Date: Mon, 18 Mar 91 15:03:13 EST From: Andrew Schulman Subject: UNDOCUDOS errata -- part 1 of 3 Errata, Commentary, and "Release Notes" for UNDOCUMENTED DOS: A Programmer's Guide to Reserved MS-DOS Functions and Data Structures by Andrew Schulman, Raymond J. Michels, Jim Kyle, Tim Paterson, David Maxey, and Ralf Brown (Reading MA: Addison-Wesley, 1990, 694 pp., $39.95, ISBN 0-201-57064-5) Errata, Commentary, and "Release Notes" - 9 March 1991 compiled by Andrew Schulman andrew@pharlap.com CIS 76320,302 (617) 661-1510 x238 Here are some corrections and commentary to UNDOCUMENTED DOS. Thanks to everyone who sent in corrections! (Your help is acknowledged in the appropriate place below.) NOTE: If you are having problems reading either of the two disks that come with UNDOCUDOS, please contact the publisher, Addison-Wesley, for replacement disks. Call 617-944-3700, and ask for Debby McKenna. 11 As an example of the prevalent attitude towards using undocumented features, it might have been useful to include a quotation, such as "It has been our experience that 'undocumented goodies' are interesting to look at, but dangerous to include in software that is intended for general distribution" (Paul Yao, _Peter Norton's Windows 3.0 Power Programming Techniques_, New York: Bantam Books, December 1990, p. 108; this is quite a good book, by the way). The best counter-example is Windows 3.0 itself, which (as shown on p. 18 of UNDOCUDOS) makes extremely heavy use of undocumented DOS functions; another example is Microsoft's Windows debugger CVW, which relies heavily on such undocumented Windows functions as WinDebug() and SetEventHook(). 16 In the UNDOC.SCR Intrspy script, "DS:SI-byte" and the two occurrences of "DS:DX-byte" should read "DS:SI->byte" and "DS:DX->byte" (arrow -> not hyphen -). 18 The reference to "DOSSPY" should read "INTRSPY." 19 "used in chapter 5 on TSRs": the DOS SDA is also used extensively in chapter 4 on the DOS file system and network redirector. 26 "Get List of List" should of course read "Get List of Lists" (by the way, the actual name for this in the MS-DOS source code is apparently SYSVARS). 28 The section asserting that 25% of DOS is undocumented was not meant to be taken too seriously. 37 The second paragraph should also note that the _asm keyword produces the MSC 6 warning "C4204: in-line assembler precludes global optimizations." 45 Two readers, Martin Heller (BIX: mheller) and Terrence Vaughn (CIS: 72327,2442) found that the assembly-language code at the bottom of the page has an incorrect conditional jump and a missing label. The block at the bottom of the page should read: jne dos3up ; DOS 3+ ; CHANGED mov si, 10h ; DOS 2.x jmp short get dos3up: cmp al, 3 ; CHANGED jne ofs21 and ah, ah ; DOS 3.0 The code continues as is on the top of the next page. 47 "Testing simply for equality (for example version >= 4)" is confused. Should read "==" not ">=" because we're trying to provide an example of what _not_ to do. Testing if (version >= 4) is the correct way to do it; testing if (version == 4) is the wrong way to do it. (This correction is probably more confusing than our original typographical error!) 65 Four lines from the bottom, "interrupt handle" should read "interrupt handler." 70 "Programs written for Microsoft Windows 3.0 can make undocumented DOS calls without any special handling. This includes Windows 3.0 running in 386 enhanced mode." Ahem! Boy, is this statement wrong. I had tested only one undocumented DOS call from a Windows program when I wrote that. It was the LASTDRIVE check from Chapter 2, where INT 21h AH=52h is called, and then the LASTDRIVE byte is read out of the List of Lists. It turns out, this _just happened_ to work, but I should still have known better than to make this stupid claim. Windows 3.0 programs in Standard and Enhanced modes are running in protected mode (which is why Windows is finally a usable product). Thus, the same restrictions noted elsewhere in Chapter 2 for making undocumented DOS calls from protected mode apply to Windows programs as well. The LASTDRIVE check just happened to work, because INT 21h AH=52h seems to be transparently supported in protected mode (this can't be relied on, however) and because reading the LASTDRIVE byte out of the List of Lists doesn't involve any further pointer dereferencing. For example, trying to walk the DOS device chain or MCB chain would _not_ have worked; other undocumented DOS calls (e.g., INT 21h AX=5D06h) are not supported at all in protected mode. In order to make undocumented DOS calls from a Windows program running in Standard or Enhanced mode (the only modes that matter), you must use the DOS Protected Mode Interface (DPMI) function to "Simulate Real Mode Interrupt" (INT 31h AX=0300h). In almost all cases, you will then need to map one or more real-mode pointers into your protected-mode address space. This can be