Gold Fish 3/goldfish_volume_3.bin/files/dev/debug/disectdemo/document/history.doc

Text File | 1995-07-12 | 15KB | 334 lines

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        Disect - © DMA 1994-5        24.11.94
        =====================        ========

V1.0: 13 Mar-Oct 94    At times, I thought I'd never get there...
-------------------

V1.1: 17.11.94-24.11.94    Well, from my rather affected memory:
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    1) No longer crashes if disassembly window at hardware registers
    2) No longer need to define hundreds of copper addresses one
        at a time (!)
    3) DataStrings allow 'X' in base string
    4) Will load executables containing LINE debug/HCLN hunks

V1.2: 25.11.94-29.11.94    Got fed up playing Frontier, so...
-----------------------

    1) Gave screen a proper menu bar, and menus. ASL menus OK now.
    2) Screen is now WB2+, ASL requester is (at last) blue!
    3) Disect aware of 'gadtools.library' base address
    4) Main window is now WFLG_BACKDROP, so now cannot lose ASL
        requester window behind it! I remember the day I
        discovered that one...
    5) Key '+' swaps both disassembly windows
    6) Symbol Window: LMB on a selected symbol, moves (upper)
        disassembly window to address of (program) symbol
    7) Up & Down arrow gadgets in disassembly windows

V1.3: 30.11.94-7.12.94
----------------------

    1) A bug which made Process crash/caused system corruption
        on Process termination creeped into V1.1. Dead now...
    2) INCBIN Request. Thanks to Mark M for that idea
    3) Symbol Window: if press a letter key (with/without) SHIFT key,
        or '.' key, and if symbols are sorted alphabetically,
        now moves window to first symbol which begins with
        that character
    4) Improved algorithms for ensuring disassembly windows align
        themselves to defined program addresses
    5) Improved handling of global/local program symbol definition
        and reference
    6) Added an 'about' message
    7) When define global program symbol, opens request if causes
        local program symbols to be corrupted
    8) RMB on a local in program symbol area moves disassembly window
        the local's global symbol

V1.4: 7.12.94-11.12.94
----------------------

    1) When disassemble to file, will concatenate successive DC.X
        statements to produce (much fewer) lines of source
    2) RMB on instruction mnemonic moves PC to instruction
    3) Can display addresses normally, or as hunk start offsets
    4) Allows hunk offsets in expressions: "[0:64]"
    5) Shift key WILL move memory window fast
    6) Letters in hex now follow selected case
    7) Up/down arrow gadgets in windows repeat if held down
    8) Alarm sound when finds search data

V1.5: 18.12.94
--------------

    1) RMB on displacement (eg: 'dd(Ax)') moves disass window to EA
    2) WB requesters if cannot get resources

V1.6: 9.1.95-01.02.95
---------------------

     1) It sometimes missed arrow gadget messages, only responding
        to them when another IDCMP message occurred which
        created a signal bit to the message port. This
        happened if LMB > 4 times quickly on arrow gadgets
     2) System DataStrings: now contain 'X' for address pointers, and
        is now aware of address pointers which point to other
        system structures
     3) System DataStrings: automatic line commenting, and automatic
        program symbol name definition
     4) Allows definition of user address same as previous defined
     5) Allows a base offset address to be defined
     6) LMB on SEA/DEA text to lock register zoom
     7) Auto blank lines preference
     8) SS 'Prev' gadget allows offsets from locals if same global
     9) Dummy symbol selections can be used as line comment texts
    10) Symbol Window now contains a scroller gadget
    11) Disect aware of 'mathffp.library' base address
    12) Added 'PROCP' reserved symbol name
    13) Added Process Grabber, but only tested on A500+ so far
    14) Request windows which take an address range: can enter '=',
        '+X', and ',X' into end address string gadgets
    15) Was unable to read any DSCT data file if the file contained
        no user address structures
    16) Could not detect characters between "9" and "A" as invalid in
        hex numbers input by user
    17) Added LMB function in Display Breakpoints request window
    18) RMB in memory dump will define base offset address
    19) No longer scans executable files to determine project memory
        sizes, now uses seg list (the things you learn once
        you get the RKMs...)
    20) Data areas defined using system DataStrings now get DF'd as
        macros
    21) During DF, if a program symbol name length exceeds one tab
        size, then the remainder of the source line will be
        output using a new line
    22) Increased executable file hunk limit

