Message-ID: <8707@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 13-Aug-84 18:28:33 EDT
Article-I.D.: microsoft.8707
Posted: Mon Aug 13 18:28:33 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 15-Aug-84 01:39:38 EDT
Organization: Microsoft Corporation
Lines: 37


	"... I am not including this statement because with it exe2bin would not
	convert the file..."

EXE2BIN will convert an EXE file to a COM-format file under the following
circumstances:

o   Entry point is 0:100h
o   No Stack segment is present
o   Image size is < 65536-100h-2
o   There are NO relocatable long references.

I strongly suspect that there is something else at work here.

	"... I suspect that it is something to do with having data segments
	separate from the code segment..."

You have probably just hit the nail on the head.  If you are using the macro
assembler from IBM, you'll find that it will emit segment definitions in
alphabetic order rather than in declaration order.  This *may* be causing
your data segment to precede your code segment which might violate the first
condition above.

I really question your need of COM files in the first place.  The *only*
place that they might be useful is in device drivers.  Outside of these,
MSDOS is quite capable of performing all relocation for you.  I strongly
urge anyone who is thinking of using COM files to stick with the EXE format.
Reasons:

o   No need for EXE2BIN.
o   Full use of instruction set (you can't effectively use the long call
	instruction, for example) by being relocatable.
o   Has extensible header should any changes to the format be needed.
o   EXE files don't have 64K-100h-2 size restriction.
o   Full control of stack placement.  COM files have no guarantee on minimal
	size of stack.  I have seen a great numbers of COM files that fail on
	small-memory machines or on reading large data over where their stack
	was.

Message-ID: <656@ihuxj.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 15-Aug-84 16:40:28 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxj.656
Posted: Wed Aug 15 16:40:28 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 16-Aug-84 03:17:23 EDT
References: <8707@microsoft.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 15

As you point out in great detail, .EXE files offer plenty
of features, but one pays the price for them: slower load
time, and bigger image on disk (and there ain't much room on
those thar floppies!).


-- 
		
			Daniel M. O'Brien
			AT&T Bell Laboratories
			IH 4A-258
			Naperville, IL 60566
		
			....!ihuxj!dob