INT 21 - DOS 1+ - CREATE NEW PROGRAM SEGMENT PREFIX AH = 26h DX = segment at which to create PSP (see below) Notes: new PSP is updated with memory size information; INTs 22h, 23h, 24h taken from interrupt vector table; the parent PSP field is set to 0 (DOS 2+) DOS assumes that the caller's CS is the segment of the PSP to copy SeeAlso: AH=4Bh,AH=50h,AH=51h,AH=55h,AH=62h,AH=67h Format of PSP: Offset Size Description 00h 2 BYTEs INT 20 instruction for CP/M CALL 0 program termination the CDh 20h here is often used as a signature for a valid PSP 02h WORD segment of first byte beyond memory allocated to program 04h BYTE unused filler 05h BYTE CP/M CALL 5 service request (FAR JMP to 000C0h) BUG: (DOS 2+) PSPs created by INT 21/AH=4Bh point at 000BEh 06h WORD CP/M compatibility--size of first segment for .COM files 08h 2 BYTEs remainder of FAR JMP at 05h 0Ah DWORD stored INT 22 termination address 0Eh DWORD stored INT 23 control-Break handler address 12h DWORD DOS 1.1+ stored INT 24 critical error handler address 16h WORD segment of parent PSP 18h 20 BYTEs DOS 2+ Job File Table, one byte per file handle, FFh = closed 2Ch WORD DOS 2+ segment of environment for process 2Eh DWORD DOS 2+ process's SS:SP on entry to last INT 21 call 32h WORD DOS 3+ number of entries in JFT (default 20) 34h DWORD DOS 3+ pointer to JFT (default PSP:0018h) 38h DWORD DOS 3+ pointer to previous PSP (default FFFFFFFFh in 3.x) used by SHARE in DOS 3.3 3Ch BYTE apparently unused by DOS versions <= 6.00 3Dh BYTE apparently used by some versions of APPEND 3Eh BYTE (Novell NetWare) flag: next byte initialized if CEh 3Fh BYTE (Novell Netware) Novell task number if previous byte is CEh 40h 2 BYTEs DOS 5+ version to return on INT 21/AH=30h 42h WORD (MSWin3) selector of next PSP (PDB) in linked list Windows keeps a linked list of Windows programs only 44h 4 BYTEs unused by DOS versions <= 6.00 48h BYTE (MSWindows3) bit 0 set if non-Windows application (WINOLDAP) 49h 7 BYTEs unused by DOS versions <= 6.00 50h 3 BYTEs DOS 2+ service request (INT 21/RETF instructions) 53h 2 BYTEs unused in DOS versions <= 6.00 55h 7 BYTEs unused in DOS versions <= 6.00; can be used to make first FCB into an extended FCB 5Ch 16 BYTEs first default FCB, filled in from first commandline argument overwrites second FCB if opened 6Ch 16 BYTEs second default FCB, filled in from second commandline argument overwrites beginning of commandline if opened 7Ch 4 BYTEs unused 80h 128 BYTEs commandline / default DTA command tail is BYTE for length of tail, N BYTEs for the tail, followed by a BYTE containing 0Dh Notes: in DOS v3+, the limit on simultaneously open files may be increased by allocating memory for a new open file table, filling it with FFh, copying the first 20 bytes from the default table, and adjusting the pointer and count at 34h and 32h. However, DOS will only copy the first 20 file handles into a child PSP (including the one created on EXEC). network redirectors based on the original MS-Net implementation use values of 80h-FEh in the open file table to indicate remote files; Novell NetWare reportedly also uses values of 80h-FEh MS-DOS 5.00 incorrectly fills the FCB fields when loading a program high; the first FCB is empty and the second contains the first parameter some DOS extenders place protected-mode values in various PSP fields such as the "parent" field, which can confuse PSP walkers. Always check either for the CDh 20h signature or that the suspected PSP is at the beginning of a memory block which owns itself (the preceding paragraph should be a valid MCB with "owner" the same as the suspected PSP). Novell NetWare updates the fields at offsets 3Eh and 3Fh without checking that a legal PSP segment is current; see AH=50h for further discussion Format of environment block: Offset Size Description 00h N BYTEs first environment variable, ASCIZ string of form "var=value" N BYTEs second environment variable, ASCIZ string ... N BYTEs last environment variable, ASCIZ string of form "var=value" BYTE 00h ---DOS 3+--- WORD number of strings following environment (normally 1) N BYTEs ASCIZ full pathname of program owning this environment other strings may follow .