cl65 is a frontend for cc65, ca65, co65 and ld65. While you may not use the full power of the tools when calling them through cl65, most features are available, and the use of cl65 is much simpler.
The cl65 compile and link utility may be used to convert, compile, assemble and link files. While the separate tools do just one step, cl65 knows how to build object files from C files (by calling the compiler, then the assembler) and other things.
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Usage: cl65 [options] file [...]
Short options:
-c Compile and assemble but don't link
-d Debug mode
-g Add debug info
-h Help (this text)
-l name Create an assembler listing file
-m name Create a map file
-mm model Set the memory model
-o name Name the output file
-r Enable register variables
-t sys Set the target system
-u sym Force an import of symbol 'sym'
-v Verbose mode
-vm Verbose map file
-C name Use linker config file
-Cl Make local variables static
-D sym[=defn] Define a preprocessor symbol
-E Stop after the preprocessing stage
-I dir Set a compiler include directory path
-L path Specify a library search path
-Ln name Create a VICE label file
-O Optimize code
-Oi Optimize code, inline more code
-Or Optimize code, honour the register keyword
-Os Optimize code, inline standard functions
-S Compile but don't assemble and link
-T Include source as comment
-V Print the version number
-W name[,...] Suppress compiler warnings
-Wa options Pass options to the assembler
-Wc options Pass options to the compiler
-Wl options Pass options to the linker
Long options:
--add-source Include source as comment
--all-cdecl Make functions default to __cdecl__
--asm-args options Pass options to the assembler
--asm-define sym[=v] Define an assembler symbol
--asm-include-dir dir Set an assembler include directory
--bin-include-dir dir Set an assembler binary include directory
--bss-label name Define and export a BSS segment label
--bss-name seg Set the name of the BSS segment
--cc-args options Pass options to the compiler
--cfg-path path Specify a config file search path
--check-stack Generate stack overflow checks
--code-label name Define and export a CODE segment label
--code-name seg Set the name of the CODE segment
--codesize x Accept larger code by factor x
--config name Use linker config file
--cpu type Set cpu type
--create-dep name Create a make dependency file
--create-full-dep name Create a full make dependency file
--data-label name Define and export a DATA segment label
--data-name seg Set the name of the DATA segment
--debug Debug mode
--debug-info Add debug info
--feature name Set an emulation feature
--force-import sym Force an import of symbol 'sym'
--help Help (this text)
--include-dir dir Set a compiler include directory path
--ld-args options Pass options to the linker
--lib-path path Specify a library search path
--list-targets List all available targets
--listing name Create an assembler listing file
--list-bytes n Number of bytes per assembler listing line
--mapfile name Create a map file
--memory-model model Set the memory model
--module Link as a module
--module-id id Specify a module id for the linker
--no-target-lib Don't link the target library
--o65-model model Override the o65 model
--obj file Link this object file
--obj-path path Specify an object file search path
--print-target-path Print the target file path
--register-space b Set space available for register variables
--register-vars Enable register variables
--rodata-name seg Set the name of the RODATA segment
--signed-chars Default characters are signed
--standard std Language standard (c89, c99, cc65)
--start-addr addr Set the default start address
--static-locals Make local variables static
--target sys Set the target system
--version Print the version number
--verbose Verbose mode
--zeropage-label name Define and export a ZEROPAGE segment label
--zeropage-name seg Set the name of the ZEROPAGE segment
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Most of the options have the same meanings as the corresponding compiler,
assembler, and linker options. See the documentation for those tools for an
explanation. If an option is available for more than one of the tools, it
is set for all tools where it is available. One example for that is -v:
The compiler, the assembler, and the linker are all called with the -v
switch.
There are a few remaining options that control the behaviour of cl65:
-EThis option is passed to the cc65 compiler; and, it forces cl65 to stop
before the assembly step. That means that C-level preprocessor directives
are obeyed; and, macros are expanded. But, the C source isn't compiled.
If the -o option isn't used, then the C code results are written into
files with a ".i" suffix on their base names. Assembler files, object
files, and libraries given on the command line are ignored.
