There hasn't been a major release since 2012.

Guess what outmoded program uses SDL 1.2?
Yeah, DOSbox. Even the SVN branch hasn't updated since August 2024.

SDL 3 exists now. It's great. It's getting actively migrated to. This means compatibility with SDL 1 is likely a closing door or a timer.

So before GOG's DOSbox starts breaking actively, I'm going to make a gentle suggestion: Update now, before someone has to do a panic update at 0400 hours on St. Martin's day. Staging has a myriad of new features visible to the user and moreso in the compatibility end of things.

https://www.gog.com/wishlist/site/switch_from_dosbox_to_dosbox_staging Here's the obligatory Wishlist Classic entry.


It'd be trivial to automate updating the versions as they come, and a lot of the GOG Dosbox configurations could use some major updating anyway.

On the other hand, SDL 1 software can be run on top of SDL 2. Hey, they can even be run on top of SDL 3 now!

This is how I play old native Linux games like Alpha Centauri, as my distribution stopped shipping SDL 1 (and running them on top of SDL 2 or 3 leads to a better experience anyway).

gog please introduce a dynamic installer generation to get the latest versions of third-party programs because some games literally use older versions of, for example, nglide and dosbox

Really, it'd just be incremental upgrades, no need to be dynamic. Now, they'd have to test and prepare every game again, but hey they've got an excuse.