done using either DPMI (the Allocate LDT Descriptors [INT 31h AX=0000h], Get Descriptor [INT 31h AX=000Bh] and Set Descriptor [INT 31h AX=000Ch] calls) or using the Windows AllocSelector() call together with -- ta da! -- some undocumented Windows calls (which will be the subject of a forthcoming book by A. Schulman, D. Maxey, et al., titled _Undocumented Windows Programming_): /* a few useful undocumented KERNEL functions */ extern DWORD FAR PASCAL GetSelectorBase(unsigned sel); extern DWORD FAR PASCAL GetSelectorLimit(unsigned sel); extern void FAR PASCAL SetSelectorBase(unsigned sel, DWORD base); extern void FAR PASCAL SetSelectorLimit(unsigned sel, DWORD limit); In other cases (for example, INT 21h AH=60h), you will need to allocate a conventional-memory buffer for use by an undocumented DOS call. Use the Windows GlobalDosAlloc() call for that. In any case, the statement that Windows programs "can make undocumented DOS calls without any special handling" couldn't be further from the truth. The above notes should get you started. In addition, a forthcoming PC MAGAZINE Lab Notes by A. Schulman (tentatively titled "Moving DOS Programs to Windows with DPMI") will contain further information on this topic, as will a forthcoming book by A. Schulman and D. Maxey, tentatively titled _The DOS Programmer's Guide to Microsoft Windows_ (Addison-Wesley, due December 1991). Those interested in exploring the innards of Windows might want to check out Alan Cobb's pamphlet _Reverse Engineering Windows and OS/2 Software_. Contact Alan at CIS 73170,3543 or BIX/MCI (AlanCobb). 73 Discussion of Phar Lap 386|DOS-Extender: "those weird calls (like undocumented DOS) not transparently supported in protected mode." In 386|DOS-Extender 3.0, many undocumented DOS calls _are_ supported in protected mode, so this statement is no longer quite accurate. For example, INT 21h AH=52h returns in ES:EBX a pointer to the List of Lists. However, any far pointers in the data structure remain real-mode far pointers, so these would need special handling. The LASTDRIVE example is inadequate to bring out the issue of using far pointers in the List of Lists. In Windows 3.0 protected mode, LASTDRIVE just happened to work. The same thing would happen in 386|DOS-Extender 3.0. In the second edition of UNDOCUDOS, we will need an additional example for these environments. Also note that Phar Lap now has a second product, 286|DOS-Extender, with a different API from our 386 product. In 286|DOS-Extender, you would call DosRealIntr() to issue an INT 21h AH=52h, and then call DosMapRealSeg() to map any real-mode pointers into your program's protected-mode address space. Several programs from UNDOCUDOS were ported to protected mode using 286|DOS-Extender, and appear in its _Developer's Guide_. 74 the parenthetical remark should read: "(note that INT 2Fh AH=16h and AH=17h are the Microsoft Windows interface for non-Windows applications; for more information, see the INTRLIST.EXE database on disk)." A detailed discussion of the Windows INT 2Fh functions will appear in the forthcoming book by Schulman and Maxey, noted earlier. 75 The structures at the top of the page are wrong. A better one is: /* structure of a protected-mode descriptor */ typedef struct { unsigned limit, addr_lo; unsigned char addr_hi, access, reserved, addr_xhi; } DESCRIPTOR; If you still want the access-rights byte to use an ACCESS bit field, rather than a plain unsigned char, then you must ensure that the bit field occupies only one byte. Microsoft C allows the following non-standard use of unsigned char in a bit field, so: typedef struct { unsigned char accessed : 1; unsigned char read_write : 1; unsigned char conf_exp : 1; unsigned char code : 1; unsigned char xsystem : 1; unsigned char dpl : 2; unsigned char present : 1; } ACCESS; An improved version of LDDPMI.C appears at the end of these release notes. (The improved version now works with Borland C++ 2.0, as well as with Microsoft C 6.0 and higher.) 76 In dpmi_init(), after the call to _dos_allocmem(), the following line of code should be added: dpmi_flags &= ~1; // this is a 16-bit protected-mode program When INT 2Fh AH=1687h returns the DPMI flags in BX, the bottom bit (dpmi_flags & 1) indicates whether the DPMI host supports 32-bit programs (Windows 3.0 enhanced mode does). But when passing flags back into the "Real to Protected Mode Switch Entry Point" via (*dpmi)(), the bottom bit of the flags passed in AX indicates whether _this_ is a 32-bit program. LDDPMI is a 16-bit program, so the bit must be turned off. 79 Before the call to dpmi_set_descriptor(), it would have been much simpler to call a dpmi_get_descriptor() function for some known selector (like the program's DS), and then just change the appropriate base-address and limit fields. 