Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!mgnetp!ihnp4!houxm!houxz!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!sri-unix!DBrown@HI-MULTICS.ARPA
From: DBrown@HI-MULTICS.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.lang.c
Subject: Re: Declarations and defaulting in C
Message-ID: <126@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 18-Jul-84 13:49:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.126
Posted: Wed Jul 18 13:49:00 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 21-Jul-84 03:25:45 EDT
Lines: 16

re ken almquist's comment about peoples elderly linkers:
  i get even more spoiled on multics, where all disk-resident data
structures like object files have "version numbers".
  because the designers thought of making the files self-identifying its
easy to write a "new" linker which supports two formats of file.  then
after a few releases you drop support of the oldest version and count on
the fingers of one hand the number of people who scream.  (they get told
to relink with the -update_it_by_hook_or_crook flag on).
  i've even managed to retrofit version numbers into an old program of
mine, by putting it in a field that never could have a 1 in it in the
old layout.

  as a result i can upgrade such things as old linkers to use better
algorithms, instead of the bubble-sort that the original *"$%&!!!!
author used because it was easy to code in mac...
  --dave (unix hack on a bun) brown