Question: Does the archiver use the default suffix .obj for object files

Answer: Unlike what the manual says, in v5.0 of the tools, the archiver does not accept the default suffix .obj when creating an archive:

        $ ar30 -a mylib test
        TMS320C3x/4x Archiver                   Version 5.00
        Copyright (c) 1987-1997 Texas Instruments Incorporated
        ==>  new archive 'mylib.lib'
        -->  error: 'test' not found
        ==>  building archive 'mylib.lib'
        $ dir
        mylib.lib  test.asm   test.c     test.obj