starter is a simple program that executes commands based on the file type and extension of the argument(s).
The main use for this program is to circumvent a limitation in BeOS: the preferred application for a given type of file can only be a binary application, not a script. By making the preferred application for a given filetype application/x-vnd.VL-starter you can get around this limitation, and the application that processes that filetype can be a script.
Note, that this limitation may disappear in future releases of BeOS, but as of release 4.5.2 it is still there.
In order to know what to do, starter looks in a configuration file, /boot/home/config/settings/starter.conf.
The entries in this file should be of the form:
<mime-type> <extension> <action> [<action2> [...]]
for example:
text/x-source-code .cpp "echo %s is cpp source" "echo %s it still is" application/postscript .ps "PSView %s"When starter is invoked with an argument, and the argument matches the mime-type and extension in an entry in this file, then the specified action(s) will be executed. If more than one argument was present, each argument will lead to a separate invocation of the action(s).
A single %s may be used in any of the action clauses. It will be replaced with the argument starter was invoked with.
To install starter, go to a shell and type
make
Then copy the executable starter from obj.x86 or obj.ppc to /home/config/bin . Furthermore, copy the sample starter.conf to /boot/home/config/settings. Edit starter.conf as needed.
Suppose you have a script called PSView, and you have the example starter.conf file above. From a shell, typing
starter foo.pswill cause the command:
PSView foo.ps
to be executed. Moreover, if the preferred application of foo.ps is set to be application/x-vnd.VL-starter, then double-clicking foo.ps from the desktop will cause PSView to be run on it.