Date: Fri, 27 Oct 1995 14:46:20 --200
From: sorinb AT sky DOT dsp DOT pub DOT ro (Balea Mihai Sorin)
To: djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu
Subject: Weird stuff in COFF files


  I was playing around with djgpp 1.12m4 ( gcc 2.6.3 ) when I noticed something
quite strange. The resulting COFF file was different, although I compiled the
same source file ( about 30 lines long ) under *the same* conditions ( meaning
the same command line and the same environment ).Further browsing of the output
revealed even stranger things. The end of COFF file was filled with a lot of 
apparently unnecessary stuff like functions identifiers and assembly labels.
Even worse : in some cases I found a partial copy of my directory tree and/or
pieces of C source. Worth mentioning : my program behaves identically each time
I build it. And also, I did not include any debug info !

  Is there anyone who can tell me why this happens and how it can be stopped
( if possible ) ? 

  Is there any on line description of COFF file format ? I wonder if an         executable file compressor ( something like PKLITE or LZEXE ) would be possible
( I'm not sure if protected mode allows it ).
  
  Thanks in advance !

  Sorin Balea  --  sorinb AT sky DOT dsp DOT pub DOT ro