Chapter 4 Converting Files to the New Format

4.1 Introduction

This chapter discusses how to convert existing SunOS 4.1 SPARC assembly files to the SunOS 5.x SPARC assembly file format.

4.2 Conversion Instructions

• Remove the leading underscore ( _ ) from symbol names. The Solaris 2.x SPARCompilers do not prepend a leading underscore to symbol names in the users' programs as did the SPARCompilers that ran under SunOS 4.1.

• Prefix local symbol names with a dot (.). Local symbol names in the SunOS 5.x SPARC assembly language begin with a dot (.) so that they will not conflict with user programs' symbol names.

• Change the usage of the pseudo-op .seg to .section, for example, change .seg data to .section .data. See Appendix A, Pseudo-Operations for more information.

The above conversions can be automatically achieved by passing the -T option to the assembler.

4.3 Examples

Figure 4–1 shows how to convert an existing 4.1 file to the new format. The lines that are different in the new format are marked with change bars.

Figure 4–1 Converting a 4.x File to the New Format