EXE2BIN (DOS Command)
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The command-line tool exe2bin is a post-compilation utility program available on MS-DOS and other operating systems.


Overview

Early compilers and linkers for the MS-DOS platform could not produce a COM file executable directly. Instead, the compilers would output an EXE-format file with relocation information. If all 8086 segments were set to be identical in such an EXE file (i.e. the "tiny" memory model was used), then exe2bin could convert it to a COM file. exe2bin could also be used to convert compiled code to make it suitable to be embedded in ROM as part of
BIOS In computing, BIOS (, ; Basic Input/Output System, also known as the System BIOS, ROM BIOS, BIOS ROM or PC BIOS) is firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization during the ...
or a
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.


Availability

The command was included in MS/DOS versions 1 thru 3.1 as part of a standard distribution. For version 3.2, among the changes were the version included did not permit itself to run on any version except 3.2. For the next version, 3.3, there was no EXE2BIN on the DOS disk. "Instead, IBM sells the program separately, at an extra cost, with the DOS Technical Reference." IBM also added code to check the version. ''PC Magazine'' published a workaround: just patch it to work with 3.2 or higher. One way or the other, it was no longer available for the base price after 3.2; for version 6 it was on what was called the Supplemental Disk. The program was also distributed with many
language compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that ...
s for MS-DOS in the 1980s, and included with certain versions of IBM PC DOS. PhysTechSoft &
Paragon Technology Systems Paragon Software Group is a German software company that develops hard drive management software, low-level file system drivers and storage technologies. The Smart Handheld Device Division (SHDD) offers multilingual dictionaries, multilingual ha ...
PTS-DOS, Digital Research DR DOS 6.0,DR DOS 6.0 User Guide Optimisation and Configuration Tips
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and Datalight ROM-DOS, also include an implementation of the command. The command is also available in FreeDOS. This implementation is licensed under the Sybase Open Watcom Public License. Windows XP and later versions include exe2bin and other
16-bit 16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors. A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two mos ...
commands (nonnative) for the MS-DOS subsystem to maintain MS-DOS compatibility. The 16-bit MS-DOS subsystem commands are not available on 64-bit editions of Windows.


See also

* List of DOS commands


References


Further reading

* *


External links


Exe2bin , Microsoft DocsOpen source EXE2BIN implementation that comes with MS-DOS v2.0
{{Windows commands External DOS commands IBM PC compatibles Microsoft free software Programming language implementation