[parisc-linux] Use of the EI_OSABI field

[Alan Modra]

On 21 Nov 2000, Ulrich Drepper wrote:

> Alan Modra <alan@linuxcare.com.au> writes:
> 
> > Ulrich Drepper also was quite vehement against changing sourceware
> > FreeBSD binutils.
> 
> I've never said anything about any *BSD, why should I?  The *BSD
> people wanted to change the Linux binutils.

Sorry, I stated that badly.

> Anyway, the ABI value is zero unless you implement ELF extensions.

Exactly what is an "ELF extension"?  Anything outside gABI or
"gABI + psABI"?  Handly the latter, as it seems to me that a processor
specific ABI can specify extensions.  There's also the awkward possibility
that a psABI may specify an extension that is later incorporated into a
new revision of the gABI (eg. hpux and DT_INIT_ARRAY)  Does that mean that
if a new revision of the gABI completely incorporates all previous
extensions, that EI_OSABI should become zero?

Yes, I'm arguing that "No ELF extensions => EI_OSABI == 0" is not
necessarily true, but I'm _not_ arguing that changing x86 Linux binutils
is wise.  Historical usage is important.  If we were to change x86 Linux
binutils to set EI_OSABI, then that can only be after a considerable
period of time to allow code such as glibc to accept a new branding.

Alan Modra
-- 
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