Re: Looking For "Sun demand paged SPARC" File Format Information

From: Jonathan Adams (jwadams_at_gmail.com)
Date: 08/29/04 

Date: 29 Aug 2004 04:12:11 -0700

Thomas Dineen <tdineen@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
> I am looking for information on the
> "Sun demand paged SPARC" file format.
> Apparently this is not the same as
> ELF, since and ELF Reader cannot read
> it.
>
> Specifically I would like to find the
> file format specification or at least
> the appropriate .h file defining the
> structures. I am thinking of something
> similar to elf.h.
>
> BTW I have already tried the likely
> sources such as Sun documentation, the Sun
> web site, and a search of my *.h files
> or maybe I missed something.

You want /usr/include/sys/exechdr.h -- it describes the file header.
"Demand paged" indicates that the magic number is ZMAGIC.

> Is this file format anything like or
> similar to ELF?

It's much, much simpler. The general form is referred to as "unix
a.out", and most textbooks on linking would cover it. I'm sure there
are webpages on it, but a quick google search didn't turn up anything
useful.

In this particular form, it's the original executable format for SunOS
4.x.

> Dose anyone know of any software tools
> to analyze or disassemble files of this format?

I've never played with an a.out executable, so I don't know. If
nothing else, the GNU binutils will probably work.

Cheers,
- jonathan