Compile notes:

NOTE: Use NASM version 0.98.35 or later!

When building on Windows a native (win32 or win64) version is recommended.

There is a more detailed description located here:

http://freedos.sourceforge.net/freecom/build48.html

1) Setup a compiler: TC++ v1.01 (see www.freedos.org, Links page for a

reference to Borland's museum site), TC 2.01, Borland C++, Open Watcom

(www.openwatcom.org), or ia16-elf-gcc (github.com/tkchia/gcc-ia16).

2) Configure CONFIG.MAK (see below)

3) Configure CONFIG.H (see there)

4) Run BUILD.BAT** or build.sh (cross compilation from Linux or MinGW/MSYS)

(Some newer MAKE variants may require a space between the -f option

and the makefile name. On trouble try to fix BUILD.BAT.)

** BUILD.BAT and build.sh accept to following options:

C> BUILD.BAT [-r] [clean] [no-xms-swap] [debug] [compiler] [language]

-r Rebuilt (clean previous files before proceed)

clean remove *.COM, *.OBJ, *.LIB etc. files, then exit

no-xms-swap create FreeCOM without XMS-Only Swap support

debug enable debug code in FreeCOM

compiler one of wc, tc, tcpp, bc (build.sh: wc or gcc only)

language sets the specified language as the default build language

You will find two executables in the FreeCOM directory:

SHELL\COMMAND.EXE and COMMAND.COM.

The .COM file is the stand-alone application, which includes the

strings etc, whereas COMMAND.EXE is the pure executable without the

strings table for instance.

NOTE: A message like "Fatal: command line too long" was always caused

during my tests by an invalid settings in CONFIG.MAK, esp. CC_BASE_PATH

and NASM!

CONFIG.BAT (copied from CONFIG.B)

This is the central file to tweak options and environment settings

regarding your compiler.

COMPILER

default compiler to use, if none of tc, tcpp, bc, or wc is given.

TC2_BASE

TP1_BASE

BC5_BASE

WATCOM

base paths (aka "root") for Turbo C 2.01, Turbo C++ v1.01, or Borland

C++; usually it is sufficient to modify this macro and all files

(headers and libraries) and programs (C compiler and linker) will be

found. If not, check the macros at the end of the file and/or the

usage of $(LIBPATH) within COMMAND.MAK or STRINGS.MAK respectively.

For Open Watcom, the WATCOM environment variable can be adjusted, if

it is not already set.

Update XNASM as needed, if "nasm" is not in your PATH.

CONFIG.MAK (copied from CONFIG.STD)

This is the central file to tweak other options and environment settings.

SUPPL_INC_PATH / SUPPL_LIB_PATH

To compile this version of command.com, you have to add the SUPPL library.

SUPPL_INC_PATH points to the directory with all the header files, whereas

SUPPL_LIB_PATH contains the pre-compiled library (SUPPL_S.LIB). Due to

popular demand, a variant of SUPPL is integrated into the FreeCOM release

and both settings are pre-configured so that the BUILD.BAT script will

pick up the library automatically. Note: See the SUPPL\README.TXT file,

if you wish to NOT use the integrated SUPPL variant.

Update NASMFLAGS as needed.

SHELL_MMODEL

is the memory model used to compile the shell. It should be Small (s),

unless you want to include debugging support; use Large (l) in such case.

$(CFG): $(CFG_DEPENDENCIES) ../config.mak

This rule is used to create the default option file for the compiler.

It should set the header and library search paths and the memory

model, disable floating

point arithmetics (as it is not used by FreeCOM). The default char

type should be unsigned. There are no known specific alignment

or optimization settings, configure as you wish.

===

[this step is optional, recommended to just use included mini SUPPL library]

To compile the SUPPL library as well do this:

+ download the source code from where SUPPL\README.TXT points to

+ use one of the COMPILER\* preparations -or-

: DEL cfg*.*

: DEL STRBOOL*.*

: DEL t.c

: CALL MKDYNSRC.BAT

: compile all remaining *.c files

: check if it is necessary to meddle with any of the assembly files

and compile them if needed

: archive all created object files -- usually named .OBJ or .O --

into a library named SUPPL_#, where # is S for Small memory

model or L for Large.

+ copy all the INCLUDE\*.H files and the library from the SUPPL release

into FREECOM\SUPPL -or-

update CONFIG.MAK to let SUPPL_???_PATH point to the SUPPL directory