https://gitlab.synchro.net/main/sbbs/-/commit/3095484c52ba1230b7661093
Modified Files:
install/upgrade.iss
Log Message:
Use the jsexec -c option to specify the install-to CTRL directory

Address the issue demonstrated by JasHud in https://www.veed.io/view/ad2b464a-af68-43c3-96eb-8802f0ad396d

where the SBBSCTRL environment variable was not set before the upgrade.

This does mean that the "ctrl" directory must be a subdirectory of the installation target directory (e.g. "c:\synchronet\ctrl") but there's other places in this script (e.g. the text.dat target location) that make this same assumption: so any really edgy sysops that don't have their sbbs directories with a common parent will need to deal.

The ultimate fix would be to prompt the sysop for the location to the ctrl directory instead (not the parent), defaulting to the SBBSCTRL environment variable and then discover all the other directories (exec, text, etc.) by reading ctrl/*.ini files. I'm not doing that today.
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Re: install/upgrade.iss
By: Rob Swindell (on Windows 11) to Git commit to main/sbbs/mas

location) that make this same assumption: so any really edgy sysops
that don't have their sbbs directories with a common parent will need
to deal.

if that's a jab at me, i have my bbses installed in sbbs\

The ultimate fix would be to prompt the sysop for the location to the ctrl directory instead (not the parent), defaulting to the SBBSCTRL environment variable and then discover all the other directories (exec, text, etc.) by reading ctrl/*.ini files. I'm not doing that today.

just have it use what the user inputs during the install
it asks for the synchronet path, the scripts should use it.


--
"Before using Wildcat....This Company did not have a convenient way of
looking after some of the richest clients in the world...Now we do!"


President of BBS Sysop's Union +++ https://bbses.info/union

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Re: install/upgrade.iss
By: MRO to Rob Swindell (on Windows on Sun Apr 26 2026 10:52 pm

Re: install/upgrade.iss
By: Rob Swindell (on Windows 11) to Git commit to main/sbbs/mas

location) that make this same assumption: so any really edgy sysops
that don't have their sbbs directories with a common parent will need
to deal.

if that's a jab at me, i have my bbses installed in sbbs\

Firstly, it wasn't a jab at anyone. It was refering to the fact that the "ctrl" directory doesn't *have* to be a child of a common parent Synchronet/SBBS directory. You could in theory have a Synchronet install like this (with no "common parent"):
c:\somepath\ctrl
c:\otherpath\data
c:\diffpath\text
d:\node1
e:\node2

etc.

That's what I was referring to. And that's not going to work with the upgrade-installer *unless* the SBBSCTRL environment variable is set first, which happens automatically if Synchronet is installed.

The ultimate fix would be to prompt the sysop for the location to the ctrl directory instead (not the parent), defaulting to the SBBSCTRL environment variable and then discover all the other directories (exec, text, etc.) by reading ctrl/*.ini files. I'm not doing that today.

just have it use what the user inputs during the install
it asks for the synchronet path, the scripts should use it.

If Synchronet is installed first (in your example case, it was not), the upgrade-installer *automatically* uses that installation target directory as the common parent (e.g. "/ctrl" is appended to the installation directory). The path prompt in the upgrader is for the installation / common parent directory, *not* the control directory. You have a simplified understanding of how the Synchronet directory hierarchy works.
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digital man (rob)

Synchronet "Real Fact" #133:
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Re: install/upgrade.iss
By: Digital Man to MRO on Sun Apr 26 2026 10:22 pm

to the installation directory). The path prompt in the upgrader
is for the installation / common parent directory, *not* the control directory. You have a simplified understanding of how the Synchronet directory hierarchy works.

No, i've been running synchronet for 26 years. i dont have a simplified understanding of how it works.

I understand that it was based on running over a network and multiple bbses can run on multiple computers and share the same ctrl and data directories. that's how you got the name for it. It's devised from synchronously, correct?

One thing i didnt know is that you used the installers to set the windows environment strings (sbbsctrl, sbbsnode). I thought it created those on the
fly when it would run.

I've always set them manually

One thing you need to understand is that it's hard to follow everything
that is developed and changed, because over the years you've had whatsnew files, old documentation, wikis, word of mouth and postings on
dovenet as a means to notify people of changes.


--
"Before using Wildcat....This Company did not have a convenient way of
looking after some of the richest clients in the world...Now we do!"


President of BBS Sysop's Union +++ https://bbses.info/union
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