On Oct 20, 2021, at 9:51 AM, Michael D Kinney <michael.d.kinney@intel.com> wrote:

Hello,

I would like to propose that we update to a newer version of NASM.

https://www.nasm.us/

The most recent stable version is 2.15.05.

https://www.nasm.us/pub/nasm/releasebuilds/2.15.05/

NASM 2.15.05 Documentation:

https://nasm.us/xdoc/2.15.05/html/
https://nasm.us/xdoc/2.15.05/nasmdoc.pdf


The reason to update is to use a version of NASM that supports
newer instructions that will allow the .nasm files with
DB statements for instructions to be updated to use
instruction names. This improves the readability/maintenance
of the .nasm source files:

https://nasm.us/xdoc/2.15.05/html/nasmdocb.html#section-B.1.41

Also, the work on tools such as uncrustify to format source files
require tests to make sure the source format changes do not cause
any functional changes. Compilers support flags for reproducible
builds. NASM 2.15.05 added the --reproducible flag that provides
the same feature for OBJ files produces by NASM.

https://nasm.us/xdoc/2.15.05/html/nasmdoc2.html#section-2.1.34


2.1.34 The --reproducible Option

If this option is given, NASM will not emit information that is
inherently dependent on the NASM version or different from run to
run (such as timestamps) into the output file.

Please let me know if there are any concerns with doing this tool update.
If there are no concerns, I will work on patches required to update
EDK II CI to use NASM 2.15.05 and to update the developer documentation
to require NASM 2.15.05 as the new minimum version.

Thanks,

Mike