autorun : Java Glossary

by Roedy Green ©1996-2008 Canadian Mind Products
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The CurrCon Java Applet displays prices on this web page converted with today’s exchange rates into your local international currency, e.g. Euros, US dollars, Canadian dollars, British Pounds, Indian Rupees… CurrCon requires Java 1.1 or later, preferably 1.6.0_07. If you can’t see the prices, or if you just want to learn more about CurrCon, click here for help.

autorun

You may notice that some CDs when you insert them automatically start an install program or start running the application directly off CD. This is arranged by putting magic files on the CD.

Windows autorun.inf	Linux
Windows and JWS	Links
Apple

Windows autorun.inf

In windows, you put a small text file called autorun.inf in the root directory of the CD that looks like this:

Windows and JWS

I have used the autorun technique to install the Replicator, a JWS (Java Web Start)app, from CD. A tiny setup.exe kicker program selects and launches the appropriate *.jnlp file, each customised presuming the CD drive is a different drive letter.

Apple

When producing a cross-platform CD title, you’ll need to create a hybrid disk that has a HFS partition if you want to use the AutoStart feature. You can create a HFS/ISO 9660 hybrid disk with your Mac project on the HFS partition and your cross-platform files on the ISO 9660 partition for use by both the Mac and PC main programs. Of course, this means that you wouldn’t have any AutoStart features on the PC platform unless you implemented a PC solution (like Windows95 auto play feature) on the ISO 9660 partition. The user must have OS-X and QuickTime 2 installed.

The AutoStart feature is only available on HFS volumes because AutoStart relies on information located in block zero of a HFS disk or partition. The first two bytes in the sector of block zero should be `0' (zero) or `LK', although this realistically should be limited to just 0 since LK designates a HFS boot volume. The name of the AutoStart file is stored in the area allocated for the clipboard name. This area begins 106 bytes into the sector of block zero with the first 4 bytes at this offset containing the hex value 0x006A7068. This hex value indicates that an AutoStart file name follows. After this four byte tag, 12 bytes of space remain starting at offset 110. In these 12 bytes, the name of the AutoStart file is stored as a Pascal string giving you up to 11 characters to identify the file. The file must reside in the root directory of the HFS volume or partition.

You may designate either an application or a document as the AutoStart file. If you choose an application as the AutoStart file, it may be visible or invisible in the root directory of the volume, however, document files must be visible. Additionally, you may select an alias file as the AutoStart file, but it too must be visible in the root directory of the volume or partition. If the AutoStart file is a document or an alias to a document, QuickTime will ask the Finder to launch the document as if it had been double clicked from the Finder. If the creating application is not available, the Finder will issue its normal warnings or use Macintosh Easy Open if available.

“Gurgle” you say, “What a ridiculous amount of fuss for such a trivial result!” There are CD burning programs for the Mac that will create the hybrid partitions for you.

Makers of Macintosh Autostart CD-burning Software
Manufacturer	Price in mindprod.com CurrCon international currency Applet needs Java installed for it to display prices in any world currency.	Notes
MacImage for Windows	$60.00 USD Last revised: 2006-03-03
CDEveryWhere	$200.00 USD Last revised: 2006-03-03	Also a has a PC version to create Mac CDs.
Roxio Toast for Mac	$80.00 USD Last revised: 2006-03-03

Linux

I am not sure how this works. I think all you do in create a an executable file named autorun in the root, however I don’t think it will be invoked unless the user types autorun. Linux software distributions are usually bundled with RPM. Perhaps RPM has some autostart feature.

autorun manager
installer
Linux CD Burning tutorial
ShellRun autorun tutorial

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