Message-Id: <m10FicP-000S6rC@inti.gov.ar>
Comments: Authenticated sender is <salvador AT natacha DOT inti DOT gov DOT ar>
From: "Salvador Eduardo Tropea (SET)" <salvador AT inti DOT gov DOT ar>
Organization: INTI
To: Dave Bird <dave AT xemu DOT demon DOT co DOT uk>, djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 15:10:40 +0000
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Subject: Re: I just wanted to assemble this old program under NASM....
In-reply-to: <1lGPMoAteC12EwsX@xemu.demon.co.uk>
References: <Pine DOT SUN DOT 3 DOT 91 DOT 990224110855 DOT 22838C-100000 AT is>
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Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com

Dave Bird <dave AT xemu DOT demon DOT co DOT uk> wrote:
> In message <Pine DOT SUN DOT 3 DOT 91 DOT 990224110518 DOT 22838A-100000 AT is>, 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il> writes:
> >On Tue, 23 Feb 1999, Dave Bird wrote:
> >
> >>  OK, I'll try rhino-hide.... 

Is RHIDE, not rhino-hide, nobody is hidded and no rhino too.

>>>>with some trepidation, because it 
> >>  is another big complicated package to learn in order to get
> >>  to a fairly simple objective.....
> >
> >If you are serious about writing programs, you will eventually need to 
> >begin using some serious programmer's editor.  The default editors (on 
> >any system) are just not good enough, IMHO.
> 
>  I am already very happy writing large Borland C++ programs 
>  in Borland's IDE; I had hoped I could get this intel-asm program
>  debugging with PM large memory allocation under GDB with simple 
>  editors and a slightly different assembler (i.e. without needing 
>  to stop and learn a whole new IDE).

:-))))), RHIDE is a BC++ 3.1 IDE clone, if you know how to use Borland's IDE 
learning RHIDE is very easy.
 
> In message <Pine DOT SUN DOT 3 DOT 91 DOT 990224110855 DOT 22838C-100000 AT is>, Eli Zaretskii
> <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il> writes
> >
> >On Wed, 24 Feb 1999, Dave Bird wrote:
> >
> >> >DJGPP programs *start* in 32-bit mode.  You can't switch to/from real
> >> >mode the way you're thinking in a djgpp program.
> >>  You mean "no program which does so can be defined in assembler, 
> >>  assembled and linked, then fed to GDB......" :-?
> >
> >Probably not, at least not in the DJGPP port of GDB.
> >Here's some background on how debugger support works in DJGPP.  
> >[.................................................concluding:]
> >The debugging library was written specifically for DJGPP, with nothing
> >else in mind but debugging DJGPP-style COFF images that run in a DPMI
> >environment.
> >
> >From this description, it should become clear that the DJGPP debuggers
> >are probably not good for debugging anything but DJGPP programs, or
> >programs that at least look and behave like DJGPP ones.
> 
>  Right.  From this it is clear that the simplest and most sensible
>  way to achieve what I want is to make the prefix a 'C' program
>  which then calls asm_main rewritten in [Nasm] assembler. The CODE
>  part is well below 640K, in fact it's well below 64K. Obviously it
>  would me if GDB, and GNU-on-DOS, were designed to assemble and debug
>  anything then configured to particular DJGPP things within that; 
>  but this wasn't it's primary purpose, and if it won't do so then
>  that's just my tough luck.
> 
>  At the moment there is a program prefix at START: which defines
>  the following things.  (1) Sets up stack pointer and segment 
>  registers (2) If true PM it would manage the transition from
>  16Bit RealMode start-up through calling DPMI to set up the
>  protected mode segments and enter protected mode (3) It uses
>  XMS [or DPMI] to allocate about 40MBytes locked and provide
>  a simple 32bit variable pointing to it (4) then it calls ASM_MAIN.
>  On return it de-allocates and exits.

That's a lot of work you don't need to do. Do it in C with DJGPP and left the 
assembler for the really important stuff.
 
>  Next it defines wrappers for various DOS calls with convenient
>  register-passing conventions for WriteChar, WriteString,
>  ConvNum, WriteNum and so forth. It also has a "Load" routine
>  to whack a complete data file into where the allocation pointer
>  points and update the pointer [using a 16KB transfer buffer
>  on the reads]. 
> 
>  Now we draw a line across the listing below all system interface.
> 
>  ASM_MAIN is written to just start working as if all set-up
>  actions have been done, and to call convenient assembler routines
>  for its I/O and other system needs.
> 
> 
>  I suppose this is what I would want to do with the prefix
>  written in C, with a call to ASM_MAIN.  Services could be
>  defined as C routines and exported, probably to wrappers
>  which gave them more convenient register passing conventions.
> 
>  Would RHIDE's GDB type debugger be happy with this? it would
>  just follow the source across into filename.S which
>  contained ASM_MAIN ??

RHIDE 1.4.7 can debug assembler with the dissasembler window. If you want to 
step in the .S file you'll need to add debug information to this file by 
hand.

SET
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