- bits 32
- extern _start
+; when our kernel source has functions before _start and we blindly transfer control to the beginning
+; of the kernel binary, it will wrongly execute the other functions
+; the solution is to link a small assembly routine (this) which executes a known label within the kernel
+; so that this routine comes before the kernel in the resulting binary
+; we cannot link the boot sector code and the kernel because the former needs to be a raw binary, while the
+; kernel is compiled into an ELF object file which contains some metadata on the kernel code
- call _start
- jmp $
+ bits 32 ; this is started in protected mode
+ extern _start ; the known label in the kernel source we will execute is, well, not in this assembly routine
+
+ call _start ; call the known label
+ jmp $ ; it should never return, but hang forever if it does