Getting the CVS to compile under MingW:
Very first thing. Pick up msys, the minimal system for MingW. This gives you a basic sh to run scripts in.
First of all, you're going to have to run "./autogen.sh". For that you'll either need a LOT of junk for msys, like automake and autoconf (which each have mad dependencies), or you could just pick up a small install of cygwin and run "./autogen.sh" under that. (which I did).
Second, if everything succeeded in autogen, start up msys, switch to your dosbox CVS directory, then run "./configure". Remember you're going to need SDL (so compile that and move its includes and libs into somewhere the compiler can find them), libpng (for screenshots, optional; and its dependencies: libz - rename to zlib), and (if you want debugger) curses
Done with all that? Good. If configure worked out all right, you should have a makefile. Know what to do with that? If so, great, if not, type "make", then when that gizmo is done, type "make install".
When that's all done, good lord willin' and the crick don't rise, you've got "dosbox.exe" in your msys path under "/usr/local/bin". If not, well, er, you've got problems.
😮