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From: young@picasso (Jia-Jang Young)
Subject: Running SCO binaries on Linux?
Message-ID: <1993Jul24.040906.28139@ccds3.ntu.edu.tw>
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Date: Sat, 24 Jul 1993 04:09:06 GMT
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I have some application programs developed under SCO Unix.
Now I have installed SLS 1.02 and hope to run those SCO binaries
on Linux, but it didn't work.

As I know, COFF is the executable file format of SCO and gcc can
generate COFF file format. So, my questions are:

1) What is the executable file format of Linux?
2) Do I need to modify Linux kernel to make COFF file format to
   be executable on Linux? (Or any alternatives?)
3) Is there anybody have similar problems and solved it?

Any comment and advise will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Jia-Jang Young
Jia-Jang Young
Open Systems Integration Lab.

Newsgroups: comp.os.linux
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From: e...@tantalus.nrl.navy.mil (Eric Youngdale)
Subject: Re: Running SCO binaries on Linux?
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Organization: Naval Research Laboratory
References: <1993Jul24.040906.28139@ccds3.ntu.edu.tw>
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1993 19:50:04 GMT
Lines: 31

In article <1993Jul24.040906.28...@ccds3.ntu.edu.tw> 
yo...@solar.csie.ntu.edu.tw writes:
>I have some application programs developed under SCO Unix.
>Now I have installed SLS 1.02 and hope to run those SCO binaries
>on Linux, but it didn't work.
>
>As I know, COFF is the executable file format of SCO and gcc can
>generate COFF file format. So, my questions are:
>
>1) What is the executable file format of Linux?

	a.out.

>2) Do I need to modify Linux kernel to make COFF file format to
>   be executable on Linux? (Or any alternatives?)

	Yes, I have patches to make it possible to drop in modules so that the
linux kernel will understand different executable types.  Currently I have
modules for a.out and ELF.  COFF and others should not be that hard, and the
patches to the kernel will be very clean.

	There are other problems that need to be solved before you can run the
SCO binaries under linux, and the main one is that you need compatible
syscalls.  Again, a lot of the legwork is done here, and the only thing that is
really needed is for someone to sit down and hammer out some of the details.
Some of the simple syscalls are already done, just the more complicated ones
remain.  

-Eric
-- 
"When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he
found himself changed in his bed into a lawyer."