Re: [Tack-devel] Assembler and linker

[George K. <ke...@gm...>]

On Thu, 27 Oct 2022 18:21:09 +0530
Sorav Bansal via Tack-devel <tac...@li...> wrote:

> I understand that one can use the "-c" and "-c.s" options to generate the
> object and assembly files respectively.  Also, as far as I can tell, the
> formats of these object and assembly files are custom formats that are not
> parseable by any third-party tool.  So I assume that the repository
> provides tools to link multiple object files and to assemble a .s file?
> 
> Which tool can I use to link multiple .o files generated by "ack -c ..."?
> 
> Which tool can I use to assemble a .s file generated by "ack -c.s ..."?

Run "ack" again to link or assemble those files.  You might need
"ack -.c" or "ack -.m2" to link the C or Modula-2 library.

# Assemble prog2.s and link it with the C library.
ack -mosxppc -c.s prog2.c
ack -mosxppc -.c -o prog2 prog2.s

# Link part1.o and part2.o with the C library.
ack -mosxppc -c part1.c
ack -mosxppc -c part2.c
ack -mosxppc -.c -o prog3 part1.o part2.o

If you run "ack -v -v", you can see the commands for the assembler
and the linker:

$ ack -v -v -mosxppc -.c -o prog2 prog2.s
/home/kernigh/kernigh/park/ack-build/staging/lib/ack/osxppc/as - -o prog2.o prog2.s
/home/kernigh/kernigh/park/ack-build/staging/lib/ack/em_led -a0:4 -a1:4 -a2:4096 -a3:4 -b0:0x129c /home/kernigh/kernigh/park/ack-build/staging/share/ack/osxppc/boot.o /home/kernigh/kernigh/park/ack-build/staging/share/ack/osxppc/c-ansi.o -o /tmp/Ack_bdcba.out prog2.o /home/kernigh/kernigh/park/ack-build/staging/share/ack/osxppc/libc.a /home/kernigh/kernigh/park/ack-build/staging/share/ack/osxppc/libem.a /home/kernigh/kernigh/park/ack-build/staging/share/ack/osxppc/libsys.a /home/kernigh/kernigh/park/ack-build/staging/share/ack/osxppc/libend.a
/home/kernigh/kernigh/park/ack-build/staging/lib/ack/cvmach -m18 /tmp/Ack_bdcba.out prog2

Most targets link objects with em_led, then run a 2nd tool like cvmach
to convert the executable from ack.out format.  ack passes some magic
numbers "-b0:0x129c" and libraries "libsys.a" to em_led.

--George