An interactive BBS door program that displays ANSI Christmas art, a new one each day in December. Browse past collections as well. Compatible with all modern BBS systems that support Door32 dropfiles -- Windows and Linux.

This repository now contains all versions of the Advent Calendar:

• Go/Modern (Linux, Windows, Mac): Main Go codebase in root (cmd/, internal/, etc.)
• DOS (Legacy): All Turbo Pascal and DOS-specific files are in dos/ (NOT 100% functional!! see below)

mg_advent/
├── cmd/           # Go entry point
├── internal/      # Go core modules
├── art/           # Modern art assets (Go version)
├── dos/           # All DOS/Turbo Pascal code and assets
│   ├── ADVENT.PAS
│   ├── *.DAT
│   ├── build_utils/
│   └── art/
│       ├── 2023/
│       ├── 2024/
│       ├── 2025/
│       └── common/
└── ...

@echo off
set NODE=%1
if "%NODE%"=="" set NODE=1

cd /d "C:\bbs\doors\advent"
set DROPFILE_PATH=C:\bbs\temp\%NODE%\door32.sys

mg-advent.exe -path "%DROPFILE_PATH%"

#!/bin/bash
NODE=${1:-1}
cd /opt/bbs/doors/advent
DROPFILE_PATH="/opt/bbs/temp/${NODE}/door32.sys"

./advent -path "$DROPFILE_PATH"

Make executable: chmod +x advent.sh advent-linux-amd64

All DOS code and assets are in dos/. You need Turbo Pascal 7 or compatible.

To build/run in DOSBox or real DOS:

1. Enter the dos/ directory:

cd dos

1. Open ADVENT.PAS in Turbo Pascal 7 and compile, or use batch/scripts in build_utils/ if available.
2. Run the resulting executable in DOS or DOSBox.

Art assets for DOS are in dos/art/ (identical structure to modern art/).

-path string           Path to door32.sys file
-logon                 Logon mode: show current day's door, then COMEBACK.ANS and exit
-debug-date string     Override date (YYYY-MM-DD)
-debug-disable-date    Disable date validation
-debug-disable-art     Disable art validation

Prerequisites: Go 1.24 or later, Git

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/robbiew/mg_advent.git
cd mg_advent

# Linux/Mac build (builds Linux amd64, arm64, and Windows 386)
./scripts/build.sh

# Windows build
scripts\build.bat

Windows 7 requires Go 1.20 (last version with Windows 7 support).

One-time setup:

# Install Go 1.20.14 toolchain
go install golang.org/dl/go1.20.14@latest
go1.20.14 download

Building:

# Linux/Mac (cross-compile)
./scripts/build.sh  # Automatically uses go1.20.14 for Windows builds

# Windows
scripts\build.bat   # Checks for go1.20.14, shows install instructions if needed

# Manual build
GOOS=windows GOARCH=386 CGO_ENABLED=0 ~/go/bin/go1.20.14 build -ldflags="-s -w" -o dist/mg-advent.exe ./cmd/advent

Note: The build scripts automatically:

• Detect and use Go 1.20.14 for Windows builds (Windows 7 compatibility)
• Embed a Windows application manifest to prevent the 15-20 second delay when renaming executables on Windows 7

Windows 7 Rename Delay Fix: The build scripts will automatically embed a manifest if windres is available. To enable this:

Linux/Mac: sudo apt-get install mingw-w64 or brew install mingw-w64 Windows: Install MinGW-w64 from https://www.mingw-w64.org/ or choco install mingw

If windres is not available, the build will still succeed but renamed executables may experience a 15-20 second startup delay on Windows 7. See WINDOWS7-FIX.md for details.

# Local testing (no BBS required)
# Skip date restrictions to view any day's art
./advent -local -debug-disable-date -debug-date=2024-12-15

• Arrow Keys: Navigate between days
• 1, 2, 3: Jump to different years (2023, 2024, 2025)
• Q or ESC: Return to welcome screen / exit
• I: View info file
• M: View members list

This project is released under the terms specified in the LICENSE file.

The dos/ directory is a work in progress and is not fully functional. The focus is on maintaining the modern Go version. Contributions to the DOS version are welcome but may require significant effort to bring it up to date.