A new command interpreter for FreeDOS. Code will contain usable utilities
borrowed from Unix and maintain (basic) compatibility with
MSDOS 6.22 command.com, while (sometimes) improving.
The program compiles also as a native Linux executable
.. and Windows as well
.. and Apple silicon as well
Yes this code compiles on DOS 8086 16bit, Windows 8086 32bit and Linux amd64 and OSX64/ARM!. I see no reasons why should it fail to compile on other platforms/OS.
- Only DOS commands are supported. Unix commands might follow.
- Code compiles using clang/GCC (Windows+Linux+OSX), TCC (DOS), OpenWatcom2/snapshot (DOS).
- Github actions compiles all the code for Linux, Windows, MSDOS and OSX, the workflow also runs the test on all platforms. (tests do not run on MSDOS yet).
- Currently, code uses LibC's functions - so it is limited to standard C code support for localization.
- All commands support multiple arguments (like Unix shells), unlike DOS
which you cannot do
del /r file1.txt *.bat /f, and arguments can come even after file names (not only at the beginning of the command). - Some commands share the same code (
copy+move,date+time) - Interactive shell is being worked on. I want to have 4DOS command
completion, or bash/zsh. - Contains a bash shell script to generate the development environment for DOS+DosBOX.
See also:
- Command (main interactive shell) does not support batch files. See https://github.com/elcuco/fdbox/tree/batch-files-support branch.
- Command does not support redirection
- Command does not support "|"
TurboCdoes need a proper makefile.- Make OW build a Windows binary (as well)
- OW build is done by using gnu-make and not ow-make
- Setup CI/CD to compile a DJGPP cross compilation
- Setup CI/CD to run dosemu in console mode, and compile using TC
- Setup CI/CD to run dosemu in console mode, and run tests
- History is not saved/read.
- I had this
configuresystem which would create the sources for commands and auto generate theapplets.cfile. Not against the idea. - There are commands that are available on Unix and DOS, but differ in syntax unsure how to handle.
- MSDOS: Using XMS swapping would be good, using SPWNO would be epic (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/%7Eralf/files.html)
- Platform specific APIs (
&on Windows/Linux to run a program in background for example). - On Linux we can print escape sequences to make files on
dirbe clickable. - see also implementation tables bellow
| command | status | remark |
|---|---|---|
beep |
done | needs to be tested on DOS/Windows, on unix it just beeps |
call |
not yet | |
cd |
done | |
cls |
done | |
copy |
WIP | All copies are binaries. By design. Recursive copy not implemented yet Copy globs, and several files - not implemented yet Append files (copy file1+file2 file3) not implemented yet |
command |
WIP | See bellow |
date/time |
WIP | Missing AM/PM support Not supported on windows (only DOS/Linux) |
del |
done | Prompt might need more testing |
dir |
WIP | /o? order is funky. /p - pausing is not implemented Missing disk usage |
echo |
done | |
if |
done | |
for |
not yet | |
md/mkdir |
done | |
move/rename/ren |
done | All these command are aliases, hardcoded |
prompt |
done | internal library issues |
rem |
done | |
set |
done | |
type |
done | Bonus: support also line numbers printing |
type |
done | As a bonus, can also print line numbers |
ver |
done |
Major project worked on is interactive shell. The main task right now is the internal readline code (history, editor etc).
| Key | status | remark |
|---|---|---|
| Left/right/home/end | done | |
| Up/Down: history | WIP | fails randomly |
| Backspace | done | |
| Del | not yet | |
| control+a : HOME | done | |
| control+b : word left | not yet | |
| control+c : cancel | WIP | de facto - clear line, fails on Posix |
| control+d : EOF | done | |
| control+e : END | done | |
| control+f : word right | not yet | |
| control+l : cls | done | |
| TAB | not yet | |
| insert/override | done | Cursor shape not supported on OXS |
| esc | ???? | Fix breaks on Linux/OSX ? |
| insert | done | Toggle insert/override mode |
| control+arrows | not yet | move to next/prev word |
- Linux: Clang/GCC - this is the main development environment. Supported.
- Windows10: MinGW/TCM (9,10) - this is the main development environment. Supported.
- DOS: TC 2.02 - this is the main development environment. Supported.
BUG:
glob()functionality tends to allocate too much >memory, and the code is faulty, not reporting this to the app. Results in garbage in the screen whendiron a directory with lots of files (~80 on my tests, but it depends on memory available). - DOS/OpenWatcom (WIP): we have a CI building it. The generated binary crashes on startup.
- OSX: Works (similar code path as Linux)
- DOS: DJGPP - I am having problems in runtime. Seems like
tolower()is breaking my code. Might be a compiler bug. Interactive shell segfaults. - DOS: PacificC - It's not a high priority, but we have a working branch called
pacific-c-supportwhich contains the work needed to make this project compile with that compiler.
Because.
I started this project at 2001, and only recently re-started it from scratch. The idea came after I saw Minibox, and though (as every programmer does...) "this is wrong, this is not the way to do this, I will do it better". I am unsure if I am doing it better, but this is the best way to thank Ercan Ersoy - you give me a push to restart this project: thank you.
My old project: http://dgi_il.tripod.com/fds/index.html
Minibox: https://github.com/ercanersoy/Minibox
Ideas and inspiration do come from busybox (the applet concept for example). However - this project does not share any code, and cannot be considered a derived work (please don't copy code from Busybox here, as I might re-license code, and want new implementations for those old ideas).
I created a Linux shell script which will populate a "C:" drive for development.
Just execute it, and it will download all the compilers, and create an AUTOEXEC.BAT.
Do this inside the etc directory.
Then in DosBox config, edited the start-up files (usually at the end) to this:
mount c /home/diego/fdbox/etc/dosbox
mount d /home/diego/fdbox/
C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT
d:
Then, each time I start dosbox, I have in the path all the compilers I need, and
I am redirected to the full code of the program in drive D:. The project contains
a TurboC project file - so typing tc will bring up the IDE with the project ready
to hack.
Similar setup can be done from the GUI of DOSBOX-X, it just needs more clicks.
Linux's requirements (on Ubuntu I found that I need p7zip-full instead of 7z:
apt install 7z wget dosbox
OSX requirements:
brew install p7zip wget dosbox
Windows:
- Download 7zip, the script will only look in default location
- You can run this script from Github's bash (use official git for windows install)
TODO: If you save a file under DOS, DosBox will rename it to capital letters. I am unsure how to automatically do this.
GPL V3. See file license.txt