xa65/xa/ChangeLog

xa-2.1.0

  * Rewrite of command line option handling to better look like
    usual (cc) options.
  * Removed ^M from all files.
  * Removed all external declarations to header files,
    and made all static functions static.
    | Now compiles almost without warning with 'gcc -W -Wall'.

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 31 Oct, 1996

xa-2.1.0a

  * Introduced concept of code relocation.  Now each label being set to
    the program counter is a 'pointer', that gets an entry in a
    relocation table. Simple arithmetic operations are allowed. The
    relocation table is still just printed unsortedly.

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 31 Oct, 1996

xa-2.1.0b

  * Produces some preliminary kind of relocatable file, including header
    etc. Problems -- relocation table does as if file is assembled for
    address 0. Need
    a) a better way to set program counter.
    b) pseudo opcodes for distinguishing segments.
    c) a way to temporarily disable relocation.
    d) a way to include extra headers and options into the file.

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 31 Oct, 1996

  * Assembler now produces a relocatable file format, as described in
    the file ``fileformat.txt''. Temporarily disabling relocation is with
    the ``*=value'' directive, while switching back to relocation mode
    goes with ``*='' (without value). New pseudo opcodes ``.text'',
    ``.data'', ``.bss'', ``.zero'' switch between the segments.

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 02 Nov, 1996

xa-2.1.0e

  * There was a bug in the arithmetic routine that had set all pointer
    to the text segment, if something was added.
  * There also was a bug in the loader when actually using options.
  * A new pseudo opcode was added -- ``.fopt''.
    | Works like ``.byte'', but puts these bytes in a file option.
    | The length in the file option is automagically set. ``.fopt''
    | may appear anywhere in the file, but it should be at the
    | beginning | (might be mandatory in a later version).

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 06 Nov, 1996

xa-2.1.0f

  * Added a command line switch ``-M'' to ignore colons in a comment
    after a semicolon.
  * Without it, a colon separates complete mnemonics, including
    the semicolon comment.
    | Well, actually this switch is a ``MASM'' compatibility switch, and
    will surely be expanded someday, when I get more info on MASM.
  * Now ``*'' and ``='' can be separated for the definition
    of the program counter and ``.byte'' is also accepted.
    This makes it more MASM compatible. ".end" is ignored.
    Still missing is ``.include''.

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 11 Nov, 1996

xa-2.1.0g

  * Started working on ``official'' o65 fileformat.
    If there are no undefined labels, and no relocated code
    is embedded in absolute code, the thing should work.

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 21 Dec, 1996

xa-2.1.1

  * ``.dsb'' now has an _optional_ parameter ``fillbyte''.
  * Undefined references are now put into the relocation table
    (i.e. handled correctly) if the ``-c'' option is given.
  * The file format conforms to o65 version 1 file format.
  * Embedding absolute in relocatable code and vice versa is buggy...

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 21 Dec, 1996

xa-2.1.1a

  * Embedding absolute code in relocatable seems to work now.

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 21 Dec, 1996

xa-2.1.1e

  * The option to embed relocatable code in absolute code has been
    dropped.  Therefore the command line options
    ``-A'' (make it romable), ``-b?'' (set segment start addresses),
    and ``-G'' (omit exported globals from file) have been added.
  * Internally, the whole thing has been made dynamic; except for the
    preprocessor (and the storage between pass1 and pass2), everything
    uses dynamically allocated tables. m_alloc, which had been
    introduced long time ago because of the buggy malloc
    on the Atari ST is gone now!

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 22 Dec, 1996

xa-2.1.1f

  * Added the ``-a'' and ``-A'' options to file65, so that it can now
    print the start addresses for following files in the ROM when making
    romable code.
  * Added shell (bash) script ``mkrom.sh'' that assembles a given list
    of files and builds a ROMable file. The first two bytes are single
    linked list pointers, and then comes the file.

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 02 Jan, 1997

xa-2.1.1g

  * Added the file ``reloc65'', to relocate o65 files without
    reassembling them.
  * Fixed quite some bugs in xa (segment numbering in the globals list
    and switched low/high byte relocation entry type in relocation
    table. Now conforms to documentation, i.e. fileformat.txt)

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 03 Jan, 1997

xa-2.1.2

  * Added ``ld65'', a simple linker for o65 files.
  * Another bug in xa fixed now. 

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 04 Jan, 1997

xa-2.1.3

  * Allows to use ``.data'' etc in absolute mode, too. No relocation
    entries are generated then. Segment start can be set with ``-b?''
    command line options, though. Also the data segment is discarded
    with this method!  This allows to use the normal ``.data'' etc
    syntax even when assembling a ROM (which is done in absolute mode.)
  * Fixed a bug where ``.dsb'' in a data segment didn't fill with the
    right value

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 25 Mar, 1997

xa-2.1.3e

  * Added preprocessor continuation lines, and .block and .bend
    pseudo-opcodes (They map to ``.('' and ``.)'' respectively.)

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 27 Jul, 1997

xa-2.1.4

  * Do not leave output file around after an error -- this is
    better for ``make''.
  * Also it seems to have settled for a while, so I can release
    a new version.

