Type=sp_exe, Type=sp_conf, and Type= <blank> in alephcom.ini **MASTER RECORD**

Question

The GUI Distribution outlined in Appendix A of the service pack installation instructions says that

• if you use Type=sp_exe in the \Alephcom\tab\alephcom.ini [VersionControl] on the PC and Version Check is run, then files will be taken from the server under directory $aleph_dev/aleph/pc_exe/sp_exe/ and
• if you use Type=sp_conf in .\alephcom.ini [VersionControl] and Version Check is run, then files will be taken from the server under directory $aleph_dev/aleph/pc_exe/sp_conf/.

For this service pack installation (from 1117 to 1411), which entry for Type would you recommend that we use?

Answer

The short answer: Use sp_exe. This means that the new executables will be downloaded, which accounts for probably 95% of the new resources for the GUI applications. But other resources (usually ini and dat files) won’t be automatically transferred.

The reason that ALEPH treats these two sets of resources separately is that ini and dat usually need to be customized for local settings and local practice.

Bottom line: use sp_exe to transfer the executables, but you will also need to monitor the contents of the service pack to see if there are changes to the sp_conf type files that may need to be made on the local workstations.

OR you can leave the alephcom.ini [VersionControl] "Type= " blank. In this case, Version Check will look in the $aleph_root/pc_exe/version/ directory for changed files. This could include *all* of the following: .exe, .ini, .dat, etc. files. This method requires that you copy the files from both $aleph_root/pc_exe/sp_exe/.../bin/ to $aleph_root/pc_exe/version/.../bin and appropriate files from $aleph_root/pc_exe/sp_conf/.../tab to $aleph_root/version/.../tab .

Note:  in higher versions (such as Aleph 22 and 23) there are extremely few changes being made to the configuration files.  We suggest setting Type=sp_exe, since that's the simplest.

• Article last edited: 10/8/2013