[Pan-users] Re: VDQ : can I double Pan?

[walt]

On Mon, 07 Aug 2006 14:23:51 -0400, Beartooth wrote:
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> So, instead of taking Charles's time from development, I'll ask you
> <grinning & ducking some more> -- or anyone else here -- can you put that
> into words of one syllable, that I can walk through? I sure would like to
> do it....

I can promise you there are as many different ways to do what you want
as there are geeks reading this thread ;o)

Here is how *I* would do it:

As root, create a one-line shellscript named 'pan-gmane' containing
this line:
PAN_HOME=$HOME/.pan-gmane  /<your-path-to-pan106>/pan

Move the shellscript to /usr/local/bin (or /usr/bin, or some location
that is in your $PATH).  Then you need to make the script executable
by doing 'chmod +x pan-gmane'.

As long as the pan-gmane script is in your $PATH you can start the
second instance of pan by typing 'pan-gmane' at a command prompt,
or (easier) by creating a new icon on your desktop which will start
the shellscript running when you click on it.

As an aside (if you are worried about modifying your machine as root)
you can do all of these things as Beartooth in your own home directory
without modifying your operating system in any way -- very safe!

You just need to create a directory named 'bin' in your home directory,
and make sure that ~/bin is in your $PATH.  Then install any funky
executables in your ~/bin directory instead of /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin.

You can also make a ~/src directory to compile any funky source code
(like pan, which might represent a security risk to your system) and
compile and install it as Beartooth instead of as root.  That's how
it's done in Real Life -- or so I'm told.  (I haven't been exposed
to RL for years, thankfully...)