Null pointer read in binutils-2.10.0.33: bfd/elf32-i386.c: elf_i386_relocate_section

[Marco Franzen]

On Fri, 23 Mar 2001, I wrote:
> (gdb) run -m elf_i386 -o dec.e crt1.o crti.o crtbegin.o dec.o libtask.a libgcc.a libc.so libgcc.a crtend.o crtn.o
> Starting program: /usr/bin/ld -m elf_i386 -o dec.e crt1.o crti.o crtbegin.o dec.o libtask.a libgcc.a libc.so libgcc.a crtend.o crtn.o
> 
> Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.

That was because one file, libtask.a, was for the wrong architecture, 
Solaris/Sparc (due to an incomplete make clean rule...).

The native linker on SCO Unixware 7, different from GNU ld on GNU/Linux,
can detect this and issues an error message:
UX:ld: ERROR: libtask.a(tri_des.o): fatal error: libtask.a(tri_des.o): wrong machine type

Could GNU ld (or libbfd) do the same?
It would not only have saved me two days but also have caused another 
GNU/Linux installation at a customer's site. Now they use a non-free Unix 
instead.

Cheers,

Marco
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