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Date:      Mon, 10 Nov 1997 09:46:09 +0800 (SGT)
From:      Joerg Micheel <joerg@iti.gov.sg>
To:        njs3@doc.ic.ac.uk
Cc:        hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: a.out format
Message-ID:  <199711100146.JAA03020@iti.gov.sg>

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Niall,

# Don't suppose anyone knows how the "a.out" format got its name?

It means "assembler output file". Usually, linking object files involves multiple
input files, so the linker doesn't know which name to assign to the executable.
Per default, it's a.out. The a.out format got it's name afterwards to distinguish
it from others. It used to be just "the object file format".

Anyone else?
	Joerg



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