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 11 Sep, 1997

xa-2.1.4c

  * Fixed a nasty bug that prevented correct relocation table
    entries when a ``label2=label1'' contruct was used and
    ``label2'' was accessed.
  * Added ``-I'' option.
 
 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 30 Dec, 1997

xa-2.1.4d

  * fixed align code. Now inserts NOP opcodes into text segment, and
    sets file mode appropriately.

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 26 Jan, 1998

xa-2.1.4e

  * Changed o65 fileformat and adopted it in xa.

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 26 Jan, 1998

xa-2.1.4g

  * Fix handling of !zeropageaddress, that was broken (did not result
    in absolute address, but gave error message.)
  * Add cross reference list to labels if switched on on command line.
  * Fix the filename when multiple files are given on the command line
    (used to give the first filename for all errors in second pass.)

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 25 Nov, 1998

xa-2.1.4h

  * In file65 added support for undefined labels and globals,
    also for (some known) file options.
  * Fix a preprocessor bug.

 -- André Fachat <a.fachat@physik.tu-chemnitz.de> 12 Dec, 1998

xa-2.2.0-p1-1

  * Update COPYING to the latest version (Y2K-fixed + new address to GNU)
  * Lots of fixes to the Makefiles
  * Cleaned up the structure of the TODO file
  * Added manual-pages for file65, ld65, printcbm, reloc65, uncpk, and xa
  * Commented out LIB-flags -lm, -lcurses and -ltermcap,
    since they are all unused
  * Added `--help' and `--version' to all binaries
  * Removed `-h', `-?' and `-v' options where applicable
  * Created a file containing the version-function; version.h
  * Moved common macros to a separate file; xad.h
  * Restructuring of printcbm to become more readable
  * Added ifndef/define/endif traps to all header-files
  * Fixed a few typos
  * Renamed romadr to romaddr
  * Renamed all functions matching *such* to *search*
  * Fixed all warnings
  * Cleaned up all header-files
  * Reformatted xa.log

 -- David Weinehall <tao@acc.umu.se> 20 Aug, 2002

xa-2.3.0

  * Version number jump for all the unofficial xa's out there
  * Fixed addressing bugs for @, ! and completed 65816 merge
    Thanks to David for the report
  * Moderate legibility overhaul to xat.c (will continue on this)
  * More compiler warnings corrected
    Thanks to David for the report
  * man files completed
  * Documentation updated
  * Last line bug corrected (where last line not assembled if no newline)
    Thanks to silverdr for the report
  * ld65 is now ldo65 to avoid conflicts with cc65 package
  * Post-defined labels work better, or at least somewhat (no longer attempts
    to optimize in pass 2 and generate bad code). Can be forced with `
    Thanks to silverdr for the report
  * Makefile bugs multiplied
  * @ now mostly obligatory for 24-bit addressing

 -- Cameron Kaiser <ckaiser@floodgap.com> 2 Apr, 2006

xa-2.3.2

  * Introduced switch to convert values in quotes to different character
    sets. Currently supported are ASCII (default) and PETSCII
  * Fixed some quote bugs

 -- André Fachat <afachat@gmx.de> 23 Dec, 2006

  Thomas Giesel's reports and suggestions, thank you:
    * -M works on colons in comments and nowhere else, as documented 
    * macro function arguments are properly recursively evaluated
    * cpp output now grokked for more complex pre-parsing, rather than
      reinvent the wheel
  Other things:
  * .xl, .xs, .al, .as weren't documented, and now they are (always worked)
    for 65816 mode
  * ! for forward-defined labels calculated wrong instruction length, fixed
  * xap.c cleaned up some, xat.c cleaned up some more
    Legibility work is going to be a long-term project.
  * -x is now deprecated
  * Documentation updated

 -- Cameron Kaiser <ckaiser@floodgap.com> 13 Jan, 2007

xa-2.3.3

  * Compatibility update for Microsoft Visual Studio and mingw/MSYS (thanks
    Fabian Nunez and Mikkel Holm Olsen).

 -- Cameron Kaiser <ckaiser@floodgap.com> 15 May, 2007

xa-2.3.4

  * -p to define alternate synonym for # for preprocessor to avoid cpp/xa
    preprocessor clashes and messes.
  * Direct linking into output stream of binary files (.bin).
  * Minor overhaul of error system to facilitate future expansion.
  * Documentation updated.

 -- Cameron Kaiser <ckaiser@floodgap.com> 1 July, 2008

xa-2.3.5

  Most of this was suggested by Martin Wendt.
  * Fixed bug where .bin was affected by the current character set.
  * Added PETSCREEN and HIGH character sets.
  * Added .aasc.
  * Some more legibility work.
  * Documentation updated.

 -- Cameron Kaiser <ckaiser@floodgap.com> 7 February, 2009

xa-2.x.x

  * Add -E commandline option to not stop after 20 errors, but show all
    of them
  * Introduce -X compatibility set commandline option, to distinguish 
    between MASM and CA65 compatibility options
  * Implement CA65 "cheap local labels", ":=" label definitions,
    and various pseudo opcodes (.include, .import, .importzp,
    .zeropage, .proc (anonymous only), .endproc, .code, .org, .reloc)
  * some bugfixes around error/warning logs
  * some more comments
  * Stuff is mostly untested...

 -- André Fachat <afachat@gmx.de> 25 June, 2011