diff --git a/gas/config-gas.com b/gas/config-gas.com
index 7ad1a0a98fd..56e5be23489 100644
--- a/gas/config-gas.com
+++ b/gas/config-gas.com
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ $! files for a VMS system.  We do not use the configure script, since we
 $! do not have /bin/sh to execute it.
 $!
 $! If you are running this file, then obviously the host is vax-dec-vms.
+$! [That's no longer obvious, but there's not much we can do about alpha yet.]
 $!
 $gas_host="vms"
 $!
@@ -12,8 +13,8 @@ $emulation="generic"
 $obj_format="vms"
 $atof="vax"
 $!
-$! host specific information
-$call link host.h	[.config]ho-'gas_host'.h
+$	DELETE	= "delete/noConfirm"
+$	ECHO	= "write sys$output"
 $!
 $! Target specific information
 $call link targ-cpu.c	[.config]tc-'cpu_type'.c
@@ -28,34 +29,42 @@ $! Code to handle floating point.
 $call link atof-targ.c	[.config]atof-'atof'.c
 $!
 $!
-$! Create the file version.opt, which helps identify the executalbe.
+$! Create the file version.opt, which helps identify the executable.
 $!
-$search Makefile.in "VERSION="/match=and/output=t.tmp
-$open ifile$ t.tmp
+$if f$trnlnm("IFILE$").nes."" then  close/noLog ifile$
+$search Makefile.in "VERSION="/Exact/Output=config-gas-tmp.tmp
+$open ifile$ config-gas-tmp.tmp
 $read ifile$ line
 $close ifile$
-$delete/nolog t.tmp;*
+$DELETE config-gas-tmp.tmp;*
 $! Discard "VERSION=" and "\n" parts.
 $ijk=f$locate("=",line)+1
 $line=f$extract(ijk,f$length(line)-ijk,line)
+$! [what "\n" part??  this seems to be useless, but is benign]
 $ijk=f$locate("\n",line)
 $line=f$extract(0,ijk,line)
 $!
-$ if f$search("version.opt").nes."" then delete/noconfirm version.opt;*
-$open ifile$ version.opt/write
-$write ifile$ "ident="+""""+line+""""
+$ if f$search("version.opt").nes."" then DELETE version.opt;*
+$copy _NL: version.opt
+$open/Append ifile$ version.opt
+$write ifile$ "identification="+""""+line+""""
 $close ifile$
 $! Now write config.h.
-$ if f$search("config.h").nes."" then delete/noconfirm config.h;*
-$open ifile$ config.h/write
-$write ifile$ "#define TARGET_CPU       """,cpu_type,"""
-$write ifile$ "#define TARGET_ALIAS     ""vms"""
-$write ifile$ "#define TARGET_CANONICAL ""vax-dec-vms"""
+$ if f$search("config.h").nes."" then DELETE config.h;*
+$copy _NL: config.h
+$open/Append ifile$ config.h
+$write ifile$ "/* config.h.  Generated by config-gas.com. */
+$write ifile$ "#ifndef GAS_VERSION"
 $write ifile$ "#define GAS_VERSION      """,line,""""
+$write ifile$ "#endif"
+$write ifile$ "/*--*/"
+$append [.config]vms-conf.h ifile$:
 $close ifile$
+$ECHO "Created config.h."
 $!
-$ if f$search("config.status") .nes. "" then delete config.status.*
-$ open/write file config.status
+$ if f$search("config.status") .nes. "" then DELETE config.status;*
+$ copy _NL: config.status
+$ open/Append file config.status
 $ write file "Links are now set up for use with a vax running VMS."
 $ close file
 $ type config.status
@@ -64,7 +73,7 @@ $!
 $!
 $link:
 $subroutine
-$if f$search(p1).nes."" then delete/nolog 'p1';
-$copy 'p2' 'p1'
-$write sys$output "Linked ''p2' to ''p1'."
+$  if f$search(p1).nes."" then DELETE 'p1';*
+$  copy 'p2' 'p1'
+$  ECHO "Copied ''f$edit(p2,"LOWERCASE")' to ''f$edit(p1,"LOWERCASE")'."
 $endsubroutine
diff --git a/gas/config/vms-conf.h b/gas/config/vms-conf.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..31c587abc69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gas/config/vms-conf.h
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+/* vms-conf.h.  Generated manually from conf.in,
+   and used by config-gas.com when constructing config.h.  */
+
+/* Define if using alloca.c.  */
+#ifdef __GNUC__
+#undef C_ALLOCA
+#else
+#define C_ALLOCA
+#endif
+
+/* Define to one of _getb67, GETB67, getb67 for Cray-2 and Cray-YMP systems.
