1 \input texinfo @c -*- Texinfo -*-
2 @setfilename binutils.info
3 @settitle @sc{gnu} Binary Utilities
12 @c man begin COPYRIGHT
13 Copyright @copyright{} 1991-2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
15 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
16 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
17 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
18 with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no
19 Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the
20 section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''.
25 @dircategory Software development
27 * Binutils: (binutils). The GNU binary utilities.
30 @dircategory Individual utilities
32 * addr2line: (binutils)addr2line. Convert addresses to file and line.
33 * ar: (binutils)ar. Create, modify, and extract from archives.
34 * c++filt: (binutils)c++filt. Filter to demangle encoded C++ symbols.
35 * cxxfilt: (binutils)c++filt. MS-DOS name for c++filt.
36 * dlltool: (binutils)dlltool. Create files needed to build and use DLLs.
37 * nlmconv: (binutils)nlmconv. Converts object code into an NLM.
38 * nm: (binutils)nm. List symbols from object files.
39 * objcopy: (binutils)objcopy. Copy and translate object files.
40 * objdump: (binutils)objdump. Display information from object files.
41 * ranlib: (binutils)ranlib. Generate index to archive contents.
42 * readelf: (binutils)readelf. Display the contents of ELF format files.
43 * size: (binutils)size. List section sizes and total size.
44 * strings: (binutils)strings. List printable strings from files.
45 * strip: (binutils)strip. Discard symbols.
46 * elfedit: (binutils)elfedit. Update the ELF header of ELF files.
47 * windmc: (binutils)windmc. Generator for Windows message resources.
48 * windres: (binutils)windres. Manipulate Windows resources.
52 @title The @sc{gnu} Binary Utilities
53 @ifset VERSION_PACKAGE
54 @subtitle @value{VERSION_PACKAGE}
56 @subtitle Version @value{VERSION}
58 @subtitle @value{UPDATED}
59 @author Roland H. Pesch
60 @author Jeffrey M. Osier
61 @author Cygnus Support
65 {\parskip=0pt \hfill Cygnus Support\par \hfill
66 Texinfo \texinfoversion\par }
69 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
78 This brief manual contains documentation for the @sc{gnu} binary
80 @ifset VERSION_PACKAGE
81 @value{VERSION_PACKAGE}
83 version @value{VERSION}:
88 Create, modify, and extract from archives
91 List symbols from object files
94 Copy and translate object files
97 Display information from object files
100 Generate index to archive contents
103 Display the contents of ELF format files.
106 List file section sizes and total size
109 List printable strings from files
115 Update the ELF header of ELF files.
118 Demangle encoded C++ symbols (on MS-DOS, this program is named
122 Convert addresses into file names and line numbers
125 Convert object code into a Netware Loadable Module
128 Manipulate Windows resources
131 Generator for Windows message resources
134 Create the files needed to build and use Dynamic Link Libraries
138 This document is distributed under the terms of the GNU Free
139 Documentation License version 1.3. A copy of the license is included
140 in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''.
143 * ar:: Create, modify, and extract from archives
144 * nm:: List symbols from object files
145 * objcopy:: Copy and translate object files
146 * objdump:: Display information from object files
147 * ranlib:: Generate index to archive contents
148 * size:: List section sizes and total size
149 * strings:: List printable strings from files
150 * strip:: Discard symbols
151 * c++filt:: Filter to demangle encoded C++ symbols
152 * cxxfilt: c++filt. MS-DOS name for c++filt
153 * addr2line:: Convert addresses to file and line
154 * nlmconv:: Converts object code into an NLM
155 * windmc:: Generator for Windows message resources
156 * windres:: Manipulate Windows resources
157 * dlltool:: Create files needed to build and use DLLs
158 * readelf:: Display the contents of ELF format files
159 * elfedit:: Update the ELF header of ELF files
160 * Common Options:: Command-line options for all utilities
161 * Selecting the Target System:: How these utilities determine the target
162 * Reporting Bugs:: Reporting Bugs
163 * GNU Free Documentation License:: GNU Free Documentation License
164 * Binutils Index:: Binutils Index
172 @cindex collections of files
174 @c man title ar create, modify, and extract from archives
177 ar [-]@var{p}[@var{mod}] [@option{--plugin} @var{name}] [@option{--target} @var{bfdname}] [@var{relpos}] [@var{count}] @var{archive} [@var{member}@dots{}]
178 ar -M [ <mri-script ]
181 @c man begin DESCRIPTION ar
183 The @sc{gnu} @command{ar} program creates, modifies, and extracts from
184 archives. An @dfn{archive} is a single file holding a collection of
185 other files in a structure that makes it possible to retrieve
186 the original individual files (called @dfn{members} of the archive).
188 The original files' contents, mode (permissions), timestamp, owner, and
189 group are preserved in the archive, and can be restored on
193 @sc{gnu} @command{ar} can maintain archives whose members have names of any
194 length; however, depending on how @command{ar} is configured on your
195 system, a limit on member-name length may be imposed for compatibility
196 with archive formats maintained with other tools. If it exists, the
197 limit is often 15 characters (typical of formats related to a.out) or 16
198 characters (typical of formats related to coff).
201 @command{ar} is considered a binary utility because archives of this sort
202 are most often used as @dfn{libraries} holding commonly needed
206 @command{ar} creates an index to the symbols defined in relocatable
207 object modules in the archive when you specify the modifier @samp{s}.
208 Once created, this index is updated in the archive whenever @command{ar}
209 makes a change to its contents (save for the @samp{q} update operation).
210 An archive with such an index speeds up linking to the library, and
211 allows routines in the library to call each other without regard to
212 their placement in the archive.
214 You may use @samp{nm -s} or @samp{nm --print-armap} to list this index
215 table. If an archive lacks the table, another form of @command{ar} called
216 @command{ranlib} can be used to add just the table.
218 @cindex thin archives
219 @sc{gnu} @command{ar} can optionally create a @emph{thin} archive,
220 which contains a symbol index and references to the original copies
221 of the member files of the archive. This is useful for building
222 libraries for use within a local build tree, where the relocatable
223 objects are expected to remain available, and copying the contents of
224 each object would only waste time and space.
226 An archive can either be @emph{thin} or it can be normal. It cannot
227 be both at the same time. Once an archive is created its format
228 cannot be changed without first deleting it and then creating a new
229 archive in its place.
231 Thin archives are also @emph{flattened}, so that adding one thin
232 archive to another thin archive does not nest it, as would happen with
233 a normal archive. Instead the elements of the first archive are added
234 individually to the second archive.
236 The paths to the elements of the archive are stored relative to the
239 @cindex compatibility, @command{ar}
240 @cindex @command{ar} compatibility
241 @sc{gnu} @command{ar} is designed to be compatible with two different
242 facilities. You can control its activity using command-line options,
243 like the different varieties of @command{ar} on Unix systems; or, if you
244 specify the single command-line option @option{-M}, you can control it
245 with a script supplied via standard input, like the MRI ``librarian''
251 * ar cmdline:: Controlling @command{ar} on the command line
252 * ar scripts:: Controlling @command{ar} with a script
257 @section Controlling @command{ar} on the Command Line
260 @c man begin SYNOPSIS ar
261 ar [@option{-X32_64}] [@option{-}]@var{p}[@var{mod}] [@option{--plugin} @var{name}] [@option{--target} @var{bfdname}] [@var{relpos}] [@var{count}] @var{archive} [@var{member}@dots{}]
265 @cindex Unix compatibility, @command{ar}
266 When you use @command{ar} in the Unix style, @command{ar} insists on at least two
267 arguments to execute: one keyletter specifying the @emph{operation}
268 (optionally accompanied by other keyletters specifying
269 @emph{modifiers}), and the archive name to act on.
271 Most operations can also accept further @var{member} arguments,
272 specifying particular files to operate on.
274 @c man begin OPTIONS ar
276 @sc{gnu} @command{ar} allows you to mix the operation code @var{p} and modifier
277 flags @var{mod} in any order, within the first command-line argument.
279 If you wish, you may begin the first command-line argument with a
282 @cindex operations on archive
283 The @var{p} keyletter specifies what operation to execute; it may be
284 any of the following, but you must specify only one of them:
288 @cindex deleting from archive
289 @emph{Delete} modules from the archive. Specify the names of modules to
290 be deleted as @var{member}@dots{}; the archive is untouched if you
291 specify no files to delete.
293 If you specify the @samp{v} modifier, @command{ar} lists each module
297 @cindex moving in archive
298 Use this operation to @emph{move} members in an archive.
300 The ordering of members in an archive can make a difference in how
301 programs are linked using the library, if a symbol is defined in more
304 If no modifiers are used with @code{m}, any members you name in the
305 @var{member} arguments are moved to the @emph{end} of the archive;
306 you can use the @samp{a}, @samp{b}, or @samp{i} modifiers to move them to a
307 specified place instead.
310 @cindex printing from archive
311 @emph{Print} the specified members of the archive, to the standard
312 output file. If the @samp{v} modifier is specified, show the member
313 name before copying its contents to standard output.
315 If you specify no @var{member} arguments, all the files in the archive are
319 @cindex quick append to archive
320 @emph{Quick append}; Historically, add the files @var{member}@dots{} to the end of
321 @var{archive}, without checking for replacement.
323 The modifiers @samp{a}, @samp{b}, and @samp{i} do @emph{not} affect this
324 operation; new members are always placed at the end of the archive.
326 The modifier @samp{v} makes @command{ar} list each file as it is appended.
328 Since the point of this operation is speed, implementations of
329 @command{ar} have the option of not updating the archive's symbol
330 table if one exists. Too many different systems however assume that
331 symbol tables are always up-to-date, so @sc{gnu} @command{ar} will
332 rebuild the table even with a quick append.
334 Note - @sc{gnu} @command{ar} treats the command @samp{qs} as a
335 synonym for @samp{r} - replacing already existing files in the
336 archive and appending new ones at the end.
339 @cindex replacement in archive
340 Insert the files @var{member}@dots{} into @var{archive} (with
341 @emph{replacement}). This operation differs from @samp{q} in that any
342 previously existing members are deleted if their names match those being
345 If one of the files named in @var{member}@dots{} does not exist, @command{ar}
346 displays an error message, and leaves undisturbed any existing members
347 of the archive matching that name.
349 By default, new members are added at the end of the file; but you may
350 use one of the modifiers @samp{a}, @samp{b}, or @samp{i} to request
351 placement relative to some existing member.
353 The modifier @samp{v} used with this operation elicits a line of
354 output for each file inserted, along with one of the letters @samp{a} or
355 @samp{r} to indicate whether the file was appended (no old member
356 deleted) or replaced.
360 Add an index to the archive, or update it if it already exists. Note
361 this command is an exception to the rule that there can only be one
362 command letter, as it is possible to use it as either a command or a
363 modifier. In either case it does the same thing.
366 @cindex contents of archive
367 Display a @emph{table} listing the contents of @var{archive}, or those
368 of the files listed in @var{member}@dots{} that are present in the
369 archive. Normally only the member name is shown; if you also want to
370 see the modes (permissions), timestamp, owner, group, and size, you can
371 request that by also specifying the @samp{v} modifier.
373 If you do not specify a @var{member}, all files in the archive
376 @cindex repeated names in archive
377 @cindex name duplication in archive
378 If there is more than one file with the same name (say, @samp{fie}) in
379 an archive (say @samp{b.a}), @samp{ar t b.a fie} lists only the
380 first instance; to see them all, you must ask for a complete
381 listing---in our example, @samp{ar t b.a}.
382 @c WRS only; per Gumby, this is implementation-dependent, and in a more
383 @c recent case in fact works the other way.
386 @cindex extract from archive
387 @emph{Extract} members (named @var{member}) from the archive. You can
388 use the @samp{v} modifier with this operation, to request that
389 @command{ar} list each name as it extracts it.
391 If you do not specify a @var{member}, all files in the archive
394 Files cannot be extracted from a thin archive.
397 Displays the list of command line options supported by @command{ar}
401 Displays the version information of @command{ar} and then exits.
405 A number of modifiers (@var{mod}) may immediately follow the @var{p}
406 keyletter, to specify variations on an operation's behavior:
410 @cindex relative placement in archive
411 Add new files @emph{after} an existing member of the
412 archive. If you use the modifier @samp{a}, the name of an existing archive
413 member must be present as the @var{relpos} argument, before the
414 @var{archive} specification.
417 Add new files @emph{before} an existing member of the
418 archive. If you use the modifier @samp{b}, the name of an existing archive
419 member must be present as the @var{relpos} argument, before the
420 @var{archive} specification. (same as @samp{i}).
423 @cindex creating archives
424 @emph{Create} the archive. The specified @var{archive} is always
425 created if it did not exist, when you request an update. But a warning is
426 issued unless you specify in advance that you expect to create it, by
430 @cindex deterministic archives
431 @kindex --enable-deterministic-archives
432 Operate in @emph{deterministic} mode. When adding files and the archive
433 index use zero for UIDs, GIDs, timestamps, and use consistent file modes
434 for all files. When this option is used, if @command{ar} is used with
435 identical options and identical input files, multiple runs will create
436 identical output files regardless of the input files' owners, groups,
437 file modes, or modification times.
439 If @file{binutils} was configured with
440 @option{--enable-deterministic-archives}, then this mode is on by default.
441 It can be disabled with the @samp{U} modifier, below.
444 Truncate names in the archive. @sc{gnu} @command{ar} will normally permit file
445 names of any length. This will cause it to create archives which are
446 not compatible with the native @command{ar} program on some systems. If
447 this is a concern, the @samp{f} modifier may be used to truncate file
448 names when putting them in the archive.
451 Insert new files @emph{before} an existing member of the
452 archive. If you use the modifier @samp{i}, the name of an existing archive
453 member must be present as the @var{relpos} argument, before the
454 @var{archive} specification. (same as @samp{b}).
457 This modifier is accepted but not used.
458 @c whaffor ar l modifier??? presumably compat; with
459 @c what???---doc@@cygnus.com, 25jan91
462 Uses the @var{count} parameter. This is used if there are multiple
463 entries in the archive with the same name. Extract or delete instance
464 @var{count} of the given name from the archive.
467 @cindex dates in archive
468 Preserve the @emph{original} dates of members when extracting them. If
469 you do not specify this modifier, files extracted from the archive
470 are stamped with the time of extraction.
473 Use the full path name when matching names in the archive. @sc{gnu}
474 @command{ar} can not create an archive with a full path name (such archives
475 are not POSIX complaint), but other archive creators can. This option
476 will cause @sc{gnu} @command{ar} to match file names using a complete path
477 name, which can be convenient when extracting a single file from an
478 archive created by another tool.
