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Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 15:26:46 +0000 (GMT)
From: "A. Wik" <djgpp-l AT aw DOT gs>
To: djgpp-workers AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: DJGPP ELF (fwd)
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On Wed, 10 May 2006, DJ Delorie wrote:

> 
> The thought of ELF-based DOS programs brings the obvious goal to mind
> - use the Linux kernel API to talk to the "extender".

One of my uncountable unfinished projects is a cross-
platform interface to x86 Unix system calls, implemented in
assembly language (possibly generated automatically) and
callable from C-programs.  Kernel ABIs are generally a lot
more stable and less detailed in their incompatibilities than
the C libraries are.  Besides, once portability at the low
level is taken care of, all the layers built on top of it
automatically benefit.

FreeBSD and NetBSD provide some great examples: with the
appropriate functionality compiled into the kernel, they
will run most Linux programs, including (and perhaps
most importantly) the the native Linux shared libraries.

> You'd still need a stub for dos programs, at least for bash.exe.

The stub might of course be a TSR, device driver, or
kernel module, perhaps capable of detecting the API
requirements of the executable being loaded - a trade-
off between modularity and the freedom from external
dependencies...

-aw