Experiment: Moving the OS/2 Directory Structure

Warning: This is an experiment. OS/2 and eComStation may became unstable.

This experiment is for the people that will like to move some directories that are installed by default on the root drive.

OS/2 and eComStation has the following directories installed on the root:


 * DMISL (IBM OS/2 DMTF Service Layer‎) - Success
 * IBMCOM - Failure
 * IBMGSK (IBMGSK‎) - Success
 * IBMGSK40 - Success
 * IBMGSK50 - Success
 * IBMLAN - Success
 * LANGUAGE (Language Directory‎)  - Failure
 * MMOS2
 * MPTN
 * MUGLIB
 * PSFONTS
 * TCPIP

So let's see what happens:

IBMGSK
IBMGSK is a set of libraries for RSA encription for some programs. It is hard to know if it is ok to move them since (as far as I know) they are only usefull for some programns like IBM Personal Communicator, IBM HTTP Server and maybe IBM DB2 on OS/2.

So moving it for example to \OS2\SYSTEM does not gives problem in this experiment.

Config.sys Changes:
 * LIBPATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMGSK50\LIB;C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMGSK40\LIB;C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMGSK\LIB;
 * PATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMGSK50\BIN;C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMGSK40\BIN;C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMGSK\BIN;
 * SET IKEYMAN40_HOME=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMGSK40
 * SET IKEYMAN50_HOME=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMGSK50
 * SET IKEYMAN_HOME=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMGSK

Testing:

I have not tested if this component is working fine. It surely does not break OS/2 by moving it, but I can not be sure of the software that uses this libraries works.

DMISL
This directory which seems to be the IBM OS/2 DMTF Service Layer‎ and used by the "Problem Determination Tools", looks that there is not problematic to move. But I'm not a "Problem Determination Tools" expert.

It seems that C:\OS2\DMISL.EXE that keep running in the background is locking the "SLDB.DMI" file, so you can not move this one. And if you kill the DMISL.EXE process, it will load again.

The SLDB.DMI file can not be moved, but it will get created automatically on the next boot according the DMIPATH path location (config.sys). So on the next removed you can erase the almost empty C:\DMISL folder.

So moving it for example to \OS2\SYSTEM does not gives problem in this experiment.

Config.sys Changes:
 * SET DMIPATH=C:OS2\SYSTEM\DMISL\BIN

Testing:

I don't use the OS/2's "Problem Determination Tools", so I'm not sure about if it is working 100%. The SLDB.DMI got automatically created in the new location after loading.

LANGUAGE
The Language Directory‎ is required for UNICODE.SYS to work right, and UNICODE.SYS is required for JFS.IFS. The config.sys statement is by default "SET ULSPATH=C:\LANGUAGE"

This directory is giving me some errors if I move it.

When "UNICODE.SYS" loads in the boot procedure it gives some errors that can not found the files if you move them.

IBMLAN
This is part of the IBM LAN Server, which is the thing that helps you connect to other OS/2 servers and clients to share files and services.

You can not move the IBMLAN folder if the following services are running:
 * PEER.EXE

Config.sys Changes
 * DEVICE=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMLAN\NETPROG\RDRHELP.200
 * IFS=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMLAN\NETPROG\NETWKSTA.200 /I:C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMLAN /N
 * DEVICE=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMLAN\NETPROG\VNETAPI.OS2
 * LIBPATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMLAN\NETLIB;
 * PATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMLAN\NETPROG;
 * DPATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMLAN\NETPROG;C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMLAN;
 * HELP=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMLAN\NETPROG;
 * BOOKSHELF=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMLAN\NETPROG;
 * SET NWDBPATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMLAN\NETPROG
 * SET DLSINI=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMLAN\NETPROG\NETGUI.INI
 * RUN=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMLAN\NETPROG\LSDAEMON.EXE
 * RUN=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMLAN\NETPROG\VNRMINIT.EXE

Startup

On the startup procedure on OS/2 it runs with the paramenter "START PEER".
 * C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMLAN\NETPROG\NETSTCMD.CMD

WPS

It is a good thing that the OS/2-eCS Desktop is intelligent and point the icons on the desktop to right places.



Testing

Sadly, I'm no expert on this component, and I don't have several OS/2 machines sharing files with this functionality.

I made some basic "NET USE" commands, logged in without problems to the local machine.

NET START also worked: [C:\]net start Checking IP configuration ... These services are started: REQUESTER               MESSENGER                PEER The command completed successfully.

IBMCOM
The IBMCOM directory is very important since it has all the network adapters device drivers, protocols device drivers (like Netbios, TCPIP) and the software to install them and configure them on the system.

I got some problems to move the folder while OS/2 was running. I copied the content to \OS2\SYSTEM\ and changed the Config.sys. The OS/2 and network services runned fine, but I broke the GUI application.

Config.sys Changes
 * DEVICE=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMCOM\PROTOCOL\LANPDD.OS2
 * DEVICE=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMCOM\PROTOCOL\LANVDD.OS2
 * DEVICE=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMCOM\LANMSGDD.OS2 /I:C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMCOM /S
 * DEVICE=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMCOM\PROTMAN.OS2 /I:C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMCOM
 * DEVICE=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMCOM\PROTOCOL\TCPBEUI.OS2
 * DEVICE=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMCOM\PROTOCOL\NETBIOS.OS2
 * DEVICE=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMCOM\MACS\PCNTND.OS2
 * LIBPATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMCOM\DLL;
 * PATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMCOM;
 * DPATH=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMCOM;C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMCOM\MACS;
 * CALL=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMCOM\PROTOCOL\NETBIND.EXE
 * RUN=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMCOM\LANMSGEX.EXE
 * RUN=C:\OS2\SYSTEM\IBMCOM\PROTOCOL\NBTCP.EXE

Testing The MAC and protocols runs fine with Config.sys, but the GUI tools got broken.