32 bit programming. Which way to go?

[BobKellock]

I retired from full time programming about 10 years ago but still
maintain and upgrade programmes for a few of my old clients.
I need to convert old ones to 32 bit so that they can be run under
Vista or Win 7 without having to to use a virtualiser or XP mode.
The programmes were all written using BP7, ran under DOS and were non
OO; I would expect the new versions to run as Console apps.

What approach would you recommend?

Bob

[Marco van de Voort]

Post by BobKellock
I retired from full time programming about 10 years ago but still
maintain and upgrade programmes for a few of my old clients.
I need to convert old ones to 32 bit so that they can be run under
Vista or Win 7 without having to to use a virtualiser or XP mode.
The programmes were all written using BP7, ran under DOS and were non
OO; I would expect the new versions to run as Console apps.

Freepascal mainly:
http://www.freepascal.org

Delphi is also a possibility, but there are currently no (permanent) free
versions afaik, and its console support is weak.

Lastly, there is Virtual Pascal. (http://vpascal.ning.com). While it is nice, but
has been dead for 5 years, and I assume you don't want to convert from one
dead system to the next.

The ease of porting will depend on the amount of dosisms and 16-bitisms
though, and it will vary depending on individual style and requirements.

[Rugxulo]

Hi,

Post by BobKellock
I retired from full time programming about 10 years ago but still
maintain and upgrade programmes for a few of my old clients.
I need to convert old ones to 32 bit so that they can be run under
Vista or Win 7 without having to to use a virtualiser or XP mode.
The programmes were all written using BP7, ran under DOS and were non
OO; I would expect the new versions to run as Console apps.
What approach would you recommend?

The ideal is probably to use FreePascal for Win64 output. However,
it's probably much easier to just use FPC/32-bit or Virtual Pascal, as
both try hard to be compatible with Borland, even moreso than GNU
Pascal (e.g. BP strings or shortint) or Delphi, which long ago
abandoned 16-bit. Inline asm is supported too, but I'm unsure exactly
how compatible with the old way it is (probably mostly).