+@node MIPS symbol sizes
+@section Directives to override the size of symbols
+
+@cindex @code{.set sym32}
+@cindex @code{.set nosym32}
+The n64 ABI allows symbols to have any 64-bit value. Although this
+provides a great deal of flexibility, it means that some macros have
+much longer expansions than their 32-bit counterparts. For example,
+the non-PIC expansion of @samp{dla $4,sym} is usually:
+
+@smallexample
+lui $4,%highest(sym)
+lui $1,%hi(sym)
+daddiu $4,$4,%higher(sym)
+daddiu $1,$1,%lo(sym)
+dsll32 $4,$4,0
+daddu $4,$4,$1
+@end smallexample
+
+whereas the 32-bit expansion is simply:
+
+@smallexample
+lui $4,%hi(sym)
+daddiu $4,$4,%lo(sym)
+@end smallexample
+
+n64 code is sometimes constructed in such a way that all symbolic
+constants are known to have 32-bit values, and in such cases, it's
+preferable to use the 32-bit expansion instead of the 64-bit
+expansion.
+
+You can use the @code{.set sym32} directive to tell the assembler
+that, from this point on, all expressions of the form
+@samp{@var{symbol}} or @samp{@var{symbol} + @var{offset}}
+have 32-bit values. For example:
+
+@smallexample
+.set sym32
+dla $4,sym
+lw $4,sym+16
+sw $4,sym+0x8000($4)
+@end smallexample
+
+will cause the assembler to treat @samp{sym}, @code{sym+16} and
+@code{sym+0x8000} as 32-bit values. The handling of non-symbolic
+addresses is not affected.
+
+The directive @code{.set nosym32} ends a @code{.set sym32} block and
+reverts to the normal behavior. It is also possible to change the
+symbol size using the command-line options @option{-msym32} and
+@option{-mno-sym32}.
+
+These options and directives are always accepted, but at present,
+they have no effect for anything other than n64.
+