If you want to report a bug, please read \k{bugs} first.
NASM has a \i{WWW page} at
-\W{http://www.web-sites.co.uk/nasm}\c{http://www.web-sites.co.uk/nasm}.
+\W{http://www.web-sites.co.uk/nasm}\c{http://www.web-sites.co.uk/nasm},
+and another, with additional information, at
+\W{http://nasm.2y.net/}\c{http://nasm.2y.net/}
The original authors are \i{e\-mail}able as
\W{mailto:jules@dsf.org.uk}\c{jules@dsf.org.uk} and
\W{mailto:anakin@pobox.com}\c{anakin@pobox.com}.
The latter is no longer involved in the development team.
-\i{New releases} of NASM are uploaded to the official site
-\W{http://www.web-sites.co.uk/nasm}\c{http://www.web-sites.co.uk/nasm},
+\i{New releases} of NASM are uploaded to the official sites
+\W{http://www.web-sites.co.uk/nasm}\c{http://www.web-sites.co.uk/nasm}
and to
\W{ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/software/devel/nasm/}\i\c{ftp.kernel.org}
and
\W{ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/devel/lang/assemblers/}\i\c{ibiblio.org}.
-\# \W{ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/asmutl/}\i\c{ftp.simtel.net}
-\# and
-\# \W{ftp://ftp.coast.net/coast/msdos/asmutil/}\i\c{ftp.coast.net}.
Announcements are posted to
\W{news:comp.lang.asm.x86}\i\c{comp.lang.asm.x86},
\W{news:alt.lang.asm}\i\c{alt.lang.asm} and
\W{news:comp.os.linux.announce}\i\c{comp.os.linux.announce}
-\# and
-\# \W{news:comp.archives.msdos.announce}\i\c{comp.archives.msdos.announce}
-\# (the last one is done automagically by uploading to
-\# \W{ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/asmutl/}\c{ftp.simtel.net}).
If you want information about NASM beta releases, and the current
-development status, please subscribe to the \i\c{nasm-devel} email lists
+development status, please subscribe to the \i\c{nasm-devel} email list
by registering at
-\W{http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nasm-devel}\c{http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nasm-devel}
-and
+\W{http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nasm-devel}\c{http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nasm-devel},
\W{http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/nasm-devel}\c{http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/nasm-devel}
+and
+\W{http://sourceforge.net/projects/nasm}\c{http://sourceforge.net/projects/nasm}.
+
+The preferred list is the list at Sourceforge, which is also the home to
+the latest nasm source code and releases. The other lists are open, but
+may not continue to be supported in the long term.
\H{install} Installation
value \c{!-s!-ic:\\nasmlib} is equivalent to setting it to \c{-s
-ic:\\nasmlib}, but \c{!-dNAME="my name"} will work.
-This variable was called \c{NASM} in earlier versions of NASM,
-however, this caused problems with makefiles which used a \c{$(NASM)}
-variable.
+This environment variable was previously called \c{NASM}. This was
+changed with version 0.98.31.
+
\H{qstart} \i{Quick Start} for \i{MASM} Users
the NASM command line: see \k{opt-d}.
+\S{concat%+} Concatenating Single Line Macro Tokens: \i\c{%+}
+
+Individual tokens in single line macros can be concatenated, to produce
+longer tokens for later processing. This can be useful if there are
+several similar macros that perform simlar functions.
+
+As an example, consider the following:
+
+\c %define BDASTART 400h ; Start of BIOS data area
+
+\c struc tBIOSDA ; its structure
+\c .COM1addr RESW 1
+\c .COM2addr RESW 1
+\c ; ..and so on
+\c endstruc
+
+Now, if we need to access the elements of tBIOSDA in different places,
+we can end up with:
+
+\c mov ax,BDASTART + tBIOSDA.COM1addr
+\c mov bx,BDASTART + tBIOSDA.COM2addr
+
+This will become pretty ugly (and tedious) if used in many places, and
+can be reduced in size significantly by using the following macro:
+
+\c ; Macro to access BIOS variables by their names (from tBDA):
+
+\c %define BDA(x) BDASTART + tBIOSDA. %+ x
+
+Now the above code can be written as:
+
+\c mov ax,BDA(COM1addr)
+\c mov bx,BDA(COM2addr)
+
+Using this feature, we can simplify references to a lot of macros (and,
+in turn, reduce typing errors).
