Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 14:01:05 -0500
Message-Id: <199902241901.OAA31479@envy.delorie.com>
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From: DJ Delorie <dj AT delorie DOT com>
To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
In-reply-to: 
	<39AE1D927549D111A88F00A0C94B9C7D7120BE AT rj01mai01 DOT informatica DOT telerj DOT net DOT br>
	(josepva AT informatica DOT TELERJ DOT net DOT br)
Subject: Re: Code View, COFF format and DJGPP
References:  <39AE1D927549D111A88F00A0C94B9C7D7120BE AT rj01mai01 DOT informatica DOT telerj DOT net DOT br>
Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com


> P.S.: Correct me if I am wrong, but the greater disadvantage from COFF
> format (used by DJGPP) and PE and NE (used by Windows programs) is the Code
> View information that let's you view the source code while you debug the
> program.

DJGPP's debug format saves that information in a format that's useful
to gdb, djgpp's debugger.  Since you can't debug djgpp programs with
any codeview-aware debugger anyway, there's no point in supporting
codeview format.

The big failings in djgpp's format are:

* the debug format only weakly supports C++

* it's difficult to support various link permutations useful for
  efficient C++ linking.

Note that PE format *is* COFF, but with a header that says "I'm an NT
program".  Obviously, DJGPP can't use PE format for that reason.