Topic summary
Relocating loader
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Loader (computing).
Relocating loaders
Some operating systems need relocating loaders, which adjust addresses (pointers) in the executable to compensate for variations in the address at which loading starts. The operating systems that need relocating loaders are those in which a program is not always loaded into the same location in the (virtual) address space and in which pointers are absolute addresses rather than offsets from the program's base address. Some well-known examples are IBM's OS/360 for their System/360 mainframes, and its descendants, including z/OS for the z/Architecture mainframes.