.\" SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
.\"
.Dd December 22, 2023
.Dt RGBDS 5
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm rgbds
.Nd object file format documentation
.Sh DESCRIPTION
This is the description of the object files used by
.Xr rgbasm 1
and
.Xr rgblink 1 .
.Em Please note that the specification is not stable yet.
RGBDS is still in active development, and some new features require adding more information to the object file, or modifying some fields, both of which break compatibility with older versions.
.Sh FILE STRUCTURE
The following types are used:
.Pp
.Cm LONG
is a 32-bit integer stored in little-endian format.
.Cm BYTE
is an 8-bit integer.
.Cm STRING
is a 0-terminated string of
.Cm BYTE .
Brackets after a type
.Pq e.g. Cm LONG Ns Bq Ar n
indicate
.Ar n
consecutive elements
.Pq here, Cm LONG Ns s .
All items are contiguous, with no padding anywhere\(emthis also means that they may not be aligned in the file!
.Pp
.Cm REPT Ar n
indicates that the fields between the
.Cm REPT
and corresponding
.Cm ENDR
are repeated
.Ar n
times.
.Pp
All IDs refer to objects within the file; for example, symbol ID $0001 refers to the second symbol defined in
.Em this
object file's
.Sx Symbols
array.
The only exception is the
.Sx Source file info
nodes, whose IDs are backwards, i.e. source node ID $0000 refers to the
.Em last
node in the array, not the first one.
References to other object files are made by imports (symbols), by name (sections), etc.\(embut never by ID.
.Ss Header
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Cm BYTE Ar Magic[4]
"RGB9"
.It Cm LONG Ar RevisionNumber
The format's revision number this file uses.
.Pq This is always in the same place in all revisions.
.It Cm LONG Ar NumberOfSymbols
How many symbols are defined in this object file.
.It Cm LONG Ar NumberOfSections
How many sections are defined in this object file.
.El
.Ss Source file info
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Cm LONG Ar NumberOfNodes
The number of source context nodes contained in this file.
.It Cm REPT Ar NumberOfNodes
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Cm LONG Ar ParentID
ID of the parent node, -1 meaning that this is the root node.
.Pp
.Sy Important :
the nodes are actually written in
.Sy reverse
order, meaning the node with ID 0 is the last one in the list!
.It Cm LONG Ar ParentLineNo
Line at which the parent node's context was exited; meaningless for the root node.
.It Cm BYTE Ar Type
.Bl -column "Value" -compact
.It Sy Value Ta Sy Meaning
.It 0 Ta REPT node
.It 1 Ta File node
.It 2 Ta Macro node
.El
.It Cm IF Ar Type No \(!= 0
If the node is not a REPT node...
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Cm STRING Ar Name
The node's name: either a file name, or the macro's name prefixes by its definition's file name
.Pq e.g. Ql src/includes/defines.asm::error .
.El
.It Cm ELSE
If the node is a REPT, it also contains the iteration counter of all parent REPTs.
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Cm LONG Ar Depth
.It Cm LONG Ar Iter Ns Bq Ar Depth
The number of REPT iterations, by increasing depth.
.El
.It Cm ENDC
.El
.It Cm ENDR
.El
.Ss Symbols
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Cm REPT Ar NumberOfSymbols
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Cm STRING Ar Name
This symbol's name.
Local symbols are stored as their full name
.Pq Ql Scope.symbol .
.It Cm BYTE Ar Type
.Bl -column "Value" -compact
.It Sy Value Ta Sy Meaning
.It 0 Ta Sy Local No symbol only used in this file .
.It 1 Ta Sy Import No of an exported symbol (by name) from another object file .
.It 2 Ta Sy Exported No symbol visible from other object files .
.El
.It Cm IF Ar Type No \(!= 1
If the symbol is defined in this object file...
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Cm LONG Ar NodeID
Context in which the symbol was defined.
.It Cm LONG Ar LineNo
Line number in the context at which the symbol was defined.
.It Cm LONG Ar SectionID
The ID of the section in which the symbol is defined.
If the symbol doesn't belong to any specific section (i.e. it's a constant), this field contains -1.
.It Cm LONG Ar Value
The symbol's value.
If the symbol belongs to a section, this is the offset within that symbol's section.
.El
.It Cm ENDC
.El
.It Cm ENDR
.El
.Ss Sections
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Cm REPT Ar NumberOfSections
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Cm STRING Ar Name
The section's name.
.It Cm LONG Ar Size
The section's size, in bytes.
.It Cm BYTE Ar Type
Bits 0\(en2 indicate the section's type:
.Bl -column "Value" -compact
.It Sy Value Ta Sy Meaning
.It 0 Ta WRAM0
.It 1 Ta VRAM
.It 2 Ta ROMX
.It 3 Ta ROM0
.It 4 Ta HRAM
.It 5 Ta WRAMX
.It 6 Ta SRAM
.It 7 Ta OAM
.El
.Pp
Bit\ 7 being set means that the section is a "union"
.Pq see Do Unionized sections Dc in Xr rgbasm 5 .
