From: Bruce Dawson <bruced AT humongous DOT com>
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: COFF Format (was Re: performance)
Date: Tue, 02 Feb 1999 23:27:07 GMT
Organization: Deja News - The Leader in Internet Discussion
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References: <199902011747 DOT SAA11228 AT acp3bf DOT physik DOT rwth-aachen DOT de> <3 DOT 0 DOT 6 DOT 32 DOT 19990202115636 DOT 00849100 AT pop DOT netaddress DOT com> <199902022104 DOT QAA08963 AT envy DOT delorie DOT com>
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To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
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Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com

In article <199902022104 DOT QAA08963 AT envy DOT delorie DOT com>,
  djgpp AT delorie DOT com wrote:
>
> > C'mon guys. COFF is as obsolete as DJGPP 1.x. It's time to move on and use
> > an executable format worthy of the new millennium, or at least of the
> > 1990s. :-)
>
> Unfortunately, switching from COFF to anything else is harder than
> you'd expect, just because of the many places where COFF is assumed.

It would also simplify a lot of things, at least if you switched to PE
format. There are literally hundreds of FREE PE format utilities, including
dozens written by Matt Pietrek for MSJ, that would open up new debugging,
error checking, profiling and other possibilities.

As one extravagant example, note that WinDbg, a decent source level
debugger with a graphical user interface, is available for free. Therefore
a switch to PE format would mean you could use a much easier to use
debugger, and you wouldn't have to port rhgdb, etc.

Presumably supporting COFF and PE simultaneously would be a hassle, but
not supporting PE is a great limitation on Win32.

Bruce Dawson - not speaking for my employers
Cavedog Entertainment http://www.cavedog.com
Creators of Total Annihilation

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