LINK.EXE Machine Types

For each of the machine names that LINK and LIB accept in their /machine option, the following table shows the corresponding numerical machine type, such as appears in object files and executables.

Although MIPS and MIPSR41XX select the same machine type, they are not aliases. Distinctions are maintained in both the page size (which becomes the default section alignment) and in the maximum permitted number of sections.

For most of the supported machines, the page size is 0x1000 bytes and LINK permits as many as 96 sections without warning. The following table lists the machines that vary from the usual.

Compatible Machines

When the target machine has been set with a /machine option or has been inferred, it is ordinarily a fatal error (LNK1112) to ask LINK or LIB to work with any module that specifies a different machine type. However, some differences are tolerated.

The most straightforward are when the target machine is a more advanced but compatible version of the module machine. When the target machine is less advanced, the difference is tolerated only if the target machine had been inferred, i.e., had not been set expliclity with a /machine option. In such cases, the inference is seen to have been conservative and the machine specified in the module becomes the new target machine.