Bit\ 6 being set means that the section is a "fragment"
.Pq see Do Section fragments Dc in Xr rgbasm 5 .
These two bits are mutually exclusive.
.It Cm LONG Ar Address
Address this section must be placed at.
This must either be valid for the section's
.Ar Type
(as affected by flags like
.Fl t
or
.Fl d
in
.Xr rgblink 1 ) ,
or -1 to indicate that the linker should automatically decide
.Pq the section is Dq floating .
.It Cm LONG Ar Bank
ID of the bank this section must be placed in.
This must either be valid for the section's
.Ar Type
(with the same caveats as for the
.Ar Address ) ,
or -1 to indicate that the linker should automatically decide.
.It Cm BYTE Ar Alignment
How many bits of the section's address should be equal to
.Ar AlignOfs ,
starting from the least-significant bit.
.It Cm LONG Ar AlignOfs
Alignment offset.
Must be strictly less than
.Ql 1 << Ar Alignment .
.It Cm IF Ar Type No \(eq 2 || Ar Type No \(eq 3
If the section has ROM type, it contains data.
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Cm BYTE Ar Data Ns Bq Size
The section's raw data.
Bytes that will be patched over must be present, even though their contents will be overwritten.
.It Cm LONG Ar NumberOfPatches
How many patches must be applied to this section's
.Ar Data .
.It Cm REPT Ar NumberOfPatches
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Cm LONG Ar NodeID
Context in which the patch was defined.
.It Cm LONG Ar LineNo
Line number in the context at which the patch was defined.
.It Cm LONG Ar Offset
Offset within the section's
.Ar Data
at which the patch should be applied.
Must not be greater than the section's
.Ar Size
minus the patch's size
.Pq see Ar Type No below .
.It Cm LONG Ar PCSectionID
ID of the section in which PC is located.
(This is usually the same section within which the patch is applied, except for e.g.\&
.Ql LOAD
blocks, see
.Do RAM code Dc in Xr rgbasm 5 . )
.It Cm LONG Ar PCOffset
Offset of the PC symbol within the section designated by
.Ar PCSectionID .
It is expected that PC points to the instruction's first byte for instruction operands (i.e.\&
.Ql jp @
must be an infinite loop), and to the patch's first byte otherwise
.Ql ( db ,
.Ql dw ,
.Ql dl ) .
.It Cm BYTE Ar Type
.Bl -column "Value" -compact
.It Sy Value Ta Sy Meaning
.It 0 Ta Single-byte patch
.It 1 Ta Little-endian two-byte patch
.It 2 Ta Little-endian four-byte patch
.It 3 Ta Single-byte Ql jr
patch; the patch's value will be subtracted to PC + 2 (i.e.\&
.Ql jr @
must be the infinite loop
.Ql 18 FE ) .
.El
.It Cm LONG Ar RPNSize
Size of the
.Ar RPNExpr
below.
.It Cm BYTE Ar RPNExpr Ns Bq RPNSize
The patch's value, encoded as a RPN expression
.Pq see Sx RPN EXPRESSIONS .
.El
.It Cm ENDR
.El
.It Cm ENDC
.El
.El
.Ss Assertions
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Cm LONG Ar NumberOfAssertions
How many assertions this object file contains.
.It Cm REPT Ar NumberOfAssertions
Assertions are essentially patches with a message.
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It Cm LONG Ar NodeID
Context in which the assertions was defined.
.It Cm LONG Ar LineNo
Line number in the context at which the assertion was defined.
.It Cm LONG Ar Offset
Unused leftover from the patch structure.
.It Cm LONG Ar PCSectionID
ID of the section in which PC is located.
.It Cm LONG Ar PCOffset
Offset of the PC symbol within the section designated by
.Ar PCSectionID .
.It Cm BYTE Ar Type
Describes what should happen if the expression evaluates to a non-zero value.
.Bl -column "Value" -compact
.It Sy Value Ta Sy Meaning
.It 0 Ta Print a warning message, and continue linking normally.
.It 1 Ta Print an error message, so linking will fail, but allow other assertions to be evaluated.
.It 2 Ta Print a fatal error message, and abort immediately.
.El
.It Cm LONG Ar RPNSize
Size of the
.Ar RPNExpr
below.
.It Cm BYTE Ar RPNExpr Ns Bq RPNSize
The patch's value, encoded as a RPN expression
.Pq see Sx RPN EXPRESSIONS .
.It Cm STRING Ar Message
The message displayed if the expression evaluates to a non-zero value.
If empty, a generic message is displayed instead.
