compiling/linking nasm with c on os x

[gareth stokes]

I'm trying to link some assembly written with nasm in with some c code that gets compiled with gcc.
unfortunately this is the error i get when linking the assembly and c object files together:

Undefined symbols:
  "_asm_mod_array", referenced from:
      _main in main.o

any help would be appreciated...

assembly.asm
--------------------------------
global asm_mod_array

asm_mod_array:
   push ebp
   mov ebp, esp
   mov eax, [ebp+8]
   mov ecx, [ebp+12]
   xor edi, edi              

start_loop:
   cmp ecx, edi
   je loop_exit
   mov edx, [eax+edi*4]
   lea edx, [5+edx*2]
   mov [eax+edi*4], edx
   inc edi
   jmp start_loop            

loop_exit:
   mov esp, ebp
   pop ebp
   ret

main.c
-------------------------
#include  

/* prototype for asm function */
int* asm_mod_array(int *ptr,int size);  

int main()
{
   int fren[5]={ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };  

/* call the asm function */
   asm_mod_array(fren, 5);  

return 0;
}

bash commands
-------------------------
nasm -f macho asm.asm
gcc -c main.c
ld asm.o main.o

[Frank Kotler]

Looks like "-f macho" needs underscores on global/extern symbols. Try adding "--prefix _" to Nasm's command line (or add an underscore "by hand" to asm_mod_array - both the "global" declaration and the label). You may need to preserve edi across the function, too.

Nice to see someone using Nasm on Mac!

Best,
Frank

[gareth stokes]

thanks for the help, managed to get a bit further by using the --prefix command

nasm -f macho --prefix _  asm.asm

unfortunately ld is still throwing errors...

ld: could not find entry point "start" (perhaps missing crt1.o)

I don't understand why its looking for a entry point if the main.c file already has one?

[Frank Kotler]

Ah, I see what's happening... I think...

The "entrypoint" ld is looking for is "_start". You've got "_main", but "_main" isn't the "real" entrypoint. There's some "startup" code - in "crt0.o" or similar (apparently crt1.o, in this case) - which contains "_start", and which calls "_main", after doing some "housekeeping". Gcc links "crt?.o" (and libc) without being told to. This is the advantage to using gcc, even if there's no .c to compile - gcc "knows where the bodies are buried" (knows what need to be linked, and the path to it), and can invoke ld with the correct command line.

Doing "gcc -c main.c" creates "main.o" - fine so far. Nasm creates your "asm.o" - fine so far. But to link the whole mess together, we'd have to do "ld main.o asm.o /path/to/crt1.o" (I'd add "-o exename", too, or it'll produce "a.out"... I think) - possibly other stuff gets linked, too - I don't think so, in this case...

You can compile "main.c" separately, as you're doing, and then "gcc main.o asm.o [-o exename]" or you can do it in one step: "gcc main.c asm.o" ("asm.asm" has to be assembled to "asm.o" first, obviously).

You gave us all the information to figure this out in your first post - I just missed it. Sorry.

The above all applies to Linux. BSD is "like" Linux (or vise versa), and MacOSX is "like" BSD... except that there are some differences (like underscores). I *think* the above will work for MacOSX... except for some possible subtle differences - which I'll only know about if someone tells me. So I really appreciate your feedback!

Best,
Frank