From:	kagel AT quasar DOT bloomberg DOT com
Date:	Wed, 15 May 1996 11:29:08 -0400
Message-Id:	<9605151529.AA03628@quasar.bloomberg.com >
To:	bill_currie AT MAIL DOT TAIT DOT CO DOT NZ
Cc:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
In-Reply-To:	<s199a75e.017@MAIL.TAIT.CO.NZ> (message from Bill Currie on Wed, 15 May 1996 09:43:05 +1200)
Subject:	Re: ELF wanted
Reply-To:	kagel AT dg1 DOT bloomberg DOT com

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   Date: Wed, 15 May 1996 09:43:05 +1200
   From: Bill Currie <bill_currie AT MAIL DOT TAIT DOT CO DOT NZ>
   Content-Type: text
   Content-Length: 1464

   On 15/5/96  2:42 am, Martynas Kunigelis <martynas DOT kunigelis AT vm DOT ktu DOT lt> did thus
   say >>>
   >   Well, now that we have complete ELF documentation, someone (e.g. me) could
   > start moving DJGPP to it. But here again arises the rethorical question: IS
   > IT WORTH IT? With ELF, we could use more Linux binary tools etc., and
   > have the DLL implementation made easier. But what about Win32? AFAIK Win32
   > uses COFF, and, as Malcolm said, if someone writes Win32 support (will anyone?
   > ?????), we could use the advantages of Win32 COFF-based DLL engine. So the
   > point is: either we (?) start making the Win32 support or begin adopting
   > DJGPP for ELF. But wait, could it be that both ways were possible? I mean
   > having Win32 support with ELF? Or, perhaps, move Win32 to ELF ;-) ?? Bill?
   > Malcolm? What do you think? Is adding Win32 support *very* complicated? Or are
   > header files and that kinda stuff the only problem? Is a different linker
   > reqired or just a different stub loader?
   > 
   > Enough for now, it's WAY too hot in Lithuania right now...    :)
   > 
   > Martynas

   Well, Eric Nicolas and I are working on a coff based dll system for djgpp, so
   moving to ELF will not be neccesary for that purpose.  However, improved debug
   support would be nice.

   Is it possible to convert between the two formats (maybe losing debug info)?  If
   it is then it doesn't really matter if djgpp goes to ELF or not, as any linkers
   for win32 can take the object files back to coff.

Yes it is possible.  GNU "C" is the standard compiler on DG/UX which is an ELF
system but it supports COFF also.  The compiler generates COFF format debugging
information by default and optionally a converter, named ctl (COFF-TO-LEGEND),
converts the debugging information into the ELF "legend" debugging format.  So
this is possible.

-- 
Art S. Kagel, kagel AT quasar DOT bloomberg DOT com

A proverb is no proverb to you 'till life has illustrated it.  -- John Keats

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