.El
.It Cm ENDR
.El
.Ss RPN EXPRESSIONS
Expressions in the object file are stored as RPN, or
.Dq Reverse Polish Notation ,
which is a notation that allows computing arbitrary expressions with just a simple stack.
For example, the expression
.Ql 2 5 -
will first push the value
.Dq 2
to the stack, then
.Dq 5 .
The
.Ql -
operator pops two arguments from the stack, subtracts them, and then pushes back the result
.Pq Dq 3
on the stack.
A well-formed RPN expression never tries to pop from an empty stack, and leaves exactly one value in it at the end.
.Pp
RGBDS encodes RPN expressions as an array of
.Cm BYTE Ns s .
The first byte encodes either an operator, or a literal, which consumes more
.Cm BYTE Ns s
after it:
.Bl -column "Value"
.It Sy Value Ta Sy Meaning
.It Li $00 Ta Addition operator Pq Ql +
.It Li $01 Ta Subtraction operator Pq Ql -
.It Li $02 Ta Multiplication operator Pq Ql *
.It Li $03 Ta Division operator Pq Ql /
.It Li $04 Ta Modulo operator Pq Ql %
.It Li $05 Ta Negation Pq unary Ql -
.It Li $06 Ta Exponent operator Pq Ql **
.It Li $10 Ta Bitwise OR operator Pq Ql \&|
.It Li $11 Ta Bitwise AND operator Pq Ql &
.It Li $12 Ta Bitwise XOR operator Pq Ql ^
.It Li $13 Ta Bitwise complement operator Pq unary Ql ~
.It Li $21 Ta Logical AND operator Pq Ql &&
.It Li $22 Ta Logical OR operator Pq Ql ||
.It Li $23 Ta Logical complement operator Pq unary Ql \&!
.It Li $30 Ta Equality operator Pq Ql ==
.It Li $31 Ta Non-equality operator Pq Ql !=
.It Li $32 Ta Greater-than operator Pq Ql >
.It Li $33 Ta Less-than operator Pq Ql <
.It Li $34 Ta Greater-than-or-equal operator Pq Ql >=
.It Li $35 Ta Less-than-or-equal operator Pq Ql <=
.It Li $40 Ta Left shift operator Pq Ql <<
.It Li $41 Ta Arithmetic/signed right shift operator Pq Ql >>
.It Li $42 Ta Logical/unsigned right shift operator Pq Ql >>>
.It Li $50 Ta Fn BANK symbol ;
followed by the
.Ar symbol Ap s Cm LONG
ID.
.It Li $51 Ta Fn BANK section ;
followed by the
.Ar section Ap s Cm STRING
name.
.It Li $52 Ta PC's Fn BANK Pq i.e. Ql BANK(@) .
.It Li $53 Ta Fn SIZEOF section ;
followed by the
.Ar section Ap s Cm STRING
name.
.It Li $54 Ta Fn STARTOF section ;
followed by the
.Ar section Ap s Cm STRING
name.
.It Li $55 Ta Fn SIZEOF sectiontype ;
followed by the
.Ar sectiontype Ap s Cm BYTE
value
.Pq see the Ar Type No values in Sx Sections .
.It Li $56 Ta Fn STARTOF sectiontype ;
followed by the
.Ar sectiontype Ap s Cm BYTE
value
.Pq see the Ar Type No values in Sx Sections .
.It Li $60 Ta Ql ldh
check.
Checks if the value is a valid
.Ql ldh
operand
.Pq see Do Load Instructions Dc in Xr gbz80 7 ,
i.e. that it is between either $00 and $FF, or $FF00 and $FFFF, both inclusive.
The value is then ANDed with $00FF
.Pq Ql & $FF .
.It Li $61 Ta Ql rst
check.
Checks if the value is a valid
.Ql rst
.Pq see Do RST vec Dc in Xr gbz80 7
vector, that is one of $00, $08, $10, $18, $20, $28, $30, or $38.
The value is then ORed with $C7
.Pq Ql \&| $C7 .
.It Li $80 Ta Integer literal; followed by the
.Cm LONG
integer.
.It Li $81 Ta A symbol's value; followed by the symbol's
.Cm LONG
ID.
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr rgbasm 1 ,
.Xr rgbasm 5 ,
.Xr rgblink 1 ,
.Xr rgblink 5 ,
.Xr rgbfix 1 ,
.Xr rgbgfx 1 ,
.Xr gbz80 7 ,
.Xr rgbds 7
.Sh HISTORY
.Xr rgbasm 1
and
.Xr rgblink 1
were originally written by
.An Carsten S\(/orensen
as part of the ASMotor package, and was later repackaged in RGBDS by
.An Justin Lloyd .
It is now maintained by a number of contributors at
.Lk https://github.com/gbdev/rgbds .