wine users - Jul 2009 - Is it possible to run an application with a different date?

Hi,

I need to run a Windows application within Wine, but modify the system date that
is perceived by the application.  That is, when the app queries the date, it
needs to get a different date from the actual system date.  I am guessing that
Wine is the perfect place to do that in, since it interfaces the program to the
actual system.  However, I don't know enough about the inner workings of
Wine to be sure.

I would like to know if it is possible to do in Wine and if anyone knows how to
do that.


If you are curious why I need to change the date:

there is a program called SD/FAST that is very good at a particular type of
high-accuracy dynamic simulations.  I have a bunch of code that interfaces with
it and an expired license for it.  I would gladly renew the license, but the
company went out of business a few years ago.

So far, I have been running it under windows and have been changing the system
date to run the program.  However, I want to move the code development into
Linux, because I am much more comfortable developing under it.  Changing the
system date from a build script is ugly (you need to be su, for starters, and
then there are many programs that rely on correct system date), so I was
wondering if this could be done through the Wine interface.

There is a Windows tool "RunAsDate" that claims to do just what I want
by intercepting kernel API calls.  Should I try running that tool in Wine?


Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Wine most likely just grabs and passes the system date. So changing that would
be the easiest way to do it (just as elegant as in Windows ;) ).

Hi Sibiriak!

Do you mind to inform wath I can do to run Autocad 30 days demo in Windows xp
after the 34 days ?
I have one demo (autocad 2008) that is going to expire, despite I had used no
more than 3days ...
So far, I have been running it under windows and I like to know if changing the
system date the program can run well.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

tony matt wrote:
> Hi Sibiriak!
>
> Do you mind to inform wath I can do to run Autocad 30 days demo in Windows
xp after the 34 days ?
> I have one demo (autocad 2008) that is going to expire, despite I had used
no more than 3days ...
> So far, I have been running it under windows and I like to know if changing
the system date the program can run well.
> Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
>
>   
Ask them for an extension.  Otherwise, if you are in the US, you are in
violation of the DCMA.  Autodesk is not nice about this.

James McKenzie