DOS ain't dead

trip report: Duff AWK (Miscellaneous)

posted by bencollver , 27.01.2026, 03:04

I attempted to convert Duff AWK from Borland C & TASM to Watcom.

I ran into a road block with lex. I ported the file awklex.l to work with Plan9 lex. However, awklex.l depends on functions defined in yylex.c, and yylex.c grubs around in the internals of a different version of lex. I wasn't able to identify which lex it depends on. It's not flex and it's not AT&T lex.

This means that to extend Duff AWK i would need to modify the old machine-generated code rather than re-generate it from awklex.l. I don't have the patience for that.

p.s.

The original build uses a small memory model. I found another build that uses a compact memory model so that it can better utilize conventional memory.

Small:

ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/simtelnet/msdos/txtutil/awk320.zip
ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/simtelnet/msdos/txtutil/awk320sr.zip

Compact:

https://www.burtonsys.com/ftp/AWK320.ZIP
https://www.burtonsys.com/ftp/AWKSRC.ZIP

Complete thread:

• trip report: Duff AWK - bencollver, 27.01.2026, 03:04 (Miscellaneous)
  • trip report: Duff AWK - tkchia, 27.01.2026, 18:12
    • trip report: Duff AWK - bencollver, 27.01.2026, 19:08
  • trip report: Duff AWK - Rugxulo, 07.02.2026, 01:21
    • trip report: Duff AWK - roytam, 10.02.2026, 07:17
      • trip report: Duff AWK - bencollver, 11.02.2026, 00:32