-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Alan Cox wrote: [...] > Not sure there is a spec per se but the ELKS system originally used minix > format binaries (indeed I've used minix binaries on it). The later binary > format fixes the minix 8086 design flaw where it puts the stack above the > data. Instead ELKS puts the stack at the bottom of the data in a space > size set at compile time. This allows brk() to work properly and avoids > the chmem mess Minix has. According to the ACK source, Minix uses PC/IX a.out files! I never even knew the standard had a name. Minix i86 appears to use CPU 4, which matches the ELKS a.out.h file. Is there any way to distinguish between a Minix binary and an ELKS binary? (Interestingly, putting the stack at the *bottom* of the data is exactly what I did with the CP/M platform. In my case it was to make it easier for brk() to tell where the end of the program area was. Strictly it shouldn't be necessary for any platform to have a defined position for the stack; parameters can be passed to the executable via registers, and then setting up the stack can be a pure user-mode thing. I don't know if anyone actually does this, though.) [...] > If nobody ever did that fix to Minix it might be more useful to teach > minix how to handle sane binary layouts and real memory allocation than > ELKS hacking 8) Can't comment on binary formats, but apparently someone is working on a real VM for Minix 3, which should allow brk() to be actually useful. I'm hoping that I can wait until then before porting the ACK's new build system... - -- ┌── ｄｇ＠ｃｏｗｌａｒｋ．ｃｏｍ ─── http://www.cowlark.com ─────────────────── │ "Parents let children ride bicycles on the street. But parents do not │ allow children to hear vulgar words. Therefore we can deduce that cursing │ is more dangerous than being hit by a car." --- Scott Adams -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFGPgyzf9E0noFvlzgRAhFCAKC6g/9TRkTvt8/Ed7a08LOyb7WbWACfetkH wwapxf263425OWTpkevHxO8= =pLwQ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-8086" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
