Return to BSD News archive
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!uunet!in3.uu.net!192.20.239.134!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!ssbunews.ih.lucent.com!news
From: Peter Mutsaers <plm@lucent.com>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: ELF?
Date: 28 Apr 1997 11:54:06 +0200
Organization: Lucent Technologies, Indian Hill
Lines: 35
Sender: plm@hzsbc259.nl.lucent.com
Message-ID: <y7z3esb5v7l.fsf@hzsbc259.nl.lucent.com>
References: <cmott-2004971630470001@192.168.0.5> <5jooj9$9c8@uriah.heep.sax.de> <33609855.6725@desy.de> <29577CEB029DEE7D.15EB282B5ACE579C.9F4A01791A26A597@library-proxy.airnews.net> <3363BCCC.3DF5@desy.de> <87hggsm9d8.fsf@altair.franken.de>
NNTP-Posting-Host: hzsbc259.nl.lucent.com
X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.4.46/Emacs 19.34
Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:39858
>> On 27 Apr 1997 23:41:38 +0200, Matthias Buelow
>> <token@altair.franken.de> said:
MB> Olaf Manczak <Olaf.Manczak@desy.de> writes:
>> PS: I still haven't heard any answer to the question when the ELF
>> format is going to become default one in FreeBSD...
MB> I hope this won't be an issue in the next time. One of the
MB> things that really annoyed me about Linux was the utter chaos
MB> when switching from the weak Linux-a.out format to the Evil
MB> Linkage Format. I don't want to experience the same thing
I was a Linux user at the time of the switch from a.out to ELF, and
I've never understood the fuzz about it. The transition was smooth and
easy, and I don't see the problem when BSD would switch.
MB> with FreeBSD again. FreeBSD's qmagic is good, it is much
MB> better than Linux a.out so there's not really a need for going
MB> ELF. If the C++ compiler is so broken to not being able to
MB> support the current linkage format, it's imho better to fix
MB> the compiler rather than crying for another linkage format
MB> (Well, imho C++ is broken anyway, so who cares).
Well, if there's really no reason to switch, then don't.
But I wonder: was Olaf Manczak right that the current format doesn't
allow for constructors/destructors to be called in dynamically loaded
libraries? If that is true then indeed he has a very good point that
speaks for switching to ELF ASAP.
Since 3.0 is a new major release anyway, it would be a good time.
--
Peter Mutsaers Lucent Technologies, Network Systems
plm@lucent.com Huizen, the Netherlands