481 @cindex writing archive index
482 Write an object-file index into the archive, or update an existing one,
483 even if no other change is made to the archive. You may use this modifier
484 flag either with any operation, or alone. Running @samp{ar s} on an
485 archive is equivalent to running @samp{ranlib} on it.
488 @cindex not writing archive index
489 Do not generate an archive symbol table. This can speed up building a
490 large library in several steps. The resulting archive can not be used
491 with the linker. In order to build a symbol table, you must omit the
492 @samp{S} modifier on the last execution of @samp{ar}, or you must run
493 @samp{ranlib} on the archive.
496 @cindex creating thin archive
497 Make the specified @var{archive} a @emph{thin} archive. If it already
498 exists and is a regular archive, the existing members must be present
499 in the same directory as @var{archive}.
502 @cindex updating an archive
503 Normally, @samp{ar r}@dots{} inserts all files
504 listed into the archive. If you would like to insert @emph{only} those
505 of the files you list that are newer than existing members of the same
506 names, use this modifier. The @samp{u} modifier is allowed only for the
507 operation @samp{r} (replace). In particular, the combination @samp{qu} is
508 not allowed, since checking the timestamps would lose any speed
509 advantage from the operation @samp{q}.
512 @cindex deterministic archives
513 @kindex --enable-deterministic-archives
514 Do @emph{not} operate in @emph{deterministic} mode. This is the inverse
515 of the @samp{D} modifier, above: added files and the archive index will
516 get their actual UID, GID, timestamp, and file mode values.
518 This is the default unless @file{binutils} was configured with
519 @option{--enable-deterministic-archives}.
522 This modifier requests the @emph{verbose} version of an operation. Many
523 operations display additional information, such as filenames processed,
524 when the modifier @samp{v} is appended.
527 This modifier shows the version number of @command{ar}.
530 @command{ar} ignores an initial option spelt @samp{-X32_64}, for
531 compatibility with AIX. The behaviour produced by this option is the
532 default for @sc{gnu} @command{ar}. @command{ar} does not support any of the other
533 @samp{-X} options; in particular, it does not support @option{-X32}
534 which is the default for AIX @command{ar}.
536 The optional command line switch @option{--plugin} @var{name} causes
537 @command{ar} to load the plugin called @var{name} which adds support
538 for more file formats. This option is only available if the toolchain
539 has been built with plugin support enabled.
541 The optional command line switch @option{--target} @var{bfdname}
542 specifies that the archive members are in an object code format
543 different from your system's default format. See
544 @xref{Target Selection}, for more information.
549 @c man begin SEEALSO ar
550 nm(1), ranlib(1), and the Info entries for @file{binutils}.
555 @section Controlling @command{ar} with a Script
558 ar -M [ <@var{script} ]
561 @cindex MRI compatibility, @command{ar}
562 @cindex scripts, @command{ar}
563 If you use the single command-line option @samp{-M} with @command{ar}, you
564 can control its operation with a rudimentary command language. This
565 form of @command{ar} operates interactively if standard input is coming
566 directly from a terminal. During interactive use, @command{ar} prompts for
567 input (the prompt is @samp{AR >}), and continues executing even after
568 errors. If you redirect standard input to a script file, no prompts are
569 issued, and @command{ar} abandons execution (with a nonzero exit code)
572 The @command{ar} command language is @emph{not} designed to be equivalent
573 to the command-line options; in fact, it provides somewhat less control
574 over archives. The only purpose of the command language is to ease the
575 transition to @sc{gnu} @command{ar} for developers who already have scripts
576 written for the MRI ``librarian'' program.
578 The syntax for the @command{ar} command language is straightforward:
581 commands are recognized in upper or lower case; for example, @code{LIST}
582 is the same as @code{list}. In the following descriptions, commands are
583 shown in upper case for clarity.
586 a single command may appear on each line; it is the first word on the
590 empty lines are allowed, and have no effect.
593 comments are allowed; text after either of the characters @samp{*}
594 or @samp{;} is ignored.
597 Whenever you use a list of names as part of the argument to an @command{ar}
598 command, you can separate the individual names with either commas or
599 blanks. Commas are shown in the explanations below, for clarity.
602 @samp{+} is used as a line continuation character; if @samp{+} appears
603 at the end of a line, the text on the following line is considered part
604 of the current command.
607 Here are the commands you can use in @command{ar} scripts, or when using
608 @command{ar} interactively. Three of them have special significance:
610 @code{OPEN} or @code{CREATE} specify a @dfn{current archive}, which is
611 a temporary file required for most of the other commands.
613 @code{SAVE} commits the changes so far specified by the script. Prior
614 to @code{SAVE}, commands affect only the temporary copy of the current
618 @item ADDLIB @var{archive}
619 @itemx ADDLIB @var{archive} (@var{module}, @var{module}, @dots{} @var{module})
620 Add all the contents of @var{archive} (or, if specified, each named
621 @var{module} from @var{archive}) to the current archive.
623 Requires prior use of @code{OPEN} or @code{CREATE}.
625 @item ADDMOD @var{member}, @var{member}, @dots{} @var{member}
626 @c FIXME! w/Replacement?? If so, like "ar r @var{archive} @var{names}"
627 @c else like "ar q..."
628 Add each named @var{member} as a module in the current archive.
630 Requires prior use of @code{OPEN} or @code{CREATE}.
633 Discard the contents of the current archive, canceling the effect of
634 any operations since the last @code{SAVE}. May be executed (with no
635 effect) even if no current archive is specified.
637 @item CREATE @var{archive}
638 Creates an archive, and makes it the current archive (required for many
639 other commands). The new archive is created with a temporary name; it
640 is not actually saved as @var{archive} until you use @code{SAVE}.
641 You can overwrite existing archives; similarly, the contents of any
642 existing file named @var{archive} will not be destroyed until @code{SAVE}.
644 @item DELETE @var{module}, @var{module}, @dots{} @var{module}
645 Delete each listed @var{module} from the current archive; equivalent to
646 @samp{ar -d @var{archive} @var{module} @dots{} @var{module}}.
648 Requires prior use of @code{OPEN} or @code{CREATE}.
650 @item DIRECTORY @var{archive} (@var{module}, @dots{} @var{module})
651 @itemx DIRECTORY @var{archive} (@var{module}, @dots{} @var{module}) @var{outputfile}
652 List each named @var{module} present in @var{archive}. The separate
653 command @code{VERBOSE} specifies the form of the output: when verbose
654 output is off, output is like that of @samp{ar -t @var{archive}
655 @var{module}@dots{}}. When verbose output is on, the listing is like
656 @samp{ar -tv @var{archive} @var{module}@dots{}}.
658 Output normally goes to the standard output stream; however, if you
659 specify @var{outputfile} as a final argument, @command{ar} directs the
663 Exit from @command{ar}, with a @code{0} exit code to indicate successful
664 completion. This command does not save the output file; if you have
665 changed the current archive since the last @code{SAVE} command, those
668 @item EXTRACT @var{module}, @var{module}, @dots{} @var{module}
669 Extract each named @var{module} from the current archive, writing them
670 into the current directory as separate files. Equivalent to @samp{ar -x
671 @var{archive} @var{module}@dots{}}.
673 Requires prior use of @code{OPEN} or @code{CREATE}.
676 @c FIXME Tokens but no commands???
683 Display full contents of the current archive, in ``verbose'' style
684 regardless of the state of @code{VERBOSE}. The effect is like @samp{ar
685 tv @var{archive}}. (This single command is a @sc{gnu} @command{ar}
686 enhancement, rather than present for MRI compatibility.)
688 Requires prior use of @code{OPEN} or @code{CREATE}.
690 @item OPEN @var{archive}
691 Opens an existing archive for use as the current archive (required for
692 many other commands). Any changes as the result of subsequent commands
693 will not actually affect @var{archive} until you next use @code{SAVE}.
695 @item REPLACE @var{module}, @var{module}, @dots{} @var{module}
696 In the current archive, replace each existing @var{module} (named in
697 the @code{REPLACE} arguments) from files in the current working directory.
698 To execute this command without errors, both the file, and the module in
699 the current archive, must exist.
701 Requires prior use of @code{OPEN} or @code{CREATE}.
704 Toggle an internal flag governing the output from @code{DIRECTORY}.
705 When the flag is on, @code{DIRECTORY} output matches output from
706 @samp{ar -tv }@dots{}.
709 Commit your changes to the current archive, and actually save it as a
710 file with the name specified in the last @code{CREATE} or @code{OPEN}
713 Requires prior use of @code{OPEN} or @code{CREATE}.
722 The @sc{gnu} linker @command{ld} is now described in a separate manual.
723 @xref{Top,, Overview,, Using LD: the @sc{gnu} linker}.
731 @c man title nm list symbols from object files
734 @c man begin SYNOPSIS nm
735 nm [@option{-A}|@option{-o}|@option{--print-file-name}] [@option{-a}|@option{--debug-syms}]
736 [@option{-B}|@option{--format=bsd}] [@option{-C}|@option{--demangle}[=@var{style}]]
737 [@option{-D}|@option{--dynamic}] [@option{-f}@var{format}|@option{--format=}@var{format}]
738 [@option{-g}|@option{--extern-only}] [@option{-h}|@option{--help}]
739 [@option{-l}|@option{--line-numbers}] [@option{-n}|@option{-v}|@option{--numeric-sort}]
740 [@option{-P}|@option{--portability}] [@option{-p}|@option{--no-sort}]
741 [@option{-r}|@option{--reverse-sort}] [@option{-S}|@option{--print-size}]
742 [@option{-s}|@option{--print-armap}] [@option{-t} @var{radix}|@option{--radix=}@var{radix}]
743 [@option{-u}|@option{--undefined-only}] [@option{-V}|@option{--version}]
744 [@option{-X 32_64}] [@option{--defined-only}] [@option{--no-demangle}]
745 [@option{--plugin} @var{name}] [@option{--size-sort}] [@option{--special-syms}]
746 [@option{--synthetic}] [@option{--target=}@var{bfdname}]
747 [@var{objfile}@dots{}]
751 @c man begin DESCRIPTION nm
752 @sc{gnu} @command{nm} lists the symbols from object files @var{objfile}@dots{}.
753 If no object files are listed as arguments, @command{nm} assumes the file
756 For each symbol, @command{nm} shows:
760 The symbol value, in the radix selected by options (see below), or
761 hexadecimal by default.
764 The symbol type. At least the following types are used; others are, as
765 well, depending on the object file format. If lowercase, the symbol is
766 usually local; if uppercase, the symbol is global (external). There
767 are however a few lowercase symbols that are shown for special global
768 symbols (@code{u}, @code{v} and @code{w}).
770 @c Some more detail on exactly what these symbol types are used for
774 The symbol's value is absolute, and will not be changed by further
779 The symbol is in the uninitialized data section (known as BSS).
782 The symbol is common. Common symbols are uninitialized data. When
783 linking, multiple common symbols may appear with the same name. If the
784 symbol is defined anywhere, the common symbols are treated as undefined
787 For more details on common symbols, see the discussion of
788 --warn-common in @ref{Options,,Linker options,ld.info,The GNU linker}.
793 The symbol is in the initialized data section.
797 The symbol is in an initialized data section for small objects. Some
798 object file formats permit more efficient access to small data objects,
799 such as a global int variable as opposed to a large global array.
802 For PE format files this indicates that the symbol is in a section
803 specific to the implementation of DLLs. For ELF format files this
804 indicates that the symbol is an indirect function. This is a GNU
805 extension to the standard set of ELF symbol types. It indicates a
806 symbol which if referenced by a relocation does not evaluate to its
807 address, but instead must be invoked at runtime. The runtime
808 execution will then return the value to be used in the relocation.
811 The symbol is an indirect reference to another symbol.
814 The symbol is a debugging symbol.
817 The symbols is in a stack unwind section.
821 The symbol is in a read only data section.
825 The symbol is in an uninitialized data section for small objects.
829 The symbol is in the text (code) section.
832 The symbol is undefined.
835 The symbol is a unique global symbol. This is a GNU extension to the
836 standard set of ELF symbol bindings. For such a symbol the dynamic linker
837 will make sure that in the entire process there is just one symbol with
838 this name and type in use.
842 The symbol is a weak object. When a weak defined symbol is linked with
843 a normal defined symbol, the normal defined symbol is used with no error.
844 When a weak undefined symbol is linked and the symbol is not defined,
845 the value of the weak symbol becomes zero with no error. On some
846 systems, uppercase indicates that a default value has been specified.
850 The symbol is a weak symbol that has not been specifically tagged as a
851 weak object symbol. When a weak defined symbol is linked with a normal
852 defined symbol, the normal defined symbol is used with no error.
853 When a weak undefined symbol is linked and the symbol is not defined,
854 the value of the symbol is determined in a system-specific manner without
855 error. On some systems, uppercase indicates that a default value has been
859 The symbol is a stabs symbol in an a.out object file. In this case, the
860 next values printed are the stabs other field, the stabs desc field, and
861 the stab type. Stabs symbols are used to hold debugging information.
864 The symbol type is unknown, or object file format specific.
873 @c man begin OPTIONS nm
874 The long and short forms of options, shown here as alternatives, are
880 @itemx --print-file-name
881 @cindex input file name
883 @cindex source file name
884 Precede each symbol by the name of the input file (or archive member)
885 in which it was found, rather than identifying the input file once only,
886 before all of its symbols.
890 @cindex debugging symbols
891 Display all symbols, even debugger-only symbols; normally these are not
895 @cindex @command{nm} format
896 @cindex @command{nm} compatibility
897 The same as @option{--format=bsd} (for compatibility with the MIPS @command{nm}).
900 @itemx --demangle[=@var{style}]
901 @cindex demangling in nm
902 Decode (@dfn{demangle}) low-level symbol names into user-level names.
903 Besides removing any initial underscore prepended by the system, this
904 makes C++ function names readable. Different compilers have different
905 mangling styles. The optional demangling style argument can be used to
906 choose an appropriate demangling style for your compiler. @xref{c++filt},
907 for more information on demangling.
910 Do not demangle low-level symbol names. This is the default.
914 @cindex dynamic symbols
915 Display the dynamic symbols rather than the normal symbols. This is
916 only meaningful for dynamic objects, such as certain types of shared
919 @item -f @var{format}
920 @itemx --format=@var{format}
921 @cindex @command{nm} format
922 @cindex @command{nm} compatibility
923 Use the output format @var{format}, which can be @code{bsd},
924 @code{sysv}, or @code{posix}. The default is @code{bsd}.
925 Only the first character of @var{format} is significant; it can be
926 either upper or lower case.
