COFF, Common Object File Format, is the formal definition for the structure of machine code files in the UNIX System V.3 environment. All machine-code files--fully linked executables, compiled applications, or system libraries--are COFF files. There is hardly a system-related task that does not require some knowledge of COFF, from understanding assembly source to implementing a proprietary system enhancement. This handbook explains the COFF data structure and its manipulation.
Contents include:
- Basics of COFF.
- Assembly code relocation process.
- COFF file headers.
- Relocation structures.
- Linking.
- The COFF system in UNIX.
- Magic numbers.
- The COFF symbolic debug system.
