Todd Vierling wrote:
> 
> On Wed, 8 Dec 1999, Ben Elliston wrote:
> 
> : > PS: If people know of a reliable way of identifying either an a.out or
> : > COFF NetBSD platform then please let me know.  I'll then revise the
> : > patch to include that information.
> :
> : echo "int x;" > foo.c; cc -c foo.c -o foo.o && file foo.o; rm foo.[co]
> 
> I certainly hope that file(1) will not be used in the patch.  That's far
> from platform-independent (see cross-compiling...).

As Ben mentioned, file would only be run _after_ it was determined that
the native (build) environment was NetBSD (via uname -some-option).  It
was put forward as a way of positivly identifying a.out or *COFF systems
once it was determined that the native environment wasn't ELF vis:

	if [ elf system ]
	then
	  ...=netbsdelf...
	else
	  # a.out or XCOFF or ECOFF or ....
	fi

The patch I've submitted continues to return ``netbsd'' when the system
isn't ELF.  A later iteration can refine things and expand the else
(aout VS *COFF) clause.

	enjoy,
		Andrew