930 @cindex external symbols
931 Display only external symbols.
935 Show a summary of the options to @command{nm} and exit.
938 @itemx --line-numbers
939 @cindex symbol line numbers
940 For each symbol, use debugging information to try to find a filename and
941 line number. For a defined symbol, look for the line number of the
942 address of the symbol. For an undefined symbol, look for the line
943 number of a relocation entry which refers to the symbol. If line number
944 information can be found, print it after the other symbol information.
948 @itemx --numeric-sort
949 Sort symbols numerically by their addresses, rather than alphabetically
954 @cindex sorting symbols
955 Do not bother to sort the symbols in any order; print them in the order
960 Use the POSIX.2 standard output format instead of the default format.
961 Equivalent to @samp{-f posix}.
964 @itemx --reverse-sort
965 Reverse the order of the sort (whether numeric or alphabetic); let the
970 Print both value and size of defined symbols for the @code{bsd} output style.
971 This option has no effect for object formats that do not record symbol
972 sizes, unless @samp{--size-sort} is also used in which case a
973 calculated size is displayed.
977 @cindex symbol index, listing
978 When listing symbols from archive members, include the index: a mapping
979 (stored in the archive by @command{ar} or @command{ranlib}) of which modules
980 contain definitions for which names.
983 @itemx --radix=@var{radix}
984 Use @var{radix} as the radix for printing the symbol values. It must be
985 @samp{d} for decimal, @samp{o} for octal, or @samp{x} for hexadecimal.
988 @itemx --undefined-only
989 @cindex external symbols
990 @cindex undefined symbols
991 Display only undefined symbols (those external to each object file).
995 Show the version number of @command{nm} and exit.
998 This option is ignored for compatibility with the AIX version of
999 @command{nm}. It takes one parameter which must be the string
1000 @option{32_64}. The default mode of AIX @command{nm} corresponds
1001 to @option{-X 32}, which is not supported by @sc{gnu} @command{nm}.
1003 @item --defined-only
1004 @cindex external symbols
1005 @cindex undefined symbols
1006 Display only defined symbols for each object file.
1008 @item --plugin @var{name}
1010 Load the plugin called @var{name} to add support for extra target
1011 types. This option is only available if the toolchain has been built
1012 with plugin support enabled.
1015 Sort symbols by size. For ELF objects symbol sizes are read from the
1016 ELF, for other object types the symbol sizes are computed as the
1017 difference between the value of the symbol and the value of the symbol
1018 with the next higher value. If the @code{bsd} output format is used
1019 the size of the symbol is printed, rather than the value, and
1020 @samp{-S} must be used in order both size and value to be printed.
1022 @item --special-syms
1023 Display symbols which have a target-specific special meaning. These
1024 symbols are usually used by the target for some special processing and
1025 are not normally helpful when included in the normal symbol lists.
1026 For example for ARM targets this option would skip the mapping symbols
1027 used to mark transitions between ARM code, THUMB code and data.
1030 Include synthetic symbols in the output. These are special symbols
1031 created by the linker for various purposes. They are not shown by
1032 default since they are not part of the binary's original source code.
1034 @item --target=@var{bfdname}
1035 @cindex object code format
1036 Specify an object code format other than your system's default format.
1037 @xref{Target Selection}, for more information.
1044 @c man begin SEEALSO nm
1045 ar(1), objdump(1), ranlib(1), and the Info entries for @file{binutils}.
1052 @c man title objcopy copy and translate object files
1055 @c man begin SYNOPSIS objcopy
1056 objcopy [@option{-F} @var{bfdname}|@option{--target=}@var{bfdname}]
1057 [@option{-I} @var{bfdname}|@option{--input-target=}@var{bfdname}]
1058 [@option{-O} @var{bfdname}|@option{--output-target=}@var{bfdname}]
1059 [@option{-B} @var{bfdarch}|@option{--binary-architecture=}@var{bfdarch}]
1060 [@option{-S}|@option{--strip-all}]
1061 [@option{-g}|@option{--strip-debug}]
1062 [@option{-K} @var{symbolname}|@option{--keep-symbol=}@var{symbolname}]
1063 [@option{-N} @var{symbolname}|@option{--strip-symbol=}@var{symbolname}]
1064 [@option{--strip-unneeded-symbol=}@var{symbolname}]
1065 [@option{-G} @var{symbolname}|@option{--keep-global-symbol=}@var{symbolname}]
1066 [@option{--localize-hidden}]
1067 [@option{-L} @var{symbolname}|@option{--localize-symbol=}@var{symbolname}]
1068 [@option{--globalize-symbol=}@var{symbolname}]
1069 [@option{-W} @var{symbolname}|@option{--weaken-symbol=}@var{symbolname}]
1070 [@option{-w}|@option{--wildcard}]
1071 [@option{-x}|@option{--discard-all}]
1072 [@option{-X}|@option{--discard-locals}]
1073 [@option{-b} @var{byte}|@option{--byte=}@var{byte}]
1074 [@option{-i} [@var{breadth}]|@option{--interleave}[=@var{breadth}]]
1075 [@option{--interleave-width=}@var{width}]
1076 [@option{-j} @var{sectionpattern}|@option{--only-section=}@var{sectionpattern}]
1077 [@option{-R} @var{sectionpattern}|@option{--remove-section=}@var{sectionpattern}]
1078 [@option{--remove-relocations=}@var{sectionpattern}]
1079 [@option{-p}|@option{--preserve-dates}]
1080 [@option{-D}|@option{--enable-deterministic-archives}]
1081 [@option{-U}|@option{--disable-deterministic-archives}]
1082 [@option{--debugging}]
1083 [@option{--gap-fill=}@var{val}]
1084 [@option{--pad-to=}@var{address}]
1085 [@option{--set-start=}@var{val}]
1086 [@option{--adjust-start=}@var{incr}]
1087 [@option{--change-addresses=}@var{incr}]
1088 [@option{--change-section-address} @var{sectionpattern}@{=,+,-@}@var{val}]
1089 [@option{--change-section-lma} @var{sectionpattern}@{=,+,-@}@var{val}]
1090 [@option{--change-section-vma} @var{sectionpattern}@{=,+,-@}@var{val}]
1091 [@option{--change-warnings}] [@option{--no-change-warnings}]
1092 [@option{--set-section-flags} @var{sectionpattern}=@var{flags}]
1093 [@option{--add-section} @var{sectionname}=@var{filename}]
1094 [@option{--dump-section} @var{sectionname}=@var{filename}]
1095 [@option{--update-section} @var{sectionname}=@var{filename}]
1096 [@option{--rename-section} @var{oldname}=@var{newname}[,@var{flags}]]
1097 [@option{--long-section-names} @{enable,disable,keep@}]
1098 [@option{--change-leading-char}] [@option{--remove-leading-char}]
1099 [@option{--reverse-bytes=}@var{num}]
1100 [@option{--srec-len=}@var{ival}] [@option{--srec-forceS3}]
1101 [@option{--redefine-sym} @var{old}=@var{new}]
1102 [@option{--redefine-syms=}@var{filename}]
1104 [@option{--keep-symbols=}@var{filename}]
1105 [@option{--strip-symbols=}@var{filename}]
1106 [@option{--strip-unneeded-symbols=}@var{filename}]
1107 [@option{--keep-global-symbols=}@var{filename}]
1108 [@option{--localize-symbols=}@var{filename}]
1109 [@option{--globalize-symbols=}@var{filename}]
1110 [@option{--weaken-symbols=}@var{filename}]
1111 [@option{--add-symbol} @var{name}=[@var{section}:]@var{value}[,@var{flags}]
1112 [@option{--alt-machine-code=}@var{index}]
1113 [@option{--prefix-symbols=}@var{string}]
1114 [@option{--prefix-sections=}@var{string}]
1115 [@option{--prefix-alloc-sections=}@var{string}]
1116 [@option{--add-gnu-debuglink=}@var{path-to-file}]
1117 [@option{--keep-file-symbols}]
1118 [@option{--only-keep-debug}]
1119 [@option{--strip-dwo}]
1120 [@option{--extract-dwo}]
1121 [@option{--extract-symbol}]
1122 [@option{--writable-text}]
1123 [@option{--readonly-text}]
1126 [@option{--file-alignment=}@var{num}]
1127 [@option{--heap=}@var{size}]
1128 [@option{--image-base=}@var{address}]
1129 [@option{--section-alignment=}@var{num}]
1130 [@option{--stack=}@var{size}]
1131 [@option{--subsystem=}@var{which}:@var{major}.@var{minor}]
1132 [@option{--compress-debug-sections}]
1133 [@option{--decompress-debug-sections}]
1134 [@option{--elf-stt-common=@var{val}}]
1135 [@option{-v}|@option{--verbose}]
1136 [@option{-V}|@option{--version}]
1137 [@option{--help}] [@option{--info}]
1138 @var{infile} [@var{outfile}]
1142 @c man begin DESCRIPTION objcopy
1143 The @sc{gnu} @command{objcopy} utility copies the contents of an object
1144 file to another. @command{objcopy} uses the @sc{gnu} @sc{bfd} Library to
1145 read and write the object files. It can write the destination object
1146 file in a format different from that of the source object file. The
1147 exact behavior of @command{objcopy} is controlled by command-line options.
1148 Note that @command{objcopy} should be able to copy a fully linked file
1149 between any two formats. However, copying a relocatable object file
1150 between any two formats may not work as expected.
1152 @command{objcopy} creates temporary files to do its translations and
1153 deletes them afterward. @command{objcopy} uses @sc{bfd} to do all its
1154 translation work; it has access to all the formats described in @sc{bfd}
1155 and thus is able to recognize most formats without being told
1156 explicitly. @xref{BFD,,BFD,ld.info,Using LD}.
1158 @command{objcopy} can be used to generate S-records by using an output
1159 target of @samp{srec} (e.g., use @samp{-O srec}).
1161 @command{objcopy} can be used to generate a raw binary file by using an
1162 output target of @samp{binary} (e.g., use @option{-O binary}). When
1163 @command{objcopy} generates a raw binary file, it will essentially produce
1164 a memory dump of the contents of the input object file. All symbols and
1165 relocation information will be discarded. The memory dump will start at
1166 the load address of the lowest section copied into the output file.
1168 When generating an S-record or a raw binary file, it may be helpful to
1169 use @option{-S} to remove sections containing debugging information. In
1170 some cases @option{-R} will be useful to remove sections which contain
1171 information that is not needed by the binary file.
1173 Note---@command{objcopy} is not able to change the endianness of its input
1174 files. If the input format has an endianness (some formats do not),
1175 @command{objcopy} can only copy the inputs into file formats that have the
1176 same endianness or which have no endianness (e.g., @samp{srec}).
1177 (However, see the @option{--reverse-bytes} option.)
1181 @c man begin OPTIONS objcopy
1185 @itemx @var{outfile}
1186 The input and output files, respectively.
1187 If you do not specify @var{outfile}, @command{objcopy} creates a
1188 temporary file and destructively renames the result with
1189 the name of @var{infile}.
1191 @item -I @var{bfdname}
1192 @itemx --input-target=@var{bfdname}
1193 Consider the source file's object format to be @var{bfdname}, rather than
1194 attempting to deduce it. @xref{Target Selection}, for more information.
1196 @item -O @var{bfdname}
1197 @itemx --output-target=@var{bfdname}
1198 Write the output file using the object format @var{bfdname}.
1199 @xref{Target Selection}, for more information.
1201 @item -F @var{bfdname}
1202 @itemx --target=@var{bfdname}
1203 Use @var{bfdname} as the object format for both the input and the output
1204 file; i.e., simply transfer data from source to destination with no
1205 translation. @xref{Target Selection}, for more information.
1207 @item -B @var{bfdarch}
1208 @itemx --binary-architecture=@var{bfdarch}
1209 Useful when transforming a architecture-less input file into an object file.
1210 In this case the output architecture can be set to @var{bfdarch}. This
1211 option will be ignored if the input file has a known @var{bfdarch}. You
1212 can access this binary data inside a program by referencing the special
1213 symbols that are created by the conversion process. These symbols are
1214 called _binary_@var{objfile}_start, _binary_@var{objfile}_end and
1215 _binary_@var{objfile}_size. e.g. you can transform a picture file into
1216 an object file and then access it in your code using these symbols.
1218 @item -j @var{sectionpattern}
1219 @itemx --only-section=@var{sectionpattern}
1220 Copy only the indicated sections from the input file to the output file.
1221 This option may be given more than once. Note that using this option
1222 inappropriately may make the output file unusable. Wildcard
1223 characters are accepted in @var{sectionpattern}.
1225 If the first character of @var{sectionpattern} is the exclamation
1226 point (!) then matching sections will not be copied, even if earlier
1227 use of @option{--only-section} on the same command line would
1228 otherwise copy it. For example:
1231 --only-section=.text.* --only-section=!.text.foo
1234 will copy all sectinos maching '.text.*' but not the section
1237 @item -R @var{sectionpattern}
1238 @itemx --remove-section=@var{sectionpattern}
1239 Remove any section matching @var{sectionpattern} from the output file.
1240 This option may be given more than once. Note that using this option
1241 inappropriately may make the output file unusable. Wildcard
1242 characters are accepted in @var{sectionpattern}. Using both the
1243 @option{-j} and @option{-R} options together results in undefined
1246 If the first character of @var{sectionpattern} is the exclamation
1247 point (!) then matching sections will not be removed even if an
1248 earlier use of @option{--remove-section} on the same command line
1249 would otherwise remove it. For example:
1252 --remove-section=.text.* --remove-section=!.text.foo
1255 will remove all sections matching the pattern '.text.*', but will not
1256 remove the section '.text.foo'.
1258 @item --remove-relocations=@var{sectionpattern}
1259 Remove relocations from the output file for any section matching
1260 @var{sectionpattern}. This option may be given more than once. Note
1261 that using this option inappropriately may make the output file
1262 unusable. Wildcard characters are accepted in @var{sectionpattern}.
1266 --remove-relocations=.text.*
1269 will remove the relocations for all sections matching the patter
1272 If the first character of @var{sectionpattern} is the exclamation
1273 point (!) then matching sections will not have their relocation
1274 removed even if an earlier use of @option{--remove-relocations} on the
1275 same command line would otherwise cause the relocations to be removed.
1279 --remove-relocations=.text.* --remove-relocations=!.text.foo
1282 will remove all relocations for sections matching the pattern
1283 '.text.*', but will not remove relocations for the section
1288 Do not copy relocation and symbol information from the source file.
1291 @itemx --strip-debug
1292 Do not copy debugging symbols or sections from the source file.
1294 @item --strip-unneeded
1295 Strip all symbols that are not needed for relocation processing.
1297 @item -K @var{symbolname}
1298 @itemx --keep-symbol=@var{symbolname}
1299 When stripping symbols, keep symbol @var{symbolname} even if it would
1300 normally be stripped. This option may be given more than once.
