acme/docs/Upgrade.txt

                                 ACME

         ...the ACME Crossassembler for Multiple Environments

                --- upgrading from earlier versions ---


If you haven't used ACME before, you don't need to read this text.



----------------------------------------------------------------------
Upgrading from earlier releases to ACME release 0.95.2
----------------------------------------------------------------------

In 6510 mode, ACME now outputs 0x0b instead of 0x2b when assembling
the undocumented ("illegal") ANC #imm8 instruction. Both opcodes do
the same thing, this was only changed because all other mnemonics use
the smallest possible opcode as well.
Forcing the old behavior via the "--dialect" switch is not supported.



----------------------------------------------------------------------
Upgrading from earlier releases to ACME release 0.94.12
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The pseudo opcode "!for" has a new syntax. The old syntax still works,
but gives a warning.
You can use the "--dialect 0.94.8" CLI switch to get the old behavior.


----------------------------------------------------------------------
Upgrading from earlier releases to ACME release 0.94.8
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The pseudo opcodes "!cbm", "!subzone" and "!realpc" no longer give
warnings, but have now been disabled.
You can use the "--dialect 0.94.6" CLI switch to get the old behavior.



----------------------------------------------------------------------
Upgrading from earlier releases to ACME release 0.94.6
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The "to-the-power-of" operator ('^') is now right-associative, so
    b^c^d    will now give    b^(c^d)    instead of    (b^c)^d
If you have never used the operator in this way, you don't need to
worry about it.
You can use the "--dialect 0.86" CLI switch to get the old behavior.



----------------------------------------------------------------------
Upgrading from earlier releases to ACME release 0.89
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The "logical shift right" operator has been changed. Note: This is
about ACME's expression parser and has nothing to do with the 6502
mnemonic called "LSR".
Older versions were supposed to work like this:
	a = b >> c	; alias "LSR", do a logical shift right
But what they actually did depended on the compiler that was used to
create the ACME binary: many binaries did an "arithmetic shift right"
instead. This has now been fixed and changed to:
	a = b >> c	; alias "ASR", do an arithmetic shift right
	a = b >>> c	; alias "LSR", do a logical shift right
If you have never applied the old ">>"/"LSR" operator to a negative
value, you do not need to worry about this. If you have, please check
what you expected to happen in those instances (arithmetic or logical
shift) and update your source codes accordingly (use either ">>"/"ASR"
or ">>>"/"LSR").
Forcing the old behavior via the "--dialect" switch is not possible,
because as explained above, the old behavior was compiler-dependent
anyway.



----------------------------------------------------------------------
Upgrading from earlier releases to ACME release 0.07
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Re-defining the program counter via "* = NEW_VALUE" no longer starts
offset assembly. Instead, ACME will change its pointer into the output
buffer to the given value, so you can write your code in distinct
segments. These segments can be given in any order. After assembly,
ACME stores everything from the lowest address used to the highest
address used. Have a look at "AllPOs.txt" for an example on how to use
this facility.

Offset assembly is now done using a new pseudo opcode called
"!pseudopc". Have a look at "AllPOs.txt" for further information on
its syntax and usage.

The pseudo opcode "!end" has been removed. Use "!eof" instead.

The mnemonic BIT can no longer be assembled without any argument. If
you want to insert the opcode only to mask the next instruction, use
	!src <6502/std.a>
to get the definitions for these two macros:
	+bit8	; output $24 to mask following 1-byte command
	+bit16	; output $2c to mask following 2-byte command

When using the 65816 cpu, ACME now uses the correct argument order for
the MVN and MVP mnemonics, which is:
	mnemonic source_bank, destination_bank

Using leading zeroes in hexadecimal or binary values makes ACME use
bigger addressing modes than needed. This has now been extended to
symbols as well:
	label2 = $00fa
		lda label2
will be assembled to:
    ad fa 00    lda $00fa

Forcing the old behavior via the "--dialect" switch is not supported.



----------------------------------------------------------------------
Upgrading from earlier releases to ACME release 0.04 beta
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The pseudo opcode "!module" has been removed. Use "!zone" instead.
Forcing the old behavior via the "--dialect" switch is not supported.



----------------------------------------------------------------------
Upgrading from earlier releases to ACME release 0.03 beta
----------------------------------------------------------------------

It is no longer possible to have more than one label in a single line.
Forcing the old behavior via the "--dialect" switch is not supported.