Message-ID: <1032@hou5e.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 15-Nov-84 16:53:41 EST
Article-I.D.: hou5e.1032
Posted: Thu Nov 15 16:53:41 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 16-Nov-84 06:54:36 EST
Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ
Lines: 46

[...]

Can anyone out there help me with the following situation?

Mission Impossible:
	Machine A is 68000-based, running on a non-standard OS (i.e.,
	not publicly available).
	Machine B is either an IBM-PC or an AT&T 6300. 
	Program X is compiled in C to run on both A and B.  Obviously,
	different compilers are being used.
	A data area created by X will be copied byte-by-byte from A to B.
	Because of the differences in the way compilers arrange data
	variables, it is unlikey that X on B will be able to use the data
	area correctly without some sort of conversion, even though X
	uses identical structures on A and B.

Concerns:
Some of the conversion problems I foresee are-
	- length compatibality for data types (char and short, sighned and
		unsigned are used almost exclusively)
	- alignment and consequent padding (for individual items and
		structures, especially unions)		
	- byte ordering
	- embedded pointers (pointing to within the data area)


The conversion program will run on B when it receives the data area from
A.  This program can have access to both A's and B's symbol tables as
well as the source structure definitions.  

Help requested:
	Is this possible????
	Does such, or similar, program exist - even if for different machines?
	Are there C compilers for IBM-PC that give me control of alignment?
	Have I missed worrying about some conversion detail?
	Any help at all to guide me in my folly.
	Don't ask me why I want to do this. (I won't do it if I can't.)

Thanks for any responses.  Send mail please.

				Irwin Walkenfeld
				AT&T Information Systems
				Holmdel, NJ 07733

				....!hou5e!ihw