80 "LDDPMI uses functions such as pmode_printf() rather than plain old printf().... Most DPMI servers will in fact provide protected-mode INT 21h services (the Windows 3.x DOS extender does, for example), but that is a facility provided by the DPMI server, not by DPMI itself." This is literally correct, but it still was foolish not to go ahead and use plain old printf(), since any DPMI server will provide the necessary underlying INT 21h services in protected mode. For example, see the program HELLOPMW.C in Ray Duncan, "An Introduction to the DOS Protected Mode Interface," _PC Magazine_, 12 February 1991, p. 370. (Duncan's three-part series on DPMI in _PC Magazine_, 12 February 1991, 26 February 1991, and 12 March 1991, is an excellent introduction to the topic.) In fact, this could have been used as an opportunity to explore yet another semi-undocumented aspect of Windows, since the fact that Windows provides INT 21h services in protected mode is kept pretty well hidden (talk about hiding your light under a bushel!). The only documentation is a brief (five-page) document titled "Windows INT 21H and NetBIOS Support for DPMI," which is included in a packet of Microsoft Windows development notes (Part No. 050-030-313). (Note also that many more DPMI calls are actually supported by Windows than this document indicates.) 88 "INT 4Bh is used for 'DMA Services'": the actual title of the specification is "Virtual DMA Services (VDS), and is available as Microsoft Part No. 098-10869. It is also supported by Windows 3.0 Enhanced mode and 386MAX. 89 change "is still 138,000 bytes" to "are still 138,000 bytes" 90 It is useful to add one line of code to function walk(), so that the ending address of the MCB chain (usually A000h) is displayed. Change the case 'Z' block so that it reads: case 'Z' : /* Zbikowski : end of MCB chain */ display(mcb); printf("%04X\n", FP_SEG(mcb) + mcb->size + 1); return; 98-9 Ralf Brown (ralf@cs.cmu.edu) points out that INT F0h or so through FFh contain garbage which appears to pointing into one of the currently loaded programs, because the BIOS uses the upper end of the interrupt vector table as a stack during bootup. 100 The assertion that the C free() function, or the Pascal dispose() function, indirectly uses the DOS memory functions isn't quite true. Calls like free() or dispose() don't call INT 21h Function 49h (Release Memory Block); instead, they simply put freed memory blocks back on a free list. To actually release freed memory blocks back to the operating system, you need to use a function like _heapmin() in Microsoft C 6.0 or mark()/release() in Turbo Pascal. 102 "and will stop searching": Ralf Brown states that this is not true. As it turns out, all three allocation strategies search the entire memory chain. Any search sets all three memory-block variables for all three strategies in the DOS SDA (at offsets 1Eh, 20h, and 22h; see UNDOCUDOS, pp. 551, 557), and then returns the appropriate one. 111 "COMMAND.COM is always its own parent, and so..." Fine, but we never explain _why_ COMMAND.COM is always its own parent. Here's a good explanation from BIX: ibm.dos/secrets.3 #1106, from drifkind, 1510 chars, Fri Jan 25 20:26:19 1991 -------------------------- TITLE: Zombie COMMAND.COM rises from dead (I'm practicing to write headlines for the National Enquirer.) COMMAND.COM contains the default INT 24h handler, the one that prints "Abort, Retry, Ignore" and so on. What happens when a critical error occurs while executing an internal DOS command? Obviously, the INT 24h handler knows that COMMAND.COM is running and does something other than abort if you press "A", right? No, in fact the critical error handler does nothing special. If you press "A", it returns 2 and DOS terminates the current process. So why doesn't COMMAND.COM go away? When DOS terminates a process, it uses the "parent PID" field in the process's PSP to figure out what process is going to get control when this one terminates. If the parent PID is the same as the current PID, however, it does not deallocate the program's memory blocks before exiting. COMMAND.COM sets the parent PID field equal to its own PID, and points the termination address (at offset 0Ah in the PSP) back into itself. The result is that, on exit, the current program stays active and retains control. We all know that if you run COMMAND.COM with the "/p" switch, it does not terminate when you type "exit". In fact, it DOES exit. The difference is that, with "/p", it does not restore the original parent PID and termination addresses, so DOS more or less ignores the 4Ch service request, just transferring control back into COMMAND.COM. And that is why COMMAND.COM's parent PID field points to itself. 122-4 The DEVCON program has been ported to protected mode: see Phar Lap 286|DOS-Extender _Developer's Guide_, pp. 159-165. 125 Change "if you run DEVCON a dash" to "if you run DEVCON with a dash". 125 Change "it's often forgetten" to "it's often forgotten". 