Talk:A.out (file format)
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This article is too short. I think a.out (file format) (this page) and a.out (disambiguation page with one subpage (this one)) should be merged. --ssd 14:55, 23 December 2005 (UTC)
- I agree on that, but I don't know how to delete the A.out page and rename the A.out (file format) page.
- It would also be more useful if there was some information on the structure of the a.out format. --Bernard François 06:02, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
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- To do that, you'd need to propose the deletion of the a.out page and get an administrator to delete it (it might be possible to get them to do the rename at the same time, so it's an atomic operation.
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- As for the information on the a.out structure, you might want to add it - although note that different UN*Xes have adapted a.out format in their own ways, so the question is what structures to include. (That's one reason for COFF and ELF - provide a standard format that obviates the need to "fork" the a.out format in N different directions.) Guy Harris 06:43, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] where it appeared?
according to "An unsung hero: The hardworking ELF": "a.out appeared in V7 UNIX"; not in V6 UNIX
- Seebs is probably trying to simplify UNIX history for the benefit of those who have barely heard of V7 (I'd guess the latter); I distinctly remember a.out-format files on V6. Note that he said it "appeared in V7", not that it first appeared in V7. Guy Harris 07:13, 24 November 2006 (UTC)
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- Dennis Ritchie's scanned First Edition manuals indicate that the executable format on the first version of UNIX was an ancestor of the first PDP-11 a.out format. Guy Harris 07:20, 24 November 2006 (UTC)
