Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!turnkey!orchard.la.locus.com!prodnet.la.locus.com!lccma.bos.locus.com!mjl From: mjl@lccma.bos.locus.com (Mike Leibensperger) Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386 Subject: Re: Why can't elves cough? Summary: ELF != ABI, but how to develop shrink-wrapped apps? Keywords: ELF, COFF, ABI, shrink-wrap Message-ID: <22682@oolong.la.locus.com> Date: 13 Mar 91 23:38:47 GMT References: <10719@scolex.sco.COM> <6765@unix386.Convergent.COM> <1991Mar13.095416.7172@kithrup.COM> Sender: news@locus.com Organization: Locus Computing Corporation --- Boston Office Lines: 35 In article <1991Mar13.095416.7172@kithrup.COM> sef@kithrup.COM (Sean Eric Fagan) writes: >While I know nothing about what SCO is going to do about ELF (really, truly, >and honestly; I don't really care, either 8-)), I would like to point out >that the two issues (ELF and the ABI) are mutually irrelevant. That is, the >ABI specifies a whole bunch of things, including the COFF file format. As a >result, if you want to conform to the ABI, you get to use COFF. True, ELF != ABI. The whole point of the ABI is to allow the development of shrink-wrapped off-the-shelf Unix software. There was a lot of brouhaha in the trade press recently about SCO, Intel, et. al. agreeing to an ABI so they can embark on a big applications push. But the truly *alarming* thing is this: If SVR4 development systems have no COFF, and if Sean's assertion that SVR4 actually uses different syscall numbers depending on linker format, then you can't use SVR4 to develop ABI conforming programs!!! What's the scam here, AT&T? This is terribly inconvenient for applications developers. I have a bad feeling that some sleazoid somewhere is going to rake in a lot of ill-gotten bucks thanks to this inconvenience. Can somebody out there fill us in on the politics of this whole situation? What is the fate of the ABI? What linker format is Intel's SVR4 going to use? SCO's? Interactive's? etc. etc. Sigh.... mjl -- Michael J. Leibensperger "None are so deeply enslaved Locus Computing Corp./Boston as those who falsely believe 25 Burlington Mall Road they are free." Burlington MA 01803, (617)229-4980 x169 -- J. W. von Goethe