---
name: "rgbds"
section: "7"
platform: "linux"
package: "rgbds"
version: "1.0.4-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/rgbds/7"
---

# rgbds(7)

Rednex Game Boy Development System

## NAME

**rgbds** – Rednex Game Boy Development System

## EXAMPLES

To get a working ROM image from a single assembly source file:

```
$ rgbasm -o game.o game.asm
$ rgblink -o game.gb game.o
$ rgbfix -v -p 0 game.gb
```

Or in a single command line, without creating an intermediate object file:

```
$ (rgbasm -o - - | rgblink -o - - | rgbfix -v -p 0) < game.asm > game.gb
```

## SEE ALSO

[rgbasm(1)](/rgbasm/1.md), [rgbasm(5)](/rgbasm/5.md), [rgblink(1)](/rgblink/1.md), [rgblink(5)](/rgblink/5.md), [rgbfix(1)](/rgbfix/1.md), [rgbgfx(1)](/rgbgfx/1.md), [gbz80(7)](/gbz80/7.md), [rgbds(5)](/rgbds/5.md)

## HISTORY

-

  1996-10-01: Carsten Sørensen (a.k.a. SurfSmurf) releases xAsm, xLink, and RGBFix, a Game Boy SM83 (GBZ80) assembler/linker system for DOS/Win32.

-

  1997-07-03: Sørensen releases ASMotor, packaging the three programs together and moving towards making them a general-purpose target-independent system.

-

  1999-08-01: Justin Lloyd (a.k.a. Otaku no Zoku) adapts ASMotor to re-focus on SM83 assembly/machine code, and releases this version as RGBDS.

-

  2009-06-11: Vegard Nossum adapts the code to be more UNIX-like and releases this version as rgbds-linux.

-

  2010-01-12: Anthony J. Bentley forks Nossum's repository. The fork becomes the reference implementation of RGBDS.

-

  2010-09-25: Sørensen continues development of *ASMotor:* **https://github.com/asmotor/asmotor** to this day.

-

  2015-01-18: stag019 begins implementing RGBGFX, a PNG-to-Game Boy graphics converter, for eventual integration into RGBDS.

-

  2016-09-05: RGBGFX is integrated into Bentley's repository.

-

  2017-02-23: Bentley's repository is moved to the *rednex:* **https://github.com/rednex/rgbds** organization.

-

  2018-01-26: The codebase is relicensed under the MIT license.

-

  2020-09-15: The repository is moved to the *gbdev:* **https://github.com/gbdev/rgbds** organization.

-

  2022-05-17: The *rgbds.gbdev.io:* **https://rgbds.gbdev.io** website for RGBDS documentation and downloads is published.

-

  2025-10-31: RGBDS reaches version 1.0.0 and starts adhering to *semantic* *versioning:* **https://semver.org/** ("semver").