[openbeos] Re: PE vs ELF file-format

On 2003-08-21 at 18:31:13 [+0200], Matthijs Hollemans wrote:
> > Do anybody know which are the (dis)advantages of PE-files
> > and the (dis)advantages of ELF-files?
> 
> This was extensively debated on the original BeDevTalk lists. I don't know
> if the archives for that list are still available.
> 
> After R3 came out with a PE compiler (the same format that Windows uses),
> many developers requested that Be switch to the ELF format and consequently,
> the gcc compiler. They finally gave in ;-) I think there is an old Be
> newsletter about this debate and the decision.

Unfortunately they didn't switch to GCC on PPC as well.

> The PPC version of BeOS does not use the PE format, though, but PEF. This is
> a proprietary format from Apple, or at least it used to be (they may have
> opened it up since then, I don't know).

I think, it is reasonably well documented. When I implemented the resources 
support for PEF files (more than a year ago), I got it from Apple's web site. 
I read only the things of interest for me, but it looks complete.

CU, Ingo

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