jsb@panix.UUCP (J. S. B'ach) (02/28/90)
What would it take to run a A/UX binary under MacOS? What I have in mind is the opposite of the A/UX 'launch' command, or maybe geting a unix executable to run at the push of a Hypercard button? -apple!panix!jsb
liam@cs.qmw.ac.uk (William Roberts) (03/01/90)
In article <969@panix.UUCP> jsb@panix.UUCP (J. S. B'ach) writes: >What would it take to run a A/UX binary under MacOS? What I have in >mind is the opposite of the A/UX 'launch' command, or maybe geting a >unix executable to run at the push of a Hypercard button? First things first, your A/UX binary would have to use only MacOS Manager calls and Toolbox calls, because there won't be an A/UX kernel to handle the normal system calls. To use A/UX as a cross-compilation system with some local try-it-and-see capability, you would need an extensively modified C compiler. The reason is as follows: A/UX processes run in a virtual address space where the program always starts at address 0 (or thereabouts) and never has to live at a different address. MacOS code runs without the aid of a memory management unit to translate addresses, so must be prepared to operate no matter what address its code and data are stored at. This is called *Position Independent Code* and is mostly done by making all data references use offsets from a base register (A5 isn't it?). So you'd need a different C compiler which generates the right kind of code, and the Unisoft compiler bundled with A/UX won't do. You could conceivably alter gcc to do this though. Finally, Mac binaries are organised in a different way which I don't understand, but which involves collections of small pieces which are stitched together when the application is loaded into memory. The best place to start with suitably compiled code under A/UX is actually the dot-oh files rather than the linked binaries, and provide a completely different linker. I personally believe that this is a worthwhile thing to be able to do, but it may just happen automatically if and when MPW works under A/UX. Can anyone from Apple say if having a version of MPW which runs under A/UX is one someone's list of things to do in Cupertino, or should we developers try to make some money here? -- William Roberts ARPA: liam@cs.qmw.ac.uk Queen Mary & Westfield College UUCP: liam@qmw-cs.UUCP Mile End Road AppleLink: UK0087 LONDON, E1 4NS, UK Tel: 01-975 5250 (Fax: 01-980 6533)
jsb@panix.UUCP (J. S. B'ach) (03/03/90)
From the reposnes I've gotten, I can see that a.out's won't be running
under A/UX any time soon, but no one adressed the simpler question:
Hypercard runs fine under A/UX. How about having a way to run
an a.out at the touch of a Hypercard button? Since A/UX is already
present, this should be possible, no?
--
rutgers!cmcl2!panix!jsb or less reliably these days, try apple!panix!jsb
"Most feminists aren't married and have no children...They're never going to get
married, because they can't find a husband...I'm a normal woman." - Ivana Trumpliam@cs.qmw.ac.uk (William Roberts) (03/06/90)
In article <982@panix.UUCP> jsb@panix.UUCP (J. S. B'ach) writes: >From the reposnes I've gotten, I can see that a.out's won't be running >under A/UX any time soon, but no one adressed the simpler question: >Hypercard runs fine under A/UX. How about having a way to run >an a.out at the touch of a Hypercard button? Since A/UX is already >present, this should be possible, no? I'm confused now, but what you should have gathered from your responses is as follows: 1) A/UX compilers produce a.out files which run under A/UX and not under MacOS. 2) MPW and co produce Mac binaries that can be run under A/UX if they behave themselves, wipe their feet, and are invoked by an A/UX utility called "launch" 3) With suitable tinkering, Mac source code can be compiled under A/UX and still use the A/UX version of the toolbox. Such a.outs don't need to be "launched". If I understand you correctly, you are asking, "Can I run HyperCard under A/UX, and at the press of a HyperCard button, run an A/UX a.out file?". The answer to this is, Yes but... The "but" is that you can't with A/UX 1.1.1 or below run more than one Mac application at once, so it should be a non-toolbox binary (or at the very most, one that uses the NoEvents = 1; technique to indicate that it doesn't need the Event Manager). The other "but" is that you will need to write an XCMD (under MacOS I suspect) which arranges to perform an A/UX system call to fork a new A/UX process. There are some notes on how to do this in the A/UX Toolbox Manual, but essentiallyu it amounts to writing a C program under A/UX, using dis to get the 68000 assembler, converting the A/UX assembler mnemonics into MPW assembler mnemonics, then compiling the appropriate bits as routines linked into your XCMD. Best of luck! -- William Roberts ARPA: liam@cs.qmw.ac.uk Queen Mary & Westfield College UUCP: liam@qmw-cs.UUCP Mile End Road AppleLink: UK0087 LONDON, E1 4NS, UK Tel: 01-975 5250 (Fax: 01-980 6533)