Tools

Tools

You can find the following tools in the V4 sources repository in the utils folder.

OberonFilter

This java program allows one to view the content of an Oberon Text file. It requires Apache commons libraries IO and Lang

Compile

javac ch/claudio/oberon/OberonFilter.java

and run

java -cp .:commons-io-2.4-jar:commons-lang3-3.1.jar ch.claudio.oberon.OberonFilter -?

to show the usage.

It expects to read an Oberon Text file from STDIN and outputs to STDOUT.

Without any options it will write pseudo-XML which contains all information gathered from the Text file. By adding the -nopos Option the pos-Attribute will be suppressed. This form is better suited when you want compare the output with some other file.

With the -plain Option a plain Ascii file is created, stripped of all formatting and with the Oberon end of line character CR converted to NL. Ctrl-Chars except TAB are stripped too.

Tips

OberonV4 for Windows

Instructions how to compile and link a new kernel for OberonV4 for Windows can be found (after installation) in the document/tool text $Text/Develop.Tool.

System.Time does not display the year correctly. A quick & dirty hack can be found in https://sourceforge.net/p/oberon/oberonv4/ci/master/tree/Windows/Kernel.Mod, then recreate (compile and link) the boot file as described above in $Text/Develop.Tool.

I do not understand all steps outlined in the Develop.Tool. But I was able to re-create successfully Oberon.Hex with the following steps:

1. Download https://sourceforge.net/p/oberon/oberonv4/ci/master/tree/Windows/Kernel.Mod to $User
2. Open it in OberonV4 for Windows
3. Use Folds.Compile from Menu->Compile
4. Rename/Save Oberon.Hex in the main installation directory of Oberon V4 for Windows
5. Open $Text/Develop.Tool
6. Scroll down to 2.) Make boot file and find the line "BootLinker.Link Oberon.Hex := Reals Console Kernel ShowError Registry Directories Files Modules ~" . Middle mouse buttom click on BootLinker.Link
7. Leave Oberon V4 for Windows
8. Find the new Oberon.Hex (most probably in subdirectory User of the main installation directory of Oberon V4 for Windows) and move/copy it to the main installation directory of Oberon V4 for Windows
9. Restart Oberon V4 for Windows. System.Time should now show the year in two digits correctly.

OberonV4 for Linux

The bash script sob (start oberon) does not work under current versions of the bash.
Please change in line 7:
find $OBROOT -type d -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1
to
find $OBROOT -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type d

Do not use a symbolic link for the installed directory, use its real name (setting the font path requires this).

In April 2026 the sources for the bootstrap loader are not compilable any more under current 64 bit versions of gcc. An updated version can be found at https://github.com/btreut/Oberon4Linux-Bootstrap .