-R tells as to write the object file as if all
data-section data lives in the text section. This is only done at
the very last moment: your binary data are the same, but data
section parts are relocated differently. The data section part of
your object file is zero bytes long because all its bytes are
appended to the text section. (See Sections and Relocation.)
When you specify -R it would be possible to generate shorter
address displacements (because we do not have to cross between text and
data section). We refrain from doing this simply for compatibility with
older versions of as. In future, -R may work this way.
When as is configured for COFF or ELF output,
this option is only useful if you use sections named ‘.text’ and
‘.data’.
-R is not supported for any of the HPPA targets. Using
-R generates a warning from as.