Inside Macintosh: Mac OS Runtime Architectures /

Chapter 8 - PEF Structure

This chapter describes the structure of the PEF storage standard, which is the format used to store programs in the Code Fragment Manager-based runtime architecture. You need this information if you read from or write to PEF containers--if you are writing a compiler or other development tool, for example.

After a high-level view of a PEF container in the "Overview" section, there follow sections that describe the elements of a PEF container in more detail.

Note that the PEF storage standard is not exclusive to the CFM-based architecture. Other architectures can follow the specification described here and use PEF containers to store their code and data. In such cases, the appropriate PEF handler for that architecture takes the role of the Code Fragment Manager.

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Chapter Contents

Overview

The Container Header

PEF Sections

The Section Name Table

Section Contents

Pattern-Initialized Data

Pattern-Initialization Opcodes

Zero (Opcode 000)

blockCopy (Opcode 001)

repeatedBlock (Opcode 010)

interleaveRepeatBlockWithBlockCopy (Opcode 011)

interleaveRepeatBlockWithZero (Opcode 100)

The Loader Section

The Loader Header

Imported Libraries and Symbols

Imported Library Descriptions

The Imported Symbol Table

Relocations

The Relocation Headers Table

The Relocation Area

A Relocation Example

Relocation Instruction Set

RelocBySectDWithSkip

The Relocate Value Group

The Relocate By Index Group

RelocIncrPosition

RelocSmRepeat

RelocSetPosition

RelocLgByImport

RelocLgRepeat

RelocLgSetOrBySection

The Loader String Table

Exported Symbols

The Export Hash Table

The Export Key Table

The Exported Symbol Table

Hashing Functions

The Name to Hash Word Function

The Hash Word to Hash Index Function

The Exported Symbol Count to Hash Table Size Function

PEF Size Limits