pdp11-ranlib

Builds the __.SYMDEF table of contents in an archive, so ld resolves members regardless of order — the canonical V7/2.9 ranlib paired with our ar.

pdp11-ranlib archive ...

• __.SYMDEF content matches the native ranlib (run end-to-end under apsim) on all 26 ranlib'd libraries of the 2.9 tree — only the embedded timestamp is nondeterministic.
• Middle-endian offsets: the symbol-definition file's member offsets are PDP-11 longs, written through the same PDPL() swap ar and ld use.

Documentation

• Design — how the __.SYMDEF symbol directory is built and kept in step with the ar format.
• User guide — usage and when an archive needs a fresh ranlib.
• docs/porting.md — porting notes.

Build and test

make          # builds ../../bin/pdp11-ranlib
make check    # covered by tests/ld/ranlib.sh and the lib-sweep oracle