DOS ain't dead

>> Maybe there will be a release of HX 2.17 final too?
>
> Yes. It has to wait until there exists a release version of jwlink.

Since I don't yet see a HX 2.17 RC build beyond last December, I assume this (minor bugfix) for JWlink isn't the full release that DOS386 is hoping for. Nevertheless, here it is!

http://www.japheth.de/JWlink.html


   changes v19beta10, 04/2013:

   -  bugfix: 32-bit flag was never set in Win16 NE segment flags.
   -  bugfix: DATA flag in Win16 NE segment flags had higher priority than
      CODE flag - if both DATA and CODE were put in ONE group, it became DATA.
   -  bugfix: codeview debug info may have been corrupted - and, as a
      consequence, CVPACK failed - if a group had size 0.
   -  bugfix, OMF format: a fixup with segment/group/external index of 0 caused
      an access violation. Now error msg 'invalid segment/group/external index
      in relocation' is displayed ( test-case: ML with -Zi ).
   -  bugfix, 64-bit COFF: relocation type IMAGE_REL_AMD64_SECTION was rejected.


> > > Maybe there will be a release of HX 2.17 final too?
> > Yes. It has to wait until there exists a release version of jwlink
> Since I don't yet see a HX. 2.17 RC build beyond last December

2009

> I assume this (minor bugfix) for JWlink isn't the full release

there is an (almost) full release of JAWASM 2.10 (rc12) out 2013-Apr-14

http://japheth.de/JWasm.html

What's new:

- Added GMS (Green Monster Smiley) to download page
- Increased bloat of packages as well as many files inside them
- Added some new files (examples, regression tests)
- Improved and enhanced TFM (but still no way absolute)
- Fixed export sorting in format PE (but AFAIK DPMILD32 doesn't care anyway ...)
- Some more fixes in format PE
- A few other bug-fixes in various areas

Since now JAWASM can produce (bug-free) format PE, it should be possible to do the impossible: brew HX with JAWASM only, without JAWALINK or any linker (the FASM way without FASM syntax ...)

---
This is a LOGITECH mouse driver, but some software expect here
the following string:*** This is Copyright 1983 Microsoft ***

> there is an (almost) full release of JAWASM 2.10 (rc12) out 2013-Apr-14

The final 2.10 (no more "rc") is out 2013-Apr-17 or 2013-Apr-20 ... and 8 or 11 days later still no 2.11 alpha ... maybe JAWASM is mature now (5 years later) ?

http://japheth.de/JWasm.html

http://japheth.de/ (NOT announced)

What's new:

- almost nothing compared to 2.10 rc12
- almost everything compared to 2.09 (see above)

JAWALINK 1.9 beta 11 is out 2013-Apr-23

http://japheth.de/JWlink.html

http://japheth.de/ (NOT announced)

What's new:

- almost nothing compared to 1.9 beta 10
- almost everything compared to original WLINK

---
This is a LOGITECH mouse driver, but some software expect here
the following string:*** This is Copyright 1983 Microsoft ***

> The final 2.10 (no more "rc") is out 2013-Apr-17 or 2013-Apr-20

JAWASM 2.11 rc8 is out 2013-Aug-19

What's new:

* Fixed 1'000'000'000'000 BUG's in 16 and 32 and 64 bit stuff (and I had though 2.10 would be mature ...)
* Updated the LOADPEX stub (most likely the "holy-BUG" ...)

http://japheth.de/JWasm.html

---
This is a LOGITECH mouse driver, but some software expect here
the following string:*** This is Copyright 1983 Microsoft ***

> > The final 2.10 (no more "rc") is out 2013-Apr-17 or 2013-Apr-20
>
> JAWASM 2.11 rc8 is out 2013-Aug-19

Okay, but I'm not sure "rc8" is worth "announcing" just yet!

> What's new:
>
> * Fixed 1'000'000'000'000 BUG's in 16 and 32 and 64 bit stuff (and I had
> though 2.10 would be mature ...)
> * Updated the LOADPEX stub (most likely the "holy-BUG" ...)
>
> http://japheth.de/JWasm.html

BTW, you didn't mention JWlink v1.9 beta 12:

> changes v19beta12, 08/2013:
>
> - attribute SEGMENT READONLY supported for Win32/Win64.
> - read-only segments are added to ".rdata" and removed from DGROUP for
> PE format.

> Okay, but I'm not sure "rc8" is worth "announcing" just yet!

I agree, it's strange. He probably just wanted to mock around a bit .

> BTW, you didn't mention JWlink
> - attribute SEGMENT READONLY supported for Win32/Win64.
> - read-only segments are added to ".rdata" and removed from DGROUP for

These changes may allow to produce "better" OW Win32 binaries.

---
MS-DOS forever!

> Okay, but I'm not sure "rc8" is worth "announcing" just yet!

2.10 is already proven unusable, no need to wait for 2.11 final

> BTW, you didn't mention JWlink v1.9 beta 12

Either I forgot ... or it didn't exist at the time of the post

> These changes may allow to produce "better" OW Win32 binaries.

What exactly is "better" about them ?

---
This is a LOGITECH mouse driver, but some software expect here
the following string:*** This is Copyright 1983 Microsoft ***

> What exactly is "better" about them ?

They're neater.

OW usually places constant strings into DGROUP, and DGROUP is always created with read-write attributes.

In a protected-mode OS, it's smarter to place such strings in read-only sections - and that's what the additions allow to do.

---
MS-DOS forever!

> BTW, you didn't mention JWlink
> v1.9 beta 12:

Beta13 has been reached.

---
MS-DOS forever!

JWasm v2.11 rc11 is out 2013-Sep-05.

> precompiled binaries jwasm.exe and jwasmd.exe now linked with jwlink

instead of bad old standard WLINK ???

> They're neater.
> OW usually places constant strings into DGROUP, and DGROUP is
> always created with read-write attributes.
> In a protected-mode OS, it's smarter to place such strings in read-only
> sections - and that's what the additions allow to do.

COOL. It would be even more neater if one could make non-executable stuff reliably non-executable and it was inherently impossible to make one memory range writable and executable at same time

> > BTW, you didn't mention v1.9 beta 12
> Beta13 has been reached

COOL. What's missing for 1.9 final ?

---
This is a LOGITECH mouse driver, but some software expect here
the following string:*** This is Copyright 1983 Microsoft ***

> Okay, but I'm not sure "rc8" is worth "announcing" just yet!

> JWasm v2.11 rc11 is out 2013-Sep-05

The 2.11 final is out 2013-Oct-20

> > Beta13 has been reached
> COOL. What's missing for 1.9 final ?

Still at Beta13.

---
This is a LOGITECH mouse driver, but some software expect here
the following string:*** This is Copyright 1983 Microsoft ***

> The 2.11 final is out 2013-Oct-20

I have mirrored this (and latest CC386 4.18 and FASM 1.71.15) to iBiblio.

Speaking of JWasm, there is a potential 16-bit DOS project that could benefit from it: Compact Rexx (CRX). It's recently been open sourced and apparently used MASM v6 (and some auxiliary homegrown tools). I've not actively messed with it yet, nor rebuilt it, but I did contact RexxLA president with some interest. But there is no online code repo nor any organization to the project yet, only one big .ZIP of everything. Just FYI in case anyone here is bored enough to want to help, see http://www.rexxla.org/ .