$Id: README 105 2008-04-07 06:00:07Z phf $

===================
DASM 2.20.11 README
===================

    Welcome to DASM, a versatile macro assembler with support for several
    8-bit microprocessors including MOS 6502 & 6507; Motorola 6803, 68705,
    and 68HC11; Hitachi HD6303 (extended Motorola 6801); and Fairchild F8.

    This file describes the DASM distribution, how to compile and install
    DASM, and where to get more information about DASM.

    DASM's homepage is http://dasm-dillon.sourceforge.net/ since release
    2.20.11.

----------------
The Distribution
----------------

    The DASM distribution contains the following important files and
    directories of interest to all users:

        bin/        Executables for DASM and related tools
                    (only if you downloaded a binary distribution)
        doc/        Documentation and manuals
        machines/   Support files for various 8-bit machines
        AUTHORS     List of contributors to DASM
        COPYING     GNU General Public License
        FUTURE      Plans for the next releases of DASM
        NEWS        Recent changes to DASM
        README      The file you are reading right now :-)

    In addition, developers are going to be interested in the following
    files and directories:

        src/        Source code for DASM and related tools
        test/       Test cases for DASM and related tools
                    (as of release 2.20.11 the test framework is incomplete)
        ChangeLog   Source level changes to DASM
        Makefile    Makefile to build DASM executables, run tests, and
                    create distributions

    Even more files for developers are available from the DASM Subversion
    repository, see http://dasm-dillon.sf.net/ for details.

------------------------
Compiling and Installing
------------------------

    If you are using DASM on a Unix system, you should be able to simply
    give the command

        make

    in the root directory of the DASM distribution and DASM should build.
    A bin/ directory containing DASM executables will be created as part
    of this process. You can also give the command

        make test

    to run all the test cases that come with the distribution. Note that
    as of release 2.20.11 the test framework is incomplete and probably
    only remotely comprehensible for developers. :-/ The often-used

        make install

    does not work as of release 2.20.11 either, mostly because DASM does
    not yet use GNU autotools. You have to install DASM by hand, either
    by adding the bin/ directory to your path, or by copying executables
    to another directory in your path. For include files in the machines/
    directory you currently have to use DASM's -I command line option.

    NOTE: Several compiler warnings will be displayed during the build
          process. We are confident that you can ignore these warnings.
          They will be dealt with in a future release. (And if you know
          how to fix them reliably, we welcome your contributions!)

    DASM has been built and tested successfully on the following machines
    and operating systems:

        - SunOS 5.10 Generic_118822-11 sun4u sparc
        - Linux 2.6.23.15-80.fc7 i386 GNU/Linux
        - Darwin 8.11.0 powerpc
        - NetBSD 3.0 qube mips
        - Linux 2.6.24-1-686 i686 GNU/Linux
        - Linux-based cross-compile for Windows/Wine

    If you have successfully built and tested DASM on a different machine
    or operating system, we would love to hear about it.

----------
Using DASM
----------

    The simplest way to get a brief introduction to DASM is to run the
    bin/dasm executable without options, which will print a short help
    message summarizing all available options.

    The DASM distribution includes documentation in the doc/ directory.
    However, the documentation is incomplete as of release 2.20.11. We
    are urgently looking for volunteers to bring it up to date.

    Documentation for using DASM to produce code for the F8 processor
    is currently in the directory machines/channel-f/ but will be
    integrated into the main documentation in the future.

    The sourceforge.net project page provides access to two mailing
    lists, one for announcements from the developers and one for DASM
    users to discuss problems, help each other, and communicate with
    the developers. See http://sourceforge.net/projects/dasm-dillon/
    for details.

    There is also a vibrant community of developers writing games and
    demos for the Atari 2600 VCS using DASM. The mailing lists for the
    Stella emulator are a particularly useful resource for DASM users,
    not only those intent on programming for the VCS.

--------
Legalese
--------

    the DASM macro assembler (aka small systems cross assembler)

    Copyright (c) 1988-2002 by Matthew Dillon.
    Copyright (c) 1995 by Olaf "Rhialto" Seibert.
    Copyright (c) 2003-2008 by Andrew Davie.
    Copyright (c) 2008 by Peter H. Froehlich.

    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
    the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
    (at your option) any later version.
 
    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
    GNU General Public License for more details.

    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
    with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
    51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.