"Charles Banas" <greywolf@greyfade.net> wrote in message news:oprn5ilrrt8ctebf@news.digitalmars.com...
> On Thu, 24 Apr 2003 11:10:18 -0700, Walter <walter@digitalmars.com> wrote:
> > GCC is pretty slow. One big problem with putting DMC on linux is it
would
> > need to be binary compatible with the way GCC does things. There's a lot
> > of
> > undocumented stuff there.
> i would have to disagree.  all of the source code is there to look at, the
> ABI GCC uses is compatible with the Intel compiler ABI on linux, and linux
> is a mature and well-documented platform.
> i really don't see why you're saying there's a lot that's undocumented.

If you could point me to a url which describes the format of the stabs section in the ELF file for 386 linux, I'd appreciated it. Also, a url to the format of the exception handling tables. I've spent hours with google looking, and I find hints, but nothing definitive. I have several ELF "specs", none of which describe even half the sections I find in the map file generated by ld.

Examining the source code isn't really documentation, unless there's a document embedded in the comments.

It's not that it's impossible to figure this stuff out, it's just time consuming. I've been through the mill before on the PC with undocumented formats.

Walter wrote:
> GCC is pretty slow. One big problem with putting DMC on linux is it would need to be binary compatible with the way GCC does things. There's a lot of undocumented stuff there.


There is a multi-vendor ABI standard that GCC, ICC and HP follows thats available.  A general overview is here:

http://www.codesourcery.com/publications_folder/a_common_vendor_abi_for_cplusplus

Complete docs here:

http://www.codesourcery.com/cxx-abi/

"Garen Parham" <nospam@garen.net> wrote in message news:b8a5vn$2ltp$1@digitaldaemon.com...
> There is a multi-vendor ABI standard that GCC, ICC and HP follows thats available.  A general overview is here:
>
>
http://www.codesourcery.com/publications_folder/a_common_vendor_abi_for_cplu splus

Thanks, but it's in postscript. Any way to view ps in a browser?

> Complete docs here:
>
> http://www.codesourcery.com/cxx-abi/

That's a spec for the 64 bit Itanium. I need it for the 32 bit x86 processors.

Never mind, I found a ps viewer.

FWIW, i'm no expert on compilers.  i'm more a casual user of compilers for OS development. :)

of course, once i get an OS going, i'll need to port GCC....  that'll be fun.

see below:

On Thu, 24 Apr 2003 19:08:36 -0700, Walter <walter@digitalmars.com> wrote:

>
> "Charles Banas" <greywolf@greyfade.net> wrote in message
> news:oprn5ilrrt8ctebf@news.digitalmars.com...
>> i would have to disagree.  all of the source code is there to look at, the
>> ABI GCC uses is compatible with the Intel compiler ABI on linux, and linux
>> is a mature and well-documented platform.
>> i really don't see why you're saying there's a lot that's undocumented.
>
> If you could point me to a url which describes the format of the stabs
> section in the ELF file for 386 linux, I'd appreciated it. Also, a url to
> the format of the exception handling tables. I've spent hours with google
> looking, and I find hints, but nothing definitive. I have several ELF
> "specs", none of which describe even half the sections I find in the map
> file generated by ld.
>
it looks like ./gcc/except.c shows how GCC generates the EH tables, and what their form is.  a few nested structures and a couple unions....  maybe you can just "steal" the code.  of course, that would require a GNU license on the linux port, but you know.

> Examining the source code isn't really documentation, unless there's a
> document embedded in the comments.
>
as i've said before, i'm not an expert when it comes to compilers, but at first glance, ./gcc/stab.def seems to contain a lot of well-commented information on the STABS section.  (it is also referenced by gstab.h.)  so, logically, anything that references gstab.h probably contains some useful code and comments.

again, i'm not an expert.

> It's not that it's impossible to figure this stuff out, it's just time
> consuming. I've been through the mill before on the PC with undocumented
> formats.
>
oh, i understand that.  of course, about 75% or more of windows in general seems to be extremely well undocumented.  sometimes, i'm rather amazed at how many things there are.  hence some of the many problems i've had writing OS kernel code in windows.  i'm seriously considering moving away from the win32-cygwin platform to a linux or BSD environment just for my OS development work.

of course, i'm pretty much a beginner with this, but i've learned a lot of things. :)  (some which, of course, may be wrong.)

after a couple quick google glances, i see what you mean by finding just clues.  but the clues were enough for me to find possibly useful information.  (i stress _possibly_.)

i hope i gave what you asked for.  smack me around with a large blunt object if i didn't.

-- 
Charles "grey wolf" Banas

Walter wrote:


> 
> That's a spec for the 64 bit Itanium. I need it for the 32 bit x86 processors.
> 

IIRC it was originally targeted for Itanium/funded by Intel&HP, but it's now used for all arch's.  Checkout the ACCU overview link.

Walter wrote:
> Never mind, I found a ps viewer.
> 
> 

If you didn't know, Ghostscript has a nifty little ps2pdf script. (I use the cygwin version in conjunction with Adobe's PS printer driver to create PDFs all the time)

"Andy Friesen" <andy@ikagames.com> wrote in message news:b8aie2$2u14$1@digitaldaemon.com...
> Walter wrote:
> > Never mind, I found a ps viewer.
> If you didn't know, Ghostscript has a nifty little ps2pdf script. (I use the cygwin version in conjunction with Adobe's PS printer driver to create PDFs all the time)

I frankly don't understand why anyone uses ps to publish on the web. What's the matter with html? Can't get the font just so? Who cares? PS is a nuisance, and the viewer is what, 20 megabytes? Argh.

On top of that, in 20 years, who's going to be able to read those files?

"Garen Parham" <nospam@garen.net> wrote in message news:b8ahum$2tqv$1@digitaldaemon.com...
> Walter wrote:
>
>
> >
> > That's a spec for the 64 bit Itanium. I need it for the 32 bit x86 processors.
> >
>
> IIRC it was originally targeted for Itanium/funded by Intel&HP, but it's
now
> used for all arch's.  Checkout the ACCU overview link.

You're right.

On Fri, 25 Apr 2003 00:10:58 -0700, Walter <walter@digitalmars.com> wrote:

>
> "Andy Friesen" <andy@ikagames.com> wrote in message
> news:b8aie2$2u14$1@digitaldaemon.com...
>> Walter wrote:
>> > Never mind, I found a ps viewer.
>> If you didn't know, Ghostscript has a nifty little ps2pdf script. (I use
>> the cygwin version in conjunction with Adobe's PS printer driver to
>> create PDFs all the time)
>
> I frankly don't understand why anyone uses ps to publish on the web. What's
> the matter with html? Can't get the font just so? Who cares? PS is a
> nuisance, and the viewer is what, 20 megabytes? Argh.
>
> On top of that, in 20 years, who's going to be able to read those files?
>
>
printers.  plotters.  a few other things.

PostScript is the standard format that is used to send text and graphics to most printers.  i believe it's still used today.

and, since it's so darned common, Unix developers decided to use it as the main format for formatted text.  (although many use TeX and some derivative of SGML instead.)

but it's nice because it not only acts as an editable semi-permanent document, but it also encapsulates everything that a document may contain - charts, images, etc.

it's basically the open-source PDF.

i think in 20 years, there may still be a PostScript derivative in fairly wide usage.

-- 
Charles "grey wolf" Banas