Editing Ar (Unix) (section)

====BSD variant====
BSD ar stores filenames right-padded with ASCII spaces. This causes issues with spaces inside filenames.
[[History of the Berkeley Software Distribution#4.4BSD and descendants|4.4BSD]] ar stores extended filenames by placing the string "#1/" followed by the file name length in the file name field, and storing the real filename in front of the data section.<ref name="ar5"/>

{{anchor|ranlib}}BSD ar utility traditionally does not handle the building of a global symbol lookup table, and delegates this task to a separate utility named '''ranlib''',<ref>[http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=ranlib&manpath=4.3BSD+NET%2F2 Manual page for NET/2 ranlib utility]</ref> which inserts an architecture-specific file named <code>__.SYMDEF</code> as first archive member.<ref>[http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=ranlib&sektion=5&manpath=4.3BSD+NET%2F2 Manual page for NET/2 ranlib file format]</ref> Some descendents put a space and "SORTED" after the name to indicate a sorted version.<ref>{{cite web |title=ranlib.h |url=https://opensource.apple.com/source/Libc/Libc-320/include/ranlib.h.auto.html |website=opensource.apple.com}}</ref> A 64-bit variant called {{code|__.SYMDEF_64}} exists on [[Darwin (operating system)|Darwin]].

Since POSIX added the requirement for the {{code|-s}} option as a replacement of ranlib, however, newer BSD ar implementations have been rewritten to have this feature. FreeBSD in particular ditched the SYMDEF table format and embraced the System V style table.<ref>{{man|5|ar|FreeBSD}}</ref>