From: ozone@sanger.chem.nd.edu (Hierophant) Subject: Application Binary Interface Date: 30 Apr 1993 19:28:59 GMT
Having seen the recent announcement that a consortium of MIPS vendors have
decided to standardize on an Application Binary Interface (ABI) which would
allow portability of binaries across various MIPS-based workstations, it
occurs to me that perhaps the "vendors" of the various "free" operating
systems (Linux, 386BSD/BSD386, Mach?) should pursue a similar initiative.
Initially this would involve standardization on the 386/486 platform; when
there is enough work done on the 680x0, an ABI could be created for it as
well. This would have the benefit of making binaries portable across the
various 386-based free operating systems while also presenting a unified
front to mainstream industry, which might turn out to be much more valuable
than the portability issue.
I don't normally read this group (though I do follow the 680x0 channel on
the mailing list), but I thought I'd throw this out there...
--
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