Sega Saturn Hitachi Compiler Toolchain

Edit on Github | Updated: 1st December 2024

Hitachi released a toolchain for Sega Saturn development, this is an alternative to the GNU toolchain also available from Sega.

Executables

Executable Description
asmsh.exe SH Assembler
binadj.exe  
cnvs.exe SYSROF STYPE OBJECT CONVERTER
dwfcnv.exe DWARF absolute-object file converter
elf2bin.exe ELF2BIN: ELF -> binary converter Ver. 0.82
elfcnv.exe SYSROF -> ELF/DWARF Convert Tool Ver. 1.0D
rof2bin.exe SYSROF-BINARY TRANSLATOR Ver. 2.51 for Windows95
lnk.exe H SERIES LINKAGE EDITOR Ver. 6.0A
s2bin.exe  
lbr.exe H SERIES OBJECT LIBRARIAN Ver. 2.0A
shc.exe SH SERIES C/C++ Compiler Ver. 5.0(Release31)
shcprep.exe  
shcmdl.exe  
shctil.exe  
shcasm.exe  
shcprm.exe  
shcpep.exe  
shcgen.exe  
shcppfrt.exe  
shcfrt.exe  
shcpp.exe SH SERIES C/C++ Compiler Ver. 5.0(Release31)

Dwarf Converter (DWFCNV.exe)

Example usage:

dwfcnv.exe -browser="$(OBJDIR)\cppdtb\$(*F).dtb" -sysrof="$(OBJDIR)\$*.o" "$(OBJDIR)\$*.obj"

SHC (shc.exe)

SHC is the C compile provided for the SH processors by Hitachi.


Hitachi Libraries

Name Description
SHCNPIC.LIB Library not compatible with position-independent code for SH7600

LBR (Librarian)

The Hitachi Librarian is used for creating and modifying static library files .lib, possibly in SYSROF format.


ABS Files

ABS files are the compiled and linked form of the Sega Saturn same programs compiled with the hitachi toolchain.

The format could be SYSROF: File Header: 80 21 00 80

Seems to contain OBJ files, possibly similar to COFF or ELF in concept but a completely different format.

SYSROF object module format

Where is the spec for the SYSROF object module format?

SysRof in dreamcast

There are a few hints that sysrof and the Hitachi compiler are used for dreamcast development such as Scream Dreamcast game: Scream/Makefile at 62fbf14bb46ea9f6b7cf5a34078d7a81214cbd6e · RedRingRico/Scream

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