4 ms·

The NT PE executable format supports quite a few processors families. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/debug/pe-format#machine-types https://lea

The NT PE executable format supports quite a few processors families. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/debug/pe-format#machine-types https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/debug/pe-for... I just like the valid MSDOS stub header executable on the front of every DLL and executable.

RajT88 2y ago
And why? We can see that a number of those architectures eventually got a WindowsCE release. Notably the Dreamcast ran WinCE on SH4 CPU.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- dfox 2y ago
  Mostly because that format is not strictly speaking Windows-specific but comes from Unix System V release 4. Also various oddball embedded platforms use the full NT-style PE COFF as their native object/image format (but these usually either specify i386 as machine type or place some invalid value there).
- asveikau 2y ago
  Internally, NT first targeted Intel i860, not x86. This was a deliberate decision to break old assumptions. It was designed to be multiplatform from the beginning. The fact that it had an NT syscall layer but also a Win32 one, then formerly an OS/2 subsystem, also reflected this heritage of adaptability, multi-platform, portability etc.
- sumtechguy 2y ago
  That is controlled by this bit in the subsystem field. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/debug/pe-format#optional-header-windows-specific-fields-image-only https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/debug/pe-for... Subsystems https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/debug/pe-format#windows-subsystem https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/debug/pe-for... There are also a few others usually NE for older win16 and LE for OS2 and other interesting win16 overlay types.
RobotToaster 2y ago
Wait, does that mean there's a risc-v version of windows?
- p_ing 2y ago
  If there is, it isn't public. .NET does apparently have RISC-V architecture support in some sense due to a pull request by a Samsung engineer. https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/pull/82382 https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/pull/82382 From a technical standpoint, there's no reason Windows couldn't be brought to RISC-V in some form or fashion. It's designed for that portability.
- cokernel_hacker 2y ago
  It was almost certainly added in order to support EFI which uses PE/COFF format binaries.

RajT88 2y ago

And why? We can see that a number of those architectures eventually got a WindowsCE release. Notably the Dreamcast ran WinCE on SH4 CPU.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
dfox 2y ago
Mostly because that format is not strictly speaking Windows-specific but comes from Unix System V release 4. Also various oddball embedded platforms use the full NT-style PE COFF as their native object/image format (but these usually either specify i386 as machine type or place some invalid value there).
asveikau 2y ago
Internally, NT first targeted Intel i860, not x86. This was a deliberate decision to break old assumptions. It was designed to be multiplatform from the beginning. The fact that it had an NT syscall layer but also a Win32 one, then formerly an OS/2 subsystem, also reflected this heritage of adaptability, multi-platform, portability etc.
sumtechguy 2y ago
That is controlled by this bit in the subsystem field. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/debug/pe-format#optional-header-windows-specific-fields-image-only https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/debug/pe-for... Subsystems https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/debug/pe-format#windows-subsystem https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/debug/pe-for... There are also a few others usually NE for older win16 and LE for OS2 and other interesting win16 overlay types.

RobotToaster 2y ago

Wait, does that mean there's a risc-v version of windows?

p_ing 2y ago
If there is, it isn't public. .NET does apparently have RISC-V architecture support in some sense due to a pull request by a Samsung engineer. https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/pull/82382 https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/pull/82382 From a technical standpoint, there's no reason Windows couldn't be brought to RISC-V in some form or fashion. It's designed for that portability.
cokernel_hacker 2y ago
It was almost certainly added in order to support EFI which uses PE/COFF format binaries.