and the information can become dated without notice (if Franz changes its server machine) so we no longer publish the address. If you are having trouble ftp'ing things from Franz, please contact your system administrator to see if there is a problem with your name resolver. Current IP address can often be found from public tools (for example http://www.infobear.com/nslookup.cgi). If the problem seems to be at our end, please send email to bugs@franz.com describing the problem.
Q 1.3-3) Why are there patches on the ftp site with date stamps that are still in the future?
A 1.3-3) This problem appears to be specific to the MS Internet Explorer. The dates can be viewed correctly by accessing our ftp via a different browser, or via an ftp client.
Q 1.3-4) [Windows only] Why am I getting an undefined function (for function MoveFileEx) error when I use sys:update-allegro?
A 1.3-4) A problem in an earlier version of sys:update-allegro caused this error. It has since been fixed. In order to upgrade to the latest fixed version, it is necessary to manually download two patches from the Franz ftp site. Note: you cannot use sys:update-allegro to download these patches.
The two files required for download are:
where <arch> indicates the machine on which you are running (go to ftp://ftp.franz.com/pub/patches/5.0.1 if you are unsure what the value of <arch> should be).
These two files should be copied into your <Allegro directory>/code directory. To use sys:update-allegro, restart Lisp and evaluate (sys:update-allegro).
Q 1.3-5) Is there a list of available patches for ACL 5.0.1?
A 1.3-5) Yes. ftp://ftp.franz.com/pub/patches/5.0.1/LOG. In fact, even if you are using sys:update-allegro to download patches, we highly recommend viewing this file periodically so that you are aware of what each patch being downloaded is affecting.
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