From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Mon, 14 May 2001 10:32:11 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Mon, 14 May 2001 10:32:01 -0400 Received: from tux.gsfc.nasa.gov ([128.183.191.134]:1177 "EHLO tux.gsfc.nasa.gov") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Mon, 14 May 2001 10:31:49 -0400 Date: Mon, 14 May 2001 10:31:48 -0400 From: John Kodis To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Not a typewriter Message-ID: <20010514103148.B9532@tux.gsfc.nasa.gov> Mail-Followup-To: John Kodis , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org In-Reply-To: <200105140103.f4E13U3r010249@sleipnir.valparaiso.cl> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i In-Reply-To: <200105140103.f4E13U3r010249@sleipnir.valparaiso.cl>; from vonbrand@sleipnir.valparaiso.cl on Sun, May 13, 2001 at 09:03:30PM -0400 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Sun, May 13, 2001 at 09:03:30PM -0400, Horst von Brand wrote: > The old C compiler/old Unix linker guaranteed 6 chars in an external symbol > name only, and C functions got an underscore prepended: _creat. I guess > this is the reason for this wart. As to why 6 chars only, I'd guess some > data structure in the linker was laid out that way. Machines had a few > dozen Kbs of RAM then, space was precious. I recall that RSX-11 and a few other series of early DEC operating systems stored linker symbols in a "RAD50" encoding scheme which allowed 6 chararacters to be crammed into a 32-bit "long word". I suspect that this is where the limitation originated. -- John Kodis Phone: 301-286-7376