🚀 go-pugleaf

assassin17@rocketmail.com wrote:
> 
> i'm a little confused about how linkers (mainly TLINK) handle the DOSSEG
> directive.  several documents state that DOSSEG causes the segments
> to be ordered this way:
> 
> 1. All segments with a class name ending in CODE
> 2. Far data segments (segments outside DGROUP)
> 3. Near data (DGROUP) segments, in the following order:
>       a. Segments of class BEGDATA (reserved for Microsoft use)
>       b. Any segments not of class BEGDATA, BSS, or STACK
>       c. Segments of class BSS
>       d. Segments of class STACK
> 
> however, TLINK seems to always put segments with class 'STACK' at the
> end, even if they're _not_ in DGROUP.  MASM's LINK behaves according to
> the above list.  is there any standard to how other linkers handle
> DOSSEG, or can they arrange the different classed segments however they
> want?

The standard is the set of rules you mentioned above.  TLINK just
doesn't observe them.

> the next question is a little longer..  i was experimenting with this
> file:
> ----------
> DOSSEG
> 
> DGROUP GROUP OERP,AAAA,xaaa,LOPE,FBSS,DARK
> 
> xaaa SEGMENT 'CODE'
> xaaa ENDS
> 
> CBF SEGMENT
> CBF ENDS
> 
> FBSS SEGMENT 'DATA'
> FBSS ENDS
> 
> LOSER SEGMENT 'STACK'
> LOSER ENDS
> 
> ztr SEGMENT 'DATA'
> ztr ENDS
> 
> aab SEGMENT 'BSS'
> aab ENDS
> 
> OERP SEGMENT 'BEGDATA'
> OERP ENDS
> 
> AAAA SEGMENT 'ARPA'
> AAAA ENDS
> 
> LOPE SEGMENT 'STACK'
> LOPE ENDS
> 
> ZZZU SEGMENT 'ARPA'
> ZZZU ENDS
> 
> DARK SEGMENT 'CODE'
> DARK ENDS
> 
> END
> -----
> 
> strangely, TLINK outputted the segments in this order:
> 
>  00000H 00000H 00000H XAAA               CODE
>  00000H 00000H 00000H DARK               CODE
>  00000H 00000H 00000H CBF
>  00000H 00000H 00000H ZTR                DATA
>  00000H 00000H 00000H AAB                BSS
>  00000H 00000H 00000H AAAA               ARPA
>  00000H 00000H 00000H ZZZU               ARPA
>  00000H 00000H 00000H OERP               BEGDATA
>  00000H 00000H 00000H FBSS               DATA
>  00000H 00000H 00000H LOSER              STACK
>  00000H 00000H 00000H LOPE               STACK
> 
> segment AAAA is a member of DGROUP, and *should* be after OERP based on
> the aforementioned DOSSEG list.  even stranger, the segments will be
> outputted in the expected order if segment AAB is moved to the end of
> the source file:
> 
>  00000H 00000H 00000H XAAA               CODE
>  00000H 00000H 00000H DARK               CODE
>  00000H 00000H 00000H CBF
>  00000H 00000H 00000H ZTR                DATA
>  00000H 00000H 00000H ZZZU               ARPA
>  00000H 00000H 00000H AAB                BSS
>  00000H 00000H 00000H OERP               BEGDATA
>  00000H 00000H 00000H FBSS               DATA
>  00000H 00000H 00000H AAAA               ARPA
>  00000H 00000H 00000H LOSER              STACK
>  00000H 00000H 00000H LOPE               STACK
> 
> any idea what steps TLINK is going through when ordering these segments?
>  sometimes its behavior matches the documentation on DOSSEG; other times
> not.  very confusing..

According to the rules, the correct order (for the original segments) is
as follows:

Name	Class	Rule
--------------------
xaaa	CODE	1
DARK	CODE	1
CBF		2
ztr	DATA	2
LOSER	STACK	2
aab	BSS	2
ZZZU	ARPA	2
OERP	BEGDATA	3a
FBSS	DATA	3b
AAAA	ARPA	3b
LOPE	STACK	3d
_________________________________________
Bob Smith -- bsmith@sudleyplacedespam.com
a.k.a.       bsmith@qualitasdespam.com

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