Re: [edk2-devel] Update NASM to stable release 2.15.05

["Michael D Kinney" <michael.d.kinney@intel.com>]

Hi Andrew,

It looks like the EDK II CI agents were updated to use NASM 2.15.05 back in March of this year.

	https://github.com/tianocore/edk2/blob/0ecdcb6142037dd1cdd08660a2349960bcf0270a/BaseTools/Bin/nasm_ext_dep.yaml

So I think the only remaining task is to update the developer documentation to require NASM 2.15.05 as the new minimum required version.

Do you agree?

Mike

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andrew Fish <afish@apple.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2021 11:05 AM
> To: edk2-devel-groups-io <devel@edk2.groups.io>; Kinney, Michael D <michael.d.kinney@intel.com>
> Cc: rfc@edk2.groups.io
> Subject: Re: [edk2-devel] Update NASM to stable release 2.15.05
> 
> Mike,
> 
> Sounds like a good plan.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Andrew Fish
> 
> > On Oct 20, 2021, at 9:51 AM, Michael D Kinney <michael.d.kinney@intel.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > I would like to propose that we update to a newer version of NASM.
> >
> > 	https://www.nasm.us/
> >
> > The most recent stable version is 2.15.05.
> >
> > 	https://www.nasm.us/pub/nasm/releasebuilds/2.15.05/
> >
> > NASM 2.15.05 Documentation:
> >
> > 	https://nasm.us/xdoc/2.15.05/html/
> > 	https://nasm.us/xdoc/2.15.05/nasmdoc.pdf
> >
> >
> > The reason to update is to use a version of NASM that supports
> > newer instructions that will allow the .nasm files with
> > DB statements for instructions to be updated to use
> > instruction names.  This improves the readability/maintenance
> > of the .nasm source files:
> >
> > 	https://nasm.us/xdoc/2.15.05/html/nasmdocb.html#section-B.1.41
> >
> > Also, the work on tools such as uncrustify to format source files
> > require tests to make sure the source format changes do not cause
> > any functional changes.  Compilers support flags for reproducible
> > builds.  NASM 2.15.05 added the --reproducible flag that provides
> > the same feature for OBJ files produces by NASM.
> >
> > 	https://nasm.us/xdoc/2.15.05/html/nasmdoc2.html#section-2.1.34
> >
> >
> > 	2.1.34 The --reproducible Option
> >
> > 	If this option is given, NASM will not emit information that is
> >       inherently dependent on the NASM version or different from run to
> >       run (such as timestamps) into the output file.
> >
> > Please let me know if there are any concerns with doing this tool update.
> > If there are no concerns, I will work on patches required to update
> > EDK II CI to use NASM 2.15.05 and to update the developer documentation
> > to require NASM 2.15.05 as the new minimum version.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Mike
> >
> >
> >
> > 
> >
> >