GSOC Linker project

[Alex Rønne Petersen]

On 04-05-2012 00:47, Pierre LeMoine wrote:
> Hi!
>
> I'm interested in starting a project to make a linker besides optlink
> for dmd on windows. If possible it'd be cool to run it as a
> gsoc-project, but if that's not an option I'll try to get it admitted as
> a soc-project at my university.

Absolutely possible, though too late for this year's GSoC. If you're 
still interested in working on it for GSoC 2013 (if Google decides to do 
another GSoC (which they most likely will)), then be sure to submit a 
proposal!

>
> Anyway, the project would aim to be a replacement or alternative to
> optlink on windows. I've personally encountered quite a few seemingly
> random problems with optlink, and the error messages are not exactly
> friendly. My vision is to create a linker in a relatively modern
> language (D) and to release the project as open source.

Sounds like a good idea to me. Though in my personal opinion, you should 
try to make the linker as platform-agnostic as possible, so it's easy to 
adapt for new platforms / file formats.

>
> So, I'm curious about some things; Is it too late to get this accepted
> as a summer of code project? Are there any current alternative linkers
> for dmd on windows, or any current projects aiming to create one? And do
> any of you know of a "Everything you need to know to write the best
> linker ever" resource center? ;]

Too late for this year's GSoC.

For another linker option, see Unilink.

As for resources on linkers, I think your best bet is reading the LLVM 
and GCC source code. I think someone also started an LLVM (machine code) 
linker project recently, but I don't know where to find it.

>
> /Pierre

-- 
- Alex