V1.7: 2.2.95-20.3.95
--------------------

     1) When RMB on program address or displacement, right ALT will
        move memory window to the address
     2) Memory dump now contains a +/- cycle gadget
     3) When filling memory: eg, if filling LONGs, but address range
        was 31 bytes, Disect would actually write 32 bytes
        (ie: 8 complete LONGs); also changed FORBID/CLEAR
        CACHE/PERMIT method (once per byte, instead of once
        per address range, since very large fills may FORBID
        for too long); also did this for copy memory
     4) Search memory also gives alarm sound when search ends (data
        not found); source/ASCII searches now match any
        number of spaces or tabs
     5) During DF, if a program address was automatically replaced
        with a (program) symbol (creating an instruction
        address), the original address would still be logged
        as an missing undefined-reference address; by adding
        a single instruction, this was solved
     6) Added Process Menu 'Breakpoint At Active Process PC' function,
        but I think the world may not like this too much...
     7) A new, improved Symbol Selection window...
     8) Cute little arrow gadgets in main window to move disassembly
        windows left and right
     9) Disect refused to disassemble movec control registers (unless
        the upper 4 bits of the opcode extension word were 0)
    10) Disect hung when I ungrabbed what I had previously considered
        to be a safe Process to do this to... it was a very
        well hidden bug (since I did not realise that by
        sending a Signal to a Wait()ing Process, a task-
        switch might/will occur)
    11) Added Process memory allocations monitor, & unfreed memory
        list when Process terminates
    12) History buffer no longer limited to only four entries (!)
    13) ASL window size and coords now saved as Preferences
    14) Can now extract symbols from .gs files
    15) Binary files: allows load to a preferred address
    16) Disect auto-replaces CUSTOM/CIA addresses with symbols
    17) Another bug: if an address register contained a library base
        address, and was displayed in register window as,
        eg: 'BASEDOS', then the content of the address would
        not be displayed
    18) Mark M pointed out to me that 'CUSTOM' is defined in
        'intuition/preferences.i', but not as $DFF000,
        so had to rename the same symbol (held within
        Disect executable file) to 'CUSTOM_BASE'
    19) Allows '.x' in expressions for FFP values
    20) Fill & Copy Memory: no longer FORBID/CLEAR CACHE/PERMIT
    21) LMB on address digits in disass window: if right ALT pressed
        moves memory window to address (instead of defining
        a breakpoint)
    22) Had a bit of screen corruption (register/memory window) if
        defined a base offset which caused large offsets to
        be displayed (eg: '[-$12345678]', which would not
        fit into 10-chars available for it)
    23) Now allows definition of key macros... it's simple, but
        highly effective, and I'll sleep with a grin on
        my face tonight! (I will get around to allowing
        macros to be loaded/saved... eventually)
    24) Previously, could not replace references to seglists with
        program symbols (eg: 'move.l main-4,a0'), so Disect
        will now do this automatically
    25) Grabbing a Process would crash if it's pr_WindowPtr was -1
    26) Now replaces 'jsr dd(a6)' with relevant '_LVO' symbols for
        following libraries: Exec, DOS, Gfx, Int, ASL,
        GadTools, MathFFP
    27) Can no longer define breakpoints outside project memory range
    28) MultiBin files load and save, and program 'AllocMultiBin'
    29) Request window gadgets now display '_' characters beneath
        letters equivalent to keyboard controls
    30) Now allows definition of a Process's variables memory area
        (either within Process, or allocated memory), and
        can define user constant symbols as displacements
        within this memory (eg: dd(ax)), so that Disect can
        auto-replace any displacements with relevant constant
        symbol
    31) Disect will now display content of addresses (eg: register
        window) as program symbols (no longer displays only
        an address as a program symbol)
    32) Found a very obscure bug: if a 'JSR _LVOAllocMem' was ('E')
        executed (buffered), and if this memory was not freed
        then when Process terminated, unfreed memory was not
        listed as 'SELF' allocated
    33) Now allows binary files to be inserted into loaded project
    34) With much DSCT data (especially on a 500+!), things tended
        to get slow, so added something to speed things up
        (although it still seems too slow at times...)
    35) Auto Trace mode!!
    36) Hardware monitor (not finished?!)

