Preferred Executable Format
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The Preferred Executable Format is a file format that specifies the format of executable files and other object code. PEF executables are also called Code Fragment Manager files (CFM).
PEF was developed by Apple Computer for use in its Mac OS operating system. It was optimised for RISC processors. In Mac OS X, the Mach-O file format is the native executable format. However, PEF is still supported on PowerPC-based Macintoshes and is used by some Carbon applications ported from earlier Mac OS versions.
On June 6, 2005 at the annual WWDC, Apple Computer announced that Macintoshes would be switching to the Intel processor starting on June 6, 2006. As a result of the switch, PEF was deprecated and it was announced that the PEF binary format would not be supported on Intel Macintoshes except through the Rosetta PowerPC emulation software.