Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 (Tek) 9/28/84 based on 9/17/84; site mako.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!orca!mako!jans From: jans@mako.UUCP (Jan Steinman) Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards Subject: Re: Wierd code (device independent loaders) Message-ID: <948@mako.UUCP> Date: Sun, 3-Nov-85 13:13:21 EST Article-I.D.: mako.948 Posted: Sun Nov 3 13:13:21 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 5-Nov-85 09:24:27 EST References: <2390@brl-tgr.ARPA> <6103@utzoo.UUCP> Reply-To: jans@mako.UUCP (Jan Steinman) Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR Lines: 29 Summary: In article <6103@utzoo.UUCP> henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) writes: >> An #ifdef VAX would be superfluous here. The loader is one of the more >> machine dependant parts of any system. Not only does it depend on the >> format of your relocatable files, but it depends on both the hardware >> instruction set and the memorym management system being employed... > >Actually, by using a reasonably powerful and flexible object-module format, >like the IEEE P695 proposal, it is quite possible to build a machine- >independent loader... I don't know that we use anything similar to P695, but the UTek (cleaned-up 4.2) loader accepts either VAX or NS32000 load modules without complaint. We also have a nice, WORKING distributed file system. The combination presents some interesting problems. Due to storage space problems, I usually have my source code on a VAX, and ``cd'' to it over the DFS to ``make'' on my NS32000 workstation. If, by chance, some of the modules were compiled on the VAX, (sometimes it's hard to remember what machine you're on) the NS32000 ``ld'' merrily and without question links them together with NS32000 code. If there is enough NS32000 code to do something useful (at least main()) the resultant ``illegal instruction -- core dumped'' message can be quite puzzling when the poor NS32000 sees it's first VAX instruction! -- :::::: Artificial Intelligence Machines --- Smalltalk Project :::::: :::::: Jan Steinman Box 1000, MS 61-405 (w)503/685-2956 :::::: :::::: tektronix!tekecs!jans Wilsonville, OR 97070 (h)503/657-7703 ::::::