-SThis option forces cl65 to stop before the assembly step. That means that C files are translated into assembler files; but, nothing more is done. Assembler files, object files, and libraries given on the command line are ignored.
-cThis option forces cl65 to stop after the assembly step. That means that C and assembler files given on the command line are translated into object files; but, there is no link step. Object files and libraries given on the command line are ignored.
-o nameThe -o option is used for the target name in the final step. That causes
problems if the linker will not be called, and there are several input
files on the command line. In that case, the name given with -o will be
used for all of them, which makes the option pretty useless. You
shouldn't use -o when more than one output file is created.
--print-target-pathThis option prints the absolute path of the target file directory, and exits then. It is supposed to be used with shell backquotes or the GNU make shell function. That way, you can write build scripts or Makefiles accessing target files without any assumption about the cc65 installation path.
-t sys, --target sysThe default for this option is different from the compiler and linker, in the case that the option is missing: While the other tools (compiler, assembler, and linker) will use the "none" system settings by default, cl65 will use "c64" as a target system by default. That was chosen because most people seem to use cc65 to develop for the C64.
--no-target-libThis option tells the cl65 to not include the target library into the list of libraries.
-Wa options, --asm-args optionsPass options directly to the assembler. This may be used to pass options
that aren't directly supported by cl65. Several options may be separated by
commas; the commas are replaced by spaces when passing them to the
assembler. Beware: Passing arguments directly to the assembler might interfere
with some of the defaults because cl65 doesn't parse the options passed. So,
if cl65 supports an option by itself, do not pass that option to the
assembler by means of the -Wa switch.
-Wc options, --cc-args optionsPass options directly to the compiler. This may be used to pass options
that aren't directly supported by cl65. Several options may be separated by
commas; the commas are replaced by spaces when passing them to the
compiler. Beware: Passing arguments directly to the compiler might interfere
with some of the defaults because cl65 doesn't parse the options passed. So,
if cl65 supports an option by itself, do not pass that option to the
compiler by means of the -Wc switch.
-Wl options, --ld-args optionsPass options directly to the linker. This may be used to pass options that
aren't directly supported by cl65. Several options may be separated by
commas; the commas are replaced by spaces when passing them to the linker.
Beware: Passing arguments directly to the linker might interfere with some of
the defaults because cl65 doesn't parse the options passed. So, if cl65
supports an option by itself, do not pass that option to the linker by means
of the -Wl switch.
Because cl65 was created to simplify the use of the cc65 development package, it tries to be smart about several things.
The command line is parsed from left to right, and the actual processing tool (compiler, assembler, ...) is invoked whenever a file name is encountered. This means that only the options to the left of a file name are in effect when this file is processed. It does also mean that you're able to specify different options for different files on the command line. As an example.
cl65 -Oirs main.c -O -g module.c
translates main.c with full optimization and module.c with less optimization and debug info enabled.
Note that the target system (-t , --target) must be specified before any file unless using the default target of c64
The type of an input file is derived from its extension:
.c.s, .asm, .a65.o, .obj.a, .lib.grc.o65, .emd, .joy, .tgiPlease note that the program cannot handle input files with unknown file extensions.
The morse trainer software, which consists of one C file (morse.c) and one assembler file (irq.s) will need the following separate steps to compile into an executable named morse:
cc65 -g -Oi -t c64 morse.c
ca65 -g morse.s
ca65 -g irq.s
ld65 -o morse -t c64 c64.o morse.o irq.o c64.lib
When using cl65, this is simplified to
cl65 -g -Oi morse.c irq.s
As a general rule, you may use cl65 instead of cc65 at most times, especially in makefiles to build object files directly from C files. Use
.c.o:
cl65 -g -Oi $<
to do this.
cl65 (and all cc65 binutils) are (C) Copyright 1998-2004 Ullrich von Bassewitz. For usage of the binaries and/or sources the following conditions do apply:
This software is provided 'as-is', without any expressed or implied warranty. In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages arising from the use of this software.
Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose, including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it freely, subject to the following restrictions: