ref: 5039af6af1affd60c71f1253b267972894c08119
parent: 4df74d44ec273baa8b73869025a036600b72060b
author: ISSOtm <eldredhabert0@gmail.com>
date: Thu Mar 26 19:50:30 EDT 2020
Document new "unionized section" feature
--- a/src/asm/rgbasm.5
+++ b/src/asm/rgbasm.5
@@ -575,36 +575,36 @@
blocks are the perfect solution to that.
Here's an example of how to use them:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
- SECTION "LOAD example", ROMX
- CopyCode:
- ld de, RAMCode
- ld hl, RAMLocation
- ld c, RAMLocation.end - RAMLocation
- .loop
- ld a, [de]
- inc de
- ld [hli], a
- dec c
- jr nz, .loop
- ret
+SECTION "LOAD example", ROMX
+CopyCode:
+ ld de, RAMCode
+ ld hl, RAMLocation
+ ld c, RAMLocation.end - RAMLocation
+\&.loop
+ ld a, [de]
+ inc de
+ ld [hli], a
+ dec c
+ jr nz, .loop
+ ret
- RAMCode:
- LOAD "RAM code", WRAM0
- RAMLocation:
- ld hl, .string
- ld de, $9864
- .copy
- ld a, [hli]
- ld [de], a
- inc de
- and a
- jr nz, .copy
- ret
+RAMCode:
+ LOAD "RAM code", WRAM0
+RAMLocation:
+ ld hl, .string
+ ld de, $9864
+\&.copy
+ ld a, [hli]
+ ld [de], a
+ inc de
+ and a
+ jr nz, .copy
+ ret
- .string
- db "Hello World!", 0
- .end
- ENDL
+\&.string
+ db "Hello World!", 0
+\&.end
+ ENDL
.Ed
.Pp
A
@@ -625,6 +625,52 @@
You cannot nest
.Ic LOAD
blocks, nor can you change the current section within them.
+.Ss Unionized Sections
+.Pp
+When you're tight on RAM, you may want to define overlapping blocks of variables, as explained in the
+.Sx Unions
+section.
+However, the
+.Ic UNION
+keyword only works within a single file, which prevents e.g. defining temporary variables on a single memory area across several files.
+Unionized sections solve this problem.
+To declare an unionized section, add a
+.Ic UNION
+keyword after the
+.Ic SECTION
+one; the declaration is otherwise not different.
+Unionized sections follow some different rules from normal sections:
+.Bl -bullet -offset indent
+.It
+The same unionized section (= having the same name) can be declared several times per
+.Nm
+invocation, and across several invocations.
+Different declarations are treated and merged identically whether within the same invocation, or different ones.
+.It
+A section cannot be declared both as unionized or non-unionized.
+.It
+All declarations must have the same type.
+For example, even if
+.Xr rgblink 1 Ap s
+.Fl w
+flag is used,
+.Ic WRAM0
+and
+.Ic WRAMX
+types are still considered different.
+.It
+Different constraints (alignment, bank, etc.) can be specified for each unionized section declaration, but they must all be compatible.
+For example, alignment must be compatible with any fixed address, all specified banks must be the same, etc.
+.It
+Unionized sections cannot have type
+.Ic ROM0
+or
+.Ic ROMX .
+.El
+.Pp
+Different declarations of the same unionized section are not appended, but instead overlaid on top of eachother, just like
+.Sx Unions .
+Similarly, the size of an unionized section is the largest of all its declarations.
.Sh SYMBOLS
.Pp
RGBDS supports several types of symbols: