SvarDOS origins (history from the point of view of its creator)
Mateusz Viste says:
In the years 2005-2015 I used to perform packaging work for the FreeDOS
project. I wasn't pleased with the packaging tool that FreeDOS used back then
(FDPKG), so in 2012 I started working on a new package manager, with network
support, automatic updates, etc - I named it FDNPKG. Later I also devised a
scripted way of generating an "always up to date" FreeDOS CD that I
unimaginatively called "all_cd.iso". This CD included FDNPKG and all the
FreeDOS packages available at the given moment.
I still wasn't satisfied with how FreeDOS clings to its notion of "releases"
and that it cannot include some software because of licensing issues, so in
2016 I decided to create my own distribution, that I called Svarog386, as a
parallel to the Svarog86 project that I had created a couple months earlier,
dedicated to 8086 machines. Svarog386 naturally relied on the FreeDOS kernel
and used the FDNPKG package manager.
By 2021 I found it increasingly annoying to look after two separate
distributions. Over time, FDNPKG also became a huge piece of protected mode
code. I was no longer happy with it: too many features, too much processing,
too much memory required... In a word: too much fluff. I longed for something
simpler, that would do perhaps less, but with more transparency towards the
user - and something that would work in real mode with not much RAM, so it
could run even on ancient 8086 machines.
The result of these thoughts was SvarDOS: a distribution that replaced both
Svarog86 and Svarog386, and that came with its own package manager - a much
simpler (and in my opinion much more elegant) tool than FDNPKG.
What does "SvarDOS" mean?
The name "SvarDOS" traces its roots to "Svarog", a figure from Slavic
mythology believed to be the ancient god of heat, fire, and blacksmithing.
Svarog is mentioned in the Hypatian Codex, a 15th-century compilation of much
older texts, from the Ipatiev Monastery in Russia. One passage reads:
"(Then) began his reign Feosta (Hephaestus), whom the Egyptians
called Svarog ... during his rule, from the heavens fell the
smith's prongs and weapons were forged for the first time; before
that, (people) fought with clubs and stones."
The above excerpt is a Slavic translation of an original Greek manuscript of
Malalin from the 6th century, about Hephaestus and Helios. The Rus translator
supposedly replaced the Greek gods with their fitting Slavic counterparts.
Despite this mythological reference, SvarDOS is not affiliated with any
religion or ideology. The name "Svar" is chosen for its broader associations
with heat, fire, forging, and craftsmanship - qualities deeply connected to
the art of blacksmithing and symbolic of creation and transformation.
In that spirit, SvarDOS represents a framework that unites diverse elements
of the DOS ecosystem. It's a system built for tinkerers, builders, and
passionate hobbyists - those who thrive on shaping, refining, and breathing
new life into classic computing.
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Author: Mateusz Viste | Last edit: 2025-09-12