137 The block of code in while (CmdPkt.nunits--), before the call to INT 21h AH=53h, should somewhere explain what we're doing: _ES = CmdPkt.brkseg; /* DS:SI -> BIOS Parameter Block */ _DS = CmdPkt.inpseg; /* ES:BP -> Disk Parameter Block */ 139 "The function copyptr()... could have been written in C, but doing so would have required the kind of convoluted expressions that have given C the reputation of being a 'write-only' language." Well, I don't know, but the following looks pretty simple to me: typedef void far *FP; void copyptr (FP far *src, FP far *dst) { *dst = *src; } 156 "Not long after that (but before the introduction of DOS 2.0), an extra sector was added to the format, bringing the storage capacity up to the 360KB we know today." In fact, Tim Paterson assures us that was done in DOS 2.0. 157 Re: the mentions of S=0, drifkin (BIX) points out that normal PC block devices number physical sectors starting with 1, not 0. Change 'em all to S=1. 158 Change "major reasons many users to upgrade" to "major reasons for...". 158 "Two copies of the FAT are normally maintained by DOS, but no real reason for doing so has been determined." This was a pretty foolish remark, considering that Tim Paterson is one of the coauthors, and we only needed to ask him why he did this! The answer is that DOS maintains two copies of the FAT is case of _physical_ disk errors; Microsoft used three FATs in standalone BASIC, and this is where the idea of using multiple FATs came from. 158 On the last line, the phrase "together with a flag bit in the format records" is, as Peter Schultz (CIS 70216,074) pointed out, rather vague. Jim Kyle explains that it really isn't a "flag bit," but rather the top four bits in the DPB highest-cluster word (DPB offset 0Dh; see UNDOCUDOS, p. 507). Checking these bits is preferable to using the boot record. 159 "Any other value indicates..." In fact, drifkind (BIX) cautions us not to forget about (F)FF7, which marks bad clusters, and (F)FF0 through (F)FF6, which are reserved. 160 "E5h, which is a valid character for use in a filename": it's valid in DOS 3+. 160 "If the first byte of the filename is E5h..." Why E5h? Tim Paterson says because 8" SSSD disks came preformatted with E5h bytes. A disk out of the box thus looked empty, and was essentially ready-to-go, though the FAT still needed to be cleared (which was done with the built-in CLEAR command in pre-IBM DOS). 161 FAKEFRMT: roedy (BIX) points out that this utility "will inadvertently bring bad tracks back into active duty." Tim Paterson states that FAKEFRMT shouldn't need to rewrite the boot sector. These issues will be taken up in the second edition. 161 "(Byte 2 of the sector for a 12-bit FAT)" should refer instead to Byte 3. (Another catch by Ralf Brown.) 166 LoL+10h: The last sentence on the page asserts that "if larger, this value is replaced by the new maximum value." Ralf Brown, in yet another catch, points out that LoL+10h is actually increased only for the built-in device drivers located in IO.SYS; if the driver's value is greater than LoL+10h for installable drivers, the loader complains that the sector size is too large. 168 "(available directory in 4+" should read "(available directly in 4+". 176 To the phrase "This means that all the named devices seem to exist in all directories of the file system," add the parenthetical remark that they also exist in subdirectory \DEV, even if no such subdirectory exists on disk. 179 "it differed the data thatwas" should read "it differed from the data that was" (two mistakes!; who the #$%*& edited this stuff?!). 182 "Local Description Table" should of course read "Local Descriptor Table". 186 "file stem" should read "file system". 190-1 The TRUENAME program has been ported to protected mode: see Phar Lap 286|DOS-Extender _Developer's Guide_, pp. 86-92. 191 The variable "s" serves no purpose in main(), and in fact could potentially cause a problem (ya see it?). Change main() to the following: main(int argc, char *argv[]) { char buf[128]; if (argc < 2) ret("usage: dospath ", 1); if (_osmajor < 3) ret("requires DOS 3.0 or greater", 1); if (truename(argv[1], buf)) ret(buf, 0); else ret("invalid filename", 1); } 193 "The first SFT appears to always hold five possible open-file entries": Ralf Brown explains that this is because the first SFT is compiled right into MSDOS.SYS, for DOS 2.0 through 4.0. 197 Neil Rubenking (CIS 72241,50) found that struct file didn't work under DOS 3.0. See corrections for p. 527 below for the correct SFT structure for DOS 3.0. 198 In the function is_psp() the magic number 0x20CD is never explained. This is merely the opcode for the INT 20h instruction, interpreted as an unsigned quantity. 199 The test "FP int2e = (FP) GETVECT(0x2E)" will of course fail if COMMAND.COM, or a program that mimicks COMMAND.COM's use of INT 2Eh, is not present. For example, what happens when the user is running SH.EXE from the MKS Toolkit as their DOS SHELL=? 