news:3E360638.215AE3F7@computermuseum.fh-kiel.de...
Hi John,

>... POV might be considered fun... ?

I'm a masochist

>Show your sysadmins a POV *scene* file with formulas,arrays, macros,
>if etc., tell them is's a programming language (which is true!)
>requiring hard work (also true), and they will permit installation!

You obviously haven't met our sysadmins! Their lack of comprehension of what
is required to keep users happy is exceeded only by their lack of ability in
keeping a large system stable.(We were effectively off-line all day
yesterday, hence no post from me)

I've finally figured out what's going wrong with Brett.inc on my machine!
It's either a minor pov bug or just that the docs need rewriting to make
things clearer.

1. Normally I run pov so:
povray +w800 +h600 +a0.2 +am2 ...... FileName.pov
... and of course it works. Fine, no problem. This is exactly what it says
in the docs.
2. Following the above logic, I run Brett.inc so:
povray +sp8 +ep8 +w512 +h384 -a -f +d Declare=BrettDebug=0 Declare=Typ=0
+kff13 Declare=Show=167 Brett.inc
Nothing happens apart from the initial pov words and copyright stuff. Weird!
3.Put all the bits and pieces from +sp8 to Declare=........167 into an .ini
file named Brett.ini and run so:
povray Brett Brett.inc
Nothing happens except....etc!
4. Put everything into the .ini file (i.e. adding the line
Input_File_Name=Brett.inc) and Lo! and Behold! A Miracle! Let joy be
unbounded! It runs!
...and yes, Frank, it is fast. Nice programming.
So, what's the problem? According to the docs, provided you specify the full
input file name as the last item on the command line you need not prefix it
with +i (quite honestly I forgot that was what we had to do in the "old
days"). This is not entirely true - provided that the file has a .pov, .POV,
.Pov, .POv, .pOv, .pOV or .PoV suffix then it works. As soon as you change
the suffix to something else, then pov hangs without giving any error
messages at all.
Solution: for the time being, all Linux users prefix Brett.inc with +i.

John

P.S. I'm using Brett.inc for my IRTC image! When it's completely finished
I'll send you the image and info about what is used where as an e-mail.

--
Run Fast
Run Free
Run Linux

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