Where to put per-target global BFD data ?

[Nick Clifton <nickc@cygnus.com>]

Hi Guys,

  I have come across a problem with storing target specific global
  data in BFD.  Currently targets like the ARM ports create an
  extended version of the link hash table, override the default 
  link_hash_table_create function with their own version, and then
  store their data in the new fields now available.

  This fails however, when the output format is not the same as the
  input format.  For example linking together a coff-arm object file
  with the command line:

       ld -oformat srec foo.o

  will fail with a segmentation fault because the hash in the
  link_info structure gets created based on the output format (srec)
  not the input format (coff-arm).  The srec format does not create an
  extended structure on the end of the hash table, and so the coff-arm
  routines that get called later, and which assume that the coff-arm
  version of link_hash_table_create has been called, try to use data
  which is not there. 

  I am not sure how this can be fixed.  I think using the hash table
  may not be the best way to store global information, because of this
  problem, and that another solution needs to be found.

  Any suggestions ?

Cheers
	Nick