199 The IS_AUX(), IS_CON(), and IS_PRN() macros are all missing a test for (s[3] == ' '). Otherwise, we would match possible device names such as "AUXIL", "CONTOUR", and "PRNACHO". 210-3 "More File Handles": After UNDOCUDOS was already out, a useful article on this topic appeared: David Burki, "DOS File Handle Limits," _TECH Specialist_, February 1991, pp. 51-62. 212 Rather than fail if (new_max > files()), it probably would have been a good idea to show how to grow the SFT tables, a la Quarterdeck's FILES.COM program (included with QEMM). 213 FHANDLE.C is an okay program, but it needs to show things more from a C perspective. We at least need to explain why we use _dos_open() and not open() or fopen(). We need to explain why increasing the number of DOS file handles doesn't give your C program more FILE* capacity. This is an incredibly common question. For now, if you do need to increase the number of FILE* in your Microsoft C program, note that _NFILE can be changed in the startup code (see MSC6 STARTUP\CRT0DAT.ASM). 214-5 Roger Jackson (CIS 76535,75) points out that MOV.C doesn't compile with Microsoft C. The problem is that FP_SEG() and FP_OFF() as used here depend on the Turbo C++ style of these macros. As noted in UNDOCUDOS p. 51, Microsoft C's version of these macros requires an lvalue. To fix MOV.C for MSC, change the two blocks of FP_SEG/FP_OFF code: void canonicalize(filespec,canonical,errorlevel) // ... void far *lvalue; regs.h.ah = 0x60 ; lvalue = filespec; regs.x.si = FP_OFF(lvalue) ; segregs.ds = FP_SEG(lvalue) ; lvalue = canonical; regs.x.di = FP_OFF(lvalue) ; segregs.es = FP_SEG(lvalue) ; // ... void far *lvalue; dpl.ax = 0x5600 ; /* indirect function is rename */ lvalue = &source; dpl.dx = FP_OFF(lvalue) ; dpl.ds = FP_SEG(lvalue) ; /* DS:DX old filespec */ lvalue = ⌖ dpl.di = FP_OFF(lvalue) ; dpl.es = FP_SEG(lvalue) ; /* ES:DI new filespec */ 229-30 Subfunctions 0Eh, 0Fh, 11h, 13h, and 17h: for each, add an additonal required input: SDA.CURR_CDS = Current Directory Structure (CDS) for drive with file The entries for these subfunctions are already correct in the appendix to UNDOCUDOS, pp. 607-612. 257 The usage message should point out that PHANTOM -u uninstalls the Phantom drive. 276-7 Tim Paterson pointed out that the "; Microsoft C 6.0 only" comment next to MOV SP, BP (which appears once on each page) is pretty confused. First of all, the MOV SP, BP must of course be balanced with the earlier MOV BP, SP. Second of all, this optional save/restore of the stack pointer has to do merely with whether the compiler uses the stack or a register for the variable i. This has nothing to do with MSC 6.0. Thus, the comment should be removed. 277 "the large amount of space used for our three-line interrupt handler should go unnoticed." This was supposed to say "should _not_ go unnoticed." See S. Freud, _Psychopathology of Everyday Life_, for further details. 280 "When coding in assembly language, you can easily come up with this number..." Perhaps for .COM files, but certainly for .EXE TSRs, E. Nicholas Cupery (CIS 72657,3646) points out that the number is _not_ so easy to come up with! In fact, our statement was a pure "exercise left for the reader" cop-out (that is, we didn't know the answer either, so we just pretended it was a trivial operation). Ted Mirecki (CIS 72631,25; author of the wonderful "Tech Notebook" series in the defunct _PC Tech Journal_), responding to comments by Cupery and Mike R. Lovett (CIS 72361,3715), made the following suggestion for deriving the memory footprint of a multi-segment TSR: "Instead of calculating the size of each segment & adding the sizes together, calc the parag address of each segment end and select the highest one. Then subtract the parag address of the PSP, and voila, you have the number of parags taken up by your program. "Say the label of the end of a particular segment is ENDLBL. Then to get its parag address, do the following steps: Add 15 to offset of ENDLBL (rounds up to next parag boundary) Shift it right 4 bits (gets # of parags in segment) Add to Segment of ENDLBL (gives parag addr of end of seg). "You can either repeat this for all your segs & choose the highest, or arrange for the segments to be loaded in some particular order & do it only for the topmost one. "Then get the PSP segment and subtract it from the above." 280 Jerry Watkins (CIS 70521,2401) points out the MSC memory map isn't quite right. In DGROUP, the stack appears lower in memory than the near heap. (In your copy of UNDOCUDOS, just swap the two lines "STACK" and "NEAR HEAP".) 296 "need to examine is that one that" should read "need to examine is the one that". 