1302 @item -N @var{symbolname}
1303 @itemx --strip-symbol=@var{symbolname}
1304 Do not copy symbol @var{symbolname} from the source file. This option
1305 may be given more than once.
1307 @item --strip-unneeded-symbol=@var{symbolname}
1308 Do not copy symbol @var{symbolname} from the source file unless it is needed
1309 by a relocation. This option may be given more than once.
1311 @item -G @var{symbolname}
1312 @itemx --keep-global-symbol=@var{symbolname}
1313 Keep only symbol @var{symbolname} global. Make all other symbols local
1314 to the file, so that they are not visible externally. This option may
1315 be given more than once.
1317 @item --localize-hidden
1318 In an ELF object, mark all symbols that have hidden or internal visibility
1319 as local. This option applies on top of symbol-specific localization options
1320 such as @option{-L}.
1322 @item -L @var{symbolname}
1323 @itemx --localize-symbol=@var{symbolname}
1324 Convert a global or weak symbol called @var{symbolname} into a local
1325 symbol, so that it is not visible externally. This option may be
1326 given more than once. Note - unique symbols are not converted.
1328 @item -W @var{symbolname}
1329 @itemx --weaken-symbol=@var{symbolname}
1330 Make symbol @var{symbolname} weak. This option may be given more than once.
1332 @item --globalize-symbol=@var{symbolname}
1333 Give symbol @var{symbolname} global scoping so that it is visible
1334 outside of the file in which it is defined. This option may be given
1339 Permit regular expressions in @var{symbolname}s used in other command
1340 line options. The question mark (?), asterisk (*), backslash (\) and
1341 square brackets ([]) operators can be used anywhere in the symbol
1342 name. If the first character of the symbol name is the exclamation
1343 point (!) then the sense of the switch is reversed for that symbol.
1350 would cause objcopy to weaken all symbols that start with ``fo''
1351 except for the symbol ``foo''.
1354 @itemx --discard-all
1355 Do not copy non-global symbols from the source file.
1356 @c FIXME any reason to prefer "non-global" to "local" here?
1359 @itemx --discard-locals
1360 Do not copy compiler-generated local symbols.
1361 (These usually start with @samp{L} or @samp{.}.)
1364 @itemx --byte=@var{byte}
1365 If interleaving has been enabled via the @option{--interleave} option
1366 then start the range of bytes to keep at the @var{byte}th byte.
1367 @var{byte} can be in the range from 0 to @var{breadth}-1, where
1368 @var{breadth} is the value given by the @option{--interleave} option.
1370 @item -i [@var{breadth}]
1371 @itemx --interleave[=@var{breadth}]
1372 Only copy a range out of every @var{breadth} bytes. (Header data is
1373 not affected). Select which byte in the range begins the copy with
1374 the @option{--byte} option. Select the width of the range with the
1375 @option{--interleave-width} option.
1377 This option is useful for creating files to program @sc{rom}. It is
1378 typically used with an @code{srec} output target. Note that
1379 @command{objcopy} will complain if you do not specify the
1380 @option{--byte} option as well.
1382 The default interleave breadth is 4, so with @option{--byte} set to 0,
1383 @command{objcopy} would copy the first byte out of every four bytes
1384 from the input to the output.
1386 @item --interleave-width=@var{width}
1387 When used with the @option{--interleave} option, copy @var{width}
1388 bytes at a time. The start of the range of bytes to be copied is set
1389 by the @option{--byte} option, and the extent of the range is set with
1390 the @option{--interleave} option.
1392 The default value for this option is 1. The value of @var{width} plus
1393 the @var{byte} value set by the @option{--byte} option must not exceed
1394 the interleave breadth set by the @option{--interleave} option.
1396 This option can be used to create images for two 16-bit flashes interleaved
1397 in a 32-bit bus by passing @option{-b 0 -i 4 --interleave-width=2}
1398 and @option{-b 2 -i 4 --interleave-width=2} to two @command{objcopy}
1399 commands. If the input was '12345678' then the outputs would be
1400 '1256' and '3478' respectively.
1403 @itemx --preserve-dates
1404 Set the access and modification dates of the output file to be the same
1405 as those of the input file.
1408 @itemx --enable-deterministic-archives
1409 @cindex deterministic archives
1410 @kindex --enable-deterministic-archives
1411 Operate in @emph{deterministic} mode. When copying archive members
1412 and writing the archive index, use zero for UIDs, GIDs, timestamps,
1413 and use consistent file modes for all files.
1415 If @file{binutils} was configured with
1416 @option{--enable-deterministic-archives}, then this mode is on by default.
1417 It can be disabled with the @samp{-U} option, below.
1420 @itemx --disable-deterministic-archives
1421 @cindex deterministic archives
1422 @kindex --enable-deterministic-archives
1423 Do @emph{not} operate in @emph{deterministic} mode. This is the
1424 inverse of the @option{-D} option, above: when copying archive members
1425 and writing the archive index, use their actual UID, GID, timestamp,
1426 and file mode values.
1428 This is the default unless @file{binutils} was configured with
1429 @option{--enable-deterministic-archives}.
1432 Convert debugging information, if possible. This is not the default
1433 because only certain debugging formats are supported, and the
1434 conversion process can be time consuming.
1436 @item --gap-fill @var{val}
1437 Fill gaps between sections with @var{val}. This operation applies to
1438 the @emph{load address} (LMA) of the sections. It is done by increasing
1439 the size of the section with the lower address, and filling in the extra
1440 space created with @var{val}.
1442 @item --pad-to @var{address}
1443 Pad the output file up to the load address @var{address}. This is
1444 done by increasing the size of the last section. The extra space is
1445 filled in with the value specified by @option{--gap-fill} (default zero).
1447 @item --set-start @var{val}
1448 Set the start address of the new file to @var{val}. Not all object file
1449 formats support setting the start address.
1451 @item --change-start @var{incr}
1452 @itemx --adjust-start @var{incr}
1453 @cindex changing start address
1454 Change the start address by adding @var{incr}. Not all object file
1455 formats support setting the start address.
1457 @item --change-addresses @var{incr}
1458 @itemx --adjust-vma @var{incr}
1459 @cindex changing object addresses
1460 Change the VMA and LMA addresses of all sections, as well as the start
1461 address, by adding @var{incr}. Some object file formats do not permit
1462 section addresses to be changed arbitrarily. Note that this does not
1463 relocate the sections; if the program expects sections to be loaded at a
1464 certain address, and this option is used to change the sections such
1465 that they are loaded at a different address, the program may fail.
1467 @item --change-section-address @var{sectionpattern}@{=,+,-@}@var{val}
1468 @itemx --adjust-section-vma @var{sectionpattern}@{=,+,-@}@var{val}
1469 @cindex changing section address
1470 Set or change both the VMA address and the LMA address of any section
1471 matching @var{sectionpattern}. If @samp{=} is used, the section
1472 address is set to @var{val}. Otherwise, @var{val} is added to or
1473 subtracted from the section address. See the comments under
1474 @option{--change-addresses}, above. If @var{sectionpattern} does not
1475 match any sections in the input file, a warning will be issued, unless
1476 @option{--no-change-warnings} is used.
1478 @item --change-section-lma @var{sectionpattern}@{=,+,-@}@var{val}
1479 @cindex changing section LMA
1480 Set or change the LMA address of any sections matching
1481 @var{sectionpattern}. The LMA address is the address where the
1482 section will be loaded into memory at program load time. Normally
1483 this is the same as the VMA address, which is the address of the
1484 section at program run time, but on some systems, especially those
1485 where a program is held in ROM, the two can be different. If @samp{=}
1486 is used, the section address is set to @var{val}. Otherwise,
1487 @var{val} is added to or subtracted from the section address. See the
1488 comments under @option{--change-addresses}, above. If
1489 @var{sectionpattern} does not match any sections in the input file, a
1490 warning will be issued, unless @option{--no-change-warnings} is used.
1492 @item --change-section-vma @var{sectionpattern}@{=,+,-@}@var{val}
1493 @cindex changing section VMA
1494 Set or change the VMA address of any section matching
1495 @var{sectionpattern}. The VMA address is the address where the
1496 section will be located once the program has started executing.
1497 Normally this is the same as the LMA address, which is the address
1498 where the section will be loaded into memory, but on some systems,
1499 especially those where a program is held in ROM, the two can be
1500 different. If @samp{=} is used, the section address is set to
1501 @var{val}. Otherwise, @var{val} is added to or subtracted from the
1502 section address. See the comments under @option{--change-addresses},
1503 above. If @var{sectionpattern} does not match any sections in the
1504 input file, a warning will be issued, unless
1505 @option{--no-change-warnings} is used.
1507 @item --change-warnings
1508 @itemx --adjust-warnings
1509 If @option{--change-section-address} or @option{--change-section-lma} or
1510 @option{--change-section-vma} is used, and the section pattern does not
1511 match any sections, issue a warning. This is the default.
1513 @item --no-change-warnings
1514 @itemx --no-adjust-warnings
1515 Do not issue a warning if @option{--change-section-address} or
1516 @option{--adjust-section-lma} or @option{--adjust-section-vma} is used, even
1517 if the section pattern does not match any sections.
1519 @item --set-section-flags @var{sectionpattern}=@var{flags}
1520 Set the flags for any sections matching @var{sectionpattern}. The
1521 @var{flags} argument is a comma separated string of flag names. The
1522 recognized names are @samp{alloc}, @samp{contents}, @samp{load},
1523 @samp{noload}, @samp{readonly}, @samp{code}, @samp{data}, @samp{rom},
1524 @samp{share}, and @samp{debug}. You can set the @samp{contents} flag
1525 for a section which does not have contents, but it is not meaningful
1526 to clear the @samp{contents} flag of a section which does have
1527 contents--just remove the section instead. Not all flags are
1528 meaningful for all object file formats.
1530 @item --add-section @var{sectionname}=@var{filename}
1531 Add a new section named @var{sectionname} while copying the file. The
1532 contents of the new section are taken from the file @var{filename}. The
1533 size of the section will be the size of the file. This option only
1534 works on file formats which can support sections with arbitrary names.
1535 Note - it may be necessary to use the @option{--set-section-flags}
1536 option to set the attributes of the newly created section.
1538 @item --dump-section @var{sectionname}=@var{filename}
1539 Place the contents of section named @var{sectionname} into the file
1540 @var{filename}, overwriting any contents that may have been there
1541 previously. This option is the inverse of @option{--add-section}.
1542 This option is similar to the @option{--only-section} option except
1543 that it does not create a formatted file, it just dumps the contents
1544 as raw binary data, without applying any relocations. The option can
1545 be specified more than once.
1547 @item --update-section @var{sectionname}=@var{filename}
1548 Replace the existing contents of a section named @var{sectionname}
1549 with the contents of file @var{filename}. The size of the section
1550 will be adjusted to the size of the file. The section flags for
1551 @var{sectionname} will be unchanged. For ELF format files the section
1552 to segment mapping will also remain unchanged, something which is not
1553 possible using @option{--remove-section} followed by
1554 @option{--add-section}. The option can be specified more than once.
1556 Note - it is possible to use @option{--rename-section} and
1557 @option{--update-section} to both update and rename a section from one
1558 command line. In this case, pass the original section name to
1559 @option{--update-section}, and the original and new section names to
1560 @option{--rename-section}.
1562 @item --add-symbol @var{name}=[@var{section}:]@var{value}[,@var{flags}]
1563 Add a new symbol named @var{name} while copying the file. This option may be
1564 specified multiple times. If the @var{section} is given, the symbol will be
1565 associated with and relative to that section, otherwise it will be an ABS
1566 symbol. Specifying an undefined section will result in a fatal error. There
1567 is no check for the value, it will be taken as specified. Symbol flags can
1568 be specified and not all flags will be meaningful for all object file
1569 formats. By default, the symbol will be global. The special flag
1570 'before=@var{othersym}' will insert the new symbol in front of the specified
1571 @var{othersym}, otherwise the symbol(s) will be added at the end of the
1572 symbol table in the order they appear.
1574 @item --rename-section @var{oldname}=@var{newname}[,@var{flags}]
1575 Rename a section from @var{oldname} to @var{newname}, optionally
1576 changing the section's flags to @var{flags} in the process. This has
1577 the advantage over usng a linker script to perform the rename in that
1578 the output stays as an object file and does not become a linked
1581 This option is particularly helpful when the input format is binary,
1582 since this will always create a section called .data. If for example,
1583 you wanted instead to create a section called .rodata containing binary
1584 data you could use the following command line to achieve it:
1587 objcopy -I binary -O <output_format> -B <architecture> \
1588 --rename-section .data=.rodata,alloc,load,readonly,data,contents \
1589 <input_binary_file> <output_object_file>
1592 @item --long-section-names @{enable,disable,keep@}
1593 Controls the handling of long section names when processing @code{COFF}
1594 and @code{PE-COFF} object formats. The default behaviour, @samp{keep},
1595 is to preserve long section names if any are present in the input file.
1596 The @samp{enable} and @samp{disable} options forcibly enable or disable
1597 the use of long section names in the output object; when @samp{disable}
1598 is in effect, any long section names in the input object will be truncated.
1599 The @samp{enable} option will only emit long section names if any are
1600 present in the inputs; this is mostly the same as @samp{keep}, but it
1601 is left undefined whether the @samp{enable} option might force the
1602 creation of an empty string table in the output file.
1604 @item --change-leading-char
1605 Some object file formats use special characters at the start of
1606 symbols. The most common such character is underscore, which compilers
1607 often add before every symbol. This option tells @command{objcopy} to
1608 change the leading character of every symbol when it converts between
1609 object file formats. If the object file formats use the same leading
1610 character, this option has no effect. Otherwise, it will add a
1611 character, or remove a character, or change a character, as
1614 @item --remove-leading-char
1615 If the first character of a global symbol is a special symbol leading
1616 character used by the object file format, remove the character. The
1617 most common symbol leading character is underscore. This option will
1618 remove a leading underscore from all global symbols. This can be useful
1619 if you want to link together objects of different file formats with
1620 different conventions for symbol names. This is different from
1621 @option{--change-leading-char} because it always changes the symbol name
1622 when appropriate, regardless of the object file format of the output
1625 @item --reverse-bytes=@var{num}
1626 Reverse the bytes in a section with output contents. A section length must
1627 be evenly divisible by the value given in order for the swap to be able to
1628 take place. Reversing takes place before the interleaving is performed.
