tenox7/nt40sdk repository overview

⁠nt40sdk

Visual C++ 4.2 (July 1996) and the Win32 SDK for Windows NT 4.0 (1996) in a container. Build programs for Windows NT 4.0 with the original Microsoft tools. They run under Wine on 32-bit Debian.

⁠What's inside

• cl 10.20: the C and C++ compiler. C++ has templates, namespaces, exceptions with -GX and RTTI with -GR.
• link 4.20: the linker.
• nmake 1.61, with the SDK's win32.mak.
• lib 4.20, rc 4.00, cvtres 4.00, dumpbin 4.20, editbin 4.20, bscmake 4.10, mc 1.00, mktyplib 2.20, midl 3.00, cvpack, makehm, uuidgen.
• The SDK's Win32 headers and libraries for Windows NT 4.0, including DirectX 3 (DirectDraw, Direct3D, DirectSound, DirectPlay), Winsock 2, SetupAPI and OpenGL.
• The headers and libraries of Visual C++ 4.2, after the SDK's.
• MFC 4.2 headers and libraries.
• The redistributable DLLs, such as MSVCRT.DLL and MFC42.DLL, in /opt/msdev/redist.
• No samples, CRT or MFC source, or help files.

The programs you build are i386 programs marked for Windows NT 4.0. They run on Windows NT 4.0 and every later 32-bit Windows. Many also run under Wine in this image.

• NT 3.51: build with nmake APPVER=3.51, and avoid functions that NT 4.0 added.
• NT 3.5: use tenox7/nt35sdk.
• NT 3.1: use tenox7/nt31sdk.

⁠Quick start

Go to your project folder and run nmake there:

docker run --rm --platform linux/386 -v "$PWD":/src tenox7/nt40sdk 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 <win32.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).
• C runtime DLL: use $(cvarsdll) with $(conlibsdll) or $(guilibsdll). The program then needs MSVCRT.DLL. NT 4.0 has it.
• OLE: link $(olelibs).
• Resources: run $(rc) -r app.rc, then link app.res with the objects.
• Static library: $(implib) -out:my.lib a.obj b.obj runs lib.
• C++: $(cflags) works for C++ too. Add -GX for exceptions.
• C++ library: win32.mak links with -nodefaultlib, so name the C++ library yourself, before $(conlibs):
  • <iostream>, <string>, <vector> and the rest: libcp.lib, or libcpmt.lib with $(conlibsmt), or msvcprt.lib with $(conlibsdll).
  • The old <iostream.h>: libci.lib, or libcimt.lib with $(conlibsmt), or msvcirt.lib with $(conlibsdll).
  • Without nmake, cl finds these by itself.
• NT 3.51: nmake APPVER=3.51 marks the program for NT 3.51.

⁠Without nmake

docker run --rm --platform linux/386 -v "$PWD":/src tenox7/nt40sdk cl hello.c
docker run --rm --platform linux/386 -v "$PWD":/src tenox7/nt40sdk cl app.c user32.lib -link -subsystem:windows
docker run --rm --platform linux/386 -v "$PWD":/src tenox7/nt40sdk cl -GX -GR app.cpp
docker run --rm --platform linux/386 -v "$PWD":/src tenox7/nt40sdk cl -LD my.c -link -base:0x10000000

• MFC, static: cl -MT -GX app.cpp -link -subsystem:windows
• MFC, DLL: cl -MD -GX -D_AFXDLL app.cpp -link -subsystem:windows. The program then needs MFC42.DLL and MSVCRT.DLL. Copies are in /opt/msdev/redist.
• DLL: -LD builds my.dll with its import library my.lib.
• NT 3.51: add -link -subsystem:console,3.51, or windows,3.51 for a GUI program.

⁠Run one tool

docker run --rm --platform linux/386 -v "$PWD":/src tenox7/nt40sdk dumpbin -headers hello.exe
docker run --rm --platform linux/386 -v "$PWD":/src tenox7/nt40sdk dumpbin -imports hello.exe
docker run --rm --platform linux/386 -v "$PWD":/src tenox7/nt40sdk midl app.idl
docker run --rm --platform linux/386 -v "$PWD":/src tenox7/nt40sdk wine hello.exe
docker run --rm -it --platform linux/386 -v "$PWD":/src tenox7/nt40sdk bash

• These tools are commands: cl link lib nmake rc cvtres dumpbin editbin bscmake mc mktyplib midl cvpack makehm uuidgen.
• Any other tool: wine-tool TOOL ARGS, for example wine-tool undname. It looks in the SDK first, then in Visual C++ 4.2.
• 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, include and lib.
• Visual C++ 4.2 is in /opt/msdev, with bin, include, lib, mfc/include, mfc/lib and redist.
• The image sets these the way the SDK's SETENV does, with the SDK first:
  • CPU=i386, for win32.mak
  • INCLUDE=Z:\opt\mstools\include;Z:\opt\msdev\include;Z:\opt\msdev\mfc\include
  • LIB=Z:\opt\mstools\lib;Z:\opt\msdev\lib;Z:\opt\msdev\mfc\lib
  • the tools of both in the Wine path
• To change one, use -e, for example -e 'INCLUDE=Z:\src\inc;Z:\opt\mstools\include;Z:\opt\msdev\include'.

⁠Good to know

• GUI programs need -link -subsystem:windows. Without it, cl links a console program and looks for main. $(guiflags) in win32.mak does it.
• The C++ library is the 1996 draft. It has no std::, and containers need their allocator written out: vector<int, allocator<int> > v;. string, vector, list, map and <iostream> work this way.
• No rebasing after linking. rebase and editbin -rebase fail under Wine. Give a DLL its base address when you link it, with -base:.
• Exit codes come through. A failed compile makes nmake fail, and docker run fails too.
• 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. This is the x86 edition of Visual C++ 4.2. The SDK's MIPS, Alpha and PowerPC tools are not included.

⁠Build the image

docker build --platform linux/386 -t nt40sdk .

• msdev/ must hold the bin, include, lib, mfc/include, mfc/lib and redist folders. On the Visual C++ 4.2 CD they are in MSDEV.
• mstools/ must hold the SDK's bin, include and lib folders, as its setup lays them out for i386: MSTOOLS\BIN\I386 with MSTOOLS\BIN\WINNT\I386, MSTOOLS\INCLUDE, and MSTOOLS\LIB\I386 with MSTOOLS\LIB\WINNT\I386. The SDK CD stores the libraries compressed (*.LI_), so expand them first.