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(nasm.info)Section 6.2.1

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6.2.1. `obj' Extensions to the `SEGMENT' Directive
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   The `obj' output format extends the `SEGMENT' (or `SECTION')
directive to allow you to specify various properties of the segment you
are defining. This is done by appending extra qualifiers to the end of
the segment-definition line. For example,

     segment code private align=16

   defines the segment `code', but also declares it to be a private
segment, and requires that the portion of it described in this code
module must be aligned on a 16-byte boundary.

   The available qualifiers are:

   * `PRIVATE', `PUBLIC', `COMMON' and `STACK' specify the combination
     characteristics of the segment. `PRIVATE' segments do not get
     combined with any others by the linker; `PUBLIC' and `STACK'
     segments get concatenated together at link time; and `COMMON'
     segments all get overlaid on top of each other rather than stuck
     end-to-end.

   * `ALIGN' is used, as shown above, to specify how many low bits of
     the segment start address must be forced to zero. The alignment
     value given may be any power of two from 1 to 4096; in reality,
     the only values supported are 1, 2, 4, 16, 256 and 4096, so if 8
     is specified it will be rounded up to 16, and 32, 64 and 128 will
     all be rounded up to 256, and so on. Note that alignment to
     4096-byte boundaries is a PharLap extension to the format and may
     not be supported by all linkers.

   * `CLASS' can be used to specify the segment class; this feature
     indicates to the linker that segments of the same class should be
     placed near each other in the output file. The class name can be
     any word, e.g.  `CLASS=CODE'.

   * `OVERLAY', like `CLASS', is specified with an arbitrary word as an
     argument, and provides overlay information to an overlay-capable
     linker.

   * Segments can be declared as `USE16' or `USE32', which has the
     effect of recording the choice in the object file and also
     ensuring that NASM's default assembly mode when assembling in that
     segment is 16-bit or 32-bit respectively.

   * When writing OS/2 object files, you should declare 32-bit segments
     as `FLAT', which causes the default segment base for anything in
     the segment to be the special group `FLAT', and also defines the
     group if it is not already defined.

   * The `obj' file format also allows segments to be declared as
     having a pre-defined absolute segment address, although no linkers
     are currently known to make sensible use of this feature;
     nevertheless, NASM allows you to declare a segment such as
     `SEGMENT SCREEN ABSOLUTE=0xB800' if you need to. The `ABSOLUTE'
     and `ALIGN' keywords are mutually exclusive.

   NASM's default segment attributes are `PUBLIC', `ALIGN=1', no class,
no overlay, and `USE16'.