320 Several readers have noted that the discussion of the INT 2Ah AH=8xh critical-section functions is skimpy. This will be beefed-up either in a future "Release Notes" for the book, or at least in the second edition. Jack Brennan (John.Brennan@vi.ri.cmu.edu) made the following comments on INT 2Ah Functions 80h/81h: "These calls are only made by the DOS kernel if they are enabled by some rather specialized code. All network redirectors that I have seen enable the calls, as does Windows 3.0 in 386 Enhanced mode (but not in Real or Standard mode). Basically, what needs to be done is as follows: "1. Find a table of offsets at location 02C3 in the IBMDOS segment. This loc (02C3) is hard-coded into MSREDIR, the Microsoft Net Redirector. The table is zero terminated. "2. For each offset in the table, poke the hex value 50 into the byte at IBMDOS:offset. This replaces a RET instruction with a PUSH AX instruction, allowing the applicable subroutines to execute. "I am only certain of this with DOS 3.1 to 3.31. "I believe that this enabling code would need to be added to the example TSR in Chapter 5 of Undocumented DOS (TSREXAMP.C) in order to allow the TSR to be robust in a non-networked, non-Windows, non-MSCDEX, etc., environment (assuming compiling with DOS_SWAP enabled)." 322 The test at the bottom of the page, if (dos_level == 4), is confusing, or will be when DOS 5 comes out. Note that at the beginning of the function, we set: else if (_osmajor >= 4) dos_level == 4; This is rather confusing. In any case, this code should work with DOS 5. 325 In the paragraph at the bottom of the page, "(unless, of course, a critical section has been flagged via INT 2Fh)" should of course read "via INT 2Ah." 328 The subhead "TSFILE" should read "TSRFILE". 332 "which we can be used" should read "which can be used". 380 In TSHELL.C, it looks as if TSHELL passes an improperly formatted argument list to COMMAND.COM, but Jim Kyle swears up and down that the code works; it's too tricky, but it's not wrong. 393 "find what is called the 'active' environment, _not_ the master environment." Actually, it seems we made things more difficult than necessary. In fact, the "active" environment is most of the time the one you want. For example, ENVEDT, which works off the master environment, doesn't change the correct environment when running under Windows. 398 "For example, if a .BAT file containing a SET statement is compiled with BAT2EXEC, it fails unexpectedly under this situation producing an 'Out of environment space' message." Doug Boling, author of BAT2EXEC (which appeared in _PC Magazine_, August 1990), thinks we probably had an old copy of BAT2EXEC. The latest versions of _PC Magazine_ utilities can be downloaded from PCMagnet on CompuServe. 405 The discussion of INT 2Eh should note that the real "meat" on this weird aspect of undocumented DOS can be found in Daniel E. Greenberg, "Reentering the DOS Shell," _Programmer's Journal_, May-June 1990, pp. 28-36. This article is the definitive piece on INT 2Eh. 408 In the comments to TEST2E.C, the Microsoft C compilation instructions should refer to SEND2E.C, not "send2e.asm". 409 We need to discuss the issue of running INT 2Eh "clients" like TEST2E.EXE from within a batch file. Michael Mefford ("Running Programs Painlessly," _PC Magazine_, 16 February 1988) claims that programs using INT 2Eh "will not execute batch files nor work from within a batch file." Jeff Prosise, in a good recent article on undocumented DOS ("Undocumented DOS Functions," _PC Magazine_, 12 February 1991) states: "Be careful about how you call interrupt 2Eh. If you aren't, you can crash your system in certain very common situations. The main one if if the program you're using is running under a batch file. Since INT 2Eh is nonreentrant, DOS uses it to run batch files. So if you run a batch file using INT 2Eh from your program, your system will crash." We too have had problems running programs that use INT 2Eh from within a batch file, but nothing so dramatic as crashing the system. Instead, we have found simply that EXIT is not handled properly and that memory can be lost. In any case, the use (or refraining from use!) of INT 2Eh in a batch file needs further discussion in the next edition of UNDOCUDOS. 449 "protected-mode debugging requires an interface more like that of OS/2's DosPTrace()." At the time, this was just a wild guess. It turned out to be true. If you have the Windows SDK, run EXEHDR \WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WINDEBUG.DLL, and you'll find the description "Ptrace for Windows." In fact, the undocumented WinDebug() function is nearly identical to the poorly- documented DosPTrace() function in OS/2. Microsoft claims that WinDebug() will completely go away in Windows 3.1, to be replaced by a openly-documented new interface. In the meantime, and perhaps for some time even after 3.1 is released, WinDebug() is quite important. 453 At the bottom of the page, the phrase "as noted below, INTRSPY also uses -> to indicate fields in a structure" should be deleted; it's not true. INTRSPY uses -> solely to indicate that a register pair should be treated as a pointer to some type. (For example, ds:dx->byte,asciiz,64.) 