From:	"John M. Aldrich" <fighteer AT cs DOT com>
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	Re: differences
Date:	Mon, 08 Sep 1997 21:01:39 +0000
Organization:	Two pounds of chaos and a pinch of salt
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Message-ID:	<341467B3.6610@cs.com>
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To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway:	from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

M. Schulter wrote:
> 
> Please note that djasm.exe is _not_ meant for the user, only for use by
> djgpp itself in taking care of certain DOS-related tasks in producing an
> executable.
> 
> Thus GAS has documentation included -- try Section 17.1 of the FAQ and
> 
> info as
> 
> while djasm is left undocumented, because the odds are very high that you
> really want to keep your hands off of it <grin>.

I should add to your reply, Margo, that djasm is used in only one place
at present; to compile the 2k real-mode stub that is used to load DJGPP
programs.  Since this stub must be a 16-bit program, it requires a
16-bit assembler, which GNU does not provide.  In the old days of v1.x,
you needed Turbo C to build the go32 DOS extender used to run DJGPP
programs; since the idea was to provide a full development environment
not dependent on external tools, djasm was written for v2.x as a 16-bit
mini-assembler used solely to compile the stub.

Main differences between djasm and gas:

 - djasm is 16-bit; gas is 32-bit
 - djasm uses Intel syntax; gas uses AT&T syntax
 - djasm is undocumented and not 100% complete; gas is fully supported
 - djasm code cannot be linked with DJGPP programs; gas produces
standard COFF object code.

Users should use gas, or an alternative 32-bit assembler like nasm, for
normal programming purposes.

-- 
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|      John M. Aldrich       | "Autocracy is based on the assumption|
|       aka Fighteer I       | that one man is wiser than a million |
|   mailto:fighteer AT cs DOT com   | men.  Let's play that over again,    |
| http://www.cs.com/fighteer | too.  Who decides?"   - Lazarus Long |
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