http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=46655
--- Comment #3 from Michael Haubenwallner <michael.haubenwallner at salomon dot at> 2010-11-25 12:30:37 UTC --- Huh - AIX-as also doesn't accept line numbers >=65536 any more since SP6100-04-07-1036 it seems, as I get an error on ".line 118674" from insn-automata.c later in bootstrap of gcc-4.5.1, after modifying gcc/xcoffout.c to emit line numbers >0 only. For reference: $ cat test.s .line 1 .line -1 # invalid: ok .line 0 # invalid: ok .line 65536 # invalid: huh? .line 65535 $ /usr/bin/as -u -mppc test.s Assembler: test.s: line 2: 1252-040 The specified expression is not valid. Make sure that all symbols are defined. Check the rules on symbols used in an arithmetic expression concerning relocation. test.s: line 3: 1252-040 The specified expression is not valid. Make sure that all symbols are defined. Check the rules on symbols used in an arithmetic expression concerning relocation. test.s: line 4: 1252-040 The specified expression is not valid. Make sure that all symbols are defined. Check the rules on symbols used in an arithmetic expression concerning relocation. While line numbers <=0 is this one gcc bug, IMO not accepting line numbers >=64k is an AIX-as bug.