[4DOS.INFO]

Sources

You need the following files:

 

 

• 4DOS 8.00 sources (2.992 KB), complete with tools. You'll only need the Mix C/WinDOS Toolchest, which is not free

• 4DOS 8.00 sources (1.708 KB), same as above, but as a much smaller WinUDA selfextracting exe file.

• 4DOSs 8.00 binaries (804 KB)

or, if you want to start from the original files:

• Original 4DOS 7.50 binaries (or from ibiblio.org)

• Original 4DOS 7.50.1 sources (or from ibiblio.org)

• 4DOS 7.50.2 Diff (or from ibiblio.org)

• 4DOS HELP sources (or from ibiblio.org)

• Original OPTION sources with minor changes

   

  These source files are under Copyright 1989-2004 by JP Software Inc. The license is covered here.

   

• RTPatch, needed to apply the following patches:

• Patches build 8.00 against 7.501 sources

• Patches build 8.00 against 7.50 binaries

   

  These patches include source code files covered by 2 different licences:

   

  1. The CPU Library Licence

  2. The Open Watcom Public Licence

  and are themselves put by Luchezar Georgiev under the Res Communes license

Build Tools

Building 4DOS.COM

 

1. You need

• Patch(1) (get PATXXXB.ZIP)

• MASM 6.11d (Run and extract BIN_WIN98_ML.EXE and BIN_WIN98_ML.ERR from BINS_DDK.CAB) or

• MASM 6.15 (Run and copy IXP000.TMP before abort)

• VC 1.5x (get VCCRT?.EXE) with library sources (for msdos.h).

2. Apply CODE.DIF against the original source code release by Rex Conn.
3. Create a DOS sub-directory. 4DOS.COM will be there if built successfully.
4. Modify MSC7.BTM to set your environment variables PATH, INCLUDE, LIB.
5. Run MKDOS.BTM. You should see one inevitable A4013 warning. Ignore it.

Before modifying the code, increment both VER_BUILD and INTVER so that the
new shell does not inherit the old one, or it will crash soon or later. OPTION
must be rebuilt to work with each build. More info here, here and here.

 

Building OPTION.EXE

 

1. You need

• Watcom C

• MASM 5.10

Mix C/WinDOS Toolchest with source code.

2. Install the binary and source versions of the Mix C/WinDOS Toolchest.
3. Apply CWIND.DIF against the source code of the library and build it.
4. Unzip the OPTION sources into a subdirectory of the 4DOS sources.
5. Edit MAKESET.BTM to set your environment variables WATCOM, TUI.
6. Type "MAKE OPTION R".
 

Building 4HELP/4MAKE/HELPCFG

 

1. You need
 

• BP7 (TP7)

• TPRO5

• BP7PATCH

• Turbofix

• EDITOOLS4.
   

2. Install BP7, EDITOOLS4 and TPRO5 and build the latter's units.

3. Apply the BP7 patch and Turbofix.

4. Update tpcmd.pas,tpdos.pas,tpedit.pas,tpinline.pas,tpmemchk.pas,tpstring.pas and tpcrt.pas and copy tpdefine.inc,tppick.in1 and tpmouse.asm from TPRO5.

5. Apply 4HELP.DIF and adjust TPC.CFG and BUILD.BTM for your environment.

6. Run BUILD.BTM.

4DOS License

The 4DOS source code licence starts as a simple, all-permissive license, formulated by Rex Conn:

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining

a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Soft-

ware"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without

limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute,

sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons

to whom the Software is furnished to do so.

But it then says:

The Software, or any portion of it, may not be compiled for use on

any operating system OTHER than FreeDOS without written

permission from Rex Conn"

contrary to the above permission "to deal without restriction". When asked "what about MS-DOS, PC-DOS, DR DOS etcetera?", Rex Conn answered:

I don't have any problems with people using it on those OS's (although

I'd be surprised if there was a lot of MS-DOS or PC-DOS action left).

That license was written by the FreeDOS people – it was probably worded

that way because it's impossible to list every possible variation of the DOS OS's.

 

These contradictions should be cleared, because they prevent e.g. making 4DOS a Sourceforge project.

About Luchezar Georgiev's patches Luchezar himself says:

Note that I do not claim any "copy right" over my patches or the contents of
this web site – they are placed in "public domain" for maximal benefit
of the DOS community.

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