Knowledge Base

PRB: Section Names Truncated to Eight Characters When Linked

Article ID: 123874

Article Last Modified on 11/18/2003

The Linker (LINK.EXE), when used with:
- Microsoft Visual C++ 2.0 Professional Edition
- Microsoft Visual C++ 4.0 Cross Development Edition for Macintosh

This article was previously published under Q123874

SYMPTOMS

You can control the section names that the C/C++ compiler, version 9.0, generates by using the /ND or /NT compiler options, the code_seg pragma, or the data_seg pragma. However, the names generated by the compiler are truncated to eight-character names during linking with LINK version 2.5.

STATUS

This behavior is by design. Section names are limited to eight characters.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

Build the following sample code

test.c
   ------

   #pragma code_seg( "LongCodeSectionName" )
   int i=7;

   main( )
   {
      exit(i);
   }

Observe the long section name contained in the object file by executing this command:
link -dump -all test.obj > testobj.out
Then search the output file for LongCodeSectionName. The full name is in the object file.
Observe that LongCodeSectionName is truncated to LongCode in the executable file by executing this command:
link -dump - all test.exe > testexe.out

Additional query words: 2.50 9.00

Keywords: kbprb KB123874