First of all the reason I wrote about Mt32 support not being mt32 emulation support, my point was that people use the correct term since Mt32 support is already in.
Also especially on Vogons you will find many people that are using the hardware rather than the emulation.

DOSBox is not likely to add mt32 emulation until the legality of the ROMs is resolved. That'll be another 70 years or so to make sure 😉
And using Munt software rather than the built in munt is a lot more future safe. When you use the built in and do a release, than that version is forever stuck on the version of Munt at the time you release a DOSBox version.
That can be a big letdown. If DOSBox 0.74 had done that the built in Munt emulation would suck a lot compared to what you get with current Munt.
So if you invest a little time ONCE to get everything working with the Munt software you are always easily on the latest and greatest, no matter whether you use the original Dosbox 0.74 release or any other built (not to mention other software like ScummVM or Exult).

Dominus wrote:

DOSBox is not likely to add mt32 emulation until the legality of the ROMs is resolved. That'll be another 70 years or so to make sure 😉

Why? They're not being asked to distribute the ROMs as well. That's a nonsense argument.

And using Munt software rather than the built in munt is a lot more future safe. When you use the built in and do a release, than that version is forever stuck on the version of Munt at the time you release a DOSBox version.

Nonsense. You can update the munt version as the DOSBox version updates.

That can be a big letdown. If DOSBox 0.74 had done that the built in Munt emulation would suck a lot compared to what you get with current Munt.

That's because 0.74 was released 5 years ago!!! Lots of things about it suck compared to recent DOSBox releases.

So if you invest a little time ONCE

... per operating system install (and the procedure differs per operating system)

to get everything working with the Munt software you are always easily on the latest and greatest, no matter whether you use the original Dosbox 0.74 release or any other built (not to mention other software like ScummVM or Exult).

ScummVM has MT-32 emulation built in, as does Exult. Rather bad examples there.

Also, please go and set up Munt on Windows 10, then come back and tell me how you got on. Tell me whether it took you "a little time", or a bit longer than that. Then tell me whether it's the same procedure to setup Munt on Slackware Linux, or Windows XP, or Mac OS X.

I don't use Windows. I used Windows 7 and that was not too hard but it's been a while. I'm sure you are clever enough to find a guide.
And no, expecting it to be the same on different OS, especially between totally different kinds, is just plain silly. Changing OS like your underwear is silly, too.

As for the other points. It might be nonsense to you, but then you thought I meant you only need to setup Munt once in your life and not once per OS, so no surprise.
Overall, dial back on that entitlement feeling. You are entitled to nothing, the sooner you accept this the sooner we can have better discussions and fewer closed threads.
If you don't like current Dosbox status, go compile it yourself with everything you need. It's not complicated and you can have a very nice up to date version.

That's because 0.74 was released 5 years ago!!! Lots of things about it suck compared to recent DOSBox releases.

Hmm there hasn't been any more recent DOSBox release, so it's perfect compared to that 😉
And you missed the point completely.

Erm, I DO generally use a version compiled with other stuff in rather than the "official" version and that's the point. Lots of people are doing it. I'm not feeling entitled, but I am saying why it doesn't make sense for DOSBox official not to do this. Why you feel the need to justify the current glacial progress of the official SVN is beyond me.

Dominus wrote:

If you don't like current Dosbox status, go compile it yourself with everything you need. It's not complicated and you can have a very nice up to date version.

True, but that's, in part, how one ends up with bloated, poorly tested builds, such as the latest Daum. And it does require at least some understanding of the software development process, as well as the software itself, to bring in multiple third-party patches.

It is clear that Dosbox mainline development is alive, as there are official mainline SVN builds. It is not clear, in light of this, why there are no official releases past 0.74.

I suppose, as you say, if one just wants the latest plain SVN, without any extras, it's quite easy to just build it (and there are folks who do just that), but I imagine that quite a few "simple users" would love to see some of the features from the third-party builds get into the main line, as it would be some sort of "certificate of quality" by the official Dosbox development team (as official as a team can be when dealing with an open-source project).

Certificate of quality 😉 I think you are near the reason why those patches are not in main Dosbox... Most of those are not considered needed for the games-only goal, others are not considered stable or in the case of the zip feature, unstable and considered to just further piracy.
Others are not considered legally save, like MT32 emulation needing legally unclear ROMs (certainly different views on this, but DOSBox devs are viewing it this way).
Add to that the "certificate of quality" 😉 more reason to not include those 😉

Often the ScummVM Munt has been dated because of its built-in nature. As far as the driver why not just use the Munt QT app?

My svn build for my ppa only has the mt32 patch applied... It's nice because it's the only patch that is somewhat 'clean'. Features like savestates necessarily touch everything in dosbox so if they were to be supported they would have to be in upstream to not break all the fucking time when merged into the svn. The mt32... not so much, and its patch is actively maintained (and more importantly, not by me!). The actual patch is really only some headers files, a new device file and 2 files modified, the real device emulation being done on a static library completely separate from dosbox (the same thing that munt uses, which can be used by exult/scummvm directly too as a separate OS library instead of doing that annoying device driver thing).

The only reason it's not on upstream just by slapping a optional dependency on the ./configure is the history of Roland being asshats and threatening to sue the original authors of the patch for no legally enforceable reason (i think they never did distribute the roms). That's all it takes to ruin someone poor or middle class in wonderful america, something that would get thrown out of court but nevertheless force you to pay for costs. Fortunately i think the new author is russian or something like that.