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Re: ELF archiver string table


Hi Ramana,

I am working on archiver to work with ELF object files on windows.

Is there any reason why you are writing your own archiver rather than using the 'ar' program ?


Some where i read that the archive string table member, for longer
names i.e. "//", in windows COFF or ELF archives, should be the third
member in the archive.

Presumably you mean that this restriction applies if you want to be compatible with the archive format produced by other archivers.


Can somebody help me on these things
1. Why there is a restriction that string table member should be the
third member on windows?

Sorry, I was unaware that there was such a restriction. You could ask on the Cygwin mailing list. There may be somebody there who knows more about it.


Is this restriction mentioned in a publicly available document ? If so then maybe you could point us at it ?


2. Can I place the string table member just after the symbol directory entry?

I am beginning to suspect that I have not understood exactly what sort of tool you are talking about, so perhaps you could provide more details.


If you are talking about a tool like the POSIX "ar" command then it may interest you to know that the POSIX spec is fairly flexible. This is from the POSIX.1-2001 specification for the ar command:

  "The archive format is not described. It is recognized that
   there are several known ar formats, which are not compatible.
   The ar utility is included, however, to allow creation of
   archives that are intended for use only on one machine. The
   archive is specified as a file, and it can be moved as a file.
   This does allow an archive to be moved from one machine to
   another machine that uses the same implementation of ar."

Cheers
  Nick


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