tenox7/nt31sdk repository overview

⁠nt31sdk

The Win32 SDK for Windows NT 3.1 (July 1993) in a container. Build programs for Windows NT 3.1 with the original Microsoft tools. They run under Wine on 32-bit Debian.

⁠What's inside

• cl386 8.00.3190a: the C compiler. cl is the same compiler.
• link32 2.42: the linker. link32 -dump works like dumpbin.
• nmake 1.12, with the SDK's ntwin32.mak.
• lib32, rc, cvtres, mc, masm386 5.NT.02, cvdump, cvpack, undname, and the rest of the SDK's i386 tools.
• The SDK headers and libraries.
• No SDK samples or other source code.

The programs you build are i386 NT 3.10 console or GUI programs. They run on Windows NT 3.1 and every later 32-bit Windows. Many also run under Wine in this image.

⁠Quick start

Go to your project folder and run nmake there:

docker run --rm --platform linux/386 -v "$PWD":/src tenox7/nt31sdk nmake

• --platform linux/386 stops a warning about the platform.
• On arm64 hosts, such as Apple Silicon Macs, the image runs under emulation, so it is slower.

⁠A Makefile

!include <ntwin32.mak>

all: hello.exe

hello.obj: hello.c
    $(cc) $(cflags) $(cvars) hello.c

hello.exe: hello.obj
    $(link) $(conflags) -out:hello.exe hello.obj $(conlibs)

• GUI program: use $(guiflags) and $(guilibs).
• Multithreaded C runtime: use $(cvarsmt) with $(conlibsmt) or $(guilibsmt).
• Resources: run $(rc) -r app.rc, then $(cvtres) -$(CPU) app.res -o app.rbj, then link app.rbj.
• Static library: $(implib) -out:my.lib a.obj b.obj runs lib32.

⁠Run one tool

docker run --rm --platform linux/386 -v "$PWD":/src tenox7/nt31sdk cl386 -c -W3 hello.c
docker run --rm --platform linux/386 -v "$PWD":/src tenox7/nt31sdk link32 -dump -headers hello.exe
docker run --rm --platform linux/386 -v "$PWD":/src tenox7/nt31sdk wine hello.exe
docker run --rm -it --platform linux/386 -v "$PWD":/src tenox7/nt31sdk bash

• These tools are commands: cl386 cl link32 lib32 nmake rc cvtres mc masm386 cvdump cvpack undname.
• Any other tool in the SDK: wine-mstools TOOL ARGS, for example wine-mstools rebase.
• With no command, the container prints this text.

⁠Paths and environment

• Your folder is /src, which is Z:\src for the tools. Relative paths work.
• An absolute Unix path on the command line becomes a Z: path. This works alone, or after an option such as -Fo/src/out/x.obj or -out:/src/x.exe.
• The SDK is in /opt/mstools, with bin, h and lib.
• The image sets what SETENV sets on NT:
  • CPU=i386
  • INCLUDE=Z:\opt\mstools\h
  • LIB=Z:\opt\mstools\lib
  • the tools in the Wine path
• To change one, use -e, for example -e 'INCLUDE=Z:\src\inc;Z:\opt\mstools\h'.

⁠Good to know

• Exit codes come through. A failed compile makes nmake fail, and docker run fails too.
• masm386 is MASM 5. It has no .model flat. End its command line with ; and put quotes around it, so the shell does not take the ;: masm386 -Mx "file.asm;".
• No input, no waiting. A tool that asks a question fails at once, unless you run with -it.
• Files belong to root. The container runs as root, so on Linux the files it writes are owned by root.
• i386 only. The SDK's MIPS tools are not included. They only run on MIPS NT.

⁠Build the image

docker build --platform linux/386 -t nt31sdk .

mstools/ must hold the SDK's bin, h and lib folders. On the NT 3.1 SDK CD they are MSTOOLS\BIN\I386, MSTOOLS\H and MSTOOLS\LIB\I386.