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                  **  R E L E A S E   N O T E S  **
                  *********************************


                       PROGRAMMER'S UTILITIES

                             VERSION 1.1


             FOR THE CP/M-86 FAMILY OF OPERATING SYSTEMS


            Copyright (c) 1984 by Digital Research, Inc.
























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        Programmer's Utilities                  Release Notes



        These release notes pertain to both the software  and
        the   documentation  set  for  the  Digital  Research
        product:


                       Programmer's Utilities

             For the CP/M-86 Family of Operating Systems



        They provide the most current information regarding:

           o changes to the software, or problems  that  have
             been  identified since the product was released.

           o errors or omissions  in  the  documentation  set
             that  could not be corrected because of the lead
             time needed for production and printing.



        Note:  These release notes have been formatted so you
        can  print them on your own printer, cut them to size
        (6 1/2 x 8 1/2), and place them in your manuals.

















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        Programmer's Utilities                  Release Notes


                           ***************
                           **  LINK-86  **
                           ***************



        There are several enhancements to LINK-86 V1.4:

        LINK-86  can  now  report  three   additional   error
        messages:

           CLASS NOT FOUND  -  The class  name  specified  in
           the  command  line  does  not  exist in any of the
           files being linked.

           GROUP NOT FOUND  -  The group  name  specified  in
           the  command  line  does  not  exist in any of the
           files being linked.

           SEGMENT NOT FOUND  -  The segment  name  specified
           in  the  command line does not exist in any of the
           files being linked.


        LINK-86 now displays the  filename  and  module  name
        indicating the location of an undefined symbol.

        A new parameter has been added  to  the  MAP  option.
        The  NOCOMMON  parameter  directs LINK-86 to suppress
        the listing of common segment names in the MAP  file.

        There are several new command-line options:

           o $MY directs LINK-86 to send the MAP file to your
             line printer.

           o The options CUMULATIVE and NOCUMULATIVE give you
             the  choice  of  whether  or not to overlay data
             when creating overlays.




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        Programmer's Utilities                  Release Notes


             The CUMULATIVE option tells the overlay  manager
             not  to  overlay  data  when  loading an overlay
             file.   In   this   case,   the   data   becomes
             cumulative.

             The  NOCUMULATIVE  option  tells   the   overlay
             manager  to  overlay  both  code  and  data when
             loading an overlay file.  In this case, the data
             in  successive  overlays  is not cumulative, but
             overwrites existing data.  Overlays on the  same
             level share data areas.

             You  can  abbreviate  CUMULATIVE  as   CUM   and
             NOCUMULATIVE as NOCUM.


        NOTE:  The Programmer's Utilities  package  does  not
        include  an  overlay manager.  The overlay manager is
        part of the run-time library that  is  packaged  with
        your language software.


        LINK-86  now  allows  a  limit  of  384  modules  per
        library.  Previous versions of LINK-86 had a limit of
        256 modules per library.


















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        Programmer's Utilities                  Release Notes


                        *********************
                        **  RASM-86 NOTES  **
                        *********************



        There are several  enhancements  to  RASM-86  Version
        1.3:

        A new command line  option  has  been  added  to  the
        assembler.  The  $NC  option  directs  RASM-86 not to
        convert letters in symbol names to  uppercase.   This
        feature supports users of the C language.

        RASM-86 now supports 8087 opcodes.  However,  RASM-86
        does  not  allow  types  other  than  byte, word, and
        double-word.  Therefore, in order to support the 8087
        instructions,  the form of the RASM-86 instruction is
        slightly different from the Intel convention.

        All  8087  memory  reference  instructions  have  two
        characters  appended  to  the end of the opcode name.
        The two  characters  represent  the  number  of  bits
        referenced by the instruction.  For example,

           FADD64   byte ptr  my_var

        This instruction assumes that my_var contains 64 bits
        (4  bytes).  This  convention  applies  to  all  8087
        instructions that reference user memory, except those
        that  always  reference the same number of bits (i.e.
        FSTCW).

        Also, in the Intel convention, any  instruction  that
        is followed by a P causes the stack to be popped.  In
        RASM-86, the P  follows  the  number  of  bits.   For
        example,

           FSUB80P   byte ptr  my_var; sub and pop temp real




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        Programmer's Utilities                  Release Notes


        We recommend that you carefully study all  the  Intel
        documentation  about  the  8087  coprocessor  and its
        opcodes before using them in RASM-86.


                         END OF READ.ME FILE





































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