[Info-vax] Resurrecting a VAX MACRO program from 1988

[T. Kurt Bond]

On Saturday, August 12, 2023 at 3:39:12 PM UTC-4, T. Kurt Bond wrote:
> On Saturday, August 12, 2023 at 1:32:27 PM UTC-4, Robert A. Brooks wrote: 
> 
> > > As cao noticed, the MAP file from the most recent link *is* in the https://github.com/tkurtbond/VTIL repository and the direct link is https://github.com/tkurtbond/VTIL/blob/main/vtil.map 
> > > 
> > > Sorry, I should have mentioned that. 
> > I'm impressed that you somehow crafted a PSECT with a negative length! 
> > 
> > 
> > Psect Name Module Name Base End Length 
> > ---------- ----------- ---- --- ------ 
> > 
> > VTILCODE 00002000 00001FFB FFFFFFFC ( 4294967292.) 
> > VTIL 00002000 00001FFB FFFFFFFC ( 4294967292.) 
> > 
> > 
> > We'll need John Reagan to weigh in here.
> Well, that doesn't look good. I've updated that repository with the .MAP and VTIL.LIS with /SHOW=EXPANSION from a compilation done today. It shouldn't be too different.

Yay!  Pointing out the unusual PSECT size eventually lead me to line 300
 in VTIL.MAR:
        https://github.com/tkurtbond/VTIL/blob/84496c62b545502961bffd788bbaefdb55450d9e/vtil.mar#L300
Where I saw the assignment "branch = -4".   Thaaaat doesn't look right!  
Looking at the picture of the source page for that line:
        https://github.com/tkurtbond/VTIL-pictures/blob/main/vtil.mar/page-10-lines-285-to-334.jpeg
I see that it should have been "branch = . - 4".  That looks better.

And now it links!  And when I run it, I get a "VTIL>" prompt!  Of course, 
nothing seems to work, other than the Ctrl-C handler, and Ctrl-Z to exit.
But now I can run it in the debugger and figure out what is going on.

Thanks for you help!