Hi Bernd, > As Eric Auer released a "bugzilla SYS 3.3" which starts confusing as > unofficial 3.x versions already exist,
I agree that the "unstable kernel" SYS (which is also in the subversion system, but in a separate branch) should have a version number which is distinguishable from the "stable" one. > * Kernel 2036 (stable, all compilers) > * Kernel 2037 (unstable/experimental, adds NLS support for example, > making NLSFUNC/COUNTRY functional) > * Kernel 2038 (unstable/experimental, adds hotbooting with JEMMEX > for example) > * Kernel that requires 386+ > * Kernel without FAT32 support Hmmmm slow down ;-). Kernel 2036 will be replaced by 2038, it is simply the next stable version. I try to only add safe updates between 2036 and 2037, no overly complex stuff. HOWEVER, I need some expert help for that! At the moment, the FAT32 kernel and the IDLEHALT feature cause problems when you compile with Turbo C. One because of some new compression scheme which has a 64k limit and the other because of assembly language label naming. Please, I need some advice from other experts about this, could Bart, Arkady or Jeremy give me a hint? Other experts are of course welcome, too :-). > * SYS 3.2 (official FreeDOS) > * SYS 3.3 (Bugzilla, Eric Auer, cant be compiled by Openwatcom) Same as with the kernel, could an OpenWatcom expert please give me a hint how to say "farmalloc" (or fmalloc?) in a tiny memory model compiled OpenWatcom app? This is all that would be needed to compile SYS 3.3 in OpenWatcom :-). The sources are in Bugzilla: www.freedos.org/bugzilla/cgi-bin/show_bug.cgi?id=1840 > * SYS 3.x (Jeremy Davis and/or Blair Campbell, used for DRDOS, > supports opensource bootsectors for various DOS flavours except > MSDOS7.10/FAT32. This SYS is actually on the FREEDOS\SETUP\BIN > section of FreeDOS 1.0 but not in packages or installed FreeDOS. > I think this SYS got turned into an abandoned project though it has > much potential in combination with Metakern to make 'simple' dualboots I tnink this SYS series should be called SYS 4.x and should indeed be packaged with the unstable kernel :-). > * Freecom 0.82patchlevel 2 by Steffen Kaiser > * Freecom 0.83patchlevel 3 by Steffen kaiser (some regression bugs, > some improvements) Sorry, but I always use PL3, not PL2... Which regression bugs? > * Freecom 0.84 by Blair Campbell and possibly Jeremy Davis (Freedos 1.0) This is the "stable" version in subversion, so we should make a SourceForge file release of it...! Alas it is not so stable yet, see bugzilla. In particular it would be VERY nice to find and fix the bug which makes FreeCOM stop running non-built-in external commands! > * Freecom binaries only supporting partial amount of the command > set and/or features, like ALIAS This is something everybody should compile for himself when he needs it, simple. > * Freecom binaries only supporting disk-swapping by using a helper > program (KSSF) > * Freecom binaries only supporting XMS-swapping (or eating 75KB of low > memory) BOTH choices should be part of a file release when you compile one, but the XMS one should be "command.com" while the 8086- friendly one with disk swapping should have another name. > It would be nice to be able to have flavours located on a single > location, not all over the place. Try finding Jeremy's port of Smart > Boot Manager for Syslinux for example :). SVN would do fine, and > maybe kernel 2038 can be made standard sometime. I totally agree. Make a file release on sourceforge of freecom 0.84 and kernel 2038 and sys 3.3 as soon as the above glitches are fixed :-) The SVN already has most of those, but I did not want to upload SYS 3.3 there until OpenWatcom support is fixed. Apparently, somebody did break the Turbo C FAT32 kernel compression compatibility before me, and I did not test Turbo C IDLEHALT compatibility either after this, so it would be great to fix both as soon as possible. Then we will have file releases of everything again and everything can be in the subversion system, too :-). But I NEED EXPERTS to help me with this... First some small things: - SYS OpenWatcom farmalloc - IDLEHALT Turbo C label names - SYS Turbo C versus compressed FAT32 kernels Bugs I want to be fixed before the next file release: - SUBST somehow breaks getcwd / chdir in the kernel?? - when you write a char dev, the kernel tries to read it to detect ctrl-break, which crashes ROT13DEV (I did write some suggestions about how to fix it on the list) - FreeCOM stopping to run external commands sometimes - SYS sometimes using FAT32 CHS or other boot sectors for FAT32 LBA drives, so add a command line override? Minor issues: - Maybe get_dpb is not called often enough and/or disk changes are missed for other reasons...? - Current column is stored at 1 place for all kernel char devices, which is the place where MS DOS stores some "fast: only check ctrl-c every Nth char" counter... - error message should not be "ill. partition table" when the partition chain extends beyond the BIOS-accessible range, but should be more like "DOS part stops here"... Last but not least, the big history.txt file needs some update before we can get 2038 out, any volunteers who can go through the logs on freedos.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/freedos/kernel/trunk/?view=log and check what is new in the stable branch? I hope that most 2036 stuff is already mentioned, so you would start reading at revision 1190 (5/2006) or 1302 (10/2006). Current revision is 1348. In case you have wondered, revision 1347 is in FreeCOM, bugfix in FIXSTRS for Russian. All others 1302-now are in the kernel :-). > As for the FreeDOS 1.0 distro improvements, some people are already > working on updated packages. Others might have been busy with making > better scripts, etc. I do not know about new scripts, but Fritz, Rugxulo and Bonnie have updated more or less ALL LSMs (all version numbers and URLs of everything) and much of the HTMLHELP texts (only as plain non html text yet). Please contact them if you want to do some proof reading :-). > And ofcourse the infamous floppy distributions, which on one side should > be 'copy *.* c:\freedos' and on the other side having the same full > functionality as the CD, including package selection. It's tough :) I really disagree here. The installer tool is way too complex for somebody who wants a SMALL distro. If you cannot boot from cdrom, just copy the ISO to harddisk and boot from the cdrom helper boot diskette if you want a COMPLEX distro :-). As for a basic diskette distro, Rugxulo is busy with a very nice one! The first 2 diskettes contain BASE and some open source extras, two other disks contain further documentation and extras like MPXPLAY and a bit of closed source freeware. At least 2 or 3 of those disks will make a VERY nice official diskette distro, the rest is for the fun of Rugxulo and not meant to get the official FreeDOS / ibibilio stamp on it :-). Eric PS Bernd: Could you try to get in touch with some of the old experts to find any who can help me by fixing the kernel / sys "compileability" on Turbo C and OpenWatcom? Thanks a lot! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop. Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser. 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