With the 1.6 release, were there changes to the GNU assembler syntax for
the VAX?  I've bumped into problems with some of the packages, the GMP
package being an example, which include VAX assembly files.  The older
files use names like r0, r1, r2, ... ap, and sp for the registers; the
assembler bundled with 1.6 wants names like %r0, %r1, %r2, ... %ap, %sp.
It's easy enough to go in and update the files, and having done so with
a few of them results in object code being generated.

Are there any other syntax changes I should keep in mind?

-brian.