# The MIT License (MIT) # # Copyright (C) 2026 Scott Duensing # # Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy # of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to # deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the # rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or # sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is # furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: # # The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in # all copies or substantial portions of the Software. # # THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR # IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, # FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE # AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER # LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING # FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS # IN THE SOFTWARE. # Software help. Compiled to software.hlp next to software.app; F1 and # Help > Contents in the Software window open it. .topic software.overview .title Software .toc 0 Software .default .index Software .index Add-ons .index Packages .index Installing software .h1 Software Software adds programs and other things to DVX, shows what has been added, and takes it away again. Each thing you add comes as a package: one file whose name ends in .DPK. A package can hold a program, a library or widget that other programs use, fonts, sounds, themes, desktop pictures, or MIDI instruments. Packages come from a file, or from the package server over the network, which also keeps DVX itself up to date. Software has four pages: Installed (what is in DVX), Available (what the package server offers), Updates (what the package server has that is newer than what you have), and Published (the packages you have sent to the package server, and how their reviews went). .link software.install Installing a package .link software.available Packages from the package server .link software.updates Keeping DVX up to date .link software.server Choosing the package server .link software.publish Publishing a package .link software.remove Removing a package .link software.details Details of a package .link software.trust Who made a package .link software.trouble When an add-on stops DVX from starting .h2 The Installed List The Installed list shows every package in DVX, DVX itself included. Each row has the package's name, version, kind, a short description, and its package name (such as acme.chess), which tells two packages with the same name apart. Click a column's heading to sort the list by it. A bundle is a package that stands for a group of others, such as each part of DVX that Setup installed (DVX BASIC, Networking, Media, and so on). The list shows the bundle as one row; its details name the packages it holds, and removing it removes them. .topic software.install .title Installing a Package .toc 1 Installing .index Install from File .index DPK files .h1 Installing a Package Choose Install from File, then the package's .DPK file. Opening a .DPK file in File Manager does the same. Before anything is installed, Software shows what will happen: .list .item The packages that will be installed. A package often needs others; when they are in the same folder as the one you chose, they are installed with it. .item Whether each one is new, an upgrade of a version you have, or the same version again (which repairs it). .item Who signed each one (see Who Made a Package). A package nobody you trust signed is marked, and you should install it only if you trust where it came from. .item How much disk space it takes. .endlist Choose Install to go ahead, or Cancel. While it installs, Cancel stops it after the package it is working on; a package that was only partly unpacked is left out completely. New programs appear in Program Manager's Installed Programs. New fonts, sounds, themes, desktop pictures, and MIDI instruments appear in the lists where you choose them. New libraries and widgets work from the next time DVX starts. .h2 When a Package Cannot Be Installed Software tells you why, for example: .list .item It needs another package that is not installed and not in the same folder. .item It was made for a newer DVX, or for a different version of DVX. .item A newer version of it is already installed. .item It is an update signed by someone other than whoever signed the version you have. .item It would replace a file that belongs to another package. .endlist .topic software.remove .title Removing a Package .toc 1 Removing .index Remove .index Uninstall .h1 Removing a Package Choose the package in the list, then Remove. If other packages need it, Software names them: they are removed with it, or nothing is removed. Packages that were installed only because the removed ones needed them are offered for removal too, such as the programs and libraries of a part of DVX when you remove the part. Setup puts a part back (run it again and choose Upgrade or repair DVX). Files you changed after the package was installed (a data file you edited, say) are left in place, and Software asks whether to delete them as well. Folders the package made are removed when they end up empty. DVX itself is removed with Setup, not here. .topic software.details .title Details of a Package .toc 1 Details .index Details .index Package details .h1 Details of a Package Choose a package and then Details (or double-click it) to see its name, version, kind, publisher, author, licence, web site, who signed it, which packages it needs and which need it, and every file it put in DVX. For a package on the Available or Updates page, Details shows what the package server says about it: its