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	COFF	flat	16 bit	32 bit	64 bit
GAS	Yes	YesTemplate:Ref	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	YesTemplate:Ref	Yes	YesTemplate:Ref
NASM	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	YesTemplate:Ref
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
MASMTemplate:Ref	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	YesTemplate:Ref
Sol_asm	No	YesTemplate:Ref	Yes	No	n/a	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
WASM	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
AS86	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
llvm-mc	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes

• 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 (of the assembler). GAS can not assemble for more than one operating mode at a time, i.e. you would need one GAS for 32bit and one GAS for 64bit if you'd want to mix those two.
• Template:Note 64-bit support is only available in NASM 2.x.
• Template:Note Because of the license it may be illegal to use MASM for "non-windows development"
• Template:Note 64-bit support is only available in a separate executable, named ml64.
• Template:Note 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	Yes
clang	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
msvc	Yes	No	No	NoTemplate:Ref	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

• 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
		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