Deterministic windres coff output

Deterministic windres coff output

[Cory Fields]

While in the process of adding an option to create deterministic
.exe/dll from ld, I noticed that timestamps are also inserted into
object files produced by windres.
So the output of windres (in coff mode) is never deterministic.

I began hooking up an option for reversing this, but the more I think
about it, the more it's beginning to seem like a bug rather than
intended behavior.

So before I go any further with adding an option, I'll ask:
Is it necessary to insert a real timestamp in this situation? If ld is
not deterministic then the resulting image won't be either, so the
end-result is (relatively) unaffected. Unless of course a
deterministic image is desired in the end (with forthcoming patches to
ld), in which case this behavior gets in the way.

I can send along a patch either way, but changing the behavior without
adding an option makes the most sense to me.

Please advise.

Regards,
Cory

Re: Deterministic windres coff output

[nick clifton]

Hi Cory,

> So before I go any further with adding an option, I'll ask:
> Is it necessary to insert a real timestamp in this situation?

No.


> I can send along a patch either way,

Please do.

Cheers
   Nick