name, version, kind, publisher, what it needs, and its size. Who signed it and its files are known once it is fetched, and are checked before anything is installed. .topic software.available .title Packages from the Package Server .toc 1 The Package Server .index Available .index Package server .index Download .h1 Packages from the Package Server The package server needs the Networking part of DVX. Without it, the Available, Updates, and Published pages say so and their buttons are off; Software still installs packages from files. To add Networking, run Setup again and choose Upgrade or repair DVX. The Available page lists every package the package server offers: its name, version, kind, a short description, and the version you have, if any. The list is read from the server the first time you open the page; Refresh reads it again. Type in the Find box to show only the packages whose name or description has those words. Choose a package and Install. Software fetches it from the server with any packages it needs that you do not have, then shows what will be installed and installs it exactly as for a file (see Installing a Package). A fetch that is stopped, or cut off by the network, goes on from where it stopped the next time. Every package is checked when it arrives: it must be exactly what the package server listed, and DVX checks who signed it as it does for any package. Nothing the network changes on the way is installed. .topic software.updates .title Keeping DVX Up to Date .toc 1 Updates .index Updates .index Update All .index Updating DVX .h1 Keeping DVX Up to Date The Updates page asks the package server what it has that is newer than the packages you have, DVX itself included (it is listed first). Check for Updates asks again. Update All fetches and installs everything listed, as Install does on the Available page. When DVX itself is updated, the new version runs from the next time DVX starts. If some add-ons you have were made for an older DVX and will stop working with the new one, Software names them before anything is installed; update them too, or keep the DVX you have. .topic software.server .title Choosing the Package Server .toc 1 The Package Server's Address .index Package Server .index Server address .h1 Choosing the Package Server Software uses DVX's own package server unless you choose another. Choose File > Package Server and type the server's address (its name, such as packages.example.com) and its port; leave both empty to go back to DVX's own. The Available, Updates, and Published pages are read again from the new server. The same window holds your account on the server, if you have one: the email you registered with and its password. You need it only to publish packages (see Publishing a Package); getting and updating packages needs no account. The password is kept scrambled in DVX's settings file, so it cannot be read at a glance. Scrambled is not locked: someone who copies the file and knows how DVX scrambles it can still read the password, so give it only on a computer you trust. DVX needs a working network connection to reach the package server (see the network settings in the settings program). .topic software.publish .title Publishing a Package .toc 1 Publishing .index Publish .index Published .index Upload .h1 Publishing a Package A package you made (with Package Builder, the DVX BASIC IDE's File > Make Package, or the SDK) can be offered to everyone through the package server. You need an account there: register on the server's web site, open the link it mails you, then give the email and password in File > Package Server. Choose File > Publish a Package (or the Publish a Package button on the Published page) and the package's file. Software sends it to the package server, which checks it as DVX would before installing it and holds it for review. Once the server's operator approves it, it is listed on everyone's Available page, and those who have an older version are offered it on their Updates page. The Published page lists every version you have sent and its review: waiting for review, published, turned down (with the reviewer's note saying why), or withdrawn from the catalogue. Refresh asks the server again. A package's name belongs to the account that first published it, so later versions must come from the same account, with a higher version number each time. .topic software.trust .title Who Made a Package .toc 1 Who Made a Package .index Signed packages .index Trust .index Publisher keys .h1 Who Made a Package A publisher can sign a package with a key, a little like a seal on a letter: if the package was changed after it was signed, the seal no longer fits. DVX trusts packages signed by DVX's own key, and by the keys of publishers you choose to trust. To trust a publisher, get their key file (it ends in .KEY) from them, then choose File > Trust a Publisher's Key. Packages they sign are marked as trusted from then on. Packages whose names start with kpunch. are part of DVX and must be signed by DVX's own key. An update of a package must be signed by whoever signed the version you have (or by DVX's key), so nobody else can replace it. .topic software.trouble .title When an Add-on Stops DVX from Starting .toc 1 Starting Safely .index Safe start .index /SAFE .h1 When an Add-on Stops DVX from Starting If DVX cannot load an add-on library or widget, it starts without it and tells you which one was left out and why, once the desktop is up. If DVX does not start at all after you installed something, hold down a Shift key while DVX starts (or type DVX /SAFE). DVX then starts without any add-on libraries or widgets, so you can remove the one that causes the trouble with Software.