In MS COFF output files fasm sets IMAGE_FILE_HEADER.Characteristics to 0x00000184 (IMAGE_FILE_32BIT_MACHINE or IMAGE_FILE_BYTES_REVERSED_LO or IMAGE_FILE_LINE_NUMS_STRIPPED). Is this correct?

• Specification deprecates IMAGE_FILE_BYTES_REVERSED_LO and IMAGE_FILE_LINE_NUMS_STRIPPED and says both of them should be 0
  
• Microsoft C Compiler (from MSVS 6.0) doesn’t even set IMAGE_FILE_32BIT_MACHINE (IMAGE_FILE_HEADER.Machine = IMAGE_FILE_MACHINE_I386 implies this, doesn’t it?)
  
• Pelles C sets only IMAGE_FILE_32BIT_MACHINE
  

What about the other compilers and assemblers? Which combination of characteristics is correct? Shouldn’t fasm set only IMAGE_FILE_32BIT_MACHINE or even 0?

No ideas?

If the specification says they are deprecated, FASM IMO shouldn't set them, even though it isn't such a big deal. Let's wait for tomasz's attention.

Waiting FASM to allow these in future:
DllCharacteristics
IMAGE_DLL_CHARACTERISTICS_DYNAMIC_BASE - however dunno why this should/can be set instead of IMAGE_FILE_RELOCS_STRIPPED flag
IMAGE_DLL_CHARACTERISTICS_NX_COMPAT - for native DEP support by image

vid, everything is deprecated, esp. when the original programmers are nowhere to be found! So I wouldn't worry too much about that. (Besides, even standard COFF used by DJGPP differs in many ways, so there is no agreed upon settings anyways.)

Nevertheless, fasm generated the standard COFF only when "format COFF" is specified, while "format MS COFF" should conform to Microsoft specification.
Therefore this should be fixed - please wait for the next release.