Q&A - Recent questions without answers

Hope you are all practicing your Welsh?

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 11:29:41 +0000

Look forward to seeing you all at EuroForth 2026 in Cardiff.

Z" Welcome to Wales for the Software Conference" Z" Welsh" TRANSLATE CR Z$.
Croeso i Gymru ar gyfer y Gynhadledd Feddalwedd ok

(Yes, that really works!)

Support for RISC-V

Thu, 21 May 2026 14:45:25 +0000

Just curious but is there any planned support for RISC-V in the future?

Improvement needed to the vfx documentation for INCLUDED

Fri, 15 May 2026 11:19:37 +0000

INCLUDED cannot be used to insert code into a word that is being compiled.

INCLUDE-FILE can.

Took us (i.e. Nick and his AI) quite a while to figure that out.

Initialising local values - a plea

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 12:55:08 +0000

In his paper to Euroforth 2025, Nick Nelson made a plea (I think his second plea on the same subject), that local values should be initialised on entry.
It is so easy to forget to do this manually.
Now it has caught us out again.

If you use

gtk_tree_model_get

to retrieve the value of a column, and you use a local to put it in, it works fine if the column is a data type string.
But if the column is a data type int or bool, and you tell it to put it in ADDR <local> , it only half fills it because ints and bools are only 32 bit.
If you have forgotten to manually initialise your local, then the result is garbage.
A very hard bug to track down.

Statically linked turnkey application

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 14:59:00 +0000

I'm playing with VFX Forth on Linux and I was wondering if it supports generating statically linked executables, or if dynamic linking is required?

file p0046
    p0046: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2, no section header

ldd p0046
        linux-vdso.so.1 (0x00007ffe0cf14000)
        libdl.so.2 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so.2 (0x00007fd313f6b000)
        libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (0x00007fd313d89000)
        /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00007fd313f88000)

Adding interrupt handler

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 14:39:00 +0000

If I relocate the vector table of a cortex-m4 to r/w memory, can I add EXC: definition to the target located in IntCortex.fth?

Edit:

I’ve realised I can use vectored execution and a dummy isr.

Are you all coming to the Euroforth conference?

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 08:32:26 +0000

Hamburg, 12.-14. September 2025

https://euro.theforth.net/

Should be very informative, as always.

There’s a bug in the macOS cross compiler

Sun, 03 Aug 2025 04:08:12 +0000

After some investigation, when cross compiling vpf32sx.fth the stack depth appears to be limited to 6 values, as any more values are lost. This causes the population of farray to fail.

Is there a formal bug submission process?

Thanks,

Theo

Problem with binding rebuilt VFX (MacOS) Kernel

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 14:08:54 +0000

When I rebuild the VFX kernel using x64.mo and mosx64.sh, I can generate VFXFORTH64.img. But the script then tries to run it directly, and macOS throws a “exec format error” (likely expecting a Mach-O binary):

Is there a work-around for this, or am I following the wrong shell script? (I'm using the script mosx64.sh in /Kernel as the guide.)

thanks

- Bruno

generating a DLL on Windows - missing VfxForthBH_64_win.exe

Wed, 08 Jan 2025 12:40:35 +0000

I am trying to generate a Windows DLL, starting with the GenDllTest.fth example.

However, my distribution (version 5.43 build 4241) does not contain a pair of matched low-memory / high-memory compilers. VfxForthK_64_win.exe does not have init-libs, but both VfxForthB_x64_win.exe and VfxForth_x64_win.exe compile the file successfully, with the DllMain entry reported at different addresses. Unfortunately, that does not seem sufficient for MakeDll.

MakeDll %bin%\VfxForthB_x64_win %bin%\VfxForth_x64_win %mydir%\GenDllTest C:\temp\testdll
Saving C:\temp\testdll
Err# -256 ERR: Execution of a DEFERed word with no ASSIGNed action.
-> MakeDll %bin%\VfxForth_x64_win %bin%\VfxForthB_x64_win %mydir%\GenDllTest C:\temp\testdll
                                                                                            ^
I then tried to make a VfxForthBH_x64_win.exe by using VfxBase64.bld. But (after selecting the latest ExternWin64.fth) I gave up after stumbling on the following error. Also I could not find how to load to make the result load to a higher memory area (just reserve unused space in the dictionary to get an offset?).

