Re: [PATCH] x86: Deprecate a.out support

[Matt Turner]

On Mon, Mar 11, 2019 at 9:26 AM MÃns RullgÃrd <mans@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Linus Torvalds <torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
> > On Sun, Mar 10, 2019 at 2:37 PM Matt Turner <mattst88@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >>
> >> I'm not aware of a reason to keep a.out support on alpha.
> >
> > Hmm. I was looking at removing a.out support entirely, but it's
> > actually fairly incestuous on alpha.
> >
> > For example, arch/alpha/boot/tools/objstrip.c very much has some a.out
> > support in it. Maybe it can just be removed entirely.
> >
> > There's also an a.out.h include in arch/alpha/kernel/binfmt_loader.c.
> >
> > Finally, note that CONFIG_OSF4_COMPAT also no longer makes sense
> > without a.out support.
>
> Anyone running an Alpha machine likely also has some old OSF/1 binaries
> they may wish to use.  It would be a shame to remove this feature, IMO.

Tru64 5.1 uses ECOFF binaries, I believe. Do you know when OSF/1 /
Digital UNIX / Tru64 switched from a.out to ECOFF?