Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!ames!vsi1!wyse!mips!mash From: mash@mips.COM (John Mashey) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: Object Translator (was Re: Regi Message-ID: <19484@winchester.mips.COM> Date: 12 May 89 03:53:51 GMT References: <19162@winchester.mips.COM> <3300066@m.cs.uiuc.edu> Reply-To: mash@mips.COM (John Mashey) Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Sunnyvale, CA Lines: 26 In article <3300066@m.cs.uiuc.edu> wsmith@m.cs.uiuc.edu writes: (notes on object translation). >The instant you have binaries that look like they should work and they >fail in possibly subtle ways, chaos is likely to ensue quickly for the >system administrator or software developers trying to port to these >systems. Before you worry about making it super-fast, you have to >guarantee that it will run correctly. If one wants to do this [remember, I was explaining what I thought Hennessy was talking about, originally, not what MIPSco necessarily had in mind], one does things like assign magic numbers appropriately to object files, to prevent wrongful execution. Also, really, some of this stuff, if proper things are done in executables, is no more complicated than some things that people do, like: dynamically-linked libraries what debuggers have to do when mucking around in an object having multiple versions of FP-handling code for different FP units [thank goodness this is rapidly going the way of the dodo in microprocessor-land, what with: MIPS, SPARC, 88K, 80486, and 68040 all having 1 form of FP instructions apiece.] -- -john mashey DISCLAIMER: UUCP: {ames,decwrl,prls,pyramid}!mips!mash OR mash@mips.com DDD: 408-991-0253 or 408-720-1700, x253 USPS: MIPS Computer Systems, 930 E. Arques, Sunnyvale, CA 94086