Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2002 10:27:25 -0400 From: Tom Rhodes <darklogik@pittgoth.com> To: Greg Lehey <grog@FreeBSD.org> Cc: trhodes@FreeBSD.org, cvs-committers@FreeBSD.org, cvs-all@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: bss (was: cvs commit: src/share/man/man5 a.out.5) Message-ID: <20020416102725.69c10373.darklogik@pittgoth.com> In-Reply-To: <20020416121308.E40110@canberra.worldwide.lemis.com> References: <200204150205.g3F256861556@freefall.freebsd.org> <20020416121308.E40110@canberra.worldwide.lemis.com>
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On Tue, 16 Apr 2002 12:13:08 +1000
Greg Lehey <grog@FreeBSD.org> wrote:
> On Sunday, 14 April 2002 at 19:05:06 -0700, Tom Rhodes wrote:
> > trhodes 2002/04/14 19:05:06 PDT
> >
> > Modified files:
> > share/man/man5 a.out.5
> > Log:
> > a.out.5 states that nobody seems to agree on what bss stands for.
> > This is incorrect, however, as Dennis Ritchie states ``Actually
> > the acronym is "block started by symbol." It was a pseudo-op in
> > FAP (Fortran Assembly Program), an assembler for the IBM <models>
> > machines. It identified its label and set aside space for a given
> > number of words.''
>
> BSS is one of a number of similar directives for old assemblers, not
> just IBM. I've seen it on CDC as well (3200/3400 and 3600/3800). The
> reason for the name is that there was also another directive, BES
> (block ending with symbol) which reserved space and returned the
> address of the last word (because this was convenient for some
> repeated instructions).
I read about BES when doing the research on BSS, although I did not
want to fill up the log area to much. As for BSS not just on IBM,
thanks for letting me know. Otherwise I may have just pictured
IBM only. Thanks.
>
> Greg
> --
> See complete headers for address and phone numbers
>
--
Tom (Darklogik) Rhodes
www.FreeBSD.org -The Power To Serve
www.Pittgoth.com -Pittgoth Discussion Portal
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