+
+
\S{undef} Undefining macros: \i\c{%undef}
Single-line macros can be removed with the \c{%undef} command. For
example, the following sequence:
\c %define foo bar
-\c %undef foo
-\c mov eax, foo
+\c %undef foo
+\c mov eax, foo
will expand to the instruction \c{mov eax, foo}, since after
\c{%undef} the macro \c{foo} is no longer defined.
\c %macro prologue 1
\c push ebp
-\c mov ebp,esp
-\c sub esp,%1
+\c mov ebp,esp
+\c sub esp,%1
\c %endmacro
This defines a C-like function prologue as a macro: so you would
which would expand to the three lines of code
\c myfunc: push ebp
-\c mov ebp,esp
-\c sub esp,12
+\c mov ebp,esp
+\c sub esp,12
The number \c{1} after the macro name in the \c{%macro} line defines
the number of parameters the macro \c{prologue} expects to receive.
bugs. That doesn't usually stop there being plenty we didn't know
about, though. Any that you find should be reported firstly via the
\i\c{bugtracker} at
-\W{http://nasm.2y.net/bugtracker/}\c{http://nasm.2y.net/bugtracker/},
-or if that fails then through one of the contacts in \k{contact}
+\W{https://sourceforge.net/projects/nasm/}\c{https://sourceforge.net/projects/nasm/}
+(click on "Bugs"), or if that fails then through one of the
+contacts in \k{contact}.
Please read \k{qstart} first, and don't report the bug if it's
listed in there as a deliberate feature. (If you think the feature
one anyway. You have been warned.
-\A{iref} Intel x86 Instruction Reference
+\A{iref} x86 Instruction Reference
This appendix provides a complete list of the machine instructions
which NASM will assemble, and a short description of the function of
It is not intended to be exhaustive documentation on the fine
details of the instructions' function, such as which exceptions they
can trigger: for such documentation, you should go to Intel's Web
-site, \W{http://www.intel.com/}\c{http://www.intel.com/}.
+site, \W{http://developer.intel.com/design/Pentium4/manuals/}\c{http://developer.intel.com/design/Pentium4/manuals/}.
Instead, this appendix is intended primarily to provide
documentation on the way the instructions may be used within NASM.
\b The \c{EIP} register is copied into the \c{ECX} register.
-\b Bits [31\960] of the 64-bit SYSCALL/SYSRET Target Address Register
+\b Bits [31-0] of the 64-bit SYSCALL/SYSRET Target Address Register
(\c{STAR}) are copied into the \c{EIP} register.
-\b Bits [47\9632] of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is
+\b Bits [47-32] of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is
copied into the \c{CS} register.
-\b Bits [47\9632]+1000b of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that
+\b Bits [47-32]+1000b of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that
is copied into the SS register.
The \c{CS} and \c{SS} registers should not be modified by the operating
\c{CS} or \c{(E)IP}. If you need to return to the calling code, you
need to write your code to cater for this.
-For more information, see the Intel Architecture Software Developer\92s
+For more information, see the Intel Architecture Software Developer's
Manual, Volume 2.
after the corresponding \c{SYSCALL} instruction, is copied into the \c{EIP}
register.
-\b Bits [63\9648] of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is copied
+\b Bits [63-48] of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is copied
into the \c{CS} register.
-\b Bits [63\9648]+1000b of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is
+\b Bits [63-48]+1000b of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is
copied into the \c{SS} register.
-\b Bits [1\960] of the \c{SS} register are set to 11b (RPL of 3) regardless of
-the value of bits [49\9648] of the \c{STAR} register.
+\b Bits [1-0] of the \c{SS} register are set to 11b (RPL of 3) regardless of
+the value of bits [49-48] of the \c{STAR} register.
The \c{CS} and \c{SS} registers should not be modified by the operating
system between the execution of the \c{SYSCALL} instruction and its
projects / platform / upstream / nasm.git / commitdiff