Object file formats, compilers and linkers

[Bo Thorsen]

On Wed, 10 Jan 2001, JB wrote:

> Hi GCC people,
> 
> I'm interested in how a compiler writes a relocatable object file, and
> how a linker messes with these to produce an executable file.
> 
> Is there some kind of easy to read (i.e. plain English) documentation
> on various object and executable file formats, for the novice?
> Supposing I wanted to write a linker, is there a textbook teaching how
> to write the bare bytes necessary to achieve some kind of executable
> file? Like for example, magic numbers if any, headers, and blah blah.
> Is there a resource on the net which describes any kind of relocatable
> object file and some executable format?

You might want to take a look at John R. Levine's book "Linkers &
loaders" - ISBN 1-55860-496-0 - Morgan-Kaufmann. This is pretty good at
explaining all these topics.

Bo.

-- 

     Bo Thorsen                 |   Lahnsgade 31, st.
     Free software developer    |   5000 Odense C
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