Hi, as Jeremy seems to be missing in action, could you tell me who else can modify the fdos.org/kernel page?
I just downloaded the daily builds of several FreeCOM and FreeDOS kernel packages and found several problems with the web page, you could say. 1. kernel HEAD is featuring daily builds, but actually NOTHING in the source code changed since 9 Sep 2005 (config.c disk read error detection bugfix, I assume). Latest change before that was execrh.asm, 24 Jul 2005 (probably the "push/pop some 386 specific registers like FS and GS for each device driver call because some EMM386 versions destroy those in their INIT function" patch which should probably be REMOVED again now?). Actually the contrib.txt changed 24 Dec 2005, but that is not part of the source code. My recommendation: - modify the kernel version of that one to say 2036, document that this represents the state of 9 Sep 2005, build that kernel once and - STOP the daily build process for the stable kernel and - UPLOAD the resulting zip to our sourceforge project file release page Note: - a quick look at initdisk.c tells me that this kernel should work okay on systems without floppy drive (it always assumes that you have at least 1 floppy drive, if not, you get access errors but at least this kernel is never calling the harddisk A:... in other words, it does not need the "floppyless system bugfix" which got added to the DEVEL kernel a while ago). 2. The link "command.com" in the "stable kernel" section leads to a file which is compiled for 8086 CPU but uses XMS SWAP (which never works on 8086) and which has no LOADFIX and no LOADHIGH (which you definitely want on all computers which are less than 15 years old). My recommendation: - the file is from 13 jan 2005 and very unappropriate for all normal FreeDOS users. It should be replaced by a NORMAL version of FreeCOM 0.82pl3 186+ XMS SWAP (if you want STABLE FreeCOM) or alternatively by the FreeCOM from cmdxms.HEAD,zip (which is the daily FreeCOM 0.84pre 186+ XMS SWAP compile) 3. kernel UNSTABLE is mostly 18 feb 2006, initdisk.c 3 mar 2006... The latter is the "floppyless system bugfix" which "pads" the drive list with a "2.88 MB floppy, BIOS drive number DL=0xFF, 80 tracks, DF_NOACCESS" in case no diskette drives are found. My recommendation: - modify that kernel to call itself 2037pre and document that the source code version is 3 mar 2006 or 18 feb 2006, whichever you prefer... - optionally, upload that kernel as a sourceforge freedos project file release - stop the daily builds to make clear that the kernel stabilized on 3 march 2006. As soon as there are plans to update the kernel again, it is okay to start the daily builds again. 4. FreeCOM HEAD was last changed 16 Dec 2005 (quite a few things did change in December :-)). Unfortunately, the VER command still does not show the FreeDOS kernel version STRING (special interface: int 21.33ff returns a pointer in DX:AX in FreeDOS, and FreeCOM ver.c already knows how to detect FreeDOS... :-) By the way, int 21.33fc.BL.BH lets you set the major.minor SETVERable "DOS version"... :-)). My recommendation: - optionally, improve the ver.c file as described, to let VER show the kernel version STRING in VER /R mode - document that this FreeCOM is 16 Dec 2005 (or, if VER is also updated, optionally some newer date) - put the CHANGED (changelog) file somewhere on fdos.org/kernel to let people read about the 0.82pl3 versus 0.84pre differences - stop the daily builds until FreeCOM is changed again, to make clear that people are not supposed to download FreeCOM every week just to get a modified text message without any further differences. I would like to help with any of the mentioned changes (cannot compile with Watcom at home, but I assume that some server which does the daily automated builds can help me out with that :-)) BUT to do that, I would have to get in contact with anybody who can give me the necessary fdos.org write access for that. So... whom should I ask? If Jeremy is still around, that would of course be the preferred choice, but if he is too busy to respond at all, I will really need somebody else to help. Alternatively, I can mirror the whole kernel/ directory on my own homepage and edit things there, but then we no longer have the autoindex php script and, as said, I have no working Watcom compiler around. So things would be a lot easier if somebody had 1. a bit of TIME and 2. WRITE ACCESS to fdos.org (or would be willing to give such access to me). Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks! Eric ------------------------------------------------------- Using Tomcat but need to do more? Need to support web services, security? Get stuff done quickly with pre-integrated technology to make your job easier Download IBM WebSphere Application Server v.1.0.1 based on Apache Geronimo http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=120709&bid=263057&dat=121642 _______________________________________________ Freedos-kernel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-kernel
