Writing a UserShell

Introduction

The OS allows the user to change the system default shell, or the UserShell. Any time the user opens a shell with NewShell, executes a script, RUNs a command, or indirectly calls System() with SYS_UserShell, the OS will call the UserShell instead of the BootShell (by default the system sets up the BootShell as the UserShell).

Creating UserShells is not easy, and requires doing a fairly large number of things for no apparent reason (the reasons are there, they're just not obvious to the outsider). This section will attempt to give you the information you need in order to create a usable, system-friendly UserShell.

Initialization

The entity that starts the shell calls the shell code in C style (RTS to exit). This entity also sends a startup packet to your process port. You must retrieve this packet before doing any DOS I/O (much like WBMessages). You can use WaitPkt() for this. The entity will take care of attaching a CommandLineInterface structure to your process, which will be freed on exit from the UserShell by the system.

In your process structure, check the SegArray pointed to by pr_Seglist (note that it's a BPTR). If SegArray[4] is NULL, you must move the value from SegArray[3] to SegArray[4], and NULL out SegArray[3]. This is because SegArray[3] will be used to store the seglist pointer for each program you run.

The startup packet contains some information that tells the UserShell what kind of shell to be. At present, the two sets of sources can launch the UserShell:

1. The Run command, Execute(), or System()
2. The NewShell or NewCLI resident commands

The size of the stack that the system gives the UserShell depends on how the user started the shell. If it was started from Execute() or System(), the stack is 3200 bytes. If the UserShell was started from Run, NewShell, or NewCLI, the stack is 4000.

The type of shell required is specified by the combination of the packet's dp_Res1 and dp_Res2 fields. Here's a piece of code for turning them into a value from 0 to 3:

init_type = (parm_pkt->dp_Res1 == 0 ? 0:2)|(parm_pkt->dp_Res2 == 0 ? 0:1);

Currently, only types 0 and 2 are implemented. For 1 and 3 you should exit with an error (returning the packet). Type 0 is for Run, Execute() and System(), type 2 is for NewShell and NewCLI. After setting up your SegArray as above, for type 0 call CliInitRun(pkt), and for type 2 call CliInitNewcli(pkt). These both return a value we'll call ``fn. Keep fn around, it has useful state information that you'll need later. Note that these CliInitXxxx functions don't follow the normal DOS convention of Dn for arguments (they use A0 for pkt!).

The CliInitXxxx functions do many magic things to get all the streams and structures properly set up, etc. You shouldn't need to know anything about this or what the values in the packet are, other than dp_Res1 and dp_Res2 (see below for more information on these functions).

Definitions for the values of fn:

Bit 31	Set to indicate flags are valid
Bit 3	Set to indicate an asynchronous System() call
Bit 2	Set if this is a System() call
Bit 1	Set if user provided input stream
Bit 0	Set if RUN provided output stream

If fn bit 31 is 0 (fn >= 0), then you must check IoErr() to find out what to do. If IoErr() is a pointer to your process, there has been an error in the initialization of the CLI structure and processing the packet. In this case you should clean up and exit. You don't have to return the packet because the CliInitXxxx functions take care of this for you if there is an error. If IoErr() isn't a pointer to your process, then if this is a NewCLI or NewShell command (init_type of 2), reply the packet immediately.

If the init_type is 0, you have to look at fn to determine when to send back the startup packet. If the shell was called from an asynchronous System() function ((fn & 0x8000000C) == 0x8000000C), return the packet immediately. If this is a synchronous System() call ((fn & 0x8000000C) == 0x80000004) or the fn flags are valid but this is not a System() call ((fn & 0x8000000C) == 0x80000000) (Execute() does this), you return the packet just before exiting from your shell (see the Cleanup section below). If the fn flags are invalid (bit 31 == 0), but there is something other than your task pointer in IoErr(), then this shell was called by the Run command. Here you can either return the packet immediately, or return it after having loaded the first command (or failed to find/load it). This delay in reply helps avoid the disk thrashing caused by two commands loading at the same instant.

When you do a ReplyPkt(), use ReplyPkt(pkt, pkt->dp_Res1, pkt->dp_Res2) to avoid losing error codes set up by CliInitXxxx.

Initialize pr_HomeDir to NULL, set up any local shell variables, etc.

We're all set up now, so you can now enter your main loop and start taking commands.