Tool Comparison

From OSDev Wiki

This is a comparison of various operating system development tools.

x86 Assemblers

	Syntax		Output Format				Instruction Set
	AT&T	Intel	ELF	a.out	COFF	flat	16 bit	32 bit	64 bit
GAS	Yes	Yes[1]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes[2]	Yes	Yes[3]
NASM	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes[4]
YASM	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
FASM	No	Yes	Yes	No	n/a	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
JWASM	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
MASM[5]	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes[6]
Sol_asm	No	Yes[7]	Yes	No	n/a	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
WASM	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes

• ↑  using the .intel_syntax directive. Several opcodes will still use the AT&T name.
• ↑  While GAS normally writes only "pure" 32-bit i386 code, it has limited support for writing code to run in real mode or in 16-bit protected mode code segments.
• ↑  You have to choose the instruction set at compile time. GAS can not assemble for more than one operating mode at a time.
• ↑  64-bit support is only available in NASM 2.x.
• ↑  Because of the license it may be illegal to use MASM for "non-windows development"
• ↑  64-bit support is only available in a separate executable, named ml64.
• ↑  Sol_Asm uses its own syntax, which looks like the Intel syntax.

Compilers

	Extensions	Output format
	Inline Assembly	ELF	a.out	flat	PE	COFF	16-bit code segments	32-bit code segments	64-bit code segments
gcc	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	?	Yes	Yes
msvc	Yes	No	No	No[8]	Yes	Yes	Version 4.X	Yes	Yes
icl	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
watcom	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

• ↑  Visual Studio can emit .COM files.

Linkers

Name	OMF/OBJ	Input				Output					Flat Binary Images	Set Code Address	Library Support	Supports Debug Info	32bit Code
		Win32/ COFF	ELF	A.OUT	Others	Win32/ PE	Win32/ DLL	ELF	A.OUT	Others
JLoc	Yes					No	No	No	No	DOS/COM	Yes	Yes	No	OMF/OBJ	Yes
ALink	Yes	Yes	No	No	DJGPP/COFF	Yes	Yes	No	No	DOS/COM DOS/EXE	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
LD	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	DJGPP/COFF OMF/COFF	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	various	Yes	Yes	Yes	ECOFF DWARF STABS	Yes
TLink	Yes	Yes	No	No		Yes	Yes	No	No	DOS/EXE DOS/COM	No	Yes	Yes	OMF/OBJ	Yes
Link	Yes	Yes	No	No		Yes	Yes	No	No	DOS/EXE DOS/COM LE	No	Yes	Yes	CODEVIEW DWARF	Yes
VAL	Yes					No	No	No	No	DOS/EXE	No	No	No	Yes	No
WLink	Yes	Yes	Yes	No		Yes	Yes	Yes	No	DOS/EXE DOS/COM LE Pharlap Novell_NLM Causeway QNX	Yes	Yes	Yes	WATCOM CODEVIEW DWARF	Yes