AIX introduced an extended COFF object and executable file format, XCOFF, that has eliminated the need to have both, static and shared, library files – the .a f

AIX introduced an extended COFF object and executable file format, XCOFF, that has eliminated the need to have both, static and shared, library files – the .a files were «both» at once and the linker switch had to be used to select between a statically or dynamically linked executable type. Which caused a lot of confusion for some at the time leading them to believe that AIX had no shared libraries.