1630 This option is used typically in generating ROM images for problematic
1631 target systems. For example, on some target boards, the 32-bit words
1632 fetched from 8-bit ROMs are re-assembled in little-endian byte order
1633 regardless of the CPU byte order. Depending on the programming model, the
1634 endianness of the ROM may need to be modified.
1636 Consider a simple file with a section containing the following eight
1637 bytes: @code{12345678}.
1639 Using @samp{--reverse-bytes=2} for the above example, the bytes in the
1640 output file would be ordered @code{21436587}.
1642 Using @samp{--reverse-bytes=4} for the above example, the bytes in the
1643 output file would be ordered @code{43218765}.
1645 By using @samp{--reverse-bytes=2} for the above example, followed by
1646 @samp{--reverse-bytes=4} on the output file, the bytes in the second
1647 output file would be ordered @code{34127856}.
1649 @item --srec-len=@var{ival}
1650 Meaningful only for srec output. Set the maximum length of the Srecords
1651 being produced to @var{ival}. This length covers both address, data and
1654 @item --srec-forceS3
1655 Meaningful only for srec output. Avoid generation of S1/S2 records,
1656 creating S3-only record format.
1658 @item --redefine-sym @var{old}=@var{new}
1659 Change the name of a symbol @var{old}, to @var{new}. This can be useful
1660 when one is trying link two things together for which you have no
1661 source, and there are name collisions.
1663 @item --redefine-syms=@var{filename}
1664 Apply @option{--redefine-sym} to each symbol pair "@var{old} @var{new}"
1665 listed in the file @var{filename}. @var{filename} is simply a flat file,
1666 with one symbol pair per line. Line comments may be introduced by the hash
1667 character. This option may be given more than once.
1670 Change all global symbols in the file to be weak. This can be useful
1671 when building an object which will be linked against other objects using
1672 the @option{-R} option to the linker. This option is only effective when
1673 using an object file format which supports weak symbols.
1675 @item --keep-symbols=@var{filename}
1676 Apply @option{--keep-symbol} option to each symbol listed in the file
1677 @var{filename}. @var{filename} is simply a flat file, with one symbol
1678 name per line. Line comments may be introduced by the hash character.
1679 This option may be given more than once.
1681 @item --strip-symbols=@var{filename}
1682 Apply @option{--strip-symbol} option to each symbol listed in the file
1683 @var{filename}. @var{filename} is simply a flat file, with one symbol
1684 name per line. Line comments may be introduced by the hash character.
1685 This option may be given more than once.
1687 @item --strip-unneeded-symbols=@var{filename}
1688 Apply @option{--strip-unneeded-symbol} option to each symbol listed in
1689 the file @var{filename}. @var{filename} is simply a flat file, with one
1690 symbol name per line. Line comments may be introduced by the hash
1691 character. This option may be given more than once.
1693 @item --keep-global-symbols=@var{filename}
1694 Apply @option{--keep-global-symbol} option to each symbol listed in the
1695 file @var{filename}. @var{filename} is simply a flat file, with one
1696 symbol name per line. Line comments may be introduced by the hash
1697 character. This option may be given more than once.
1699 @item --localize-symbols=@var{filename}
1700 Apply @option{--localize-symbol} option to each symbol listed in the file
1701 @var{filename}. @var{filename} is simply a flat file, with one symbol
1702 name per line. Line comments may be introduced by the hash character.
1703 This option may be given more than once.
1705 @item --globalize-symbols=@var{filename}
1706 Apply @option{--globalize-symbol} option to each symbol listed in the file
1707 @var{filename}. @var{filename} is simply a flat file, with one symbol
1708 name per line. Line comments may be introduced by the hash character.
1709 This option may be given more than once.
1711 @item --weaken-symbols=@var{filename}
1712 Apply @option{--weaken-symbol} option to each symbol listed in the file
1713 @var{filename}. @var{filename} is simply a flat file, with one symbol
1714 name per line. Line comments may be introduced by the hash character.
1715 This option may be given more than once.
1717 @item --alt-machine-code=@var{index}
1718 If the output architecture has alternate machine codes, use the
1719 @var{index}th code instead of the default one. This is useful in case
1720 a machine is assigned an official code and the tool-chain adopts the
1721 new code, but other applications still depend on the original code
1722 being used. For ELF based architectures if the @var{index}
1723 alternative does not exist then the value is treated as an absolute
1724 number to be stored in the e_machine field of the ELF header.
1726 @item --writable-text
1727 Mark the output text as writable. This option isn't meaningful for all
1728 object file formats.
1730 @item --readonly-text
1731 Make the output text write protected. This option isn't meaningful for all
1732 object file formats.
1735 Mark the output file as demand paged. This option isn't meaningful for all
1736 object file formats.
1739 Mark the output file as impure. This option isn't meaningful for all
1740 object file formats.
1742 @item --prefix-symbols=@var{string}
1743 Prefix all symbols in the output file with @var{string}.
1745 @item --prefix-sections=@var{string}
1746 Prefix all section names in the output file with @var{string}.
1748 @item --prefix-alloc-sections=@var{string}
1749 Prefix all the names of all allocated sections in the output file with
1752 @item --add-gnu-debuglink=@var{path-to-file}
1753 Creates a .gnu_debuglink section which contains a reference to
1754 @var{path-to-file} and adds it to the output file. Note: the file at
1755 @var{path-to-file} must exist. Part of the process of adding the
1756 .gnu_debuglink section involves embedding a checksum of the contents
1757 of the debug info file into the section.
1759 If the debug info file is built in one location but it is going to be
1760 installed at a later time into a different location then do not use
1761 the path to the installed location. The @option{--add-gnu-debuglink}
1762 option will fail because the installed file does not exist yet.
1763 Instead put the debug info file in the current directory and use the
1764 @option{--add-gnu-debuglink} option without any directory components,
1768 objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.debug
1771 At debug time the debugger will attempt to look for the separate debug
1772 info file in a set of known locations. The exact set of these
1773 locations varies depending upon the distribution being used, but it
1778 @item * The same directory as the executable.
1780 @item * A sub-directory of the directory containing the executable
1783 @item * A global debug directory such as /usr/lib/debug.
1786 As long as the debug info file has been installed into one of these
1787 locations before the debugger is run everything should work
1790 @item --keep-file-symbols
1791 When stripping a file, perhaps with @option{--strip-debug} or
1792 @option{--strip-unneeded}, retain any symbols specifying source file names,
1793 which would otherwise get stripped.
1795 @item --only-keep-debug
1796 Strip a file, removing contents of any sections that would not be
1797 stripped by @option{--strip-debug} and leaving the debugging sections
1798 intact. In ELF files, this preserves all note sections in the output.
1800 Note - the section headers of the stripped sections are preserved,
1801 including their sizes, but the contents of the section are discarded.
1802 The section headers are preserved so that other tools can match up the
1803 debuginfo file with the real executable, even if that executable has
1804 been relocated to a different address space.
1806 The intention is that this option will be used in conjunction with
1807 @option{--add-gnu-debuglink} to create a two part executable. One a
1808 stripped binary which will occupy less space in RAM and in a
1809 distribution and the second a debugging information file which is only
1810 needed if debugging abilities are required. The suggested procedure
1811 to create these files is as follows:
1814 @item Link the executable as normal. Assuming that is is called
1816 @item Run @code{objcopy --only-keep-debug foo foo.dbg} to
1817 create a file containing the debugging info.
1818 @item Run @code{objcopy --strip-debug foo} to create a
1819 stripped executable.
1820 @item Run @code{objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.dbg foo}
1821 to add a link to the debugging info into the stripped executable.
1824 Note---the choice of @code{.dbg} as an extension for the debug info
1825 file is arbitrary. Also the @code{--only-keep-debug} step is
1826 optional. You could instead do this:
1829 @item Link the executable as normal.
1830 @item Copy @code{foo} to @code{foo.full}
1831 @item Run @code{objcopy --strip-debug foo}
1832 @item Run @code{objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.full foo}
1835 i.e., the file pointed to by the @option{--add-gnu-debuglink} can be the
1836 full executable. It does not have to be a file created by the
1837 @option{--only-keep-debug} switch.
1839 Note---this switch is only intended for use on fully linked files. It
1840 does not make sense to use it on object files where the debugging
1841 information may be incomplete. Besides the gnu_debuglink feature
1842 currently only supports the presence of one filename containing
1843 debugging information, not multiple filenames on a one-per-object-file
1847 Remove the contents of all DWARF .dwo sections, leaving the
1848 remaining debugging sections and all symbols intact.
1849 This option is intended for use by the compiler as part of
1850 the @option{-gsplit-dwarf} option, which splits debug information
1851 between the .o file and a separate .dwo file. The compiler
1852 generates all debug information in the same file, then uses
1853 the @option{--extract-dwo} option to copy the .dwo sections to
1854 the .dwo file, then the @option{--strip-dwo} option to remove
1855 those sections from the original .o file.
1858 Extract the contents of all DWARF .dwo sections. See the
1859 @option{--strip-dwo} option for more information.
1861 @item --file-alignment @var{num}
1862 Specify the file alignment. Sections in the file will always begin at
1863 file offsets which are multiples of this number. This defaults to
1865 [This option is specific to PE targets.]
1867 @item --heap @var{reserve}
1868 @itemx --heap @var{reserve},@var{commit}
1869 Specify the number of bytes of memory to reserve (and optionally commit)
1870 to be used as heap for this program.
1871 [This option is specific to PE targets.]
1873 @item --image-base @var{value}
1874 Use @var{value} as the base address of your program or dll. This is
1875 the lowest memory location that will be used when your program or dll
1876 is loaded. To reduce the need to relocate and improve performance of
1877 your dlls, each should have a unique base address and not overlap any
1878 other dlls. The default is 0x400000 for executables, and 0x10000000
1880 [This option is specific to PE targets.]
1882 @item --section-alignment @var{num}
1883 Sets the section alignment. Sections in memory will always begin at
1884 addresses which are a multiple of this number. Defaults to 0x1000.
1885 [This option is specific to PE targets.]
1887 @item --stack @var{reserve}
1888 @itemx --stack @var{reserve},@var{commit}
1889 Specify the number of bytes of memory to reserve (and optionally commit)
1890 to be used as stack for this program.
1891 [This option is specific to PE targets.]
1893 @item --subsystem @var{which}
1894 @itemx --subsystem @var{which}:@var{major}
1895 @itemx --subsystem @var{which}:@var{major}.@var{minor}
1896 Specifies the subsystem under which your program will execute. The
1897 legal values for @var{which} are @code{native}, @code{windows},
1898 @code{console}, @code{posix}, @code{efi-app}, @code{efi-bsd},
1899 @code{efi-rtd}, @code{sal-rtd}, and @code{xbox}. You may optionally set
1900 the subsystem version also. Numeric values are also accepted for
1902 [This option is specific to PE targets.]
1904 @item --extract-symbol
1905 Keep the file's section flags and symbols but remove all section data.
1906 Specifically, the option:
1909 @item removes the contents of all sections;
1910 @item sets the size of every section to zero; and
1911 @item sets the file's start address to zero.
1914 This option is used to build a @file{.sym} file for a VxWorks kernel.
1915 It can also be a useful way of reducing the size of a @option{--just-symbols}
1918 @item --compress-debug-sections
1919 Compress DWARF debug sections using zlib with SHF_COMPRESSED from the
1920 ELF ABI. Note - if compression would actually make a section
1921 @emph{larger}, then it is not compressed.
1923 @item --compress-debug-sections=none
1924 @itemx --compress-debug-sections=zlib
1925 @itemx --compress-debug-sections=zlib-gnu
1926 @itemx --compress-debug-sections=zlib-gabi
1927 For ELF files, these options control how DWARF debug sections are
1928 compressed. @option{--compress-debug-sections=none} is equivalent
1929 to @option{--decompress-debug-sections}.
1930 @option{--compress-debug-sections=zlib} and
1931 @option{--compress-debug-sections=zlib-gabi} are equivalent to
1932 @option{--compress-debug-sections}.
1933 @option{--compress-debug-sections=zlib-gnu} compresses DWARF debug
1934 sections using zlib. The debug sections are renamed to begin with
1935 @samp{.zdebug} instead of @samp{.debug}. Note - if compression would
1936 actually make a section @emph{larger}, then it is not compressed nor
1939 @item --decompress-debug-sections
1940 Decompress DWARF debug sections using zlib. The original section
1941 names of the compressed sections are restored.
1943 @item --elf-stt-common=yes
1944 @itemx --elf-stt-common=no
1945 For ELF files, these options control whether common symbols should be
1946 converted to the @code{STT_COMMON} or @code{STT_OBJECT} type.
1947 @option{--elf-stt-common=yes} converts common symbol type to
1948 @code{STT_COMMON}. @option{--elf-stt-common=no} converts common symbol
1949 type to @code{STT_OBJECT}.
1953 Show the version number of @command{objcopy}.
1957 Verbose output: list all object files modified. In the case of
1958 archives, @samp{objcopy -V} lists all members of the archive.
1961 Show a summary of the options to @command{objcopy}.
1964 Display a list showing all architectures and object formats available.
1970 @c man begin SEEALSO objcopy
1971 ld(1), objdump(1), and the Info entries for @file{binutils}.
1978 @cindex object file information
1981 @c man title objdump display information from object files.
