Matty wrote:
> On 1/21/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>
>> >Is there a reason why "usr/src/cmd/mapfile_noexdata" (=which marks all
>> >data as non-executable) not used by default in an OS/Net build ? Are
>> >there any problems on SPARC and/or i386 ?
>>
>> ABI compliance. The ABI requires the data segment to be executable so
>> by default the linker cannot generate such executables.  But we prefer
>> out executables to be that way.
>
> Just out of curiosity, why would the data segment ever need to be
> executable?
>
> Thanks,
> - Ryan

I think some old fortran programs used to rely on this.  Certainly it
isn't used in modern systems anymore.  (This would have been useful, for
example, for programs that used "overlays", which was a technique once
used in 8- and 16-bit computing systems where memory was extremely limited.)

-- 
Garrett D'Amore, Principal Software Engineer
Tadpole Computer / Computing Technologies Division,
General Dynamics C4 Systems
http://www.tadpolecomputer.com/
Phone: 951 325-2134  Fax: 951 325-2191

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