4 ms·

The Atari Jaguar homebrew community is still using statically-linked Linux a.out executables built around 1995 (https://lwn.net/ml/linux-kernel/4c449fab-8135-50

by boricj 3y ago

The Atari Jaguar homebrew community is still using statically-linked Linux a.out executables built around 1995 (https://lwn.net/ml/linux-kernel/4c449fab-8135-5057-7d2c-7b948ce130cc@theinnocuous.com/ https://lwn.net/ml/linux-kernel/4c449fab-8135-5057-7d2c-7b94...), at least to some extent.

deaddodo 3y ago
I would assume that this isn't by choice?
- boricj 3y ago
  They have replacements for some of these artifacts, like rln for aln (linker), rmac for mac (assembler) or slightly patched GCC 3.4.6 + binutils 2.16.1a for the 68000 CPU, some being adapted from parent forks or related tooling whose source code is available (like a version of mac for the Atari ST). However, these substitutes usually aren't completely interchangeable with the original tools. It also does not cover some of the more difficult bits to replace, like a toolchain for the custom RISC cores, which have lots of errata that the one toolchain not lost to time doesn't seem to compensate for (http://www.3do.cdinteractive.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3356#p37117 http://www.3do.cdinteractive.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3356...). While I'm not a member of the Atari Jaguar homebrew community, I'm currently tinkering with an experimental reverse-engineering technique that might be of use to them (https://forums.atariage.com/topic/354341-porting-the-original-atari-jaguar-sdk-to-elf/ https://forums.atariage.com/topic/354341-porting-the-origina...). Basically, I'm developing tooling that allows one to delink executables back into object files. In the near-term this should allow relinking these a.out executables into ELF executables and stave off obsolescence for a while, in the long term this should allow them to decompile/reimplement these object files one at a time until they Ship-of-Thesesus themselves out of trouble. It's a bit of a side-quest for me since I originally developed that tooling for delinking PlayStation 1 video games in an effort to decompile Tenchu: Stealth Assasins, but these proprietary executables happen to be a fairly decent and well-rounded set of test cases to try it out on.

by boricj 3y ago

deaddodo 3y ago

I would assume that this isn't by choice?

boricj 3y ago
They have replacements for some of these artifacts, like rln for aln (linker), rmac for mac (assembler) or slightly patched GCC 3.4.6 + binutils 2.16.1a for the 68000 CPU, some being adapted from parent forks or related tooling whose source code is available (like a version of mac for the Atari ST). However, these substitutes usually aren't completely interchangeable with the original tools. It also does not cover some of the more difficult bits to replace, like a toolchain for the custom RISC cores, which have lots of errata that the one toolchain not lost to time doesn't seem to compensate for (http://www.3do.cdinteractive.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3356#p37117 http://www.3do.cdinteractive.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3356...). While I'm not a member of the Atari Jaguar homebrew community, I'm currently tinkering with an experimental reverse-engineering technique that might be of use to them (https://forums.atariage.com/topic/354341-porting-the-original-atari-jaguar-sdk-to-elf/ https://forums.atariage.com/topic/354341-porting-the-origina...). Basically, I'm developing tooling that allows one to delink executables back into object files. In the near-term this should allow relinking these a.out executables into ELF executables and stave off obsolescence for a while, in the long term this should allow them to decompile/reimplement these object files one at a time until they Ship-of-Thesesus themselves out of trouble. It's a bit of a side-quest for me since I originally developed that tooling for delinking PlayStation 1 video games in an effort to decompile Tenchu: Stealth Assasins, but these proprietary executables happen to be a fairly decent and well-rounded set of test cases to try it out on.