DOS ain't dead

(Copied from freedos-user.)

Hello!

After more than a year since the last release, today I created release 10 of lDebug (that's a small L) [1], the advanced 86-DOS debugger based on FreeDOS Debug/X. Most of the news are listed in the manual's news section [2].

Some of these news, in order of addition:

* In the FAT32 boot sector loader do a proper LBA check
* Open file handles with no-inherit flag
* Allow kernel command line to start with a semicolon
* Allow idle HLT in DPMI protected mode by clearing a new DCO2 option
* Use LZEXE-based compression format for help pages and ELD library
* Bootloaded: Cache a FAT sector during seek operations
* Fix crash after immediate write using a memory R command then Ctrl-C
* Allow a comma before THEN keyword of IF command
* Set RC (Return Code) specific error variable more, such as L and W
* Add IF EXISTS EXT command construct
* Update lDOS boot revision used, with multi-sector reads in iniload

The full history of the project is available in the Mercurial (hgweb) repos, including for lDebug [3] and ldosboot [4]. The three types of packages (native, FreeDOS, and SvarDOS) can be loaded from our server [5].

As mentioned on the pushbx blog [6] the next step for lDebug will likely be to allow building the main debugger executable using a WarpLink step in the build process. This is interesting mainly for folks who want to re-build the debugger on their own rather than use one of the builds that we prepare.

Suggested FreeDOS news blurb:

After more than a year since the last release, there now is release 10 of lDebug (that's a small L). This is an advanced line-oriented debugger based on FreeDOS Debug/X. The new release contains some bugfixes and a few added features. It newly uses an LZEXE-based compression format for its online help pages and the packed Extension for lDebug (ELD) library. The freedos-user list has a longer announcement [x]. Get it from the project's web page [1] or from the ibiblio mirror [y].

Regards,
ecm


[1]: https://pushbx.org/ecm/web/#projects-ldebug
[2]: https://pushbx.org/ecm/doc/ldebug.htm#news-r10
[3]: https://hg.pushbx.org/ecm/ldebug/
[4]: https://hg.pushbx.org/ecm/ldosboot/
[5]: https://pushbx.org/ecm/download/ldebug/
[6]: https://pushbx.org/ecm/dokuwiki/blog/pushbx/2026/0...arly_mid_february_extensions_to_warplink#ldebug

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