vasm

vasm is a portable and retargetable assembler to create linkable objects in various formats or absolute code. Multiple CPU-, syntax and output-modules can be selected.

Many common directives/pseudo-opcodes are supported (depending on the syntax module) as well as CPU-specific extensions.

The assembler supports optimizations (e.g. choosing the shortest possible branch instruction or addressing mode) and relaxations (e.g. converting a branch to an absolute jump when necessary).

Most syntax modules support macros, include directives, repetitions, conditional assembly and local symbols.

• M680x0 family (including M6888x, M68851, CPU32 and Apollo 68080)
• ColdFire family (all models of V2, V3, V4, V4e)
• PowerPC family (POWER, 40x, 440, 460, 6xx, 7xx, 7xxx, 860, Book-E, e300 and e500)
• 6502 family (including 65C02, 65CE02, DTV, 45GS02, HU6280, 65802, 65816)
• 6809 family (6809, 6309 and 68HC12)
• Z80 family (Z80, 8080, 8085, GBZ80, 64180, RCM2/3/4k)
• Jaguar RISC (GPU and DSP instruction sets)
• ARM (architecture ARMv1 to ARMv4, including THUMB mode)
• 80x86 family (IA32 8/16/32 bit, using AT&T-syntax)
• C16x/ST10
• 6800 family (6800, 6801, 6803, 68HC11)
• PDP-11 architecture (includes EIS, FIS)
• QNICE (elegant 16-bit FPGA CPU)
• TR3200 (virtual CPU from 0x10c)
• Raspberry-Pi VideoCore IV

• Standard (GNU-as style) syntax
• Motorola/Freescale 68k syntax (Devpac compatible)
• Atari MadMac syntax (6502, 68k, Jaguar)
• Old 8-bit style syntax

• ELF (M68k, PowerPC, i386, ARM and JRISC)
• a.out (M68k, i386 and JRISC)
• Amiga hunk format (M68k)
• Atari TOS executable format (M68k)
• Atari DRI object file format (M68k)
• GST object file format
• Sharp X68000 Xfile format (M68k)
• EHF extended hunk format (PowerPC)
• o65 relocatable format (6502, 65816)
• Raw, binary output (all)
• Apple DOS, Atari COM, Commodore PRG, Oric TAP binary formats (6502)
• Wozmon monitor format (6502)
• C256 Foenix PGX and PGZ binary formats (65816)
• Tandy Color Computer and Dragon DOS binaries (6809)
• Motorola Srecord format (all)
• Intel-Hex format (all)
• C #define output format (all)
• VOBJ proprietary versatile object format (all)
• Test, debugging output (all, default)

• Fix relative section offset directives, which must be unsigned to work correctly over the whole target's address space.
• Fixed a few issues with named macro arguments.
• Do not warn about missing references to Common or Weak symbols.
• Binary output modules allow addresses outside of the backend's address space.
• m68k: MOVEM (An),An/Am must not be optimized into two MOVE instructions. This was a new bug in V1.9e.
• std-syntax: Fixed binary constant 0b...., which was erroneously mistaken for a one-digit temporary label destination since V1.9a.

• Exit before reading the source (from stdin) when there were errors already.
• Make sure the relocated blocks within all sections are closed after parsing. Otherwise the first pass may find the section in a wrong state.
• Output modules may define the default section, when no SECTION or ORG directive was given. "bin", "ihex" and "srec" now default to "ORG 0".
• New output module "woz", which outputs sections as "wozmon" monitor commands, suitable for ASCII transfer via a serial connection. Contributed by anomie-p.
• m68k: Improved -opt-movem (OPT om+) optimizations, for MOVEM with two registers.
• m68k: Fixed Apollo ADD/SUB->ADDQ/SUBQ optimization with AMMX registers.
• m68k: Enabled Apollo FPU instructions using 64-bit data registers: Fxxx.D Dn,ea, FMOVE.D Fn,Dm, etc.
• m68k: Added missing PC-relative destination addressing modes for Apollo shift instructions and FMOVE, FMOVEM.
• m68k: Apollo bchg/bclr/bset/btst Dn,An must not be allowed (conflicts with MOVEP).
• m68k: New Apollo instructions FDBcc.L, DBcc En,lab; EXTUB.L and EXTUW.L.
• 6809: Fixed typo in the opcode for the 6309 LDMD instruction.
• mot-syntax: Allow multiple consecutive relocated blocks within a section.
• mot-syntax: New directives LOCAL and RSEVEN for compatibility.
• mot-syntax: Allow any type of expression for RSSET, SETSO, SETFO.
• madmac-syntax: Allow multiple consecutive relocated blocks within a section.
• oldstyle-syntax: The label defining the size of a STRUCT block may have been moved into the previous section, or caused a segfault at ENDSTRUCT, since V1.9b.
• tos-output: Also write absolute symbols (equates) into executables.
• tos-output: New option -szbx to enable unlimited symbol names using the SozobonX extension.
• bin-output: New option -start to define the start address for the default org-section.

• m68k: Using MOVEQ.L instead of MOVEQ must only disable the warning for values between 128 and 255, but not allow any value without error.
• mot-syntax: XREF allows no definition and XDEF requires a definition.
• std-syntax: Fixed potential problem with "scratch at end of line" warnings after a section attribute string.
• oldstyle-syntax: Fixed potential problem with "scratch at end of line" warnings after a section attribute string.
• tos-output: Reloc-output in executables was broken since V1.9b! Restrict to 32-bit absolute relocations again.

