.section ... "ax" vs #alloc, #execinstr

.section ... "ax" vs #alloc, #execinstr

[Eli Carter]

Some of the assembly files use
.section        ".start", "ax"
and others use
.section ".start", #alloc, #execinstr
(and not just for .start, try
find -name \*.S | xargs grep -e '\.section'
)

These appear to be equivelent, if not somebody clue me in please. :) 
Which is the prefered form?  The latter seems to provide a bit more for 
the human, so I'd vote that direction... ;)

Thanks,

Eli
--------------------. "If it ain't broke now,
Eli Carter           \                  it will be soon." -- crypto-gram
eli.carter(a)inet.com `-------------------------------------------------

Re: .section ... "ax" vs #alloc, #execinstr

[Russell King]

On Tue, Apr 15, 2003 at 03:06:34PM -0500, Eli Carter wrote:
> Some of the assembly files use
> .section        ".start", "ax"
> and others use
> .section ".start", #alloc, #execinstr
> (and not just for .start, try
> find -name \*.S | xargs grep -e '\.section'
> )
> 
> These appear to be equivelent, if not somebody clue me in please. :) 
> Which is the prefered form?  The latter seems to provide a bit more for 
> the human, so I'd vote that direction... ;)

I guess you're asking about the IOP3xx stuff.

info as
mp<tab>
msec<tab>

gives all the details.  To summarise though:

	"a" or "#alloc" - the section is allocatable
	"x" or "#execinstr" - the section is executable

"ax" seems to be what Linus uses.  I used to use the long versions, but
changed to the shorter version - less characters to type, but still
fairly readable.  After all, you don't catch people trying to make ls
report stuff like:

file, user read write execute, group read execute, other read execute,
2 links, owner root, group root, 44 kibytes, modified xxxx, name "foo"

(or I hope you don't! 8))

-- 
Russell King (rmk@arm.linux.org.uk)                The developer of ARM Linux
             http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/personal/aboutme.html

Re: .section ... "ax" vs #alloc, #execinstr

[Daniel Jacobowitz]

On Tue, Apr 15, 2003 at 03:06:34PM -0500, Eli Carter wrote:
> Some of the assembly files use
> .section        ".start", "ax"
> and others use
> .section ".start", #alloc, #execinstr
> (and not just for .start, try
> find -name \*.S | xargs grep -e '\.section'
> )
> 
> These appear to be equivelent, if not somebody clue me in please. :) 

They're equivalent.

> Which is the prefered form?  The latter seems to provide a bit more for 
> the human, so I'd vote that direction... ;)

Well, GCC prefers the former.  Binutils will accept either; they have
historically different origins.

-- 
Daniel Jacobowitz
MontaVista Software                         Debian GNU/Linux Developer