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
Sol_asm	No	YesTemplate:Ref	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	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. 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.
• 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
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