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SysToolsLib C tools

This folder contains the sources for rebuilding the SysToolsLib C tools.

It contains the following subfolders:

Folder Content
BiosLib Routines for writing C programs running in the legacy BIOS.
LoDosLib Routines for writing MS-DOS drivers and TSRs.
MsvcLibX Microsoft Visual C++ runtime library extensions
PModeLib Routines for managing the x86 processors protected mode.
SysLib Cross-OS system management library
SRC Sources of the SysToolsLib C tools

For detailed information about each component, refer to the README.md file in each folder.

For a list of all available tools, see Catalog.md.

Quick Guide for rebuilding everything in Windows

  1. Install Microsoft Visual C++ if you don't have it already.
    If needed, it's part of the free Visual Studio Community Edition, available from this URL:
    https://www.visualstudio.com/downloads/
    Important: While installing Visual Studio Community Edition, make sure to select the following optional components:

    • The workload "Desktop Development with C++"
    • Options "C++/CLI support" and "Standard Library modules" (In the list at the right of the installation wizard)

  2. Optional. Install the other compilers and SDKs for DOS and Windows that some tools depend on. See details further down.
    Note: All tools will build correctly without these optional compilers and SDKs, with just some features missing.

  3. Download the latest SysTools-src.zip source archive, and extract its contents into a new work %WORKDIR% directory.

    Alternative: Get the latest sources from GitHub:

    git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/JFLarvoire/SysToolsLib

  4. Rebuild everything

    cd %WORKDIR%
configure
make

Notes:

  • The configure.bat script needs to be run only once, the first time a build is done.
  • Before running make.bat, verify in the configure.bat output that it correctly detected the location of your C compiler (CC) and Windows Software Development Kit (WINSDK).
  • The first time configure.bat runs, it creates proxy configure.bat and make.bat scripts as needed in %WORKDIR% and all C source subdirectories.
    So later on, it's possible to run configure or make in any of these directories without specifying a path.
  • configure.bat must only be run again if other versions of the build tools (C compiler, etc) are installed, including the optional ones listed below, or if some of the build tools or libraries have been moved to another directory.

Individual components can be built separately if desired

If you have a C compiler for DOS:

  1. Rebuild the BiosLib library.

    cd %WORKDIR%\C\BiosLib
make

  2. Rebuild the loDosLib library.

    cd %WORKDIR%\C\loDosLib
make

  3. Rebuild the PModeLib library.

    cd %WORKDIR%\C\PModeLib
make

In all cases:

  1. Rebuild the MsvcLibX library.

    cd %WORKDIR%\C\MsvcLibX\src
make

  2. Rebuild the SysLib library.

    cd %WORKDIR%\C\SysLib
make

  3. Rebuild all C tools.

    cd %WORKDIR%\C\SRC
make

    Or rebuild one particular tool.

    cd %WORKDIR%\C\SRC
make dirc.exe

Quick guide for rebuilding everything in Unix (Ex: Linux, MacOS, FreeBSD)

  1. Download the latest SysTools-src.zip source archive, and extract its contents into a new $WORKDIR directory.

    Alternative:

    Clone the project from GitHub

    git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/JFLarvoire/SysToolsLib

  2. Rebuild everything.

    cd $WORKDIR
make

    Note: The makefiles use GNU Make extensions. So on systems like FreeBSD, which do not have GNU Make installed as the default make, use gmake instead of make.

    Note: There's no ./configure file.

  3. Install all Unix scripts and the C programs built above.

    sudo make install

    If you're on the cautious side, you can first dry-run the installation using sudo make -n install. Individual scripts and programs can also be installed separately by running sudo ./install PROGNAME.

Individual components can be built separately if desired

  1. Rebuild the SysLib library.

    cd $WORKDIR/C/SysLib
make

  2. Rebuild all C tools.

    cd $WORKDIR/C/SRC
make

    Or rebuild one particular tool.

    cd $WORKDIR/C/SRC
make dirc

Note: The other components (BiosLib/LoDos/Lib/PModeLib/MsvcLibX) are for DOS or Windows only.

Optional compilers and SDKs for DOS and Windows

After installing any of these tools, run configure.bat in the base %WORKDIR%.
This will update the config.HOSTNAME.bat file in each library directory.
Subsequent builds with make.bat will automatically use the new tools and SDKs, and build the programs that depend on them.

  • If you're interested in building Windows 95/98 tools, install Microsoft Visual Studio 2005.
    It is still available for MSDN subscribers in 2017. It can be installed in parallel with more recent versions of Visual Studio.
    Then make sure to upgrade it with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 SP1, and Visual Studio 2005 SP1 update for Windows Vista.

  • If you're interested in building BIOS and MS-DOS tools, install Microsoft Visual C++ 1.52c.
    It is still available for MSDN subscribers in 2017, as part of the Visual Studio 2005 DVD image, but not installed by default. Gotcha: The VC++ 1.52 compiler is a WIN32 program that runs in all 32 and 64-bits versions of Windows. But unfortunately the VC++ 1.52 setup.exe program is a WIN16 program, which only runs on old 32-bits versions of Windows. This requires doing extra steps for successfully installing the compiler in modern 64-bits versions of Windows:

    • Install a 32-bits VM running Windows XP, that can run WIN16 programs out-of-the-box. (This has to be an x86 VM, not an amd64 VM with XP/64)
      Note: Newer 32-bits x86 versions of Windows can still run WIN16 programs, but this may require some tinkering. If needed, look for instructions on the Internet.
    • Give that VM access to the host's file system.
    • Run the VC++ 1.52 setup in the VM, and install it in the VM's C:\MSVC. (Necessary so that the setup builds vcvars.bat correctly.)
    • Once this is done, copy the VM's C:\MSVC to the host's C:\MSVC. (vcvars.bat will thus refer to the host's C drive.)

  • The UUID and GPT management tools depend on the gnu-efi sources.
    Install the include files from the gnu-efi library into "%MY_LIBS_DIR%\gnu-efi\inc", and optionally patch them as explained in the SysLib/README.md file. (The patching is necessary only for 16-bits programs support.) (It's not necessary to install the rest of the gnu-efi sources, nor to build the gnu-efi library.)

  • The Win95 version of some tools requires the Windows 98 DDK. See explanations in the SysLib/README.md file.
    (Only necessary to rebuild support for Windows 95/98 block device I/O, etc.)

  • The DOS version of some tools requires the LAN Manager 2.1 Programmer's ToolKit.
    See explanations in the SysLib/README.md file. (Only necessary to rebuild support for NetBIOS and MAC address for DOS programs.)

  • The tools can be built for ARM and ARM64. This has been verified to work with Visual Studio 2019.
    But only very limited tests of the executables have been done, for the ARM versions on a Raspberry Pi 2 running Windows 10 IoT. To build for these targets, run for example:

    cd %WORKDIR%
configure
:# Assuming that configure found both the ARM and ARM64 compilers
make "OS=ARM ARM64"

Getting updates from GitHub

If the project was cloned from GitHub, the following commands can be used to get updates from GitHub master branch:

  git pull

  git submodule update --remote

Procedure for generating a new release

  • Edit C/Include/stversion.h, and update the release date.

  • Edit NEWS.md, and add comments about the release.

  • Then run:

    cd %WORKDIR%
make distclean
configure
make "OS=all"
make release
make source-release

  • Test it in various Windows systems.

  • Also test building it and installing it in various Linux, MacOS, etc, Unix systems.

  • If everything is satisfactory, push the C/Include/stversion and NEWS.md files;

  • Then create the release on GitHub.