"a.out"

["Karl M. Hegbloom" <karlheg@bittersweet.or.us>]

>>>>> "Bill" == Bill Hogan <bhogan@rahul.net> writes:

    Bill>    This morning I read something that made me realize I have
    Bill> been using the term "a.out" where I should have been using
    Bill> the term "COFF".

    Bill>    According to "The Magic Garden Explained" [GoodHeart and
    Bill> Cox, Prentice-Hall, 1994] the terms "Extensible Library
    Bill> Format" (ELF) and "Common Object Format" ("COFF") are
    Bill> different ways of _organizing_ the information in a.out
    Bill> files.

    Bill> 	pre-SVR4 => COFF (ELF did not exist?)

    Bill> 	SVR4+ => ELF is default but COFF still supported

    Bill>    I still have the impression that "executable binary" is
    Bill> an acceptable substitute for "a.out" when the context is
    Bill> clear.


    Bill>    Bill

    

 I noticed that when I compiled an example program without giving the
'-o' option to the compiler, it generated a file called a.out, and
when I did 'chmod +x a.out ; a.out' the program ran.  I didn't try the
'file' command on it to divine its magic...  I should try that and
see; -- bet it's ELF because gcc 2.7.2 generates ELF by default.

 What's QMAGIC mean?

 There must be a historical reason for the name a.out.  I wonder what
it is?  Who can we ask?
--

 I will look into that book.  Do you happen to have a bibliography
handy?  I will begin one.  Hmmm...  Should I use BIBTeX (whatever that
is...) or Hyperbole's Koutliner?

karlheg@teleport.com