Tool Comparison

This is a comparison of various operating system development tools.

x86 Assemblers

	Syntax		Output Format			Instruction Set
	AT&T	Intel	ELF	a.out	flat	16 bit	32 bit	64 bit
GAS	Yes	YesTemplate:Ref	Yes	Yes	Yes	YesTemplate:Ref	Yes	YesTemplate:Ref
NASM	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	YesTemplate:Ref
YASM	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
FASM	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
JWASM	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

• Template:Note using the .intel_syntax directive. Several opcodes will still use the AT&T name.
• Template:Note 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.
• Template:Note You have to choose the instruction set at compile time. GAS can not assemble for more than one operating mode at a time.
• Template:Note 64-bit support is only available in NASM 2.x.

Compilers

	Extensions	Output format
	Inline Assembly	ELF	a.out	flat	PE
gcc	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Visual Studio	Yes	No	No	NoTemplate:Ref	Yes

• Template:Note 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
JLoc	Yes		DOS/COM	Yes	Yes	No	OMF/OBJ	Yes
ALink	Yes	Win32/COFF DJGPP/COFF	DOS/COM DOS/EXE Win32/PE Win32/DLL	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
LD	Yes	OMF/COFF DJGPP/COFF Win32/COFF A.OUT ELF	ELF A.OUT Win32/PE Win32/DLL +more	Yes	Yes	Yes	ECOFF DWARF STABS	Yes
TLink	Yes	Win32/COFF	DOS/EXE DOS/COM Win32/DLL Win32/PE	No	Yes	Yes	OMF/OBJ	Yes
Link	Yes	Win32/COFF	DOS/EXE DOS/COM Win32/PE Win32/DLL LE	No	Yes	Yes	CODEVIEW DWARF	Yes
VAL	Yes		DOS/EXE	No	No	No	Yes	No
WLink	Yes	Win32/COFF ELF	DOS/EXE DOS/COM LE ELF Win32/PE Win32/DLL Pharlap Novell_NLM Causeway QNX	Yes	Yes	Yes	WATCOM CODEVIEW DWARF	Yes