Recording/accessing RISC OS build dates

Where does RISC OS get the build date from to put in its switcher info window?

I had thought it might be the date of the Utility module, but it seems that I am mistaken.

I like to record, for the benefit of my back-up files, a little info file in the image to which I write the SD card name and a description (make, size) for easy future reference. To be able to add the actual build date to this automagically would be useful to me, but so far I have only been able to extract the Utility module date by parsing its Help string.

I know that FX0 gives me the required information, but cannot see how to record it! Redirection doesn’t seem to work with this FX call!

It must be possible at some level, as SysLog’s Wimp log can catch it.

If there isn’t an easy answer, two possibilities occur to me to help with this:

or

Observations?

I know that FX0 gives me the required information, but cannot see how to record it!

*FX0 is just a wrapper around OS_Byte 0. If you call OS_Byte 0 directly you should be able to extract the information you need.

Thank you – that is very helpful!

See OS_ReadSysInfo,9,2

See OS_ReadSysInfo,9,2

and 6 and 7 – that’s even more useful!

My info file on the SD card and to be copied to the back-up now reads:

This is the Toshiba micro 16GB RC15 Boot SD card running RISC OS 5.27, Sun,13 Oct 2019.04:10:25 on Raspberry Pi 2 Model B. Discname: RPi16GB

That’s useful!

Thanks to you both!

Just as an additional point, my info file is actually called:

which makes it copy to back-up last-of-all, but appear in the filer display first.

So it serves as an obvious reassurance that the back-up has completed successfully!

This is backing-up to Fat32FS format HDs via SCSI.