Date:	Sat, 03 Dec 1994 21:06:33 -0500 (CDT)
From:	Aaron Ucko <UCKO AT VAX1 DOT ROCKHURST DOT EDU>
Subject:	Re: object file format change?
To:	jdp AT polstra DOT com
Cc:	djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu
Organization:	Rockhurst College; Kansas City, MO

>> What do people think about changing the object file format from COFF to
>> ELF for V2.0?  We would be able to make all the configurations 100%
>> compatible with Linux to make things a lot easier, and get better
>> debugging and linking support too.
>
>You probably already know this, but just in case you don't:  If you
>switch to ELF, be sure to configure the compiler for "--with-stabs".
>Otherwise, you'll get the DWARF debugging format by default.  It's not
>supported by g++.  Configuring for the "stabs" format will allow
>debugging of both C and C++ programs, using gdb.
I assume that's what Linux uses, then?  [I've only had it for about a
week...]
>
>Other than that, ELF sounds OK to me.  It's a pretty versatile object
>format, much more so than COFF.
So why wasn't it used ab initio?

--- Aaron Ucko (ucko AT vax1 DOT rockhurst DOT edu; finger for PGP public key) -=- httyp!
-=*=-Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.-=*=-
Geek code 2.1 [finger hayden AT vax1 DOT mankato DOT msus DOT edu for explanation]: 
 GCS/M/S d(-) H s g+ p? !au a-- w+ v+ C++(+++)>++++ U-(S+)>++++ P+ L>++ 3(-) 
 E-(----) !N>++ K- W(--) M-(--) V(--) po-(--) Y+(++) t(+) !5 j R G tv--(-) 
 b+++ !D(--) B--(---) e>++++(*) u++(@) h!() f(+) r-(--)>+++ n+(-) y?

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