+   This function is required for alloca.c support on those systems.  */
+#undef CRAY_STACKSEG_END
+
+/* Define if you have <alloca.h> and it should be used (not on Ultrix).  */
+#undef HAVE_ALLOCA_H
+
+/* Define as __inline if that's what the C compiler calls it.  */
+#ifdef __GNUC__
+#undef inline
+#else
+#define inline
+#endif
+
+/* If using the C implementation of alloca, define if you know the
+   direction of stack growth for your system; otherwise it will be
+   automatically deduced at run-time.
+	STACK_DIRECTION > 0 => grows toward higher addresses
+	STACK_DIRECTION < 0 => grows toward lower addresses
+	STACK_DIRECTION = 0 => direction of growth unknown
+ */
+#define STACK_DIRECTION (-1)
+
+/* Should gas use high-level BFD interfaces?  */
+#undef BFD_ASSEMBLER
+
+/* Some assert/preprocessor combinations are incapable of handling
+   certain kinds of constructs in the argument of assert.  For example,
+   quoted strings (if requoting isn't done right) or newlines.  */
+#ifdef __GNUC__
+#undef BROKEN_ASSERT
+#else
+#define BROKEN_ASSERT
+#endif
+
+/* If we aren't doing cross-assembling, some operations can be optimized,
+   since byte orders and value sizes don't need to be adjusted.  */
+#undef CROSS_COMPILE
+
+/* Some IBM compilers can't handle some of the (rather basic) constructs
+   used in the 68k support code.  */
+#undef IBM_COMPILER_SUX
+
+/* Some gas code wants to know these parameters.  */
+#define TARGET_ALIAS	"vms"
+#define TARGET_CPU	"vax"
+#define TARGET_CANONICAL	"vax-dec-vms"
+#define TARGET_OS	"vms"
+#define TARGET_VENDOR	"dec"
+
+/* Some operating systems, for example DOS, require the use of "wb" mode when
+   opening a binary file for writing.  If only "w" is used, the file will not
+   be correct.  However, some other systems reject such a mode.  This indicates
+   which ../include/fopen-*.h header file we want to include, so that we can
+   get macros that'll do the right thing for this system.  */
+#undef WANT_FOPEN_BIN
+
+/* Sometimes the system header files don't declare malloc and realloc.  */
+#undef NEED_DECLARATION_MALLOC
+
+/* Sometimes the system header files don't declare free.  */
+#undef NEED_DECLARATION_FREE
+
+/* Sometimes errno.h doesn't declare errno itself.  */
+#undef NEED_DECLARATION_ERRNO
+
+#undef MANY_SEGMENTS
+
+/* Needed only for sparc configuration */
+#undef sparcv9
+
+/* Define if you have the delete function.  */
+#define HAVE_DELETE
+
+/* Define if you have the unlink function.  */
+#undef HAVE_UNLINK
+
+/* Define if you have the <errno.h> header file.  */
+#define HAVE_ERRNO_H
+
+/* Define if you have the <memory.h> header file.  */
+#undef HAVE_MEMORY_H
+
+/* Define if you have the <stdarg.h> header file.  */
+#define HAVE_STDARG_H
+
+/* Define if you have the <stdlib.h> header file.  */
+#define HAVE_STDLIB_H
+
+/* Define if you have the <string.h> header file.  */
+#define HAVE_STRING_H
+
+/* Define if you have the <strings.h> header file.  */
+#undef HAVE_STRINGS_H
+
+/* Define if you have the <sys/types.h> header file.  */
+#ifdef __GNUC__
+#define HAVE_SYS_TYPES_H
+#else
+#undef HAVE_SYS_TYPES_H
+#endif
+
+/* Define if you have the <unistd.h> header file.  */
+#undef HAVE_UNISTD_H
+
+/* Define if you have the <varargs.h> header file.  */
+#undef HAVE_VARARGS_H
+
+/* VMS-specific:  we need to set up EXIT_xxx here because the default
+   values in as.h are inappropriate for VMS, but we also want to prevent
+   as.h's inclusion of <stdlib.h> from triggering redefinition warnings.
+   <stdlib.h> guards itself against multiple inclusion, so including it
+   here turns as.h's later #include into a no-op.  (We can't simply use
+   #ifndef HAVE_STDLIB_H here, because the <stdlib.h> in several older
+   gcc-vms distributions neglects to define these two required macros.)  */
+#ifdef HAVE_STDLIB_H
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#undef EXIT_SUCCESS
+#undef EXIT_FAILURE
+#endif
+#define EXIT_SUCCESS 1			/* SS$_NORMAL, STS$K_SUCCESS */
+#define EXIT_FAILURE 0x10000002		/* (STS$K_ERROR | STS$M_INHIB_MSG) */