Re: the "load" command and the .bss section

[Michael Snyder <msnyder at specifix dot com>]

On Mon, 2008-04-28 at 06:26 +0300, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> > From: Mike Frysinger <vapier@gentoo.org>
> > Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:45:37 -0400
> > Cc: gdb-patches@sourceware.org
> > 
> > ah, now that i know the intentions, may i suggest the following to the
> > documentation.
> 
> Thanks, but I'm afraid the text you suggested is not clear enough.
> 
> > +The file is loaded according to the load addresses (rather than virtual) as
> 
> How is "load address" opposed to "virtual address"?  This requires
> explanation.
> 
> > +is specified in the executable.  It is expected that the target system will
> > +do the actual relocation, and in the process, handle such things as setup of
> > +allocated sections (e.g. the bss).
> 
> This is also too cryptic to be useful.  Can you (or someone else)
> suggest a more elaborate description?  E.g., what is ``relocation'' in
> this context? and what other things besides .bss are expected to be
> set up by loading?

I extend a cautionary rejoinder -- "load" means different things
in different contexts.  

I have not looked at this recently, but the last time I did, 
there were several different implementations of the "load" 
command, and they did not all behave identically, particularly
with regard to the concept of VMA vs. LMA.

That's one reason it hasn't been well documented -- it is
not particularly well defined.