<s>
stabs	B-General_Concept
(	O
sometimes	O
written	O
STABS	B-General_Concept
)	O
is	O
a	O
debugging	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
format	I-General_Concept
for	O
storing	O
information	O
about	O
computer	O
programs	O
for	O
use	O
by	O
symbolic	O
and	O
source-level	B-Application
debuggers	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
(	O
The	O
information	O
is	O
stored	O
in	O
symbol	B-Application
table	I-Application
strings	O
;	O
hence	O
the	O
name	O
"	O
stabs	B-General_Concept
"	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
Cygnus	O
Support	O
attributes	O
the	O
invention	O
of	O
stabs	B-General_Concept
to	O
for	O
the	O
Berkeley	O
Pascal	O
pdx	O
debugger	B-Application
,	O
however	O
,	O
he	O
claims	O
otherwise	O
,	O
stating	O
stabs	B-General_Concept
came	O
with	O
adb	B-Application
and	O
sdb	B-Application
but	O
could	O
predate	O
those	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
stabs	B-General_Concept
was	O
created	O
in	O
the	O
1980s	O
,	O
the	O
dominant	O
object	B-Application
file	I-Application
format	I-Application
was	O
a.out	O
,	O
which	O
(	O
unlike	O
more	O
recent	O
formats	O
such	O
as	O
ELF	O
)	O
makes	O
no	O
provision	O
for	O
storing	O
debugging	O
information	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Stabs	B-General_Concept
works	O
around	O
this	O
problem	O
by	O
encoding	O
the	O
information	O
using	O
special	O
entries	O
in	O
the	O
symbol	B-Application
table	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
one	O
stage	O
stabs	B-General_Concept
was	O
widely	O
used	O
on	O
Unix	B-Application
systems	I-Application
,	O
but	O
the	O
newer	O
DWARF	O
format	O
has	O
largely	O
supplanted	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
