So you've decided to try and edit this thing :-)

I'm doing this document in Q and A form, just for heck the of it.

Q: What the hell kinda language is this programme in.
A: In Lisp, Allegro's Common Lisp, version 6.0. Google's pretty good at finding information.

Q: How do I start reading the code?
A: You'll need Acl 6.0 to edit this thing, it comes with an gui editor and everything.

Q: So where do I get Acl 6.0?
A: go to ftp://ftp.franz.com/pub/ and get acl60trail for windows, and install

Q: I've installed this thing, so what's next?
A: get the devel.lic file from the ConsoleSpawn folder and drop it in your acl60 folder where you installed Acl 6.0. Acl 6.0 won't work without it.

Q: Hmm, do continue.
A: That's not a question. :-) Once you've gotten acl60 working, open the project and the project manager. You'll notice a lot of files. Most of those are to get the zip-library working. What you'll need to concentrate on are the forms at the bottom of the list, which make up the actual programme.

Q: Ok, I've just created the greatest programme of all time, how do I go about distributing this to the huddled masses.
A: Well that's kinda tricky :-). First you need to generate your exe file. Great, you've got an exe, but the problem is it won't work on anybody else's computer. To get it to work follow these easy steps:

1. copy your acli60lt.dll, your *.dxl and your *.exe file from your project directory to a directory of your choosing. I'll refer to this directory as your distro directory.
2. copy the devel.lic and consolespawn.pll from the ConsoleSpawn folder to your distro folder
3. rename consolespawn.pll to something that makes sense for your distro.
4. this one's tricky, you'll need a hex editor for this, I recommend XVI32 (http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm)
5. open your *.dxl file in XVI32, "find" the string "allegro-ansi.pll" until you reach a string giving a full path to allegro-ansi.pll in your acl60 installation folder. OVERWRITE(!) this string with the name of the pll file you created in step 3 (in the right pane of XVI32). Make sure you OVERWRITE the *path* with the *name* of your file. You're in fact replacing the absolute path of allegro-ansi.pll with the relative path of your pll file. When you've done the overwrite, use the left pane of XVI32 and type 00's to blank out the remainder of the path string. Now look for "allegro-ansi.pll" again and perform the same actions.
6. save your file.
7. done. :-)

Q: I've just found a bug in my application, do I need to repeat that entire process for a new build?
A: No, just get the new *.dxl file from your project folder and repeat step 5.

Q: How do I change the icon of my tool?
A: You'll need some third party software, I recommend reshacker (http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/) to replace the acl icon with an icon of your choosing.