diff options
-rw-r--r-- | gas/NOTES | 69 |
1 files changed, 35 insertions, 34 deletions
@@ -2,23 +2,23 @@ PORTING: -Sorry, no description of the interfaces is written up yet. Look at -existing back ends and work from there. +Sorry, no description of the interfaces is written up yet. Look at existing +back ends and work from there. -New hosts: If your host system has a strange header file setup, create -a config/ho-foo.h file for it and include the appropriate header files -or definitions there. If your host has a broken compiler, or some -broken macros in header files, create a host-specific file and repair -the damage there. (See, for example, ho-rs6000.h. The "assert" macro -on that system doesn't work right, and a flag is set to rewrite an -expression in tc-m68k.c that the native compiler mis-compiles.) +New hosts: If your host system has a strange header file setup, create a +config/ho-foo.h file for it and include the appropriate header files or +definitions there. If your host has a broken compiler, or some broken macros +in header files, create a host-specific file and repair the damage there. +(See, for example, ho-rs6000.h. The "assert" macro on that system doesn't work +right, and a flag is set to rewrite an expression in tc-m68k.c that the native +compiler mis-compiles.) -New target formats: Look at the BFD_ASSEMBLER code. The a.out code -might be a fair example. There are no "good" examples yet, -unfortunately. +New target formats: Look at the BFD_ASSEMBLER code. The a.out code might be a +fair example. There are no "good" examples yet, unfortunately, nor any good +documentation of the changes. -New target processors: Check first to see if the BFD_ASSEMBLER -interface is supported by the file format code you need to use. +New target processors: Check first to see if the BFD_ASSEMBLER interface is +supported by the file format code you need to use. New environments: ??? @@ -33,40 +33,41 @@ Anyone want to offer to maintain a man page? BFD CONVERSION: -The "#ifdef BFD_ASSEMBLER" code is on its way in; the "#ifndef -BFD_ASSEMBLER" code is on its way out. The new code uses BFD data -structures, and calls BFD for anything that needs to be written to the -output file. The old code did all the writing itself, or in a couple -of cases, used BFD as a slightly higher level than stdio (i.e., -bfd_seek, bfd_write -- these are not the preferred interface). +The "#ifdef BFD_ASSEMBLER" code is on its way in; the "#ifndef BFD_ASSEMBLER" +code is on its way out. The new code uses BFD data structures, and calls BFD +for anything that needs to be written to the output file. The old code did all +the writing itself, or in a couple of cases, used BFD as a slightly higher +level than stdio (i.e., bfd_seek, bfd_write -- these are not the preferred +interface). Because of this, some of this code is messy. Lots of ifdef's, and the -non-BFD_ASSEMBLER version often has multiple conditional tests inside -it for various processors or formats. As the various targets get -converted over, these will gradually go away. +non-BFD_ASSEMBLER version often has multiple conditional tests inside it for +various processors or formats. As the various targets get converted over, +these will gradually go away. -As of the moment I'm editing this file, only the "sun4" target can -really use the BFD code. Other back ends still need merging or +As of the moment I'm editing this file, only the "sun4" and "decstation-bsd" +targets can really use the BFD code. Other back ends still need merging or touching up. TO DO: Remove DONTDEF code, commented-out code. -Eliminate, as much as possible, anything not in config that is -conditionalized on a CPU, format, or environment. +Eliminate, as much as possible, anything not in config that is conditionalized +on a CPU, format, or environment. -Finish conversion to using BFD for all object file writing. (This is -the BFD_ASSEMBLER code, not BFD or BFD_HEADERS.) VMS might be the -tough one here, since there's no BFD support for it at all yet. -Eliminate the old code. +Finish conversion to using BFD for all object file writing. (This is the +BFD_ASSEMBLER code, not BFD or BFD_HEADERS.) VMS might be the tough one here, +since there's no BFD support for it at all yet. Eliminate the old code. -Clean up comments; lots of 'em are one previous maintainer griping -about another previous maintainer, unrelated to the code. (And with -no names, they're not so fun to read. :-) +Clean up comments; lots of 'em are one previous maintainer griping about +another previous maintainer, unrelated to the code. (And with no names, +they're not so fun to read. :-) Get Steve to document H8/500 stuff. +Put together a test suite, using DejaGnu. + (From old "NOTES" file to-do list, not really reviewed:) fix relocation types for i860, perhaps by adding a ref pointer to fixS? |