Port OS2 to linux

[goobertech]

I have a need to take a couple pieces of software from OS2 (2.1) and port them to Linux, as well as (hopefully) making some modifications to one of them as well. I rescued a SFF PC's from the I.T. Guy's e-waste and installed Debian 12 on it for this project.

I first cloned 2ine and fought with that until I viewed the readme, realized that project was probably never finished, then gave up there. I then found an OS2-to-linux porting tool on GitHub, cloned and tweaked the makefiles to finally get it to build and install on deb 12... At least I think I did. To be honest, I can't figure out what to do next. The documentation on the tool doesn't explain the process and It seems this subject hasn't been touched in more than a decade, otherwise my google-fu is getting weak. I'm hoping someone here has some porting experience and can point me in the right direction.

I'm not loyal to any distro as of yet. So if I just need to install one with better tools for this task, that's fine too...

I am going to be honest, i have virtually no reputable experience with Linux... I learn best by setting my sights on a project, just outside my ability, then riding the struggle bus all the way through. This is how I learned python, arduino's, networking (or what I do know of it) and industrial automation programming (plc's and such) of which is my bread and butter currently. Thanks in advance for any advice I can get here.

 

[GatorsFan]

Have a look here - https://os2linux.sourceforge.net/

 

[goobertech]

Have a look here - https://os2linux.sourceforge.net/

That's the tool I was referring to, that I found on GitHub. I believe I was able to build and install the libraries using the listed commands plus a "make install" command but... I can't find anything explaining what to do after that, or how to call the commands.

 

[GatorsFan]

another option maybe try SAMBA - https://www.samba.org/samba/

It is available through the Synaptic Package Manager as well

 

[goobertech]

another option maybe try SAMBA - https://www.samba.org/samba/

It is available through the Synaptic Package Manager as well

Isn't that just a file transfer tool? I'm looking to convert os/2 2.1 software to operate on a Linux machine.

 

[GatorsFan]

Isn't that just a file transfer tool? I'm looking to convert os/2 2.1 software to operate on a Linux machine.

Yep that is correct - my bad - I am kind of hesitant with OS2Linux because it has not been updated for 10 years now

I did find this - https://github.com/OS2World/LINUX-SYSTEM-OS2Linux/blob/master/INSTALL

Installing OS2Linux
===================

OS2Linux must be dowloaded from Subversion. There are no distribution files
available. This means you must build the library yourself. Here are the
commands to do that.

$ ./bootstrap
$ ./configure
$ make

This should build an os2linux.so file which you can then install into your
system. The only other file you will need is a copy of the include/os2.h
file for use in compiling your old OS/2 programs.

Notes:

1. OS2Linux can be build on either a 32-bit or a 64-bit system. Obviously
the programs you use to link to this library must be the of the
same type.
-----------------------------------------------------------

That is about all the help I can provide maybe someone else can jump in

 

[goobertech]

Yep. I felt the same. But options appear slim for this gray area of software. I followed those steps plus adding "make install" after the final. It would not build initially. I had to play with the config and make files and virtually omit the "DosSetTime" API but I was finally able to get it to build and "install" on deb 12, if you could call it that. I found all it really did was add a few shared libraries which I can't find in the docs how to invoke it or even test if it installed correctly. Thank you for your input.