Date: Sun, 28 Feb 1999 09:54:05 -0500
Message-Id: <199902281454.JAA06527@envy.delorie.com>
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From: DJ Delorie <dj AT delorie DOT com>
To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
In-reply-to: <3.0.6.32.19990228081826.008acda0@pop.globalserve.net> (message
	from Paul Derbyshire on Sun, 28 Feb 1999 08:18:26 -0500)
Subject: Re: I just wanted to assemble this old program under NASM....
References: <7b45n4$ana$1 AT nnrp1 DOT dejanews DOT com> <3 DOT 0 DOT 6 DOT 32 DOT 19990228081826 DOT 008acda0 AT pop DOT globalserve DOT net>
Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com


> IMO, DJGPP development should proceed with an eye to making it less
> dependent on COFF immediately, so that in the event of a change it can be
> implemented swiftly and easily. Phase out the COFFisms and replace with
> code that is format-independent, localizing any format dependent stuff in
> one place where it is easily changed systematically.

Did you read the FAQ?  Section 22.21 has a list of all the places that
need to know about the file format.  We can't just make them format
independent because these are the parts that the format-independent
parts rely on.

Switching to ELF would basically mean a whole new djgpp that isn't at
all compatible with the old djgpp.  It may also mean losing rsx, which
may depend on COFF format (Wind32 uses PE, which is a COFF variant)

Any problems you have with COFF are likely to be fixed by way of PE
support, and merely need to be merged into the djgpp support in
binutils.  That's a much smaller project than switching to ELF.