1984 @c man begin SYNOPSIS objdump
1985 objdump [@option{-a}|@option{--archive-headers}]
1986 [@option{-b} @var{bfdname}|@option{--target=@var{bfdname}}]
1987 [@option{-C}|@option{--demangle}[=@var{style}] ]
1988 [@option{-d}|@option{--disassemble}]
1989 [@option{-D}|@option{--disassemble-all}]
1990 [@option{-z}|@option{--disassemble-zeroes}]
1991 [@option{-EB}|@option{-EL}|@option{--endian=}@{big | little @}]
1992 [@option{-f}|@option{--file-headers}]
1993 [@option{-F}|@option{--file-offsets}]
1994 [@option{--file-start-context}]
1995 [@option{-g}|@option{--debugging}]
1996 [@option{-e}|@option{--debugging-tags}]
1997 [@option{-h}|@option{--section-headers}|@option{--headers}]
1998 [@option{-i}|@option{--info}]
1999 [@option{-j} @var{section}|@option{--section=}@var{section}]
2000 [@option{-l}|@option{--line-numbers}]
2001 [@option{-S}|@option{--source}]
2002 [@option{-m} @var{machine}|@option{--architecture=}@var{machine}]
2003 [@option{-M} @var{options}|@option{--disassembler-options=}@var{options}]
2004 [@option{-p}|@option{--private-headers}]
2005 [@option{-P} @var{options}|@option{--private=}@var{options}]
2006 [@option{-r}|@option{--reloc}]
2007 [@option{-R}|@option{--dynamic-reloc}]
2008 [@option{-s}|@option{--full-contents}]
2009 [@option{-W[lLiaprmfFsoRt]}|
2010 @option{--dwarf}[=rawline,=decodedline,=info,=abbrev,=pubnames]
2011 [=aranges,=macro,=frames,=frames-interp,=str,=loc]
2012 [=Ranges,=pubtypes,=trace_info,=trace_abbrev]
2013 [=trace_aranges,=gdb_index]
2014 [@option{-G}|@option{--stabs}]
2015 [@option{-t}|@option{--syms}]
2016 [@option{-T}|@option{--dynamic-syms}]
2017 [@option{-x}|@option{--all-headers}]
2018 [@option{-w}|@option{--wide}]
2019 [@option{--start-address=}@var{address}]
2020 [@option{--stop-address=}@var{address}]
2021 [@option{--prefix-addresses}]
2022 [@option{--[no-]show-raw-insn}]
2023 [@option{--adjust-vma=}@var{offset}]
2024 [@option{--dwarf-depth=@var{n}}]
2025 [@option{--dwarf-start=@var{n}}]
2026 [@option{--special-syms}]
2027 [@option{--prefix=}@var{prefix}]
2028 [@option{--prefix-strip=}@var{level}]
2029 [@option{--insn-width=}@var{width}]
2030 [@option{-V}|@option{--version}]
2031 [@option{-H}|@option{--help}]
2032 @var{objfile}@dots{}
2036 @c man begin DESCRIPTION objdump
2038 @command{objdump} displays information about one or more object files.
2039 The options control what particular information to display. This
2040 information is mostly useful to programmers who are working on the
2041 compilation tools, as opposed to programmers who just want their
2042 program to compile and work.
2044 @var{objfile}@dots{} are the object files to be examined. When you
2045 specify archives, @command{objdump} shows information on each of the member
2050 @c man begin OPTIONS objdump
2052 The long and short forms of options, shown here as alternatives, are
2053 equivalent. At least one option from the list
2054 @option{-a,-d,-D,-e,-f,-g,-G,-h,-H,-p,-P,-r,-R,-s,-S,-t,-T,-V,-x} must be given.
2058 @itemx --archive-header
2059 @cindex archive headers
2060 If any of the @var{objfile} files are archives, display the archive
2061 header information (in a format similar to @samp{ls -l}). Besides the
2062 information you could list with @samp{ar tv}, @samp{objdump -a} shows
2063 the object file format of each archive member.
2065 @item --adjust-vma=@var{offset}
2066 @cindex section addresses in objdump
2067 @cindex VMA in objdump
2068 When dumping information, first add @var{offset} to all the section
2069 addresses. This is useful if the section addresses do not correspond to
2070 the symbol table, which can happen when putting sections at particular
2071 addresses when using a format which can not represent section addresses,
2074 @item -b @var{bfdname}
2075 @itemx --target=@var{bfdname}
2076 @cindex object code format
2077 Specify that the object-code format for the object files is
2078 @var{bfdname}. This option may not be necessary; @var{objdump} can
2079 automatically recognize many formats.
2083 objdump -b oasys -m vax -h fu.o
2086 displays summary information from the section headers (@option{-h}) of
2087 @file{fu.o}, which is explicitly identified (@option{-m}) as a VAX object
2088 file in the format produced by Oasys compilers. You can list the
2089 formats available with the @option{-i} option.
2090 @xref{Target Selection}, for more information.
2093 @itemx --demangle[=@var{style}]
2094 @cindex demangling in objdump
2095 Decode (@dfn{demangle}) low-level symbol names into user-level names.
2096 Besides removing any initial underscore prepended by the system, this
2097 makes C++ function names readable. Different compilers have different
2098 mangling styles. The optional demangling style argument can be used to
2099 choose an appropriate demangling style for your compiler. @xref{c++filt},
2100 for more information on demangling.
2104 Display debugging information. This attempts to parse STABS and IEEE
2105 debugging format information stored in the file and print it out using
2106 a C like syntax. If neither of these formats are found this option
2107 falls back on the @option{-W} option to print any DWARF information in
2111 @itemx --debugging-tags
2112 Like @option{-g}, but the information is generated in a format compatible
2116 @itemx --disassemble
2117 @cindex disassembling object code
2118 @cindex machine instructions
2119 Display the assembler mnemonics for the machine instructions from
2120 @var{objfile}. This option only disassembles those sections which are
2121 expected to contain instructions.
2124 @itemx --disassemble-all
2125 Like @option{-d}, but disassemble the contents of all sections, not just
2126 those expected to contain instructions.
2128 This option also has a subtle effect on the disassembly of
2129 instructions in code sections. When option @option{-d} is in effect
2130 objdump will assume that any symbols present in a code section occur
2131 on the boundary between instructions and it will refuse to disassemble
2132 across such a boundary. When option @option{-D} is in effect however
2133 this assumption is supressed. This means that it is possible for the
2134 output of @option{-d} and @option{-D} to differ if, for example, data
2135 is stored in code sections.
2137 If the target is an ARM architecture this switch also has the effect
2138 of forcing the disassembler to decode pieces of data found in code
2139 sections as if they were instructions.
2141 @item --prefix-addresses
2142 When disassembling, print the complete address on each line. This is
2143 the older disassembly format.
2147 @itemx --endian=@{big|little@}
2149 @cindex disassembly endianness
2150 Specify the endianness of the object files. This only affects
2151 disassembly. This can be useful when disassembling a file format which
2152 does not describe endianness information, such as S-records.
2155 @itemx --file-headers
2156 @cindex object file header
2157 Display summary information from the overall header of
2158 each of the @var{objfile} files.
2161 @itemx --file-offsets
2162 @cindex object file offsets
2163 When disassembling sections, whenever a symbol is displayed, also
2164 display the file offset of the region of data that is about to be
2165 dumped. If zeroes are being skipped, then when disassembly resumes,
2166 tell the user how many zeroes were skipped and the file offset of the
2167 location from where the disassembly resumes. When dumping sections,
2168 display the file offset of the location from where the dump starts.
2170 @item --file-start-context
2171 @cindex source code context
2172 Specify that when displaying interlisted source code/disassembly
2173 (assumes @option{-S}) from a file that has not yet been displayed, extend the
2174 context to the start of the file.
2177 @itemx --section-headers
2179 @cindex section headers
2180 Display summary information from the section headers of the
2183 File segments may be relocated to nonstandard addresses, for example by
2184 using the @option{-Ttext}, @option{-Tdata}, or @option{-Tbss} options to
2185 @command{ld}. However, some object file formats, such as a.out, do not
2186 store the starting address of the file segments. In those situations,
2187 although @command{ld} relocates the sections correctly, using @samp{objdump
2188 -h} to list the file section headers cannot show the correct addresses.
2189 Instead, it shows the usual addresses, which are implicit for the
2192 Note, in some cases it is possible for a section to have both the
2193 READONLY and the NOREAD attributes set. In such cases the NOREAD
2194 attribute takes precedence, but @command{objdump} will report both
2195 since the exact setting of the flag bits might be important.
2199 Print a summary of the options to @command{objdump} and exit.
2203 @cindex architectures available
2204 @cindex object formats available
2205 Display a list showing all architectures and object formats available
2206 for specification with @option{-b} or @option{-m}.
2209 @itemx --section=@var{name}
2210 @cindex section information
2211 Display information only for section @var{name}.
2214 @itemx --line-numbers
2215 @cindex source filenames for object files
2216 Label the display (using debugging information) with the filename and
2217 source line numbers corresponding to the object code or relocs shown.
2218 Only useful with @option{-d}, @option{-D}, or @option{-r}.
2220 @item -m @var{machine}
2221 @itemx --architecture=@var{machine}
2222 @cindex architecture
2223 @cindex disassembly architecture
2224 Specify the architecture to use when disassembling object files. This
2225 can be useful when disassembling object files which do not describe
2226 architecture information, such as S-records. You can list the available
2227 architectures with the @option{-i} option.
2229 If the target is an ARM architecture then this switch has an
2230 additional effect. It restricts the disassembly to only those
2231 instructions supported by the architecture specified by @var{machine}.
2232 If it is necessary to use this switch because the input file does not
2233 contain any architecture information, but it is also desired to
2234 disassemble all the instructions use @option{-marm}.
2236 @item -M @var{options}
2237 @itemx --disassembler-options=@var{options}
2238 Pass target specific information to the disassembler. Only supported on
2239 some targets. If it is necessary to specify more than one
2240 disassembler option then multiple @option{-M} options can be used or
2241 can be placed together into a comma separated list.
2243 For ARC, @option{dsp} controls the printing of DSP instructions,
2244 @option{spfp} selects the printing of FPX single precision FP
2245 instructions, @option{dpfp} selects the printing of FPX double
2246 precision FP instructions, @option{quarkse_em} selects the printing of
2247 special QuarkSE-EM instructions, @option{fpuda} selects the printing
2248 of double precision assist instructions, @option{fpus} selects the
2249 printing of FPU single precision FP instructions, while @option{fpud}
2250 selects the printing of FPU souble precision FP instructions.
2252 If the target is an ARM architecture then this switch can be used to
2253 select which register name set is used during disassembler. Specifying
2254 @option{-M reg-names-std} (the default) will select the register names as
2255 used in ARM's instruction set documentation, but with register 13 called
2256 'sp', register 14 called 'lr' and register 15 called 'pc'. Specifying
2257 @option{-M reg-names-apcs} will select the name set used by the ARM
2258 Procedure Call Standard, whilst specifying @option{-M reg-names-raw} will
2259 just use @samp{r} followed by the register number.
2261 There are also two variants on the APCS register naming scheme enabled
2262 by @option{-M reg-names-atpcs} and @option{-M reg-names-special-atpcs} which
2263 use the ARM/Thumb Procedure Call Standard naming conventions. (Either
2264 with the normal register names or the special register names).
2266 This option can also be used for ARM architectures to force the
2267 disassembler to interpret all instructions as Thumb instructions by
2268 using the switch @option{--disassembler-options=force-thumb}. This can be
2269 useful when attempting to disassemble thumb code produced by other
2272 For the x86, some of the options duplicate functions of the @option{-m}
2273 switch, but allow finer grained control. Multiple selections from the
2274 following may be specified as a comma separated string.
2279 Select disassembly for the given architecture.
2283 Select between intel syntax mode and AT&T syntax mode.
2287 Select between AMD64 ISA and Intel64 ISA.
2289 @item intel-mnemonic
2291 Select between intel mnemonic mode and AT&T mnemonic mode.
2292 Note: @code{intel-mnemonic} implies @code{intel} and
2293 @code{att-mnemonic} implies @code{att}.
2300 Specify the default address size and operand size. These four options
2301 will be overridden if @code{x86-64}, @code{i386} or @code{i8086}
2302 appear later in the option string.
2305 When in AT&T mode, instructs the disassembler to print a mnemonic
2306 suffix even when the suffix could be inferred by the operands.
2309 For PowerPC, @option{booke} controls the disassembly of BookE
2310 instructions. @option{32} and @option{64} select PowerPC and
2311 PowerPC64 disassembly, respectively. @option{e300} selects
2312 disassembly for the e300 family. @option{440} selects disassembly for
2313 the PowerPC 440. @option{ppcps} selects disassembly for the paired
2314 single instructions of the PPC750CL.
2316 For MIPS, this option controls the printing of instruction mnemonic
2317 names and register names in disassembled instructions. Multiple
2318 selections from the following may be specified as a comma separated
2319 string, and invalid options are ignored:
2323 Print the 'raw' instruction mnemonic instead of some pseudo
2324 instruction mnemonic. I.e., print 'daddu' or 'or' instead of 'move',
2325 'sll' instead of 'nop', etc.
2328 Disassemble MSA instructions.
2331 Disassemble the virtualization ASE instructions.
2334 Disassemble the eXtended Physical Address (XPA) ASE instructions.
2336 @item gpr-names=@var{ABI}
2337 Print GPR (general-purpose register) names as appropriate
2338 for the specified ABI. By default, GPR names are selected according to
2339 the ABI of the binary being disassembled.
2341 @item fpr-names=@var{ABI}
2342 Print FPR (floating-point register) names as
2343 appropriate for the specified ABI. By default, FPR numbers are printed
2346 @item cp0-names=@var{ARCH}
2347 Print CP0 (system control coprocessor; coprocessor 0) register names
2348 as appropriate for the CPU or architecture specified by
2349 @var{ARCH}. By default, CP0 register names are selected according to
2350 the architecture and CPU of the binary being disassembled.
2352 @item hwr-names=@var{ARCH}
2353 Print HWR (hardware register, used by the @code{rdhwr} instruction) names
2354 as appropriate for the CPU or architecture specified by
2355 @var{ARCH}. By default, HWR names are selected according to
2356 the architecture and CPU of the binary being disassembled.
2358 @item reg-names=@var{ABI}
2359 Print GPR and FPR names as appropriate for the selected ABI.
2361 @item reg-names=@var{ARCH}
2362 Print CPU-specific register names (CP0 register and HWR names)
2363 as appropriate for the selected CPU or architecture.
2366 For any of the options listed above, @var{ABI} or
2367 @var{ARCH} may be specified as @samp{numeric} to have numbers printed
2368 rather than names, for the selected types of registers.
2369 You can list the available values of @var{ABI} and @var{ARCH} using
2370 the @option{--help} option.
2372 For VAX, you can specify function entry addresses with @option{-M
2373 entry:0xf00ba}. You can use this multiple times to properly
2374 disassemble VAX binary files that don't contain symbol tables (like
2375 ROM dumps). In these cases, the function entry mask would otherwise
2376 be decoded as VAX instructions, which would probably lead the rest
2377 of the function being wrongly disassembled.
2380 @itemx --private-headers
2381 Print information that is specific to the object file format. The exact
2382 information printed depends upon the object file format. For some
2383 object file formats, no additional information is printed.
2385 @item -P @var{options}
2386 @itemx --private=@var{options}
2387 Print information that is specific to the object file format. The
2388 argument @var{options} is a comma separated list that depends on the
2389 format (the lists of options is displayed with the help).
2391 For XCOFF, the available options are:
2407 Not all object formats support this option. In particular the ELF
2408 format does not use it.
2412 @cindex relocation entries, in object file
2413 Print the relocation entries of the file. If used with @option{-d} or
2414 @option{-D}, the relocations are printed interspersed with the
2418 @itemx --dynamic-reloc
2419 @cindex dynamic relocation entries, in object file
2420 Print the dynamic relocation entries of the file. This is only
2421 meaningful for dynamic objects, such as certain types of shared
2422 libraries. As for @option{-r}, if used with @option{-d} or
2423 @option{-D}, the relocations are printed interspersed with the
2427 @itemx --full-contents
2428 @cindex sections, full contents
2429 @cindex object file sections
2430 Display the full contents of any sections requested. By default all
2431 non-empty sections are displayed.
