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The object file for Unix systems typically contains six distinct pieces:

  1. The object file header decribes the size and position of the other pieces of the object file.

  2. The text segment contains the machine language code.

  3. The data segment contains wathever data that comes with the program: either static data, which is allocated throughout the program, or dynamic data, which can grow or shrink as needed by the program.

  4. The relocation information identifies instructions and data words that depend on absolute addresses when the program is loaded into memory.

  5. The symbol table contains the remaining labels that are not defined, such as external references.

  6. The debugging information contains a concise description of how the modules were compiled so that a debugger can associate machine instructions with C source files and make adata structures readable.

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ObjectFile (last edited 2004-02-19 03:21:29 by yakko)