4. Info File Format

The info file contains lists of specifications grouped together. Each group directive has an identifying token and an attribute list enclosed in curly braces. Attributes have a name followed by a value. The syntax of the value depends on the type of the attribute. String attributes are places in double quotes, numeric attributes may be specified as decimal numbers or hexadecimal with a leading dollar sign. There are also attributes where the attribute value is a keyword, in this case the keyword is given as is (without quotes or anything). Each attribute is terminated by a semicolon.

        group-name { attribute1 attribute-value; attribute2 attribute-value; }

4.1 Comments

Comments start with a hash mark (#) and extend from the position of the mark to the end of the current line. Hash marks inside of strings will of course not start a comment.

4.2 Specifying global options

Global options may be specified in a group with the name GLOBAL. The following attributes are recognized:

ARGUMENTCOLUMN

This attribute specifies the column in the output, where the argument for an opcode or pseudo instruction starts. The corresponding command line option is --argument-column.

COMMENTCOLUMN

This attribute specifies the column in the output, where the comment starts in a line. It is only used for in-line comments. The corresponding command line option is --comment-column.

COMMENTS

This attribute may be used instead of the --comments option on the command line. It takes a numerical parameter between 0 and 4. Higher values increase the amount of information written to the output file in form of comments.

CPU

This attribute may be used instead of the --cpu option on the command line. For possible values see there. The value is a string and must be enclosed in quotes.

HEXOFFS

The attribute is followed by a boolean value. If true, offsets to labels are output in hex, otherwise they're output in decimal notation. The default is false. The attribute may be changed on the command line using the --hexoffs option.

INPUTNAME

The attribute is followed by a string value, which gives the name of the input file to read. If it is present, the disassembler does not accept an input file name on the command line.

INPUTOFFS

The attribute is followed by a numerical value that gives an offset into the input file which is skipped before reading data. The attribute may be used to skip headers or unwanted code sections in the input file.

INPUTSIZE

INPUTSIZE is followed by a numerical value that gives the amount of data to read from the input file. Data beyond INPUTOFFS + INPUTSIZE is ignored.

LABELBREAK

LABELBREAK is followed by a numerical value that specifies the label length that will force a newline. To have all labels on their own lines, you may set this value to zero.

See also the --label-break command line option. A LABELBREAK statement in the info file will override any value given on the command line.

MNEMONICCOLUMN

This attribute specifies the column in the output, where the mnemonic or pseudo instruction is placed. The corresponding command line option is --mnemonic-column.

NEWLINEAFTERJMP

This attribute is followed by a boolean value. When true, a newline is inserted after each JMP instruction. The default is false.

NEWLINEAFTERRTS

This attribute is followed by a boolean value. When true, a newline is inserted after each RTS instruction. The default is false.

OUTPUTNAME

The attribute is followed by string value, which gives the name of the output file to write. If it is present, specification of an output file on the command line using the -o option is not allowed.

The default is to use stdout for output, so without this attribute or the corresponding command line option -o the output will go to the terminal.

PAGELENGTH

This attribute may be used instead of the --pagelength option on the command line. It takes a numerical parameter. Using zero as page length (which is the default) means that no pages are generated.

STARTADDR

This attribute may be used instead of the --start-addr option on the command line. It takes a numerical parameter. The default for the start address is $10000 minus the size of the input file (this assumes that the input file is a ROM that contains the reset and irq vectors).

TEXTCOLUMN

This attribute specifies the column, where the data bytes are output translated into ASCII text. It is only used if COMMENTS is set to at least 4. The corresponding command line option is --text-column.

4.3 Specifying Ranges

The RANGE directive is used to give information about address ranges. The following attributes are recognized:

COMMENT

This attribute is only allowed if a label is also given. It takes a string as argument. See the description of the LABEL directive for an explanation.

END

This gives the end address of the range. The end address is inclusive, that means, it is part of the range. Of course, it may not be smaller than the start address.

NAME

This is a convenience attribute. It takes a string argument and will cause the disassembler to define a label for the start of the range with the given name. So a separate LABEL directive is not needed.

START

This gives the start address of the range.

TYPE

This attribute specifies the type of data within the range. The attribute value is one of the following keywords:

ADDRTABLE

The range consists of data and is disassembled as a table of words (16 bit values). The difference to the WORDTABLE type is that a label is defined for each entry in the table.

BYTETABLE

The range consists of data and is disassembled as a byte table.

CODE

The range consists of code.

DBYTETABLE

The range consists of data and is disassembled as a table of dbytes (double byte values, 16 bit values with the low byte containing the most significant byte of the 16 bit value).

DWORDTABLE

The range consists of data and is disassembled as a table of double words (32 bit values).

RTSTABLE

The range consists of data and is disassembled as a table of words (16 bit values). The values are interpreted as words that are pushed onto the stack and jump to it via RTS. This means that they contain address-1 of a function, for which a label will get defined by the disassembler.

