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From:   Matt Turner <mattst88@gmail.com>
Date:   Mon, 11 Mar 2019 13:50:21 -0700
Message-ID: <CAEdQ38F3RxBXB2ow3L7F4vQd5JnJLPJ-mEqCK5ENV7NDQO9eJQ@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] x86: Deprecate a.out support
To:     =?UTF-8?B?TcOlbnMgUnVsbGfDpXJk?= <mans@mansr.com>
Cc:     Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>,
        Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>,
        Alan Cox <gnomes@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk>,
        Matthew Wilcox <willy@infradead.org>,
        Jann Horn <jannh@google.com>,
        Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>,
        Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>,
        kernel list <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>,
        linux-fsdevel <linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org>,
        "the arch/x86 maintainers" <x86@kernel.org>,
        Linux API <linux-api@vger.kernel.org>,
        Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
        Richard Weinberger <richard@nod.at>,
        Anton Ivanov <anton.ivanov@cambridgegreys.com>,
        linux-alpha <linux-alpha@vger.kernel.org>,
        linux-m68k@lists.linux-m68k.org
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On Mon, Mar 11, 2019 at 12:47 PM M=C3=A5ns Rullg=C3=A5rd <mans@mansr.com> w=
rote:
>
> Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> writes:
>
> > On Mon, Mar 11, 2019 at 11:08 AM M=C3=A5ns Rullg=C3=A5rd <mans@mansr.co=
m> wrote:
> >>
> >> The latest version I have is 5.1, and that uses ECOFF.
> >
> > ECOFF _is_ a.out as far as Linux is concerned.
> >
> > So Linux basically treats ECOFF as "regular a.out with just some
> > header extensions".
> >
> > We don't have any specific support for ECOFF.
> >
> > I _think_. Again, it's been years and years.
>
> Right, which is why killing a.out entirely would have the unfortunate
> effect of also removing the OSF/1 compatibility on Alpha.
>
> If we are to support Alpha as an architecture at all, it makes sense to
> support the things people actually use it for.

I agree. I was not aware that a.out was effectively the same as ECOFF.