[LLVMdev] To a.out or not to a.out

[Brian R. Gaeke]

> On Fri, 2004-08-20 at 10:53, Brian R. Gaeke wrote:
> 
> > I don't see anything wrong with having the default for the "-o" option
> > be "a.out"... If it were up to me, I would keep it.
> 
> Well, the issue for me is that "a.out" in LLVM land can be a shell
> script and even if its a native executable, it probably isn't in the
> ancient a.out format. 
> 
> perhaps we need "some" default, but not "a.out"?
> 
> or, are you saying this default is so ingrained into developer's minds
> that it just needs to be supported regardless of the fact that it no
> longer makes sense?

I'm just saying that the default makes sense because it has traditionally been
the default in other compilers that users will be familiar with.  Whether or
not we're still using the a.out executable format doesn't directly pertain to
the question of what the default name should be -- I don't think any ELF
linkers name their default output "elf", for example.

In this situation where we're not offering a vast improvement upon the
traditional state of affairs, we should go with what people expect.

-Brian