SVARDOS VS FREEDOS: WHAT IS THE STORY?

The content of this file is an excerpt from the SvarDOS Help System
[20240620]. Two sections are reproduced entirely: "SvarDOS vs FreeDOS:
what is the story?" and "SvarDOS origins". Since this file was
transcripted by hand, all typos you might find should be mine.

-- f6k@sdf.org, 2026/08/22.


      *** Why would I want to use SvarDOS instead of FreeDOS ***

The FreeDOS project is a free, open-source operating system that aims
to be 100% compatible with MS-DOS. And it is awesome. So why would I
want to use SvarDOS instead?

Long release cycles

The FreeDOS project began 29 june 1994. Version 1.0 came around in
2006. Version 1.1 has been released in 2012, and the version 1.2
followed in December 2016. Version 1.3 was released in Frebruary 2022.
This translates roughly to a 5-year release cycle. Granted, the DOS
scene is not as active as it used to be, but still, many things happen
during a few years. Such version-centric approach also requires users
to perform full-system upgrades every now and then.

SvarDOS is very different in this regard: there are no versions at
all. Whenever a new program is included into or updated within the
distribution, it becomes immediately available through the SvarDOS
repository and may be pulled either through the SvarDOS website or
SvarDOS' pkgnet tool. Already installed systems can be easily kept
up-to-date using the distribution's package manager.

Constraints of legal nature

The FreeDOS project mimicks a proprietary operating system, with all
its APIs and peculiarities. For this reason, the project always had to
be extremely careful about what can and what cannot be included within
the FreeDOS distribution. As a result, only "free software" (as in
freedom, think GPL, BSD, and so on) can make its way into the official
distribution. While such cautious approach is sane and legally safe,
it is far from practical for users. Allowing exclusively free software
means that a high number of useful programs, tools, and games are left
behind. For example "freeware" tools (as in "gratis but no source
included") are a no-go. Even open-source programs can be rejected, if
they do not clearly state that they comply with an OSI-approved
license.

SvarDOS, on the other hand, is much more liberal about including
packages. Basically, anything that is objectively useful, of
reasonable quality, free/gratis and can be legally distributed in the
form of a package, can be included in SvarDOS. The only exception is
for the "core" system (ie. The operating system itself), which must be
based exclusively on free/libre software.

FreeDOS included!

It mus be noted, that although the goals of SvarDOS and FreeDOS may be
slightly different, SvarDOS wouldn't exist without FreeDOS. Indeed,
SvarDOS uses the excellent FreeDOS kernel, as well as a few other
utilities borrowed from the FreeDOS ecosystem.


                       *** SvarDOS origins ***
       *** (history from the point of view of its creator) ***

Mateusz Viste says:

In the year 2005-2015 I used to perform packaging work for the FreeDOS
project. I wasn't pleased with the packaging tool that FreeDOS used
back then (FDPKG), so in 2012 I started working on ao new package
manager, with network support, automatic updates, etc - I named it
FDNPKG. Later I also devised a scripted way of generating an "always
up to date" FreeDOS CD that I unimaginatively called "all_cd.iso".
This CD included FDNPKG and all the FreeDOS packages available at the
given moment.

I still wasn't satisfied with how FreeDOS clings to its notion of
"releases" and that it cannot include some software because of
licensing issues, so in 2016 I decided to create my own distribution,
that I called Svarog386 (there was also a Svarog86 project that I had
created a couple months earlier, dedicated to 8086 machines).
Svarog386 naturally relied on the FreeDOS kernel and used the FDNPKG
package manager.

Then, in 2021, I found it increasingly annoying to look after two
separate distributions. Over time, FDNPKG also because a huge piece of
protected mode code, and although it was magnificent code, I was no
longer happy with it: too many features, too much data processing, too
much memory required... In a word: too much fluff. I longed for
something simpler, that would do perhaps less, but with more
transparency towards user - and something that would work in real mode
with no much RAM, so it could run even on ancient 8086 machines.

The result of these thoughts was SvarDOS: a distribution that replaced
both Svarog86 and Svarog386, and that came with its own package
manager - a much simpler (and in my opinion much more elegant) too
than FDNPKG.