RELOCATION FORMAT FOR LINKING

An executable program is prepared from a plurality of object code modules, each object code module including special relocations that have a type field for identifying the nature of a function to be implemented by the special relocation. The function is selected from a plurality of arithmetic and logical functions. A method of preparing the executed program includes reading the special relocations, determining from the type field the nature of the function to be implemented, carrying out the selected arithmetic or logical function to generate a result value and using the result value in a subsequent special relocation operation. The method may be executed by a linker having a relocation module for reading the special locations and carrying out the relocation operations.