From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from mail.valinux.com (smtp-fwd.valinux.com [198.186.202.196]) by puffin.external.hp.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA14252 for ; Tue, 21 Nov 2000 20:09:19 -0700 Received: from osmium.hdqt.valinux.com ([10.3.1.14] helo=valinux.com ident=mail) by mail.valinux.com with esmtp (Exim 3.16 #1 (Debian)) id 13yQJl-0003Wr-00; Tue, 21 Nov 2000 19:11:29 -0800 Received: by valinux.com (Postfix, from userid 561) id 392FAAD11; Tue, 21 Nov 2000 19:11:29 -0800 (PST) Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 19:11:29 -0800 From: "H . J . Lu" To: Alan Modra Cc: Ulrich Drepper , John Marvin , parisc-linux@puffin.external.hp.com, parisc-linux@thepuffingroup.com, binutils@sourceware.cygnus.com Subject: Re: [parisc-linux] Use of the EI_OSABI field Message-ID: <20001121191129.A4978@valinux.com> References: <20001121165327.A12804@valinux.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii In-Reply-To: ; from alan@linuxcare.com.au on Wed, Nov 22, 2000 at 02:03:07PM +1100 List-ID: On Wed, Nov 22, 2000 at 02:03:07PM +1100, Alan Modra wrote: > On Tue, 21 Nov 2000, H . J . Lu wrote: > > > On Wed, Nov 22, 2000 at 11:13:29AM +1100, Alan Modra wrote: > > > > > > > Anyway, the ABI value is zero unless you implement ELF extensions. > > > > > > Exactly what is an "ELF extension"? Anything outside gABI or > > > > ELF extension is something whose interpretation is not documented in > > neither gABI nor psABI. HP's old ELF is a good example since it didn't > > implement DT_INIT/DT_FINI, but added DT_INIT_ARRARY/DT_FINI_ARRAY. A > > normal ELF tool will have a hard time to interpret those fields and > > their values. > > Neither you nor Ulrich have responded to John's point that the IA64 psABI > states > "The e_ident[EI_OSABI] value identifies the operating system and ABI to > which the object is targeted" > > Granted, this is only in a processor specific ABI, but it does flatly > contradict your assertions that the purpose of EI_OSABI is to flag the > presense of ELF extensions. > When I was at the IA64 ABI meeting yesterday, we were looking at the EI_OSABI issue. Everyone at the IA64 ABI meeting agreed that what Ulrich and I had said was the correct understanding. "The e_ident[EI_OSABI] value identifies the operating system and ABI to which the object is targeted" just means if the e_ident[EI_OSABI] value is not ELFOSABI_NONE, you have to look somewhere else in addition to gABI and IA64 psABI to interpret the ELF fields/values specific to that OS. Otherwise, gABI and IA64 psABI are sufficient. -- H.J. Lu (hjl@valinux.com)