[Squeakland] Startup problems

[Stout J - Computing/MIS]

Curiously enough I have had exactly the same problem and solved it in a
different way.

Our users cannot run programs apart from a few trusted locations and
cannot create folders in other than, again, a few trusted locations.

I installed the software on our public drive, then setup a batch file
that copies the current image down to each user's private drive. I then
setup a shortcut which runs the program from the public drive but
specifies the image on their private drive:

Public:\Public\squeak.exe Private:\Squeak\SqueakPlug.Image

They could then run the program but got the German security warning. By
clicking on the Programmieren button we could trace the problem to
requiring a new folder in a prohibity location (C:\My
Squeak\%USERNAME%). I'm afraid we then, because I needed it in a hurry,
patched squeak.exe to change C:\Squeak\%USERNAME% to be
C:\Local\%USERNAME% (the users can write to C:\Local) and it appears to
work successfully. The only problem is that when  users save their image
they MUST put N:\Squeak\ at the beginning otherwise they will lose their
work as the image is written to C:\Local (which is cleared out on
logon).

It looks as though there will be a more elegant way to do this on the
Wiki which I'll have a look at tonight.

John Stout


-----Original Message-----
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 06 Feb 2007 21:25:26 +0000
From: Simon Guest <simon.guest at tesujimath.org>
Subject: [Squeakland] Squeak fails to run after install: security
	problems?
To: squeakland org list <squeakland at squeakland.org>
Message-ID: <ubqk7ugft.wl%simon.guest at tesujimath.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Hi,

I'm a maths teacher (and ex software engineer), and have been playing
with the developer version of Squeak for a while now, and although the
learning curve is fairly steep, I am using it successfully in school.

I see that the Squeakland release is recommended for teachers over the
squeak.org version, I guess because etoys have been made to work
nicely.  However, I am experiencing severe frustration in getting it
to run.  What is the security model?

Here's the problem.  On WinXP, I install it as administrator.  As soon
as I try to run as a normal user, it fails ("a primitive has failed",
although the error message is in German).  I think this is because I
cannot write to the image file, quite rightly, since it is owned by
the administrator, and as a normal user I could not be trusted not to
muck it up.

So I copied the image file into my own directory, and ran the
Squeakland vm on it, but it fails with the same error.  Can anyone
help?

I'm a little discouraged, as I'm wondering how I will persuade much
less technically oriented colleagues in school that Squeak is useful
for teaching if the installation is a black art.  I am sure my mode of
use must be the most common among school users of Squeak.  Could it
not be supported by the default install?

cheers,
Simon



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