ASM code generation using the cool -FA compiler switch

Recently I was try to experiment with some calling conventions and I wanted to look at the assembly code, to better understand the behavior.
There are couple of ways.
1. Look the dis-assembly while debugging.
2. use the very cool ollydbg!
3. Generate one for yourself while building the binary!!
That is where the magical compiler -FAs switch comes in the play. Following was the code I test it with

***********************************************************************
my 'C' code
void foo()
{
 printf("in foo");
 
}

// This code is compiled using compiler flag -FAs switch to generate and equivalent ASM code
int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
 foo();
 return 0;
}
************************************************************************
************************************************************************
Generated Assembly code(I have only shown the main portion of the code)
PUBLIC _wmain
; Function compile flags: /Odtp /RTCsu /ZI
; COMDAT _wmain
_TEXT SEGMENT
_argc$ = 8      ; size = 4
_argv$ = 12      ; size = 4
_wmain PROC      ; COMDAT

; 16   : {

 push ebp
 mov ebp, esp
 sub esp, 192    ; 000000c0H
 push ebx
 push esi
 push edi
 lea edi, DWORD PTR [ebp-192]
 mov ecx, 48     ; 00000030H
 mov eax, -858993460    ; ccccccccH
 rep stosd

; 17   :  foo();

 call ?foo@@YAXXZ    ; foo    //call to foo

; 18   :  return 0;

 xor eax, eax

; 19   : }

 pop edi
 pop esi
 pop ebx
 add esp, 192    ; 000000c0H
 cmp ebp, esp
 call __RTC_CheckEsp
 mov esp, ebp
 pop ebp
 ret 0
*******************************************************************************************

Nevertheless a nice way to look at the Assembly code!

Hadoop installation on my linux box

Today was fun! installed Single node hadoop system and run some samples
on text search, it was just a breeze need to do more investigation on how it works.


The following blogs where helpful.
http://www.michael-noll.com/tutorials/running-hadoop-on-ubuntu-linux-single-node-cluster/
http://mohsin-junaid.blogspot.in/2013/02/how-to-install-hadoop-104-on-ubuntu.html

Remembering Ramanujan!

Today is Ramanujan's  Birthday happened to go over this wiki,
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan
and this documentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OARGZ1xXCxs

What struck me is his Humility and Single mindedness among many other virtues.

Debugging using .MAP and .COD file: The forgotten Method.

I was trying to use MAP to debug suddenly found something is missing after some searching here is what I found.
Couple of years back VC++ developers where using this method to debug  applications.

This was using

/MAP,

/MAPINFO: EXPORTS linker switches and

/MAPINFO: LINES compiler switch

Unfortunately /MAPINFO: LINES has been deprecated starting VS 2003.

So here is how to achieve the same result with VS 2005 and above.

First the required settings :

1. We need to do the following settings in the linker section need to select the
1. Generate MAP file
2. MAP file exports

             As shown in the fig below.

2. Do the following settings in the C++ section of the project.
1. Assembler output: add the compiler switch /FAcs

This will output a .cod file which will contain both the machine code , assembly code along with Source. As shown in the figure below.

Next the actual debugging.

1. The following will be the code snippet I plan to use to simulate the exception.

            char* chCrash=NULL;

   *chCrash='x';

2. Once you run the faulty program you will end up with access violation dialog as shown below.

3. You can address in this exception is 0x00040106c.
4. Open the MAP file you will find the preferred load address.

        Preferred load address is 0x00400000

5. Exception address – Load address = offset where the exception has happened. Which would be : 0x106c.
6. But the actual WinMain starts at 0x1000 from 0x00400000
7. So the actual offset would be 0x6c
8. This offset lies between the

0001:00000000       _wWinMain@16               00401000 f   DebuggingUsingMAP_AND_COD.obj

0001:00000100       ?MyRegisterClass@@YAGPAUHINSTANCE__@@@Z 00401100 f   DebuggingUsingMAP_AND_COD.obj

As shown in the above two lines from the .MAP file.

9. So now open the .COD file and go to an offset 0x6c from _wWinMain@16        
    0006c  c6 00 78          mov    BYTE PTR [eax], 120           ; 00000078H

           Here 120 is the ascii value of ‘x’, which corresponds to *chCrash='x';

That is it! For now hopefully I have revived some old memories.

A journey thro' India, I have never seen!

There are Millions of Ruskin Bond fans now I know why?.....I am the latest addition.

It all started with....

Room on the roof... a start that is so Indian, the way Rusty met Somi, it took me back to my childhood days where making friends was so easy,  no pretensions , no inhibitions just a care free attitude...I liked the intense friendship/concern he shared with Kishen a spoilt brat. 
Most important thing for me is the way I am acquainted to Dhera I have never seen it but I felt like I have lived there with Rusty visiting the Bazaar, the clock tower ... Kapoor's banglow and yes Rusty's room .

The book just gripped me, I felt an impatient urge to buy the next book "Vagrants of the Valley" I was curious about what happens next...I could not wait. Thanks to FlipKart I ended up buying Ruskin Bond - Complete and Unbridged which had six novels.


# The Room on the Roof
# Vagrants in the Valley
# Delhi Is Not Far
# A Flight of Pigeons
# The Sensualist
# A Handful of Nuts

let us say I went on a rampage I guess that is the effect of the first book.Since then I felt like Ruskin held my hand and took me on a journey thro' Uttarakhand/UP which I have never seen some of them intensely emotional, of all the stories I still feel "Vagrants of the valley" is very very good  the point where Rusty's late father helps him to get to England by leaving some very simple yet valuable possessions, getting to know about his father from Mr Pettigrow should have brought varied thoughts about a father of whom he had seen very little.His friendships with kishen, Hathi, lafunga, devinder  and who can forget the gooonga!!.

It has been truly a fascinating , evocative and enchanting journey through the small towns, far away mountains ,forests, the ghats on river ganga even thought it was done with all the comforts of my bedroom.


I will not be able to write more on all the other novels but enjoyed reading "Flight of the Pigeons"(thrilling account of Indian Sepoy Mutiny),"Sensualist", and in the "Handfull of nuts", I am still guessing who the bollywood actor is? the character's name is Sitaram in the novel :-).
 
That is it for now....!