Right now, constant structures have to be explicitly annotated with __far to be placed in ROM memory. This is less than ideal:
Existing code most likely doesn't use the __far annotation, requiring adaptation;
Literal strings cannot be placed in ROM memory at all.
There are many options to improve this:
Patch gcc-ia16 to place literal strings in .fartext and as __far-annotated variables;
Patch gcc-ia16 to place read-only data in .farrodata and as __far-annotated unless __near is present;
Patch gcc-ia16 to support placing variables in the code segment; this would allow using CS-relative pointers for a slight performance benefit compared to __far annotations for literal strings.
Add a large memory model to gcc-ia16, as the times when we want a near pointer are notably less numerious than times when we want a far pointer.
Right now, constant structures have to be explicitly annotated with
__farto be placed in ROM memory. This is less than ideal:__farannotation, requiring adaptation;There are many options to improve this:
.fartextand as__far-annotated variables;.farrodataand as__far-annotated unless__nearis present;__farannotations for literal strings.largememory model togcc-ia16, as the times when we want a near pointer are notably less numerious than times when we want a far pointer.This is a rather difficult task, unfortunately.