Re: GNU tools netbsd vs netbsdelf

Thanks Simon, that's perfect!

On Mon, Jul 19, 2021, at 1:50 AM, Simon Burge wrote:
> "John Ericson" wrote:
> 
> > Well, it's been a few weeks but things did move along upstream.
> > netbsdpe, per the conversation in the other thread is slated for
> > removal (there is a 1 release deprecation cycle for Bintuils). And the
> > netbsd new-default change is tentatively approved with some conditions
> > in https://sourceware.org/pipermail/binutils/2021-July/117378.html
> >
> > The main condition is the nature of ns32k support in NetBSD:
> > > One problem with that - the NS32K target.  As far as I can see this
> > > target only supports aout format NetBSD, not ELF...
> > > 
> > > Possibly NS32K support in NetBSD is entirely deprecated.  If so,
> > > then we can add the ns32k-netbsd target to the obsolete list.  But I
> > > would like to have you confirm this first.
> >
> > So, my main question (sorry this is a bit buried amid the quotes) is,
> > what is the nature of NS32K support in NetBSD?
> >  * Is it deprecated/removed?
> 
> Unfortunately ns32k support was removed from NetBSD in January 2008.
> 
> >  * If not, does it in fact support ELF after all?
> 
> It never did support ELF :(.  I got as far as requesting an ELF machine
> ID for ns32k but never did a binutils backend for it.
> 
> >  * If not, should this be a show-stopper to the treatment of netbsd
> >    as netbsdelf instead of netbsdaout, or is it fine if ns32k-netbsdelf
> >    needs to be use?
> 
> If, in the unlikely case that NetBSD ever gets ns32k support back
> again, it would be for an ELF target.  I've got no problem with the
> "ns32k-netbsd" target defaulting to ELF.
> 
> Hope this answers all your questions.  Let me know if you need any
> more info.
> 
> Cheers,
> Simon.
>