• Reverted a last-minute change in V1.9b, which broke the O65 output module, used with 6502 and 65816.

• Fixed a rare expression evalulation bug. Previous versions may erroneously evaluate "label - equate" as constant, when the equate is something like "currentPCsymbol - label".
• Allow a label definition on the same line as a section directive and warn about it.
• Macro arguments were lost at the second repeat-level inside a macro.
• Syntax modules warn about garbage characters in the operand field, when the mnemonic doesn't take any operand.
• No longer cut symbol names in a wide-format listing file after 31 chars.
• Error messages on macros and repetitions now always include the real source file name and line number in parentheses.
• Directives for printing expressions into the console (printv, echo, etc.) now print undefined symbols as "<undefined>+offset".
• New output module "gst" for GST object files (Atari, GST-assembler, Devpac).
• New output file format "dri" for Atari M68k DRI object files.
• m68k: Experimental Apollo TEX instruction, using a simplified syntax after a proposal of John H.
• m68k: Apollo extended/compressed Bcc.B displacements in the range of -256 to 254.
• m68k: MOVEQ.L suppresses any warning about an out of range operand.
• m68k: Allow any size-extension for MOVEQ in Devpac-compatibility mode.
• m68k: Fixed a string-buffer conflict introduced in V1.9a, which occurs when using local symbols in the label field and operand field together with some cpu-specific directives, like EQUR, REG, etc.
• m68k: Optimize small data label in 020 base displacement to a 16-bit offset, or even to (d16,An) when the index is suppressed, provided that options -sd and -extsd have been given.
• 6502: Some mnemonics could be misdetected as implied addressing mode when option -i was given: asl, asr, lsr, rol, ror. 45GS02: aslq, asrq, deq, inq, lsrq, rolq, rorq. WDC02: dec, inc.
• mot-syntax: Do not allow a section with the same name and same type, but with different memory attributes.
• mot-syntax: New option -nolocpfx to disable local symbols by label- prefix (usually '.').
• mot-syntax: ELIF directive implements a real else-if.
• mot-syntax: Export equate symbols with double-colon in vasm-native mode.
• std-syntax: Fixed an issue caused by the introduction of one-digit temporary labels in V1.9a. Labels beginning with _f or _b were misdetected as forward/backward references to such labels.
• std-syntax: Added missing .elseif directive.
• oldstyle-syntax: All byte-directives (byt, byte, dfb, etc.) increment the pc by one without any operand. All word-directives (wor, wrd, word, etc.) increment the pc by two without any operand. Similar to a "declare storage" directive.
• oldstyle-syntax: Whitespace between a label and its colon are allowed again.
• hunk-output: Warn about inability of Kickstart 1.x to initialize BSS sections greater than 256k.
• bin-output: ORIC file names in the tape header are limited to 15 characters and a ".tap" extension is removed automatically.
• bin-output: Added support for the PGX and PGZ format, used by 65816- based C256 Foenix computers.
• tos-output: Support DRI-format object files. New option: -Fdri.

• Reads the input from stdin when no source file name is given.
• Small performance improvements. Tuned hash table sizes. Reduced memory allocations and deallocations.
• Do not ignore the path from the main source when looking for a file.
• Can build low-memory version of vasm with minimal hash tables, by compiling with -DLOWMEM.
• Do not allow exporting equates which are based on imported symbols.
• Search for include files in the current work directory first, then in the compile directory.
• New option -maxpasses to adjust the maximum number of passes while resolving a section.
• New option -nocompdir to disable compile directory based include file lookup completely.
• New option -v to print version and copyright.
• m68k: -no-opt option really ovrrides all "opt o" and "opt a" directives from the source now.
• m68k: Fixed 68030/68851 PMOVE issue with TC and MMUSR, caused by a conflict with MOVEC control registers of the same name.
• m68k: New Apollo instructions DBcc.L and MOVE2.
• m68k: Fixed Apollo MOVE immediate addressing mode to vector register.
• m68k: Fixed Apollo SUBI banked instruction (one word missing).
• m68k: Added Apollo banking prefix support for MOVE.L Bn,<ea> and MOVE.L <ea>,Bn.
• m68k: Apollo LSLQ and LSRQ default to a .W operation size when missing. The remaining AMMX instructions should be .Q.
• m68k: Make sure AMMX 64-bit constants are parsed with full precision.
• m68k: Added missing Apollo FMOVE addressing modes.
• 6502: Added support for the WDC 65816 and 65802 8/16 bits instruction set, including some new directives for selecting Accumulator and Index width.
• z80: Fix for GBZ80 "ld (c),a" and "ld a,(c)".
• mot-syntax: ASSERT directive.
• mot-syntax: macro arguments within <..> allow additional '>' characters inside a string without terminating the argument (vasm default mode only, not for Devpac-compatibility).
• std-syntax: New option -gas for stricter GNU-as compatibility.
• std-syntax: Supports one-digit temporary labels, where the nearest previous label may be referenced by Nb and the nearest following by Nf.
• oldstyle-syntax: New directives SYMDEPEND and NEEDS. They define a dependency of the current section from an external symbol, which must be resolved by the linker.
• oldstyle-syntax: Anonymous labels may be defined with a single ':' and referenced by ':+' or ':-'.
• hunk-output: Converts NONE-relocs to 8-bit ABS with a warning.
• hunk-output: Improved short-reloc output and work around AmigaOS LoadSeg() limitations/bugs.
• o65-output: Check bad addends for 8-bit relocations.