Per SF bug report 1351586:
The COFF spec suggests that the "Virtual Size" field (which
immediately follows the name field inside a section header) be set to
0 for an object file.
By contrast (as documented in comment #4 at the beginning of its
outcoff.c file) NASM sets it to a particular non-0 value.
MASM 6.15 matches NASM for both 16- and 32-bit object files,
i.e. emits non-0 values.
MASM 8 (from VS 2005 Beta) matches the COFF spec for 64-bit object
files, i.e. emits 0.
GAS matches the COFF spec for 32-bit object files (MinGW or Cygwin),
i.e. also emits 0.
Older versions of GNU ld seem to honor said "Virtual Size" field
whereas newer versions do not. As a result those older versions
generate "bloated" image files.
Since the COFF spec and the real world seem to disagree for this case,
it might make sense to add a method for selecting between the two to
NASM.
Date: 2005-11-28 15:39
Sender: nasm64developer
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user_id=804543
MASM 8 (from VS 2005 Beta) also matches the COFF spec for 16- and
32-bit object files, i.e. emits 0.
That said, NASM should always emit 0 too. Therefore I am turning this
from a support request into a bug.
