PDLN.TXT - for Ver. 1.0 - last mod 04/07/86

Here is PDLN - The Public-Domain Linker!

PDLN is a Public-Domain version of Microsoft's L80,  Digital Research's
LINK, and SLR System's SLRNK.  And it's free.

This library includes:
	PDLN.TXT	- This file
	PDLN.COM	- The Public-Domain Linker
	PDLN.DOC	- Copious documentation

EVEN IF YOU DON'T USE PDLN, if you use a linker (one of the above-named,
or anyone else, for that matter), check out PDLN.DOC.  A lot of it is
of general usefulness to linker users, and a lot of it is information
that I didn't have and could have used before starting to write PDLN.

Just a reminder: PDLN is for Z80 or compatable CPUs ONLY!  See PDLN.DOC
for details.  Apologies and a shrug to 8080 and 8085 users.

PDLN is useful for any CP/M-80 (Z-80) system, having been tested under
CP/M 2.2, CP/M 3.0, and ZCPR3.  It is installable as a ZCPR tool, but
will work as is under the named systems.

I know what you're asking: where's PDLN.ASM or PDLN.MAC or PDLN.Z80 or
(heavens forbid) PDLN.PAS ?  The source code is not here.  The explanation
is in PDLN.DOC.

And now, some questions to the users:
	How necessary is a librarian?  I have an outline for PDLIB, a
Public-Domain Librarian, but I wanted to get PDLN out ASAP!  Should I
continue to work on it?  (Poor librarians: always getting put off until
last, always an afterthought...)
	Does anyone know what the $COMNM symbol in Microsoft's L80 is?
I never found documentation for $$PROG, although it wasn't hard to figure
out, and $MEMRY is fairly-well known.  $COMNM, a one-byte value, is a
mystery to me.
	Are there other symbols that other linkers define that are of
general interest?  Ron Fowler's ProLink has ?BEG? and ?END? for the
beginning and end of code, and the Aztec C Compiler's linker defines
_Corg_, _Dorg_, and others.  Would these be of interest in a later version
of PDLN?
	Is anything lacking in the ZCPR facilities?  I personally don't
use message or error code passing, so those weren't included.  Should
they be?  Anything else?
	Does anyone ever use the unsupported .REL fields?  The only
possibility I could see was the Extension Link Item, which is used with
the 'BYTE EXTRN' directive under M80 (Microsoft) and Z80ASM (SLR Systems).
My feeling for the matter is that this and others may be used by some High-
Level Languages, but they'd include a linker anyway, so you wouldn't need
PDLN.  Am I right or wrong?

Since this is Version 1.0, I'd appreciate it if you'd exercise PDLN
fully.  I've tried to do so, but there's only so much I can think of
to try.  Send me mail!  I love mail!  I often even answer my mail!

Wilson H. Bent, Jr.
39 Maple Ave.
Fair Haven, NJ  07701
Work: (201) 949-1277
UN*X: ... ihnp4!vax135!hoh-2!whb
RCP/M: Lillipute: (312) 649-1730 Chicago