Amiga System Libraries Overview

This table lists the system libraries, devices and resources, along with a brief description of their function and version information. Full details of the use of the libraries can be found in the Amiga Reference manuals.

Points to note:

• Many libraries are commonly used on systems that initially didn't ship with them, e.g. GadTools is available for OS 1.x systems.
• Some libraries (e.g. exec.library) were part of the OS earlier than V33 (1.2), but 1.2 is considered as the first widely released version and is thus listed as the introduction date.
• Resources are specific to certain hardware, so their direct use should be avoided if compatibility with different systems is desired. Generally there's a higher level method of accessing the features that should be preferred, e.g. accessing battmem.resource will fail on machines with no non-volatile RAM, but using nonvolatile.library instead will instead redirect the calls to a disk-based resource on such machines.
• Some modules have significant changes between versions, so software written for later versions may not work, even if the library is present on earlier systems.

Name	Location	First Introduced	Description
amigaguide.library	Disk	39 (3.0)	Provides functions for using AmigaGuide hypertext help files
asl.library	Disk	36 (2.0)	Provides the standard file, drawer, screenmode and font requesters
audio.device	ROM	33 (1.2)	Provides access to and control of the audio hardware
battclock.resource	ROM	36 (2.0)	Governs access to using the on-board RTC
battmem.resource	ROM	36 (2.0)	Governs access to the non-volatile RAM on some machines
cia.resource	ROM	33 (1.2)	Provides control of CIA interrupts
commodities.library	Disk	36 (2.0)	Provides functions for the commodities framework of communication, hotkeys, Exchange and I/O hooks
datatypes.library	Disk	39 (3.0)	Provides functions for using datatypes to load and save information in a variety of formats via the DataTypes system
dos.library	ROM	33 (1.2)	Provides functions for file access and manipulation of disk structures, process loading, shell I/O and other low-level functionality
exec.library	ROM	33 (1.2)	Core of the OS, provides memory, process, library and low-level messaging functions
gadtools.library	ROM	36 (2.0)	Provides the standard GadTools gadgets and menus
hdwrench.library	Disk	44 (3.5)	Provides functions for HDToolbox for supporting large hard drives
icon.library	Disk	38 (2.1)	Provides functions
intuition.library	ROM	33 (1.2)	Provides the key user interface handling functions, e.g. windows, menus, screens, events
keymap.library	ROM	36 (2.0)	Provides functions for translating keypresses according to the system keyboard preferences
locale.library	Disk	38 (2.1)	Provides functions for localisation of programs
lowlevel.library	ROM	40 (3.1)	Provides improved functions for reading input devices, including CD32 controller support
nonvolatile.library	ROM	40 (3.1)	Provides functions for using non-volatile storage
potgo.resource	ROM	33 (1.2)	Provides functions for controlling the analogue pot pins of the controller ports
rexxsyslib.library	Disk	36 (2.0)	Provides the core functions for ARexx
workbench.library	ROM ->39 (3.0) ROM 40 (3.1) non-A4000 Disk 40 (3.1) A4000 Disk 44 (3.5 / 3.1.4)->	33 (1.2)	Provides key functions required by Workbench