dosbox-staging

This repository attempts to modernize the DOSBox codebase by using current development practices and tools, fixing issues, and adding features that better support today's systems.

Summary of differences compared to upstream

For developers

	dosbox-staging	DOSBox
Version control	Git	SVN
Language	C++14	C++031
SDL	2.0	1.2＊
CI	Yes	No
Static analysis	Yes2,3,4	No
Dynamic analysis	Yes	No
clang-format	Yes	No
Development builds	Yes	No
Automated regression tests	No (WIP)	No

Feature differences

dosbox-staging does not support audio playback using physical CDs. Using CD Digital Audio emulation (loading CD music via cue sheets or mounting ISO images) is preferred instead.

Codecs supported for CD-DA emulation:

	dosbox-staging†	DOSBox SVN‡
Opus	Yes (libopus)	No
OGG/Vorbis	Yes (built-in)	Yes - SDL_sound 1.2 (libvorbis)5,＊
MP3	Yes (built-in)	Yes - SDL_sound 1.2 (libmpg123)5,＊,§
FLAC	Yes (built-in)	No§
WAV	Yes (built-in)	Yes - SDL_sound 1.2 (built-in)6,＊
AIFF	No	Yes - SDL_sound 1.2 (built-in)6,＊

^{＊- SDL 1.2 was last updated 2013-08-17 and SDL_sound 2008-04-20
† - 22.05 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz; mono, stereo
‡ - 44.1 kHz stereo only
§ - Broken or unsupported in either SDL_sound or DOSBox}

Other differences:

	dosbox-staging	DOSBox SVN
Pixel-perfect mode	Yes (output=texturepp)7	N/A
Resizable window	Experimental (windowresolution=resizable)	N/A
Relative window size	N/A	windowresolution=X%
OPL emulators	compat, fast, mame, nuked8	compat, fast, mame
CGA/mono support	Yes (machine=cga_mono)9	Only CGA with colour
Wayland support	Experimental (use SDL_VIDEODRIVER=wayland)	N/A
Modem phonebook file	Yes (phonebookfile=<name>)	N/A
Autotype command	Yes10	N/A
Startup verbosity	Yes11	N/A
GUS Enhancements	Yes12	N/A

Stable release builds

Linux, Windows, macOS

Test builds / development snapshots

Links to the newest builds

Build instructions

Read INSTALL file for a general summary about dependencies and configure options and BUILD.md for the comprehensive compilation guide. You can also use helper script ./scripts/build.sh, that performs builds for many useful scenarios (LTO, FDO, sanitizer builds, many others).

Linux, macOS

Install build dependencies appropriate for your OS:

# Fedora
sudo dnf install gcc-c++ automake alsa-lib-devel libpng-devel SDL2-devel \
                 SDL2_net-devel opusfile-devel fluidsynth-devel

# Debian, Ubuntu
sudo apt install build-essential automake libasound2-dev libpng-dev \
                 libsdl2-dev libsdl2-net-dev libopusfile-dev libfluidsynth-dev

# Arch, Manjaro
sudo pacman -S gcc automake alsa-lib libpng sdl2 sdl2_net opusfile fluidsynth

# macOS
xcode-select --install
brew install autogen automake libpng sdl2 sdl2_net opusfile

Note: FluidSynth as a library is not available on macOS via brew. Use --disable-fluidsynth configure flag to disable the feature.

Compilation flags suggested for local optimised builds:

git clone https://github.com/dosbox-staging/dosbox-staging.git
cd dosbox-staging
./autogen.sh
./configure CPPFLAGS="-DNDEBUG" \
            CFLAGS="-O3 -march=native" \
            CXXFLAGS="-O3 -march=native"
make -j$(nproc)

See CONTRIBUTING.md for compilation flags more suited for development.

Windows - Visual Studio (2019 or newer)

First, you need to setup vcpkg to install build dependencies. Once vcpkg is bootstrapped, open PowerShell, and run:

PS:\> .\vcpkg integrate install
PS:\> .\vcpkg install --triplet x64-windows libpng sdl2 sdl2-net opusfile fluidsynth

These two steps will ensure that MSVC finds and links all dependencies.

Start Visual Studio and open file: vs\dosbox.sln. Make sure you have x64 selected as the solution platform. Use Ctrl+Shift+B to build all projects.

Windows (MSYS2, MinGW), macOS (MacPorts), Haiku OS, others

Instructions for other build systems and operating systems are documented in BUILD.md.

Imported branches and community patches

Commits landing in SVN upstream are imported to this repo in a timely manner, to the branches matching svn/* pattern, e.g. svn/trunk.

Other branch name patterns are also in use: vogons/* for various patches posted on the Vogons forum, munt/* for patches from the Munt project, etc.

Git tags matching pattern svn/* are pointing to the commits referenced by SVN "tag" paths at the time of creation.

Additionally, we attach some optional metadata to the commits imported from SVN in the form of Git notes. To fetch them, run:

git fetch origin "refs/notes/*:refs/notes/*"

For some historical context of why this repo exists you can read Vogons thread, (1, 2)