Mail Archives: djgpp/1999/02/28/08:45:18
On Sun, 28 Feb 1999, Paul Derbyshire wrote:
> 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.
A noble goal, but IMHO an impossible one. Unless we want to suffer the
kind of code bloat that comes with Windows, that is.
The FAQ explains which parts of DJGPP depend on the binary format. I
hope it is clear from that explanation that the enumerated parts are
independent from each other, or cannot be easily localized.
For example, the requirement to port additional parts of Binutils (those
which deal with other binary formats) is clearly something that is
independent of the DJGPP core. Without Binutils, we cannot have a
linker, a profiler, a debugger, etc.
As another example, the COFF loader inside the stub is optimized for size
and is therefore very hard to understand and maintain. You don't want
any such code in any other place where COFF images are loaded, like in
the debugger support functions.
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