shap@sfsup.UUCP (J.S.Shapiro) (11/27/87)
As I understand it, external identifier names as understood by MPW linker and Mac Linkers in general accept up to 31 character names. This is not enough for some languages, notably C++, which mangle names in order to get them to compile. Is anyone aware of why this limitation exists, and whethet there are linkers out there which circumvent it? I would be willing to explore writing an Apple compatible linker for my own use, but I don't have access to the object file format anyplace obvious. Actually, I would be interested in the object format regardless. Any good sources for this? Jon Shapiro
stew@endor.harvard.edu (Stew Rubenstein) (11/28/87)
In article <2413@sfsup.UUCP> shap@sfsup.UUCP (J.S.Shapiro) writes: >As I understand it, external identifier names as understood >by MPW linker and Mac Linkers in general accept up to >31 character names. This is not enough for some languages, >notably C++, which mangle names in order to get them to >compile. > >Is anyone aware of why this limitation exists, and whethet >there are linkers out there which circumvent it? I would be >willing to explore writing an Apple compatible linker for my >own use, but I don't have access to the object file format >anyplace obvious. > >Actually, I would be interested in the object format regardless. >Any good sources for this? > >Jon Shapiro 1) Apple has stated that they will be shipping C++ and porting MacApp to C++ shortly (I am not certain, but I think they said 1Q '88). It is possible that the 31 character name restriction wll be lifted then. MPW 3.0 is expected about the same time. 2) The object file format is documented in the MPW 2.0 manual, available from APDA. Disclaimer: I am not associated with Apple, don't speak for Apple, and the above is only my best recollection of a rumor I heard somewhere. Stew Rubenstein Cambridge Scientific Computing, Inc. UUCPnet: seismo!harvard!rubenstein CompuServe: 76525,421 Internet: rubenstein@harvard.harvard.edu MCIMail: CSC
lsr@apple.UUCP (Larry Rosenstein) (11/30/87)
In article <2413@sfsup.UUCP> shap@sfsup.UUCP (J.S.Shapiro) writes: >As I understand it, external identifier names as understood >by MPW linker and Mac Linkers in general accept up to >31 character names. This is not enough for some languages, >notably C++, which mangle names in order to get them to >compile. Not true. The MPW Pascal compiler identifiers are unique in the first 63 characters, for example. (Object Pascal creates long identifiers also.) The MPW object file format says that identifiers are normal Pascal strings, and therefore can be upto 255 characters long. >Actually, I would be interested in the object format regardless. >Any good sources for this? It is documented in an appendix of the MPW Shell manual. -- Larry Rosenstein Object Specialist Apple Computer AppleLink: Rosenstein1 UUCP: {sun, voder, nsc, mtxinu, dual}!apple!lsr CSNET: lsr@Apple.com