Ecosyste.ms: Awesome
An open API service indexing awesome lists of open source software.
https://github.com/jorgeparavicini/nasm-win-dev
A guide how to setup a NASM development environment with Visual Studio
https://github.com/jorgeparavicini/nasm-win-dev
Last synced: about 1 month ago
JSON representation
A guide how to setup a NASM development environment with Visual Studio
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/jorgeparavicini/nasm-win-dev
- Owner: jorgeparavicini
- Created: 2022-11-22T17:24:03.000Z (about 2 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2022-11-22T18:59:19.000Z (about 2 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2024-10-19T19:53:45.762Z (3 months ago)
- Size: 303 KB
- Stars: 0
- Watchers: 1
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# NASM Windows Dev
This document explains how to setup a Windows development environment for NASM.
The reason I create this doc, is because I have not found any good up-to-date documentation
that explains how to start writing assembly on Windows from A to Z including a debugger and syntax highlighting.
## Features
After installing the environment will contain following features:
* Visual Studio 2022 - used to develop and debug
* NASM compiler
* Debugger
* Syntax Highlighting
* Intellisense
* Automatic debug symbols in debug mode
## Installation
1) Download [Visual Studio](https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/)
2) In the installer make sure to include `Desktop development with C++`
3) Download the latest version of NASM from their [website](https://www.nasm.us/).
You can download either the Installer or the executable only.
4) Extract the downloaded file to a location. In my case this will be `A:\nasm`
5) Now copy the extracted path and create a new environment variable called `NASMPATH` with the copied value.
Make sure to add a trailing `\` to the path. In my case the final value is `A:\nasm\`.
6) Download [VSNASM](https://github.com/ShiftMediaProject/VSNASM). This project adds some build customisations
for Visual Studio. It says it's only available up to VS2019 but VS2022 is also supported.
7) Execute the `install_script.bat` with elevated privileges or follow their manual installation.
8) Download and install the `ASMDude` Visual Studio extension.
1) At the time of writing, the extension is not ready for VS2022 yet.
However, a preview can be downloaded from [here](https://github.com/HJLebbink/asm-dude/files/7822110/AsmDude-vs2022.zip).
Follow [this github issue](https://github.com/HJLebbink/asm-dude/issues/128) to find out more about VS 2022 support.
## Setup
Now we have installed everything we need to get started with a new project.
1) Create a new empty C++ project
2) Give the project a name and create it.
3) I recommend changing the solution explorer view to show all files by clicking the button `Show all files`.
4) Now update the build sequence by right clicking the project > `Build Dependencies` > `Build Customizations...`
5) Select the `nasm(.targets, .props)` value
6) Next, create a new `C++ File (.cpp)` called `main.asm`. It's important that the extension is named `.asm`.
7) Right click on the new file > Properties. Under `General` set the `Item Type` to `Netwide Assembler`. In my case it is called `NASM - Netwide Assembler` because I renamed it.
> If the `Netwide Assembler` is missing. Make sure the vcxproj file contains the necessary dependencies.
> The `ExtensionTargets` needs: `$(VCTargetsPath)\BuildCustomizations\nasm.targets`
> The `ExtensionSettings` needs: `$(VCTargetsPath)\BuildCustomizations\nasm.props`
8) If you run it now you the build will succeed.
However, the linking stage will probably run into an error if you use some basic symbols.
The following basic code requires `printf` and `ExitProcess` to be available, but they are not linked yet.
```assembly
bits 64
default rel
segment .data
msg db "Hello world!", 0xd, 0xa, 0
segment .text
global main
extern ExitProcess
extern printf
main:
push rbp
mov rbp, rsp
sub rsp, 32
lea rcx, [msg]
call printf
xor rax, rax
call ExitProcess
```
To include the required libraries, right click the project and go to `Properties` > `Configuration Properties` >
`Linker` > `Input` and add `legacy_stdio_definitions.lib;msvcrt.lib;` to the `Additional Dependencies`.
Click `Ok` and `Apply`
9) If you run it now, the code should work.
10) To get the debugger to work you can either manually add the debug flag to each `.asm` file by
right clicking each file and going to `Properties` > `Netwide Assembler` > `Assembler Options`
and setting `Generate Debug Information` to `Yes (-g)`.
However, this can get tiresome to do for each file. To do this automatically for every `.asm` file close
Visual Studio and open the `.vcxproj` file in a text editor.
Now create an `` right under the root `` tag and set following:
```xml
Document
true
false
```
This will add the debug flag for every `.asm` file if the project is built with the `debug` configuration.
If the `release` configuration is used the files will be compiled without debug symbols.
## Further reading
To get started with NASM for windows I can recommended following tutorial: https://sonictk.github.io/asm_tutorial/