2435 @cindex source disassembly
2436 @cindex disassembly, with source
2437 Display source code intermixed with disassembly, if possible. Implies
2440 @item --prefix=@var{prefix}
2441 @cindex Add prefix to absolute paths
2442 Specify @var{prefix} to add to the absolute paths when used with
2445 @item --prefix-strip=@var{level}
2446 @cindex Strip absolute paths
2447 Indicate how many initial directory names to strip off the hardwired
2448 absolute paths. It has no effect without @option{--prefix=}@var{prefix}.
2450 @item --show-raw-insn
2451 When disassembling instructions, print the instruction in hex as well as
2452 in symbolic form. This is the default except when
2453 @option{--prefix-addresses} is used.
2455 @item --no-show-raw-insn
2456 When disassembling instructions, do not print the instruction bytes.
2457 This is the default when @option{--prefix-addresses} is used.
2459 @item --insn-width=@var{width}
2460 @cindex Instruction width
2461 Display @var{width} bytes on a single line when disassembling
2464 @item -W[lLiaprmfFsoRt]
2465 @itemx --dwarf[=rawline,=decodedline,=info,=abbrev,=pubnames]
2466 @itemx --dwarf[=aranges,=macro,=frames,=frames-interp,=str,=loc]
2467 @itemx --dwarf[=Ranges,=pubtypes,=trace_info,=trace_abbrev]
2468 @itemx --dwarf[=trace_aranges,=gdb_index]
2470 @cindex debug symbols
2471 Displays the contents of the debug sections in the file, if any are
2472 present. If one of the optional letters or words follows the switch
2473 then only data found in those specific sections will be dumped.
2475 Note that there is no single letter option to display the content of
2476 trace sections or .gdb_index.
2478 Note: the output from the @option{=info} option can also be affected
2479 by the options @option{--dwarf-depth}, the @option{--dwarf-start} and
2480 the @option{--dwarf-check}.
2482 @item --dwarf-depth=@var{n}
2483 Limit the dump of the @code{.debug_info} section to @var{n} children.
2484 This is only useful with @option{--dwarf=info}. The default is
2485 to print all DIEs; the special value 0 for @var{n} will also have this
2488 With a non-zero value for @var{n}, DIEs at or deeper than @var{n}
2489 levels will not be printed. The range for @var{n} is zero-based.
2491 @item --dwarf-start=@var{n}
2492 Print only DIEs beginning with the DIE numbered @var{n}. This is only
2493 useful with @option{--dwarf=info}.
2495 If specified, this option will suppress printing of any header
2496 information and all DIEs before the DIE numbered @var{n}. Only
2497 siblings and children of the specified DIE will be printed.
2499 This can be used in conjunction with @option{--dwarf-depth}.
2502 Enable additional checks for consistency of Dwarf information.
2508 @cindex debug symbols
2509 @cindex ELF object file format
2510 Display the full contents of any sections requested. Display the
2511 contents of the .stab and .stab.index and .stab.excl sections from an
2512 ELF file. This is only useful on systems (such as Solaris 2.0) in which
2513 @code{.stab} debugging symbol-table entries are carried in an ELF
2514 section. In most other file formats, debugging symbol-table entries are
2515 interleaved with linkage symbols, and are visible in the @option{--syms}
2518 @item --start-address=@var{address}
2519 @cindex start-address
2520 Start displaying data at the specified address. This affects the output
2521 of the @option{-d}, @option{-r} and @option{-s} options.
2523 @item --stop-address=@var{address}
2524 @cindex stop-address
2525 Stop displaying data at the specified address. This affects the output
2526 of the @option{-d}, @option{-r} and @option{-s} options.
2530 @cindex symbol table entries, printing
2531 Print the symbol table entries of the file.
2532 This is similar to the information provided by the @samp{nm} program,
2533 although the display format is different. The format of the output
2534 depends upon the format of the file being dumped, but there are two main
2535 types. One looks like this:
2538 [ 4](sec 3)(fl 0x00)(ty 0)(scl 3) (nx 1) 0x00000000 .bss
2539 [ 6](sec 1)(fl 0x00)(ty 0)(scl 2) (nx 0) 0x00000000 fred
2542 where the number inside the square brackets is the number of the entry
2543 in the symbol table, the @var{sec} number is the section number, the
2544 @var{fl} value are the symbol's flag bits, the @var{ty} number is the
2545 symbol's type, the @var{scl} number is the symbol's storage class and
2546 the @var{nx} value is the number of auxilary entries associated with
2547 the symbol. The last two fields are the symbol's value and its name.
2549 The other common output format, usually seen with ELF based files,
2553 00000000 l d .bss 00000000 .bss
2554 00000000 g .text 00000000 fred
2557 Here the first number is the symbol's value (sometimes refered to as
2558 its address). The next field is actually a set of characters and
2559 spaces indicating the flag bits that are set on the symbol. These
2560 characters are described below. Next is the section with which the
2561 symbol is associated or @emph{*ABS*} if the section is absolute (ie
2562 not connected with any section), or @emph{*UND*} if the section is
2563 referenced in the file being dumped, but not defined there.
2565 After the section name comes another field, a number, which for common
2566 symbols is the alignment and for other symbol is the size. Finally
2567 the symbol's name is displayed.
2569 The flag characters are divided into 7 groups as follows:
2575 The symbol is a local (l), global (g), unique global (u), neither
2576 global nor local (a space) or both global and local (!). A
2577 symbol can be neither local or global for a variety of reasons, e.g.,
2578 because it is used for debugging, but it is probably an indication of
2579 a bug if it is ever both local and global. Unique global symbols are
2580 a GNU extension to the standard set of ELF symbol bindings. For such
2581 a symbol the dynamic linker will make sure that in the entire process
2582 there is just one symbol with this name and type in use.
2585 The symbol is weak (w) or strong (a space).
2588 The symbol denotes a constructor (C) or an ordinary symbol (a space).
2591 The symbol is a warning (W) or a normal symbol (a space). A warning
2592 symbol's name is a message to be displayed if the symbol following the
2593 warning symbol is ever referenced.
2597 The symbol is an indirect reference to another symbol (I), a function
2598 to be evaluated during reloc processing (i) or a normal symbol (a
2603 The symbol is a debugging symbol (d) or a dynamic symbol (D) or a
2604 normal symbol (a space).
2609 The symbol is the name of a function (F) or a file (f) or an object
2610 (O) or just a normal symbol (a space).
2614 @itemx --dynamic-syms
2615 @cindex dynamic symbol table entries, printing
2616 Print the dynamic symbol table entries of the file. This is only
2617 meaningful for dynamic objects, such as certain types of shared
2618 libraries. This is similar to the information provided by the @samp{nm}
2619 program when given the @option{-D} (@option{--dynamic}) option.
2621 @item --special-syms
2622 When displaying symbols include those which the target considers to be
2623 special in some way and which would not normally be of interest to the
2628 Print the version number of @command{objdump} and exit.
2631 @itemx --all-headers
2632 @cindex all header information, object file
2633 @cindex header information, all
2634 Display all available header information, including the symbol table and
2635 relocation entries. Using @option{-x} is equivalent to specifying all of
2636 @option{-a -f -h -p -r -t}.
2640 @cindex wide output, printing
2641 Format some lines for output devices that have more than 80 columns.
2642 Also do not truncate symbol names when they are displayed.
2645 @itemx --disassemble-zeroes
2646 Normally the disassembly output will skip blocks of zeroes. This
2647 option directs the disassembler to disassemble those blocks, just like
2654 @c man begin SEEALSO objdump
2655 nm(1), readelf(1), and the Info entries for @file{binutils}.
2663 @cindex archive contents
2664 @cindex symbol index
2666 @c man title ranlib generate index to archive.
2669 @c man begin SYNOPSIS ranlib
2670 ranlib [@option{--plugin} @var{name}] [@option{-DhHvVt}] @var{archive}
2674 @c man begin DESCRIPTION ranlib
2676 @command{ranlib} generates an index to the contents of an archive and
2677 stores it in the archive. The index lists each symbol defined by a
2678 member of an archive that is a relocatable object file.
2680 You may use @samp{nm -s} or @samp{nm --print-armap} to list this index.
2682 An archive with such an index speeds up linking to the library and
2683 allows routines in the library to call each other without regard to
2684 their placement in the archive.
2686 The @sc{gnu} @command{ranlib} program is another form of @sc{gnu} @command{ar}; running
2687 @command{ranlib} is completely equivalent to executing @samp{ar -s}.
2692 @c man begin OPTIONS ranlib
2698 Show usage information for @command{ranlib}.
2703 Show the version number of @command{ranlib}.
2706 @cindex deterministic archives
2707 @kindex --enable-deterministic-archives
2708 Operate in @emph{deterministic} mode. The symbol map archive member's
2709 header will show zero for the UID, GID, and timestamp. When this
2710 option is used, multiple runs will produce identical output files.
2712 If @file{binutils} was configured with
2713 @option{--enable-deterministic-archives}, then this mode is on by
2714 default. It can be disabled with the @samp{-U} option, described
2718 Update the timestamp of the symbol map of an archive.
2721 @cindex deterministic archives
2722 @kindex --enable-deterministic-archives
2723 Do @emph{not} operate in @emph{deterministic} mode. This is the
2724 inverse of the @samp{-D} option, above: the archive index will get
2725 actual UID, GID, timestamp, and file mode values.
2727 If @file{binutils} was configured @emph{without}
2728 @option{--enable-deterministic-archives}, then this mode is on by
2736 @c man begin SEEALSO ranlib
2737 ar(1), nm(1), and the Info entries for @file{binutils}.
2745 @cindex section sizes
2747 @c man title size list section sizes and total size.
2750 @c man begin SYNOPSIS size
2751 size [@option{-A}|@option{-B}|@option{--format=}@var{compatibility}]
2753 [@option{-d}|@option{-o}|@option{-x}|@option{--radix=}@var{number}]
2755 [@option{-t}|@option{--totals}]
2756 [@option{--target=}@var{bfdname}] [@option{-V}|@option{--version}]
2757 [@var{objfile}@dots{}]
2761 @c man begin DESCRIPTION size
2763 The @sc{gnu} @command{size} utility lists the section sizes---and the total
2764 size---for each of the object or archive files @var{objfile} in its
2765 argument list. By default, one line of output is generated for each
2766 object file or each module in an archive.
2768 @var{objfile}@dots{} are the object files to be examined.
2769 If none are specified, the file @code{a.out} will be used.
2773 @c man begin OPTIONS size
2775 The command line options have the following meanings:
2780 @itemx --format=@var{compatibility}
2781 @cindex @command{size} display format
2782 Using one of these options, you can choose whether the output from @sc{gnu}
2783 @command{size} resembles output from System V @command{size} (using @option{-A},
2784 or @option{--format=sysv}), or Berkeley @command{size} (using @option{-B}, or
2785 @option{--format=berkeley}). The default is the one-line format similar to
2787 @c Bonus for doc-source readers: you can also say --format=strange (or
2788 @c anything else that starts with 's') for sysv, and --format=boring (or
2789 @c anything else that starts with 'b') for Berkeley.
2791 Here is an example of the Berkeley (default) format of output from
2794 $ size --format=Berkeley ranlib size
2795 text data bss dec hex filename
2796 294880 81920 11592 388392 5ed28 ranlib
2797 294880 81920 11888 388688 5ee50 size
2801 This is the same data, but displayed closer to System V conventions:
2804 $ size --format=SysV ranlib size
2822 Show a summary of acceptable arguments and options.
2827 @itemx --radix=@var{number}
2828 @cindex @command{size} number format
2829 @cindex radix for section sizes
2830 Using one of these options, you can control whether the size of each
2831 section is given in decimal (@option{-d}, or @option{--radix=10}); octal
2832 (@option{-o}, or @option{--radix=8}); or hexadecimal (@option{-x}, or
2833 @option{--radix=16}). In @option{--radix=@var{number}}, only the three
2834 values (8, 10, 16) are supported. The total size is always given in two
2835 radices; decimal and hexadecimal for @option{-d} or @option{-x} output, or
2836 octal and hexadecimal if you're using @option{-o}.
2839 Print total size of common symbols in each file. When using Berkeley
2840 format these are included in the bss size.
2844 Show totals of all objects listed (Berkeley format listing mode only).
2846 @item --target=@var{bfdname}
2847 @cindex object code format
2848 Specify that the object-code format for @var{objfile} is
2849 @var{bfdname}. This option may not be necessary; @command{size} can
2850 automatically recognize many formats.
2851 @xref{Target Selection}, for more information.
2855 Display the version number of @command{size}.
2861 @c man begin SEEALSO size
2862 ar(1), objdump(1), readelf(1), and the Info entries for @file{binutils}.
2869 @cindex listings strings
2870 @cindex printing strings
2871 @cindex strings, printing
2873 @c man title strings print the strings of printable characters in files.
2876 @c man begin SYNOPSIS strings
2877 strings [@option{-afovV}] [@option{-}@var{min-len}]
2878 [@option{-n} @var{min-len}] [@option{--bytes=}@var{min-len}]
2879 [@option{-t} @var{radix}] [@option{--radix=}@var{radix}]
2880 [@option{-e} @var{encoding}] [@option{--encoding=}@var{encoding}]
2881 [@option{-}] [@option{--all}] [@option{--print-file-name}]
2882 [@option{-T} @var{bfdname}] [@option{--target=}@var{bfdname}]
2883 [@option{-w}] [@option{--include-all-whitespace}]
2884 [@option{-s}] [@option{--output-separator}@var{sep_string}]
2885 [@option{--help}] [@option{--version}] @var{file}@dots{}
2889 @c man begin DESCRIPTION strings
2891 For each @var{file} given, @sc{gnu} @command{strings} prints the
2892 printable character sequences that are at least 4 characters long (or
2893 the number given with the options below) and are followed by an
2894 unprintable character.
2896 Depending upon how the strings program was configured it will default
2897 to either displaying all the printable sequences that it can find in
2898 each file, or only those sequences that are in loadable, initialized
2899 data sections. If the file type in unrecognizable, or if strings is
2900 reading from stdin then it will always display all of the printable
2901 sequences that it can find.
2903 For backwards compatibility any file that occurs after a command line
2904 option of just @option{-} will also be scanned in full, regardless of
2905 the presence of any @option{-d} option.
