Merging !Boot with Loader directory

Is it possible to merge two !Boot sequences, including adding a new file to the Loader ‘directory’?

I was just about to send someone a Boot containing AnyMode and the file in Loader to disable mode changes and then suddenly wondered if the special nature of the Loader directory would mean it wouldn’t work.

Anyone know?

It won’t work. Or rather, it didn’t work when I did it once (by accident).

You can add files to Loader, but it is probably best done as an explicit copy operation, either manually or by creating a short Obey file to put the changes into the correct places. That ought to put something inside Loader without touching Loader itself.

Is it possible to merge two !Boot sequences, including adding a new file to the Loader ‘directory’?

Yes, though the key is in preparing the update.
Consider this update structure:

• !Boot (directory)
• !Boot.Resources (directory)
• !Boot.Resources.somefile (a file)
• !Boot.Loader (directory)
• !Boot.Loader.anotherfile (a file)

Which you wish to merge with:

• !Boot (directory)
• !Boot.Resources (directory)
• !Boot.Loader (a DOS image)

If you sit on your yoga mat to acquire some image filing system zen you’ll realise why this works: DOS images have the properties of both files and directories, so when the Filer asks to copy anotherfile from the update into !Boot.Loader it’ll work just fine.