Align inside BSS section

[tommo]

Devpac 3 question:
How do you align inside the BSS section?

I want var_3 to align_16 relative to the BSS start.
( even = align 2 , long even = align 4 , etc)


example:

Code: Select all

   TEXT
      move.w   d0,d0
      ...
      cnop   0,16   (Align DATA segment)
   DATA
var      dc.w   1
      ...
      cnop   0,16   (Align BSS segment)
   BSS
var_2      ds.w   1
      ...
   <align_16>
var_3      ds.l   128
   END

[Cyprian]

if I'm not wrong, there is no way to align DATA or BSS to Long Word, due to the OS cares only about Word boundary alignment.
but you can align it on your own:

Code: Select all

   move.l   #var_3,D0
   addq.l   #4,D0
   and.w   #$FFFC,D0
   move.l   D0,A0


[tommo]

... the OS cares only about Word boundary alignment.

That is correct, i use a little program that starts the main program on a align_16 base.

[charles]

whats the EVEN command do ,
could u use it?
or
pad with zero's to self align ?

[Cyprian]

... the OS cares only about Word boundary alignment.

That is correct, i use a little program that starts the main program on a align_16 base.

you can try to implement your own relocation code, that would allow you to place also DATA and BSS section on align_16 base.

whats the EVEN command do ,
could u use it?
or
pad with zero's to self align ?

EVEN ensures you that next data will be Word boundary aligned

[dhedberg]

... the OS cares only about Word boundary alignment.

That is correct, i use a little program that starts the main program on a align_16 base.

So you're relocating code/data/bss? Would you mind sharing that piece of code?

[tommo]

FOUND IT !

the * is the location where i am now.
then substract the BSS lokation from it.

then put empty spaces in place when not alighned.

so this looks like

Code: Select all

   BSS      ;(where BSS starts)
BSS      ;(a label is needed to indicate that)
   ...
   ifeq ((*-BSS)&1)^1   ;make even
   ds.b   1
   endc
   ifeq ((*-BSS)&2)^2   ;make long
   ds.w   1
   endc
   ifeq ((*-BSS)&4)^4   ;make alighn_8
   ds.l   1
   endc
   ifeq ((*-BSS)&8)^8   ;make alighn_16
   ds.l   2   
   endc

var_3   ds.l   128

should make a MACRO for it.

[dhedberg]

Hmm, does this really work? The aligning will take place during assembly, but when the resulting executable is loaded the Atari TOS can put it anywhere. The OS only guarantees that it starts at an even address. As far as I understand it, alignment on anything but word addresses requires relocating the code/data manually during runtime.

[mikro]

Daniel is correct, that works only on paper (computer screen ;-)), what is important is how the OS handles BSS segment (and it usually puts it on a word boundary, as mentioned).

[tommo]

Hmm, does this really work? The aligning will take place during assembly, but when the resulting executable is loaded the Atari TOS can put it anywhere. The OS only guarantees that it starts at an even address. As far as I understand it, alignment on anything but word addresses requires relocating the code/data manually during runtime.

Yes it works, i tested it first, but this is better:

Code: Select all

MACRO   ALIGHN_16
   ifne (*-BSS)&1   ;make even
   ds.b   1
   endc
   ifne (*-BSS)&2   ;make long
   ds.w   1
   endc
   ifne (*-BSS)&4   ;make alighn_8
   ds.l   1
   endc
   ifne (*-BSS)&8   ;make alighn_16
   ds.l   2
   endc
   ENDM

It is true during debugging it is not aligned to a 16 bound addres.
but is IS aligned relative to the label. ( in this case BSS)

When started from a little program i already made that exacutes a program on a fixed alignment
this works.

Thanks everyone for thinking with me.

for who is interested:
the 68060 has a cache that works with 4longs (called a line) at the time, so this is aligned to 16.

[lp]

FOUND IT !

the * is the location where i am now.
then substract the BSS lokation from it.

then put empty spaces in place when not alighned.

so this looks like

I have done something similiar with a macro in devpac when trying to optimize a program for the 030 caches. As some have stated alignment on anything but word addresses requires doing the loading and fix up yourself. I think that even applies to MiNT. I used a small program to load and fix it up.

[tommo]

So you're relocating code/data/bss? Would you mind sharing that piece of code?

No, no relocating.

A program that shrinks its memorie to the alignment wanted.
Then it executes a program. (that gets placed after the shrunk memorie)
when the program is finished i comes back and it quits.

I think the shrinking also includes the already run code and all of the data and bss to maximize free memorie.

I used a small program to load and fix it up.

So, i am not the only one that had that thought...

So thanks again everyone who made the effort to think with me.

[wietze]

I would just use a pointer and align that pointer, then copy data/code to that pointer and use it.
Or is this too complicated?

[dhedberg]

On the 030, code alignment becomes important as well due to the i-cache but sure, for the bss section it's just to align pointers. For data it could be a bit more work than just align and copy if the data contains pointers to data.