Err# -13 ERR: Undefined word.
Source: "c:\Products\VfxCommunity\Sources\VFXBase\CallDefWin64.fth" on line 178
->     [a movsx a] Poff bytePSP, ^ai IntArgReg [a]
                                                   ^

False virus detection of turnkeys

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 01:25:53 +0000

My saved turnkey exe (which has EntryPoint reassigned) is tripping Windows 10 defender on my own machine. The file gets automatically quarantined a few moments after being copied to another folder.

As I recall, I used to have this whenever I did anything with the compiler. Since I'm not in this program, I guess that Windows Defender has gotten more sophisticated with its heuristics.

What can I do that (hopefully) doesn't involve code signing?

Version: 5.20 (build 3797) 32-bit

Fixing RebuildLin64.sh broken on Linux x64, patch supplied

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 08:18:44 +0000

Hello

In order to integrate PDFhelp.fth into the kernel I had to make ./RebuildLin64.sh work. It says in the manual be careful of paths, which I automated, and fixed a couple of typos as well.

So now no more include for PDFhelp.fth, it just works when I boot Forth, happy bunny :)

Binary files ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/Bin/VfxForth_x64_lin.elf and ./Bin/VfxForth_x64_lin.elf differ

diff -ruN ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/Kernel/mlin64.sh ./Kernel/mlin64.sh

--- ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/Kernel/mlin64.sh 2023-06-09 11:36:10.000000000 +0100

+++ ./Kernel/mlin64.sh 2023-08-27 19:06:03.625947939 +0100

@@ -6,12 +6,12 @@

 

 # build arguments

 VFX_ARGS="1 constant Community?"

-if [ "$VFX_BATCH_MODE" -eq "1" ]; then

+if [ "$VFX_BATCH_MODE" = "1" ]; then

     VFX_ARGS+=" 1 constant BatchMode"

 fi

 

 # save the INI file

-cp ~/.VfxForth/VfxForth.ini ini.temp

+cp ~/.VfxForth/VfxForth64.ini ini.temp

 

 # Build the desktop version

 # TODO CI2020 stephen: why isn't that crosscompile in the buildkit?

@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@

 $XCDIR/x64.elf $VFX_ARGS include x64lin1.ctl

 mv -f VFXFORTH.img  vfxkern64.elf

 chmod +x vfxkern64.elf

-cp -a vfxkern64.elf  ../Images/VfxForthK_x64_lin.elf

+cp -a vfxkern64.elf ${XCDIR}/VfxForthK_x64_lin.elf

 

 # restore the INI file

-mv ini.temp ~/.VfxForth/VfxForth.ini

+mv ini.temp ~/.VfxForth/VfxForth64.ini

Binary files ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/Kernel/vfxkern64.elf and ./Kernel/vfxkern64.elf differ

Binary files ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/Kernel/XREF.XRF and ./Kernel/XREF.XRF differ

diff -ruN ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/RebuildLin64.sh ./RebuildLin64.sh

--- ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/RebuildLin64.sh 2023-06-09 11:36:10.000000000 +0100

+++ ./RebuildLin64.sh 2023-08-27 19:28:23.128666912 +0100

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@

 #! /bin/bash

-INI_FILE=${VFX_DEFAULT_INI:-$HOME/.VfxForth/VfxForth.ini}

+INI_FILE=${VFX_DEFAULT_INI:-$HOME/.VfxForth/VfxForth64.ini}

 INI_TEMP=ini.temp

 

 [ -f $INI_FILE ] && cp $INI_FILE $INI_TEMP

@@ -9,6 +9,15 @@

 ./mlin64.sh $*

 cd ..

 if [ "$VFX_BATCH_MODE" != "1" ]; then

-    ./CopyLin64.sh

+    # ./CopyLin64.sh

+

+    printf "\n\n                 !!!! IMPORTANT PLEASE READ !!!! \n\n"

+    printf "Rebuild64.sh tries to execute ./CopyLin64.sh which does not exist !\n"

+    printf "I can't find the code for this file but from the name and the fact that\n"

+    printf "is right at the end I would guess that it copies the 64 bit linux exes\n"

+    printf "to Linux ... I would suggest you run ./InstallMe.Lin64.sh instead :)"

+    printf "\n\n"

+

 fi

+

 [ -f $INI_TEMP ] && mv $INI_TEMP $INI_FILE

diff -ruN ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/VFXBase/mlin64.sh ./VFXBase/mlin64.sh

--- ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/VFXBase/mlin64.sh 2023-06-09 11:36:10.000000000 +0100

