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@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ +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 16-bit DOS and Win32 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, you will need GCC. Type `make', and then when it +has finished copy the file `nasm' (and maybe `ndisasm') to a +directory on your search path (I use /usr/local/bin on my linux +machine at home, and ~/bin on other machines where I don't have root +access). You may also want to copy the man page `nasm.1' (and maybe +`ndisasm.1') to somewhere sensible. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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 `nasm.doc'. For +information about how to use NDISASM, see `ndisasm.doc'. For +information about the internal structure of NASM, see +`internals.doc'. + +Bug reports (and patches if you can) should be sent to +jules@dcs.warwick.ac.uk or anakin@pobox.com. |