ECN-4491 x64 and AMD64 native code generation

Product: ACUCOBOL-GT

Module: cblutil

Machines Affected: All

Known Versions Affected: All

DESCRIPTION:

It is now possible to generate native 64-bit object code for Intel x64 and AMD64 processors. The benefit to native code is substantially superior performance for CPU-heavy portions of code; however, the drawback remains that portability of the object files is limited to similar platforms.

Use the ccbl and cblutil -native syntax, followed by one of the new parameters to generate x64 native code:

  • --x64_Win
  • --x64_Unix (or --x64_Linux)

Note that x64 object code is not portable between Windows and Unix/Linux platforms, hence the two distinct options. The --x64_Unix and --x64_Linux options are synonymous with each other.

Examples:

To compile a COBOL program to x64 native code for a UNIX platform:

ccbl --x64_Unix program.cbl

To assemble a number of COBOL program to x64 native code for a UNIX platform:

cblutil -native --x64_Unix *.acu