458 At the bottom of the page, "The following command used to run CMDSPY.EXE" should refer instead to INTRSPY.EXE. 466 "or it parameters replaceable from the DOS command line": delete the word "it." 482 "that function is not available provided by the Compaq ROM BIOS": delete the word "available." 495 Dan Lanciani's name was unfortunately omitted from the list of major contributors of undocumented-DOS material to the Interrupt List maintained by Ralf Brown. Dan contributed INT 21h and INT 2Fh material. Sorry, Dan. 502-4 History buffs may want to replace the vague note "appears to be for CP/M compatibility" for Functions 18h, 1Dh, 1Eh, and 20h with the actual names of the CP/M-80 and CP/M-86 functions for which holes were apparently left: 18h: Get Bit Map of Active Drives 1Dh: Get Bit Map of Read-Only Drives 1Eh: Set File Attributes 20h: Get/Set User (Sublibrary) Number (See David Cortesi, "CP/M-86 vs. MS-DOS: A Technical Comparison," _Dr. Dobb's Journal_, July 1982, pp. 14-27; in DDJ Vol. 7, pp. 280-291. The article notes that "MSDOS was commissioned by IBM and produced by the Microsoft Corporation from a base written by Seattle Computer Products, Inc. Lifeboat Associates, an important software vendor, has undertaken to market the system for other 8086-based machines, and to encourage the development of application programs for it." Gee, wonder if it'll be successful....) 513 21/4B/03: Bob Moote of Phar Lap Software (rwm@pharlap.com) has reported a bug in INT 21h Function 4Bh Subfunction 03h (Load Overlay). If there is additional data located in the file after the program (i.e., 21/4B/03 does not hit EOF; e.g., a program with a bound-in DOS extender), Load Overlay will load up to 512 extra bytes, overflowing your buffer. 514 The note "DOS 2.x destroys all registers" should be amended to note that in DOS 3+, the BX and DX registers are still bashed. (This is noted correctly on p. 429 of UNDOCUDOS.) 527 Neil Rubenking found that the structure provided for the SFT did not work in DOS 3.0. Robin Walker (RDHW@phoenix.cambridge.edu.uk) supplied the correct information. Thanks, Robin!! Here 'tis: Format of DOS 3.0 system file tables and FCB tables: Offset Size Description 00h DWORD pointer to next file table 04h WORD number of files in this table 06h 38h bytes per file *** NB *** Offset Size Description 00h-1Eh as for DOS 3.1+ 1Fh WORD byte offset of directory entry within sector ** NB ** 21h 11 BYTES filename in FCB format (no path/period, blank-padded) 2Ch DWORD (if SHARE loaded) ptr to prev SFT sharing same file 30h WORD (if SHARE loaded) ??? network machine number, I guess 32h WORD (if SHARE loaded) PSP segment of file's owner 34h WORD (if SHARE loaded) offs in SHARE code seg of share rec 36h WORD ??? only seen 0000h *** NB *** The format of sharing records looks the same as already listed. 544-5 Has anyone found what 2F/57/02, 2F/57/03, and 2F/57/04 do? A reader needs this information! If you know anything, please contact andrew@pharlap.com. 581-2 2A/80, 2A/81: Please see the notes above (p.320). 597 2F/10/00: Note that DOS 4.01 loads share for media >32M, but only for FCB support. The file-sharing code is not turned on until the first call to 2F/10/00. Also note that Microsoft Windows 3.0 enhanced mode provides its own built-in implementation of SHARE. ;---------------------------------------------------------------------- /* LDDPMI.C -- undocumented DOS call from DPMI Revised substantially from the version in UNDOCUMENTED DOS, pp. 74-80 Works with Microsoft C 6.0 (or higher) and Borland C++ 2.0 (or higher) (Some of the _asm convolutions were needed for Borland C++) sample output: in protected mode Real mode DOS List Of Lists = 028E:0026 Protected DOS List Of Lists = 00AD:0026 LASTDRIVE=E Microsoft C 6.0 (or higher): cl -AS lddpmi.c Borland C++ 2.0 (or higher): bcc -ms lddpmi.c */ #include #include #include #include #include #ifdef __TURBOC__ #pragma inline #define _dos_allocmem(x,y) (allocmem(x, y) != -1) #endif #define ABSADDR(seg, ofs) \ ((((unsigned long) seg) << 4) + ((ofs) & 0xFFFF)) #pragma pack(1) typedef struct { unsigned long edi, esi, ebp, reserved, ebx, edx, ecx, eax; unsigned flags, es, ds, fs, gs, ip, cs, sp, ss; } RMODE_CALL; typedef struct { unsigned char accessed : 1; unsigned char read_write : 1; unsigned char conf_exp : 1; unsigned char code : 1; unsigned char xsystem : 1; unsigned char dpl : 2; unsigned char present : 1; } ACCESS; /* structure of a protected-mode descriptor */ typedef struct { unsigned limit, addr_lo; unsigned char addr_hi; ACCESS access; unsigned char reserved, addr_xhi; } DESCRIPTOR; typedef enum { FALSE, TRUE } BOOL; BOOL dpmi_rmode_intr(unsigned intno, unsigned flags, unsigned copywords, RMODE_CALL far *rmode_call); void dos_exit(unsigned char