Sender:	bill AT taniwha DOT tssc DOT co DOT nz
Message-ID:	<35653DED.28DBED77@taniwha.tssc.co.nz>
Date:	Fri, 22 May 1998 20:57:18 +1200
From:	Bill Currie <bill AT taniwha DOT tssc DOT co DOT nz>
MIME-Version:	1.0
To:	DJ Delorie <dj AT delorie DOT com>
CC:	andrewc AT rosemail DOT rose DOT hp DOT com, djgpp-workers AT delorie DOT com
Subject:	Re: underscores: a.out vs coff vs elf vs gcc vs as vs ld
References:	<199805212329 DOT TAA22346 AT delorie DOT com>

DJ Delorie wrote:
> If we do go through the hell of converting object formats again, we're
> dumping the underscores.  It will be slightly worse during the
> conversion, but it will be better in the long run, especially if we
> can be 100% compatible with Linux's ELF format.

A little pain now saving a lot later?  Makes sense to me, I only
questioned the need to comply with ELF's underscore rule in my message
in c.o.m.d.  Anyway, we can always supply a program that converts
assembly source from 'coff-go32' to 'elf32-i386' (ie goes through the
source removing the leading undersore from global symbols) to help
people (much like dtou and utod).

Once I get ld working for `hppa1.1-stratus-sysv4' (got gcc working for
both that target and 'i860-stratus-sysv4' (big endian i860, that was
fun:/ )) I should know enough about ELF to get a loader going.  I think
I'll have gotten over my obsession with porting GNU stuff to the Stratus
systems:).

As to debuging support (symbols, not loading), is using libgdb a good or
a bad idea?  Seems to me it would be good from an implementation POV,
but what about licencing?

Hmm, back to the underscores issure...if we go to elf and drop the
things, will that cause some of these gcc-as cross configuration
problems to go away?  Just for that ELF could be worth it.

Bill
-- 
Leave others their otherness.

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