Re: Why is GCC using DI register?

[Michael Meissner <meissner at cygnus dot com>]

On Mon, May 14, 2001 at 12:34:26PM -0700, Dan Aalberg wrote:
> I am trying to get some very simple assembly code from the GCC compiler for
> some testing I am doing.
> For sake of this email, I will over simplify the code.
> 
> Here is some simple C code I compile with GCC:
> 
> int main(void)
> {
> 	int a;
> 	a=5;
> 	return (a);
> }
> 

Ummm, it makes it hard to track what the exact problem is without mentioning,
what is the target system is (I assume from your comments, it is some sort of
386) or the version of the sources.  If you built the compiler yourself, please
mention the switches you used to configure the switch with as well.

> when I compile it, I get this for the machine code (with my comments):
> 
> push      bp
> mov       bp,sp		; normal
> sub (w)   sp,+08		;normal
> mov       [di-04],0005	; what the heck is this?
> add       [bx+si],al	;where did BX and SI come into play?
> 				;what are we adding?
> mov       ax,[di-04]	;next 2 lines are stupid.
> mov       [di-08],ax
> mov       ax,[di-08]
> leave
> retn
> 
> what is with BX, DI and SI?  I am trying to compile to a flat, non specific
> system and was looking for more of this:
> 
> push  bp
> mov  bp,sp		; normal
> mov  [bp-4],0005
> mov  ax, [bp-4]
> 
> pop bp
> retn

How did you get the above?  Did you use the -S or -save-temps switch and look
at the .s file?  Or did you use a disassembler?  I suspect you used a
disassembler without specifying to target 32-bit instructions (ie, the
instructions you mention use 16-bit register names, etc.).  Here for instance
is the code generated a Linux GCC compiler without optimization:

	gcc2_compiled:
		.text
		.align 16
	.globl main
		.type   main,@function
	main:
		pushl   %ebp
		movl    %esp, %ebp
		subl    $4, %esp
		movl    $5, -4(%ebp)
		movl    -4(%ebp), %eax
		movl    %ebp, %esp
		popl    %ebp
		ret
	.Lfe1:
		.size   main,.Lfe1-main
		.ident  "GCC: (GNU) 3.1 20010315 (experimental)"

Here is the same code compiled with -O2 -fomit-frame-pointer:

	gcc2_compiled:
		.text
		.align 16
	.globl main
		.type   main,@function
	main:
		movl    $5, %eax
		ret
	.Lfe1:
		.size   main,.Lfe1-main
		.ident  "GCC: (GNU) 3.1 20010315 (experimental)"


> 
> Am I missing a GCC command line switch (there are only 472 to choose from
> :-)
> 
> Thanks in advance
> 
> Dan
> 
> 

-- 
Michael Meissner, Red Hat, Inc.  (GCC group)
PMB 198, 174 Littleton Road #3, Westford, Massachusetts 01886, USA
Work:	  meissner@redhat.com		phone: +1 978-486-9304
Non-work: meissner@spectacle-pond.org	fax:   +1 978-692-4482