how to get sheer machine code?

Dear NIOS2 Users,

My last post seems to be not in the forum anymore. That's why I post it one more time.

I would like to write code for NIOS2 processor in sheer assembler. Having the code compiled I can store it easily in my on-chip memory.

However, when I try compiling example code:

.section .reset, "ax"

.section .exceptions, "ax"

.global exception_handler

.text

.global _start

_start: /* start function */

br _start

.data

.end

instead of receiving only one jmp opcode (a few bytes) in my output file I receive around 900 bytes.

I compile my code using:

nios2-elf-as -ad %1.s -o a.out

nios2-elf-ld a.out --strip-all --strip-debug -o %1.elf -b binary

For x86 users: I would like to get the same result like using /t with tasm assembler.

Please help me solving the problem. Thank you for your help in advance,

Michał