err) { _asm mov al, err _asm mov ah, 04ch _asm int 21h } void fail(char *s) { puts(s); dos_exit(1); } /* Determines if DPMI is present and, if so, switches into protected mode */ BOOL dpmi_init(void) { void (far *dpmi)(); unsigned hostdata_seg, hostdata_para, dpmi_flags; _asm { mov ax, 1687h // test for DPMI presence int 2Fh and ax, ax jnz nodpmi // if (AX == 0) DPMI is present mov dpmi_flags, bx mov hostdata_para, si // paras for DPMI host private data mov dpmi, di mov dpmi+2, es // DPMI protected-mode switch entry point jmp short gotdpmi } nodpmi: return FALSE; gotdpmi: if (_dos_allocmem(hostdata_para, &hostdata_seg) != 0) fail("can't allocate memory"); /* enter protected mode */ _asm { mov ax, hostdata_seg mov es, ax mov ax, dpmi_flags } (*dpmi)(); return TRUE; } /* Performs a real-mode interrupt from protected mode */ BOOL dpmi_rmode_intr(unsigned intno, unsigned flags, unsigned copywords, RMODE_CALL far *rmode_call) { if (flags) intno |= 0x100; _asm { push di push bx push cx mov ax, 0300h // simulate real-mode interrupt mov bx, intno // interrupt number, flags mov cx, copywords; // words to copy from pmode to rmode stack les di, rmode_call // ES:DI = address of rmode call struct int 31h // call DPMI jc error mov ax, 1 // return TRUE jmp short done } error: _asm mov ax, 0 // return FALSE done: _asm pop cx _asm pop bx _asm pop di } /* Allocates a single protected-mode LDT selector */ unsigned dpmi_sel(void) { _asm { mov ax, 0 // Allocate LDT Descriptors mov cx, 1 // allocate just one int 31h // call DPMI jc err jmp short done // AX holds new LDT selector } err: _asm mov ax, 0 // failed done:; } BOOL dpmi_set_descriptor(unsigned pmodesel, DESCRIPTOR far *d) { _asm { push di push bx mov ax, 000ch // Set Descriptor mov bx, pmodesel // protected mode selector les di, d // descriptor int 31h // call DPMI jc error mov ax, 1 // return TRUE jmp short done } error: _asm mov ax, 0 // return FALSE done: _asm pop di _asm pop bx } BOOL dpmi_get_descriptor(unsigned pmodesel, DESCRIPTOR far *d) { _asm { push di mov ax, 000bh // Get Descriptor mov bx, word ptr pmodesel // protected mode selector les di, dword ptr d // descriptor int 31h // call DPMI jc error mov ax, 1 // return TRUE jmp short done } error: _asm xor ax, ax // return FALSE done: _asm pop di } BOOL dpmi_sel_free(unsigned pmodesel) { _asm { mov ax, 0001h // Free LDT Descriptor mov bx, pmodesel // selector to free int 31h // call DPMI jc error mov ax, 1 // return TRUE jmp short done } error: _asm mov ax, 0 // return FALSE done:; } void far *get_doslist(void) { _asm { xor bx, bx mov es, bx mov ah, 52h int 21h mov dx, es mov ax, bx } } main() { DESCRIPTOR d; RMODE_CALL r; void far *fp; char far *doslist = (char far *) 0; unsigned long addr; unsigned pmodesel; unsigned offset, lastdrv_ofs, lastdrv; /* program requires small model! */ assert((sizeof(void*) == 2) && (sizeof(void (*)()) == 2)); assert(sizeof(ACCESS) == 1); assert(sizeof(DESCRIPTOR) == 8); /* Determine if DPMI present and, if so, switch to protected mode */ if (dpmi_init()) puts("now in protected mode"); else fail("DPMI not present"); /* Call INT 21h AH=52h (Get DOS List Of Lists) */ memset(&r, 0, sizeof(RMODE_CALL)); r.eax = 0x5200; if (! dpmi_rmode_intr(0x21, 0, 0, &r)) fail("DPMI rmode intr failed"); FP_SEG(doslist) = r.es; FP_OFF(doslist) = r.ebx; printf("Real mode DOS List Of Lists = %Fp\r\n", doslist); /* doslist now holds a real-mode address: in order to address it in protected mode, allocate an LDT descriptor and set its contents; when done, deallocate the LDT descriptor */ if (! (pmodesel = dpmi_sel())) fail("DPMI can't alloc pmode selector"); /* set size of segment */ d.limit = 0xFFFF; /* set base address of segment */ addr = ABSADDR(r.es, 0); d.addr_lo = addr & 0xFFFF; d.addr_hi = addr >> 16; d.addr_xhi = 0; /* IMPORTANT! */ /* set access-rights of segment */ d.access.accessed = 0; /* never been used */ d.access.read_write = 1; /* read-write */ d.access.conf_exp = 0; /* not a stack */ d.access.code = 0; /* data */ d.access.xsystem = 1; /* not system descriptor */ fp = (void far *) main; d.access.dpl = FP_SEG(fp) & 3; /* protection level */ d.access.present = 1; /* it's present in memory */ d.reserved = 0; if (! dpmi_set_descriptor(pmodesel, &d)) fail("DPMI can't set descriptor"); FP_SEG(doslist) = pmodesel; /* convert to protected-mode address */ FP_OFF(doslist) = r.ebx; printf("Protected mode DOS List Of Lists = %Fp\r\n", doslist); /* now have protected-mode selector to DOS List of Lists */ /* Get LASTDRIVE number, print LASTDRIVE letter */ lastdrv = doslist[_osmajor==3 && _osminor==0 ? 0x1b : 0x21]; printf("LASTDRIVE=%c\r\n", 'A' - 1 + lastdrv); if (! dpmi_sel_free(pmodesel)) fail("DPMI can't free selector"); /* in protected mode, flush output and quit */ fflush(stdout); dos_exit(0); dpmifail: fail("DPMI failure"); } ;---------------------------------------------------------------------- THE END?