GNU Assembler Source Format

Describes the rules that you must follow if you use GNU assembler syntax.

The platform-specific source code can be written in GNU assembler syntax or ARM assembler syntax.

The generic source and header files are all written using the ARM assembler syntax, as are the source files for the template and example ports. However the bootstrap can be built using the GNU assembler; in this case, source files are translated from ARM to GNU assembler syntax automatically.

The rules that you must follow to use GNU assembler syntax in the platform-specific source are:

• The first non-blank line of any GNU-syntax source or header file should start with an @ (the GNU comment delimiter); this acts as a directive to the translation tool that no translation is required.

• Files included from GNU source should be included with a .ginc extension instead of the normal .inc extension. However the file itself should have a .inc extension.

To enable the generic makefile to work correctly, assembler source files should always be given the extension .s and assembler include files .inc; this is independent of whether these are ARM or GNU syntax.