+++ ./VFXBase/mlin64.sh 2023-08-27 18:59:10.784766919 +0100

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@

 

 # CI2020: setup directories

 VFX_BUILDKIT_DIR=${VFX_BUILDKIT_DIR:-$HOME/buildkit.dev}

-VFX_DEFAULT_INI=${VFX_DEFAULT_INI:-$HOME/.VfxForth/VfxForth.ini}

+VFX_DEFAULT_INI=${VFX_DEFAULT_INI:-$HOME/.VfxForth/VfxForth64.ini}

 

 # default values

 BUILD_LEVEL=2

@@ -19,12 +19,24 @@

 # save INI file

 cp $VFX_DEFAULT_INI ini.temp

 

+# Build the desktop version

+# TODO CI2020 stephen: why isn't that crosscompile in the buildkit?

+if [ -d ../Images ]; then

+  XCDIR=../Images

+else

+  if [ -d ../Bin ]; then

+    XCDIR=../Bin

+  else

+    XCDIR=${HOME}/buildkit.dev/software/COMPILER

+  fi

+fi

+

 # Build proper

 cp VfxLin.no VfxLin.tmp

-../Images/VfxForthK_x64_lin.elf  $VFX_ARGS

-cp -a vfxlin64 ../Images/VfxForth_x64_lin.elf

+${XCDIR}/VfxForthK_x64_lin.elf  $VFX_ARGS

+cp -a vfxlin64 ${XCDIR}/VfxForth_x64_lin.elf

 # mv -f vfxlin64 ../Images/VfxForth_x64_lin.elf

-chmod +x ../Images/VfxForth_x64_lin.elf

+chmod +x ${XCDIR}/VfxForth_x64_lin.elf

 cp VfxLin.tmp VfxLin.no

 

 # restore INI file

diff -ruN ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/VFXBase/VfxBase64.bld ./VFXBase/VfxBase64.bld

--- ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/VFXBase/VfxBase64.bld 2023-08-27 19:32:54.755206149 +0100

+++ ./VFXBase/VfxBase64.bld 2023-08-27 19:03:15.535811987 +0100

@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@

 cr .( XREF )                    include ../Lib/xref

 cr .( DocGen )                  include ../Lib/DocGen4

 \ The next line should be the last of this group

-cr .( Config save/restore )                 include Lin32/SysConfig

+cr .( Config save/restore )                 include Lin64/SysConfig

 [THEN]

 

 [defined] Target_AA64_Linux [IF]

Binary files ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/VFXBase/vfxlin64 and ./VFXBase/vfxlin64 differ

diff -ruN ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/VFXBase/VfxLin64.no ./VFXBase/VfxLin64.no

--- ../../VfxForth64Lin.VIRGIN/VFXBase/VfxLin64.no 2023-06-09 11:36:10.000000000 +0100

+++ ./VFXBase/VfxLin64.no 2023-08-27 19:28:30.224730620 +0100

@@ -1 +1 @@

-5.41 [build 0183]

\ No newline at end of file

+5.41 [build 0197]

\ No newline at end of file

A few minor issues with V5.41 on Linux64

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 09:01:44 +0000

a) The release notes state that "the base VFX64 does not include an FP pack". In fact, NDP387 is in the base system. If you need SSE64 then you have to remove NDP387 first. The documentation does not highlight that the NDP387 recogniser also needs to be manually removed - see my other post.

b) The compilation of FPSSE64S.fth leaves a couple of items on the number stack. These are non-functional problems, but on our build they flag an alert. The problem is a couple of NIP s missing. Line 307 etc. should be ...

c" FP-PACK" find NIP FPsystem SSE64System = and
dup [IF] cr ." SSE64System pack already compiled" [THEN]
?StopIncluding

c" FP-PACK" find NIP FPsystem 0<> or
[IF] cr ." Remove existing float pack before compiling this one" abort [THEN]

Step missing in the documented process for switching floating point systems?

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 18:36:24 +0000

I think there may be a critical bit of information missing in the VFX manual ?

Section 14.4 Only one FP package

says ...

To replace the floating point pack use:
remove-FP-pack
include <sourcefile>

BUT this does not remove the default NDP floating point recogniser, so any subsequent attempt to use an FP number results in a mysterious crash.

BEFORE doing remove-FP-pack, you must do

' REC-NDPFLOAT FORTH-RECOGNIZER -STACK \ Remove NDP recog