SKIP

The range is simply ignored when generating the output file. Please note that this means that reassembling the output file will not generate the original file, not only because the missing piece in between, but also because the following code will be located on wrong addresses. Output generated with SKIP ranges will need manual rework.

TEXTTABLE

The range consists of readable text.

WORDTABLE

The range consists of data and is disassembled as a table of words (16 bit values).

4.4 Specifying Labels

The LABEL directive is used to give names for labels in the disassembled code. The following attributes are recognized:

ADDR

Followed by a numerical value. Specifies the value of the label.

COMMENT

Attribute argument is a string. The comment will show up in a separate line before the label, if the label is within code or data range, or after the label if it is outside.

Example output:

        foo     := $0001        ; Comment for label named "foo"

        ; Comment for label named "bar"
        bar:

NAME

The attribute is followed by a string value which gives the name of the label. Empty names are allowed, in this case the disassembler will create an unnamed label (see the assembler docs for more information about unnamed labels).

SIZE

This attribute is optional and may be used to specify the size of the data that follows. If a size greater than 1 is specified, the disassembler will create labels in the form label+offs for all bytes within the given range, where label is the label name given with the NAME attribute, and offs is the offset within the data.

4.5 Specifying Segments

The SEGMENT directive is used to specify a segment within the disassembled code. The following attributes are recognized:

START

Followed by a numerical value. Specifies the start address of the segment.

END

Followed by a numerical value. Specifies the end address of the segment. The end address is last the address that is part of the segment.

NAME

The attribute is followed by a string value which gives the name of the segment.

All attributes are mandatory. Segments may not overlap. Since there is no explicit "end this segment" pseudo op, the disassembler cannot notify the assembler that one segment has ended. This may lead to errors if you don't define your segments carefully. As a rule of thumb, if you're using segments, your should define segments for all disassembled code.

4.6 Specifying Assembler Includes

The ASMINC directive is used to give the names of input files containing symbol assignments in assembler syntax:

        Name = value
        Name := value

The usual conventions apply for symbol names. Values may be specified as hex (leading $), binary (leading %) or decimal. The values may optionally be signed.

NOTE: The include file parser is very simple. Expressions are not allowed, and anything but symbol assignments is flagged as an error (but see the IGNOREUNKNOWN directive below).

The following attributes are recognized:

FILE

Followed by a string value. Specifies the name of the file to read.

COMMENTSTART

The optional attribute is followed by a character constant. It specifies the character that starts a comment. The default value is a semicolon. This value is ignored if IGNOREUNKNOWN is true.

IGNOREUNKNOWN

This attribute is optional and is followed by a boolean value. It allows to ignore input lines that don't have a valid syntax. This allows to read in assembler include files that contain more than just symbol assignments. Note: When this attribute is used, the disassembler will ignore any errors in the given include file. This may have undesired side effects.

4.7 An Info File Example

The following is a short example for an info file that contains most of the directives explained above:

        # This is a comment. It extends to the end of the line
        GLOBAL {
            OUTPUTNAME      "kernal.s";
            INPUTNAME       "kernal.bin";
            STARTADDR       $E000;
            PAGELENGTH      0;                  # No paging
            CPU             "6502";
        };

        # One segment for the whole stuff
        SEGMENT { START $E000;  END   $FFFF; NAME kernal; };

        RANGE { START $E612;    END   $E631; TYPE Code;      };
        RANGE { START $E632;    END   $E640; TYPE ByteTable; };
        RANGE { START $EA51;    END   $EA84; TYPE RtsTable;  };
        RANGE { START $EC6C;    END   $ECAB; TYPE RtsTable;  };
        RANGE { START $ED08;    END   $ED11; TYPE AddrTable; };

        # Zero page variables
        LABEL { NAME "fnadr";   ADDR  $90;   SIZE 3;    };
        LABEL { NAME "sal";     ADDR  $93;   };
        LABEL { NAME "sah";     ADDR  $94;   };
        LABEL { NAME "sas";     ADDR  $95;   };

        # Stack
        LABEL { NAME "stack";   ADDR  $100;  SIZE 255;  };

        # Indirect vectors
        LABEL { NAME "cinv";    ADDR  $300;  SIZE 2;    };      # IRQ
        LABEL { NAME "cbinv";   ADDR  $302;  SIZE 2;    };      # BRK
        LABEL { NAME "nminv";   ADDR  $304;  SIZE 2;    };      # NMI

        # Jump table at end of kernal ROM
        LABEL { NAME "kscrorg"; ADDR  $FFED; };
        LABEL { NAME "kplot";   ADDR  $FFF0; };
        LABEL { NAME "kiobase"; ADDR  $FFF3; };
        LABEL { NAME "kgbye";   ADDR  $FFF6; };

        # Hardware vectors
        LABEL { NAME "hanmi";   ADDR  $FFFA; };
        LABEL { NAME "hares";   ADDR  $FFFC; };
        LABEL { NAME "hairq";   ADDR  $FFFE; };