FYI, the SOSLIB has been updated, taking us to revision 151. The preferred way to update is to LOG DSK0:[901,2] and then RUN SOSUPD, which uses the UpdateCenter to download just the files that have changed. As an alternative, I've zipped up the entire set of files in this directory:

http://www.microsabio.net/dist/soslib/

A few comments:

1. The astute observer may note that the soslib zips are no longer stored underneath the 50rel (i.e. 5.0 Release) directory. I've decided that trying to keep the samples and utilities organized by A-Shell release was more complicated than it was worth. Given that these files are primarily meant to be of interest to developers, we're taking the liberty of assuming that such developers are willing to accept the possibility that a sample or utility uses a feature that is only available in a recent A-Shell release.

2. To minimize the possibility that the above causes a problem when downloading SOSLIB updates to systems running the stable rather than development version of A-Shell, there are no system directories used in the SOSLIB. Thus, downloading should not interfere with any running applications.

3. The release notes will be in the file soslib.html in the DSK0:[901,2] directory. You can launch the browser to view the local copy of the file via:

.LOG DSK0:[901.2]
.SHLEXC SOSLIB.HTML

Or you can look at the latest copy of the release notes on the web here:

http://www.microsabio.net/dist/soslib/soslib.html

4. How to find something of interest in the SOSLIB? The first step is to LOG DSK0:[901,2] and hit ENTER at the prompt, which will build a list of directories with the contents of the START.CMD in each directory which lists the files and contains some comments. You can use the EZTYP search command (S xxxxx) to search for keywords (e.g. S XTREE). Or, another technique I use when looking for an example of the use of some parameter or symbol is to search through all Basic source code in [9??,*], for example:

.SBCSCH *.B*[9??,*]
Enter string, RETurn, or '?' for Help: SS_BLACKFRAME

This will produce an EZTYP list of the matching files and lines.

Note that SBCSCH.LIT is wildcard file search utility contributed to the SOSLIB by Gary Guilbert; if not already in your SYS: account, you can copy it from [901,4] of the SOSLIB itself. Also note that we searched for *.B*[9??,*] in order to look at all the Basic (*.BAS, *.BP and *.BSI) files in all of the SOSLIB directories. You can also list multiple wildcards, comma separated, so you could have, for example, also looked for CMD and DEF files with:

.SBCSCH *.B*[9??,*],*.CMD[9??,*],*.DEF[9??,*]

Suggestion: If you want to create modified versions of any of the sample programs, start by copying it to some other directory. For example, if you want to experiment with changes to the XTRA2.BP[908,21] sample program, perhaps copy it to [998,21], so that it isn't likely to be overwritten by a future update of the SOSLIB.

If as the result of your work you end up with a new or improved sample or utility that might be of interest to others, sending it back to me for inclusion in the next SOSLIB update. (In the case of SBX routines, please include a sample program that calls the routine.)