Why can't elves cough? (terminology)

[Dick Dunn]

To clarify some points which seemed confused in the discussion between Sean
Fagan and Mike Burg:  The terms "BCS" and "ABI" refer to different animals,
although they're both of the same species (a definition of a "system inter-
face for compiled application programs").

Background: SVID == System V Interface Definition - definition of the
programs, system calls, libraries, etc.

BCS == Binary Compatibility Specification:  This is the V.3.2 animal; it
refers to SVID 2nd edition; COFF spoken here.  COFF == Common Object File
Format.  BCS is undergoing extensive revision (mostly extension) to cover
things not present in the original version.  You'll hear this work called
"BCS2".

ABI == Application Binary Interface:  This is the V.4 animal; it refers to
SVID 3rd edition; ELF is a part of it.  ELF == Executable and Linking
Format.  However, note that V.4 will provide support for BCS (and there-
fore can run COFF programs).  I don't know, but I would not expect support
for ELF on V.3.2 systems--why retrofit it, rather than just go to V.4?

Summary:
	BCS	V.3.2	COFF	SVID 2
	ABI	V.4	ELF	SVID 3
-- 
Dick Dunn     rcd at ico.isc.com -or- ico!rcd       Boulder, CO   (303)449-2870
   ...But is it art?