Message-Id: <s199a75e.017@MAIL.TAIT.CO.NZ>
Date: Wed, 15 May 1996 09:43:05 +1200
From: Bill Currie <bill_currie AT MAIL DOT TAIT DOT CO DOT NZ>
To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject:  Re: ELF wanted

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.

Bill