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Object file format

ForwardCom uses the ELF format for object files and executable files. The system-specific details of the object file format is described in the file elf_forwardcom.h. This file can be included directly in a C++ program.

Software tools should preferably be written in C++. Development tools should run in console mode so that they will work on multiple platforms. An emulator or debugger may be implemented as a plugin to a common IDE platform.

Assemblers, disassemblers, emulators and debuggers should use the file instruction_list.csv (in the manual repository) as input. This is a comma separated file containing information about instruction names, formats, and which operand types etc. are supported or optional.

The software may use C++ container classes for holding internal lists of symbols, sections, strings, relocation records, etc. (See objconv for inspiration).

Wish list for software tools

• Assembler
• Linker
• Loader
• Library manager
• Emulator
• Debugger
• Function libraries