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@@ -0,0 +1,140 @@ +This is a distribution of NASM, the Netwide Assembler. NASM is a +prototype general-purpose x86 assembler. It will currently output +flat-form binary files, a.out, COFF and ELF Unix object files, +Microsoft Win32 and 16-bit DOS object files, OS/2 object files, the +as86 object format, and a home-grown format called RDF. + +Also included is NDISASM, a prototype x86 binary-file disassembler +which uses the same instruction table as NASM. + +To install NASM on Linux, type `make', and then when it has finished +copy the file `nasm' (and maybe `ndisasm') to a directory on your +search path (maybe /usr/local/bin, or ~/bin if you don't have root +access). You may also want to copy the man page `nasm.1' (and maybe +`ndisasm.1') to somewhere sensible. + +To install under DOS, if you don't need to rebuild from the sources, +you can just copy nasm.exe and ndisasm.exe (16-bit DOS executables), +or nasmw.exe and ndisasmw.exe (Win32 console applications - less +likely to run out of memory), to somewhere on your PATH. + +To rebuild the DOS sources, various makefiles are provided: + +- Makefile.dos, the one I build the standard 16-bit releases from, + designed for a hybrid system using Microsoft C and Borland Make + (don't ask why :-) +- Makefile.vc, for Microsoft Visual C++ compiling to a Win32 + command-line application. This is the one I build the standard + Win32 release binaries from. + +- Makefile.bor, for Borland C. +- Makefile.bc2, also for Borland C, contributed by Fox Cutter. + Reported to work better than Makefile.bor on some systems. + +- Makefile.sc, for Symantec C++, compiling to a 32-bit extended DOS + executable.. Contributed by Mark Junker. +- Makefile.scw, also for Symantec C++, compiling to a Win32 command- + line application. Also contributed by Mark Junker. + +- Makefile.wc, for Watcom C, compiling to a 32-bit extended DOS + executable. Contributed by Dominik Behr. +- Makefile.wcw, also for Watcom C, compiling to a Win32 command- + line application. Also contributed by Dominik Behr. + +- Makefile.dj, for DJGPP, compiling to a 32-bit extended DOS + executable. Contributed by Dominik Behr. + +- Makefile.lcc, for lcc-win32, compiling to a Win32 command line + application. (The lcc-win32 compiler and tools are available from + http://www.remcomp.com/lcc-win32/) + +I can't guarantee that all of those makefiles work, because I don't +have all of those compilers. However, Makefile.dos and Makefile.vc +work on my system, and so do Makefile.bor and Makefile.bc2. + +Be careful with Borland C: there have been various conflicting +reports about how reliable the Huge memory model is. If you try to +compile NASM in Large model, you may get DGROUP overflows due to the +vast quantity of data in the instruction tables. I've had reports +from some people that Huge model doesn't work at all (and also +reports from others that it works fine), so if you don't want to try +moving to Huge, you could try adding the option `-dc' to the +compiler command line instead, which causes string literals to be +moved from DGROUP to the code segments and might make Large model +start working. (Either solution works for me.) + +Dominik Behr has also contributed the file misc/pmw.bat, which is a +batch file to turn the output from Makefile.wc (NASM.EXE and +NDISASM.EXE) into standalone executables incorporating Tran's +PMODE/W DOS extender, rather than depending on an external extender +program. + +Some of the Windows makefiles produce executables called nasmw.exe +and ndisasmw.exe, and some don't. Be prepared for either... + +If you're trying to unpack the DOS (.ZIP format) archive under Unix +instead of using the .tar.gz version, you can save some time by +doing `unzip -aL', which will convert the DOS-format text files to +Unix and also convert all names to lower case. + +If you want to build a restricted version of NASM containing only +some of the object file formats, you can achieve this by adding +#defines to `outform.h' (see the file itself for documentation), or +equivalently by adding compiler command line options in the +Makefile. + +There is a machine description file for the `LCC' retargetable C +compiler (version 3.6), in the directory `lcc', along with +instructions for its use. This means that NASM can now be used as +the code-generator back end for a useful C compiler. + +Michael `Wuschel' Tippach has ported his DOS extender `WDOSX' to +enable it to work with the 32-bit binary files NASM can output: the +original extender and his port `WDOSX/N' are available from his web +page, http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/4493. + +Matt Mastracci has written a document explaining how to write +assembly language modules in DJGPP programs using NASM: it's on his +web site at http://www.ucalgary.ca/~mmastrac/djgppasm.doc. + +The `misc' directory contains `nasm.sl', a NASM editing mode for the +JED programmers' editor (see http://space.mit.edu/~davis/jed.html +for details about JED). The comment at the start of the file gives +instructions on how to install the mode. This directory also +contains a file (`magic') containing lines to add to /etc/magic on +Unix systems to allow the `file' command to recognise RDF files, and +a zip file (`exasm.zip') containing the necessary files for syntax +highlighting in the Aurora DOS editor. (The Aurora files were +contributed by <U993847220@aol.com>; I haven't tested them as I +don't have Aurora.) + +The `rdoff' directory contains sources for a linker and loader for +the RDF object file format, to run under Linux, and also +documentation on the internal structure of RDF files. + +For information about how you can distribute and use NASM, see the +file Licence. We were tempted to put NASM under the GPL, but decided +that in many ways it was too restrictive for developers. + +For information about how to use NASM, see the various forms of +documentation in the `doc' directory: documentation is provided in +HTML, PostScript, plain text, Texinfo, and Windows Help formats. For +information about how to use NDISASM, see `ndisasm.doc'. For +information about the internal structure of NASM, see +`internal.doc'. (In particular, _please_ read `internal.doc' before +writing any code for us...) + +The NASM web page is at http://www.web-sites.co.uk/Nasm/ + +Bug reports (and patches if you can) should be sent to +<jules@earthcorp.com> or <anakin@pobox.com>. + +-------------------------------------------- +This release prepared by the Nasm Development Team at: + +<http://nasm.2y.net/> + +Please visit us - our chat forum works :) +---------------------------------------------- + + |