resb help

[ThatGuy22]

I use resb to reserve bytes for a buffer for graphics in my DOS program, but I alway get a warning. The warning says something like uninitialized space declared, zeroing. I think it is the format i'm using, I do this:
resb 64000 and I get the warning so I tried this:
resb 64000 db 0x00 and still get it,  so how do I format it?

[Keith Kanios]

RESB and Friends @ NASM Manual

[ThatGuy22]

ok I read it and I still don't understand why I get a warning. From what it says it only takes 1 operand.

[Keith Kanios]

RESB, RESW, RESD, RESQ, REST, RESO and RESY are designed to be used in the BSS section of a module: they declare uninitialized storage space.

[Frank Kotler]

Sounds good if you say it quick...

Code: [Select]

section .BSS
resb 1

How come I still get a warning? Well... the "known" section names are case sensitive, and are expected to be lowercase! The quoted  part of the manual doesn't make this clear, and is arguably misleading...

Code: [Select]

; nasm -f obj myfile.asm
section .data
resb 1

How come I don't get a warning? Well... it's acceptable in "-f obj" output format. Dunno why.

So this brings us, again(!), to the question:

"What command line are you using to assemble this?"

It makes a difference!

Best,
Frank

[ThatGuy22]

I use "nasm -f bin Program.asm -o Program.com"
So the resb has to be in the .bss section in order to not give that warning?

[Frank Kotler]

Right. In "-f bin" mode, Nasm merely moves "section .data" after "section .text" and "section .bss" after that - they are not actually in distinct "segments". In a .com file, your stack is above that, at the top of our one-and-only segment - 64000 bytes in ".bss" is going to come awfully close to that, depending on how much code/data is present. This "could" cause mysterious problems as your code grows...

FWIW, if you want all those zeros in your "on-disk file"...

Code: [Select]

; in "section .text" or "section .data"
times 64000 db 0

... or simply ignore the warning...

Attempting to put initialized code or data in "section .bss" is "ignored" - probably an actual error!

Best,
Frank

[ThatGuy22]

ok, thanks