IntroductionThe Executable and Linking Format (ELF) defines a linking interface
for executables and shared objects in two parts.The first part is the generic System V ABI
(http://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/LSB_4.1.0/LSB-Core-generic/LSB-Core-generic/normativerefs.html#NORMATIVEREFSSECT).
The second part is a processor-specific supplement.This document, the OpenPOWER ABI for Linux Supplement for the Power
Architecture 64-bit ELF V2 ABI, is the OpenPOWER-compliant
processor-specific supplement for use with ELF V2 on 64-bit IBM Power
Architecture® systems. This is not a complete System V ABI supplement
because it does not define any library interfaces.This document establishes both big-endian and little-endian
application binary interfaces (see
).
OpenPOWER-compliant processors in the 64-bit Power Architecture can execute
in either big-endian or little-endian mode. Executables and
executable-generated data (in general) that subscribe to either byte
ordering are not portable to a system running in the other mode.Note:
This ABI specification does not
address little-endian byte ordering before Power ISA 2.03.
The OpenPOWER ELF V2 ABI is not the same as either the Power
Architecture 32-bit ABI supplement or the 64-bit IBM PowerPC® ELF ABI (ELF
V1).The Power Architecture 64-bit OpenPOWER ELF V2 ABI supplement is
intended to use the same structural layout now followed in practice by
other processor-specific ABIs.Reference DocumentationThe archetypal ELF ABI is described by the System V ABI.
Supersessions and addenda that are specific to OpenPOWER ELF V2 Power
Architecture (64-bit) processors are described in this document.The following documents are complementary to this document and
equally binding:Power Instruction Set Architecture, Versions 2.7
and 3.0, IBM, 2013-2016.
http://www.power.org
DWARF Debugging Information Format, Version 4,
DWARF Debugging Information Format Workgroup, 2010.
http://dwarfstd.org/Dwarf4Std.php
ISO/IEC 9899:2011: Programming languages—C.
http://www.iso.org/iso/home/store/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=57853
Itanium C++ ABI: Exception Handling. Rev 1.22, CodeSourcery,
2001.
http://www.codesourcery.com/public/cxx-abi/abi-eh.html
ISO/IEC TR 24732:2009 – Programming languages, their
environments and system software interfaces – Extension for the
programming language C to support decimal floating-point
arithmetic, ISO/IEC, January 05, 2009. Available from ISO.
http://www.iso.org/iso/home/store/catalogue_tc/catalogue_tc_browse.htm?commid=45202
ELF Handling for Thread-Local Storage, Version
0.20, Ulrich Drepper, Red Hat Inc., December 21, 2005.
http://people.redhat.com/drepper/tls.pdf
The following documents are of interest for their historical
information but are not normative in any way.64-bit PowerPC ELF Application Binary Interface Supplement
1.9.
http://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/ELF/ppc64/PPC-elf64abi.html
IBM PowerOpen™ ABI Application Binary Interface Big-Endian
32-Bit Hardware Implementation.
ftp://www.sourceware.org/pub/binutils/ppc-docs/ppc-poweropen/Power Architecture 32-bit ABI Supplement 1.0
Embedded/Linux/Unified.
https://www.power.org/documentation/power-architecture-32-bit-abi-supplement-1-0-embeddedlinuxunified/ALTIVEC PIM: AltiVec™ Technology Programming Interface
Manual, Freescale Semiconductor, 1999.
http://www.freescale.com/files/32bit/doc/ref_manual/ALTIVECPIM.pdf
ELF Assembly User’s Guide, Fourth edition, IBM, 2000.
https://www-03.ibm.com/technologyconnect/tgcm/TGCMFileServlet.wss/assem_um.pdf?id=109917A251EFD64C872569D900656D07&linkid=1h3000&c_t=md515o6ntgh671shz9ioar20oyfp1grs