V1.8: 21.3.95 ... 10.7.95
-------------------------

     1) Hardware monitor now finished
     2) Can now end a key-macro definition with a request window open
     3) Key-macros now record menu messages
     4) Can save INCBIN areas as IFF ILBMs
     5) Added audio sample player
     6) Can manually open trackdisk device (for when if have saved
        a pre-loaded boot block as a multibin file)
     7) Disect will now auto-replace ARID references to chip & CIA
        registers when PC at, eg: ...,dmacon(a4)
     8) Can now SET or EQU constant symbols manually
     9) Disect now shows possible Process variables memory references
        using a 'V' marker, and LMB on this will auto-replace
    10) Instant definition of BYTE/WORD/LONG Data addresses via LMB
    11) Defining data addresses until 'Next Symbol' will now define
        data area size explicitly, instead of leaving it 'variable'
    12) Can now save boot blocks
    13) DF now warns of references to addresses in project mem but
        outside disassemble area(s)
    14) DF areas now displayed as (blue?) background in disassembly
        window
    15) DF address range lists can now be loaded and saved
    16) Can now 'Run Copper List'
    17) Will now remap executable file's Process [hunk:offset]
         to a corresponding [offset] into the executable
         file on disk (for when executable is loaded as a
         binary file...)
    18) Will now search user addresses for use of any system/user
         symbol
    19) MultiBin files now allow Process status to be saved. Is only
         useful for games (ie: does not use OS, probably kills
         it straight away) since is ?impossible? to save a
         Process which has eg: opened a screen & 4 windows
         and half a dozen third-party libraries, set up
         interrupt servers, ... etc AND restore EVERYTHING
         when you load it back up later
    20) A MultiBin 'file' can consist of more than one file (eg:
         a 1.5 meg 'file' split across two disks)
    21) Two more prefs: maximum MultiBin file size & '.b'/'.s' for
         branch instructions
    22) Bug fixed: did not select copjmp1 or 2 when execute a write
        to either register
    23) Hardware monitor now does (certain) blitter registers
    24) Finally removed the (redundant) project request window
    25) Can now also define data areas until next -1 byte/word/long
    26) Finally fixed the annoying ASL for Mark M
    27) Can load/save individual DataStrings
    28) DF: user constant EQUs now grouped according to prefix text
        (ie: any text before a '_' character), and listed
        in increasing numeric order
    29) And system constant EQUs are also
    30) Found a bug during DF with spaces (not tabs), which caused
        corrupt source files when disassembling system
        structure macros
    31) Bug: sometimes, when LMB on an #immediate number which was
        in project memory range, its value was ignored,
        resulting in only allowing a symbol selection
        for a value of zero (this only occurred when #imm
        was specifically immediate data in an instruction,
        eg: addi.l #x, as opposed to, say, add.l <EA>,
        where <EA> was immediate data
    32) Added maximum DF source file size pref
    33) Crashed when traced/executed, eg: move.l d0,$4.w, even with
        hardware monitor enabled; is ok now
    34) Hardware monitor now tracks bus error vector instead of odd
        address vector, since Disect uses odd vec during HWM
    35) Previously, did not auto-replace, eg: ...,0(a0), to become
        ...,ciapra(a0), because EA mode was ARI (not ARID),
        where '0' was auto done by Disect
    36) Now replaces ARIDI references to hardware registers (used to
        be only ARID references)
    37) Will now auto replace the bit number of a btst/bset/bclr/bchg
        when DEA is CIAA_PRA, CIAB_PRA, or CIAB_PRB (very
        useful when dissecting disk loaders...)
    38) Added stuff to allow a Process to safely alter a7 (hardware
        menu item 'Stack Top'), and checks if attempt to
        execute or auto-trace a move to a7 when the address
        is not in project memory
    39) SysSymbol data is now compressed; this saved about 40-50k of
        disk space
    40) Bug fixed: if executed/traced instruction with (conditional)
        breakpoint at PC, did not suspend at next instruction,
        only did so when expression was TRUE (it was a loop,
        fortunately!)
    41) Ditto: sometimes got an $80000003 when LMB on the operand of
        a DC.X which had been defined using a system Data-
        String
    42) Previously, GrabProcess would check the instruction before
        the rts address from Exec.Wait()/WaitPort(), to
        ensure it was a jsr _LVO(a6) - this is not always
        the case, and resulted in not being able to grab
        certain Processes, so I removed this check
    43) DC.L operands: if have matching program symbol, now displays
        'P' marker, and can LMB on this for auto-replace
    44) Auto-LVOs now also done for jmp dd(a6) as well as jsr dd(a6)
    45) Added Task & Process system DataStrings (I wanted them to
        dissect ExecBase TaskWait list, to see why I couldn't
        grab SimCity! see #42 above!)
    46) Further to #38, I forgot to allow a7 to be changed by an
        instruction so that the new address is not in project
        memory, but is in stack memory (!). Then, spent two
        days allowing for every instruction which would alter
        a7. By method, this worked by checking if the DEA is
        a7, but, finally, discovered: exg a7,a0 (a7 is SEA!).
        What fun this all was (?)
    47) In memory window (small one in main screen), if any memory
        address is within the Process's Process structure,
        Disect now displays, eg: TC_SPLOWER, or pr_SegList
        instead of the address (is preference-able: 'Symbolic
        Address Display')
    48) Previously, if I defined a data area using, for example, an
        LH DataString, but then realised it was an LN, it
        would not (always) replace the line comments, and it
        would never replace the program symbol at data area
        start (which messed up the macros during DF!)
    49) During auto-trace, a JMP to a ROM (or external) function
        would be traced even if you didn`t want it to be,
        since Disect was only looking for JSR (or BSR!)
        to ROM/etc
    50) Another One! With a grabbed Process, auto-trace mode did
        not detect a write to stack memory as being a
        permitted DEA
    51) Disect now checks to ensure that TRACE and ILLEGAL vectors
        are intact before executing anything/anyhow
    52) Can now (at last!) display Process's allocated memory
        (if a memory monitor has been installed)
    53) Current project name now displayed in screen title
    54) Disect now allows 'address constant' symbols; defined via
        CTRL key & LMB on 'd0', etc, in register window

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