NAME

pbind - recombine output files generated by AS

SYNTAX

pbind [ option(s) ] <name(s)> [ further options/names ]

DESCRIPTION

BIND is a tool to combine code files generated by the AS cross assembler to a single file or to extract records out of a code file. pbind is the Unix/C implementation of BIND. BIND is not a linker; AS does not generate linkable code!

Arguments to BIND can be either file name specifications or command line parameters; any argument starting with a plus(+), minus(-) or slash(/) is recognized as a parameter; anything else is regarded as a file name. BIND always regards the last name as the target file's name specification; all other files are regarded as source files. A target name and no source will yield an empty target file, whereas no file name at all will result in an error message. File names that do not have an extension will be expanded with '.p', the standard extension for code files.

The way BIND operates is to process source files in the order they are given in the command line, reading record by record, and to write records that fit into the given filtering criteria to the target file. After all source files have been processed, BIND will write a new creator entry to the target file.

COMMAND-LINE PARAMETERS

If a command-line parameter starts with a slash(/) or minus sign(-), it turns an option on; if a command-line parameter starts with a plus sign(+), it turns a specific option off. Numeric arguments to parameters can be either written in decimal or hexadecimal notation. For hexadecimal notation, prefix the number with a dollar($) sign.

pbind accepts the following command-line parameters:

-f <number>[,<further numbers>]: Add <number> to the list of record header IDs that allow a record from a source file to be written to the target file. A certain header ID marks code for a certain target processor family; thus, this filter allows to distill code for a certain processor out of a source file that contains code for different processor families. Negation of this parameter removes certain header IDs from BIND's list. See the user manual of AS for a list of all possible header ID values. If BIND's list of header IDs is empty, no filtering will take place, i.e. all records from a source file will make it into the target file.

PRESETTING PARAMETERS

Parameters need not neccessarily be given in the command line itself. Before processing of command line parameters starts, BIND will look if the BINDCMD environment variable is defined. If it exists, its contents will be treated as additional command line paramters whose syntax is absolutely equal to normal command line parameters. As exception is made if the variable's contents start with a '@' sign; in such a case, the string after the '@' sign is treated as the name of a file that contains the options. Such a file (also called a 'key file') has the advantage that it allows the options to be written in different lines, and it does not have a size limit. Some operating systems (like MS-DOS) do have a length limit on command lines and environment variable contents, so the key file may be your only option if you have a lot of lengthy parameters for BIND.

RETURN CODES

pbind may return with the following codes:

0: no errors.
1: incorrect command line parameters.
2: I/O-error.
3: An input file had an incorrect format.

EXAMPLES

To combine all records of src1.p and src2.p into a single file dest.p, use:

pbind src1 src2 dest

To extract all records with MCS-51-code from a file mixed.p, use

pbind -f \$31 mixed only51,

and the record will be written to a file only51.p. Notice that the dollar sign in this example had to be protected with a backslash sign, as a UNIX shell uses the dollar character for expansion of variables. This would not have been necessary on an OS/2 or MS-DOS system (it would result in an error).

NATIONAL LANGUAGE SUPPORT

pbind supports national languages in the same way as AS. See the manual page for asl(1) for more information about this.

TIPS

Calling BIND without any arguments will print a short help listing all command line parameters.

HISTORY

BIND originally appeared as an AS tool in 1992, written in Borland-Pascal, and was ported to C and UNIX in 1997.

BUGS

Command line interpreters of some operating systems reserve some characters for their own use, so it might be necessary to give command line parameters with certain tricks (e.g., with the help of escape characters).

BIND does not have so far an opportunity to filter records by target segment.

AUTHOR(S)

Alfred Arnold (alfred@ccac.rwth-aachen.de)