executor/README

Executor is a Macintosh emulator that is able to run many ancient Mac
OS 680x0 binaries (System 6 era, early System 7) without using any
intellectual property from Apple Computer.

Executor has not been actively worked on for many years.  It is more
of a curiousity than anything practical; it does not run PowerPC
binaries, nor did it even run most System 7 applications.  Unless you
have a particular application that you know works with Executor, or
just like emulation a lot, you probably don't want to spend any time
with Executor.

Included are a bunch of auxiliarly files and miscellaneous front-ends.

The DOS port required various other libraries that we had permission
to use, but that we did not necessarily have the permission to publish
the source for, so the source to some of the packages that the DOS
port requires is not present in the github repository.

If you want to try to build a version of Executor, try this:

  cd src
  autoreconf --install
  cd ..
  mkdir build
  cd build
  ../src/configure
  make

That should leave you with a binary called executor (at least on
32-bit x86 Linux systems, or a Mac (Intel or PowerPC) with XCode 3
installed).  Unfortunately, without a System Folder, Executor won't
even come close to running.  If you're using a system that can install
RPMs and you can dig up and install a copy of
executor-aux-2.1pr16-1.i386.rpm, then you should be able to run.

Now that Executor is using a recent GNU build system, my plan is to
use the datadir related variables as a place to install the template
for a system volume and to automatically build an ExecutorVolume
somewhere (based on environment variables and defaults) the first time
Executor is run.

In the meantime, if anyone is reading this and wants a copy of
executor-aux-2.1pr16-1.i386.rpm, try messaging me (ctm) at github.

If you're on an x86_64 based machine and you have the ability to compile
32-bit binaries, you may be able to build a copy of Executor by using our
old build system and doing something like

  mkdir -p build/debug-linux
  cd build/debug-linux
  ../../util/configure.sh  '--host=i486-linux' '--build=i486-linux' '--front-end=x' '--host-gcc=gcc -m32' '--cflags=-fno-strict-aliasing -I/usr/X11R6/include -O0 -finline-functions -g -Wall' '--root=../..' '--host-file-format=glibc' '--sound=linux' '--syn68k-host=i486-linux-glibc'
  make

However, you may find that you need to hand-edit Makefile and change the line

BUILD_GCC = gcc

to

BUILD_GCC = gcc -m32

In the past it was possible to cross-compile a version of Executor for
Windows using mingw32.  So far that port hasn't been tried since
putting the code on Github.  It probably doesn't work, but probably
could be made to work without much effort.

At one time we had Executor running on the Alpha, a 64-bit
environment.  We actually modified gcc to support "pointer bit-fields"
and were able to get Executor to run.  Now that 64-bit machines are
more popular, I've begun an experiment in supporting 64-bit machines
without modifying the compiler.  See README.64 for more info.

As I continue Executor's transition to a recent gnu build system I may
inadvertantly push versions that don't build when using the above
commands.  Don't hesitate to ask me if you're having trouble
compiling, linking or running any of the above platforms.

My email address is still <ctm@ardi.com>, although ARDI itself is
defunct.  I get a ridiculous amount of spam and will quite possibly
not see email addressed to me.  I'm ctm on github (http://github.com)
and typically check my email there once a day.

--Cliff Matthews