Building for DOS, part 1

And now for something completely different. :)

The unthinkable happened -- I had to build some C++ program of mine for FreeDOS. I understand that DOS is by all means a dead platform, but if you happen to have to target DOS, then read on. :)

The good news is that there is a port of GCC for DOS. It's called DJGPP. The website pretty much looks like it looked 10 years ago, which might imply it's dead. But in fact DJGPP is still alive, as the newsgroups and mailing lists prove.

There are more ways how you could use DJGPP: You could install it on a real DOS machine (yuck!). Or you could install linux to DJGPP cross-compiler (haven't tried, but doc implies it's tricky). Or you could install DJGGP inside DOSEMU. That is the way I chose.

Determining what files you need to download is a bit daunting, but DJGPP offers a handy tool, the Zip File Picker.

For DOSEMU you want to select "Build and run programs with DJGPP", then "DOSEMU". Select the languages you need. Unless you're feeling adventurous, you don't need any DOS GUI, you can stick to editing the files from linux, and just build in DOSEMU.

There are in fact more things than what the Zip File Picker offers that you can install. This includes various utilities and libraries. You can even get Perl for DOS. To see what's available, have a look into Getting djgpp - pick a mirror, then go to the "current" directory.

In second part I describe the configuration of DOSEMU for DJGPP.