2907 @command{strings} is mainly useful for determining the contents of
2912 @c man begin OPTIONS strings
2918 Scan the whole file, regardless of what sections it contains or
2919 whether those sections are loaded or initialized. Normally this is
2920 the default behaviour, but strings can be configured so that the
2921 @option{-d} is the default instead.
2923 The @option{-} option is position dependent and forces strings to
2924 perform full scans of any file that is mentioned after the @option{-}
2925 on the command line, even if the @option{-d} option has been
2930 Only print strings from initialized, loaded data sections in the
2931 file. This may reduce the amount of garbage in the output, but it
2932 also exposes the strings program to any security flaws that may be
2933 present in the BFD library used to scan and load sections. Strings
2934 can be configured so that this option is the default behaviour. In
2935 such cases the @option{-a} option can be used to avoid using the BFD
2936 library and instead just print all of the strings found in the file.
2939 @itemx --print-file-name
2940 Print the name of the file before each string.
2943 Print a summary of the program usage on the standard output and exit.
2945 @item -@var{min-len}
2946 @itemx -n @var{min-len}
2947 @itemx --bytes=@var{min-len}
2948 Print sequences of characters that are at least @var{min-len} characters
2949 long, instead of the default 4.
2952 Like @samp{-t o}. Some other versions of @command{strings} have @option{-o}
2953 act like @samp{-t d} instead. Since we can not be compatible with both
2954 ways, we simply chose one.
2956 @item -t @var{radix}
2957 @itemx --radix=@var{radix}
2958 Print the offset within the file before each string. The single
2959 character argument specifies the radix of the offset---@samp{o} for
2960 octal, @samp{x} for hexadecimal, or @samp{d} for decimal.
2962 @item -e @var{encoding}
2963 @itemx --encoding=@var{encoding}
2964 Select the character encoding of the strings that are to be found.
2965 Possible values for @var{encoding} are: @samp{s} = single-7-bit-byte
2966 characters (ASCII, ISO 8859, etc., default), @samp{S} =
2967 single-8-bit-byte characters, @samp{b} = 16-bit bigendian, @samp{l} =
2968 16-bit littleendian, @samp{B} = 32-bit bigendian, @samp{L} = 32-bit
2969 littleendian. Useful for finding wide character strings. (@samp{l}
2970 and @samp{b} apply to, for example, Unicode UTF-16/UCS-2 encodings).
2972 @item -T @var{bfdname}
2973 @itemx --target=@var{bfdname}
2974 @cindex object code format
2975 Specify an object code format other than your system's default format.
2976 @xref{Target Selection}, for more information.
2981 Print the program version number on the standard output and exit.
2984 @itemx --include-all-whitespace
2985 By default tab and space characters are included in the strings that
2986 are displayed, but other whitespace characters, such a newlines and
2987 carriage returns, are not. The @option{-w} option changes this so
2988 that all whitespace characters are considered to be part of a string.
2991 @itemx --output-separator
2992 By default, output strings are delimited by a new-line. This option
2993 allows you to supply any string to be used as the output record
2994 separator. Useful with --include-all-whitespace where strings
2995 may contain new-lines internally.
3001 @c man begin SEEALSO strings
3002 ar(1), nm(1), objdump(1), ranlib(1), readelf(1)
3003 and the Info entries for @file{binutils}.
3011 @cindex removing symbols
3012 @cindex discarding symbols
3013 @cindex symbols, discarding
3015 @c man title strip Discard symbols from object files.
3018 @c man begin SYNOPSIS strip
3019 strip [@option{-F} @var{bfdname} |@option{--target=}@var{bfdname}]
3020 [@option{-I} @var{bfdname} |@option{--input-target=}@var{bfdname}]
3021 [@option{-O} @var{bfdname} |@option{--output-target=}@var{bfdname}]
3022 [@option{-s}|@option{--strip-all}]
3023 [@option{-S}|@option{-g}|@option{-d}|@option{--strip-debug}]
3024 [@option{--strip-dwo}]
3025 [@option{-K} @var{symbolname} |@option{--keep-symbol=}@var{symbolname}]
3026 [@option{-N} @var{symbolname} |@option{--strip-symbol=}@var{symbolname}]
3027 [@option{-w}|@option{--wildcard}]
3028 [@option{-x}|@option{--discard-all}] [@option{-X} |@option{--discard-locals}]
3029 [@option{-R} @var{sectionname} |@option{--remove-section=}@var{sectionname}]
3030 [@option{--remove-relocations=}@var{sectionpattern}]
3031 [@option{-o} @var{file}] [@option{-p}|@option{--preserve-dates}]
3032 [@option{-D}|@option{--enable-deterministic-archives}]
3033 [@option{-U}|@option{--disable-deterministic-archives}]
3034 [@option{--keep-file-symbols}]
3035 [@option{--only-keep-debug}]
3036 [@option{-v} |@option{--verbose}] [@option{-V}|@option{--version}]
3037 [@option{--help}] [@option{--info}]
3038 @var{objfile}@dots{}
3042 @c man begin DESCRIPTION strip
3044 @sc{gnu} @command{strip} discards all symbols from object files
3045 @var{objfile}. The list of object files may include archives.
3046 At least one object file must be given.
3048 @command{strip} modifies the files named in its argument,
3049 rather than writing modified copies under different names.
3053 @c man begin OPTIONS strip
3056 @item -F @var{bfdname}
3057 @itemx --target=@var{bfdname}
3058 Treat the original @var{objfile} as a file with the object
3059 code format @var{bfdname}, and rewrite it in the same format.
3060 @xref{Target Selection}, for more information.
3063 Show a summary of the options to @command{strip} and exit.
3066 Display a list showing all architectures and object formats available.
3068 @item -I @var{bfdname}
3069 @itemx --input-target=@var{bfdname}
3070 Treat the original @var{objfile} as a file with the object
3071 code format @var{bfdname}.
3072 @xref{Target Selection}, for more information.
3074 @item -O @var{bfdname}
3075 @itemx --output-target=@var{bfdname}
3076 Replace @var{objfile} with a file in the output format @var{bfdname}.
3077 @xref{Target Selection}, for more information.
3079 @item -R @var{sectionname}
3080 @itemx --remove-section=@var{sectionname}
3081 Remove any section named @var{sectionname} from the output file, in
3082 addition to whatever sections would otherwise be removed. This
3083 option may be given more than once. Note that using this option
3084 inappropriately may make the output file unusable. The wildcard
3085 character @samp{*} may be given at the end of @var{sectionname}. If
3086 so, then any section starting with @var{sectionname} will be removed.
3088 If the first character of @var{sectionpattern} is the exclamation
3089 point (!) then matching sections will not be removed even if an
3090 earlier use of @option{--remove-section} on the same command line
3091 would otherwise remove it. For example:
3094 --remove-section=.text.* --remove-section=!.text.foo
3097 will remove all sections matching the pattern '.text.*', but will not
3098 remove the section '.text.foo'.
3100 @item --remove-relocations=@var{sectionpattern}
3101 Remove relocations from the output file for any section matching
3102 @var{sectionpattern}. This option may be given more than once. Note
3103 that using this option inappropriately may make the output file
3104 unusable. Wildcard characters are accepted in @var{sectionpattern}.
3108 --remove-relocations=.text.*
3111 will remove the relocations for all sections matching the patter
3114 If the first character of @var{sectionpattern} is the exclamation
3115 point (!) then matching sections will not have their relocation
3116 removed even if an earlier use of @option{--remove-relocations} on the
3117 same command line would otherwise cause the relocations to be removed.
3121 --remove-relocations=.text.* --remove-relocations=!.text.foo
3124 will remove all relocations for sections matching the pattern
3125 '.text.*', but will not remove relocations for the section
3135 @itemx --strip-debug
3136 Remove debugging symbols only.
3139 Remove the contents of all DWARF .dwo sections, leaving the
3140 remaining debugging sections and all symbols intact.
3141 See the description of this option in the @command{objcopy} section
3142 for more information.
3144 @item --strip-unneeded
3145 Remove all symbols that are not needed for relocation processing.
3147 @item -K @var{symbolname}
3148 @itemx --keep-symbol=@var{symbolname}
3149 When stripping symbols, keep symbol @var{symbolname} even if it would
3150 normally be stripped. This option may be given more than once.
3152 @item -N @var{symbolname}
3153 @itemx --strip-symbol=@var{symbolname}
3154 Remove symbol @var{symbolname} from the source file. This option may be
3155 given more than once, and may be combined with strip options other than
3159 Put the stripped output in @var{file}, rather than replacing the
3160 existing file. When this argument is used, only one @var{objfile}
3161 argument may be specified.
3164 @itemx --preserve-dates
3165 Preserve the access and modification dates of the file.
3168 @itemx --enable-deterministic-archives
3169 @cindex deterministic archives
3170 @kindex --enable-deterministic-archives
3171 Operate in @emph{deterministic} mode. When copying archive members
3172 and writing the archive index, use zero for UIDs, GIDs, timestamps,
3173 and use consistent file modes for all files.
3175 If @file{binutils} was configured with
3176 @option{--enable-deterministic-archives}, then this mode is on by default.
3177 It can be disabled with the @samp{-U} option, below.
3180 @itemx --disable-deterministic-archives
3181 @cindex deterministic archives
3182 @kindex --enable-deterministic-archives
3183 Do @emph{not} operate in @emph{deterministic} mode. This is the
3184 inverse of the @option{-D} option, above: when copying archive members
3185 and writing the archive index, use their actual UID, GID, timestamp,
3186 and file mode values.
3188 This is the default unless @file{binutils} was configured with
3189 @option{--enable-deterministic-archives}.
3193 Permit regular expressions in @var{symbolname}s used in other command
3194 line options. The question mark (?), asterisk (*), backslash (\) and
3195 square brackets ([]) operators can be used anywhere in the symbol
3196 name. If the first character of the symbol name is the exclamation
3197 point (!) then the sense of the switch is reversed for that symbol.
3204 would cause strip to only keep symbols that start with the letters
3205 ``fo'', but to discard the symbol ``foo''.
3208 @itemx --discard-all
3209 Remove non-global symbols.
3212 @itemx --discard-locals
3213 Remove compiler-generated local symbols.
3214 (These usually start with @samp{L} or @samp{.}.)
3216 @item --keep-file-symbols
3217 When stripping a file, perhaps with @option{--strip-debug} or
3218 @option{--strip-unneeded}, retain any symbols specifying source file names,
3219 which would otherwise get stripped.
3221 @item --only-keep-debug
3222 Strip a file, emptying the contents of any sections that would not be
3223 stripped by @option{--strip-debug} and leaving the debugging sections
3224 intact. In ELF files, this preserves all the note sections in the
3227 Note - the section headers of the stripped sections are preserved,
3228 including their sizes, but the contents of the section are discarded.
3229 The section headers are preserved so that other tools can match up the
3230 debuginfo file with the real executable, even if that executable has
3231 been relocated to a different address space.
3233 The intention is that this option will be used in conjunction with
3234 @option{--add-gnu-debuglink} to create a two part executable. One a
3235 stripped binary which will occupy less space in RAM and in a
3236 distribution and the second a debugging information file which is only
3237 needed if debugging abilities are required. The suggested procedure
3238 to create these files is as follows:
3241 @item Link the executable as normal. Assuming that is is called
3243 @item Run @code{objcopy --only-keep-debug foo foo.dbg} to
3244 create a file containing the debugging info.
3245 @item Run @code{objcopy --strip-debug foo} to create a
3246 stripped executable.
3247 @item Run @code{objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.dbg foo}
3248 to add a link to the debugging info into the stripped executable.
3251 Note---the choice of @code{.dbg} as an extension for the debug info
3252 file is arbitrary. Also the @code{--only-keep-debug} step is
3253 optional. You could instead do this:
3256 @item Link the executable as normal.
3257 @item Copy @code{foo} to @code{foo.full}
3258 @item Run @code{strip --strip-debug foo}
3259 @item Run @code{objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.full foo}
3262 i.e., the file pointed to by the @option{--add-gnu-debuglink} can be the
3263 full executable. It does not have to be a file created by the
3264 @option{--only-keep-debug} switch.
3266 Note---this switch is only intended for use on fully linked files. It
3267 does not make sense to use it on object files where the debugging
3268 information may be incomplete. Besides the gnu_debuglink feature
3269 currently only supports the presence of one filename containing
3270 debugging information, not multiple filenames on a one-per-object-file
3275 Show the version number for @command{strip}.
3279 Verbose output: list all object files modified. In the case of
3280 archives, @samp{strip -v} lists all members of the archive.
3286 @c man begin SEEALSO strip
3287 the Info entries for @file{binutils}.
3291 @node c++filt, addr2line, strip, Top
3295 @cindex demangling C++ symbols
3297 @c man title cxxfilt Demangle C++ and Java symbols.
3300 @c man begin SYNOPSIS cxxfilt
3301 c++filt [@option{-_}|@option{--strip-underscore}]
3302 [@option{-n}|@option{--no-strip-underscore}]
3303 [@option{-p}|@option{--no-params}]
3304 [@option{-t}|@option{--types}]
3305 [@option{-i}|@option{--no-verbose}]
3306 [@option{-s} @var{format}|@option{--format=}@var{format}]
3307 [@option{--help}] [@option{--version}] [@var{symbol}@dots{}]
3311 @c man begin DESCRIPTION cxxfilt
3314 The C++ and Java languages provide function overloading, which means
3315 that you can write many functions with the same name, providing that
3316 each function takes parameters of different types. In order to be
3317 able to distinguish these similarly named functions C++ and Java
3318 encode them into a low-level assembler name which uniquely identifies
3319 each different version. This process is known as @dfn{mangling}. The
3321 @footnote{MS-DOS does not allow @kbd{+} characters in file names, so on
3322 MS-DOS this program is named @command{CXXFILT}.}
3323 program does the inverse mapping: it decodes (@dfn{demangles}) low-level
3324 names into user-level names so that they can be read.
3326 Every alphanumeric word (consisting of letters, digits, underscores,
3327 dollars, or periods) seen in the input is a potential mangled name.
3328 If the name decodes into a C++ name, the C++ name replaces the
3329 low-level name in the output, otherwise the original word is output.
3330 In this way you can pass an entire assembler source file, containing
3331 mangled names, through @command{c++filt} and see the same source file
3332 containing demangled names.
3334 You can also use @command{c++filt} to decipher individual symbols by
3335 passing them on the command line:
3338 c++filt @var{symbol}
3341 If no @var{symbol} arguments are given, @command{c++filt} reads symbol
3342 names from the standard input instead. All the results are printed on
3343 the standard output. The difference between reading names from the
3344 command line versus reading names from the standard input is that
3345 command line arguments are expected to be just mangled names and no
3346 checking is performed to separate them from surrounding text. Thus
3353 will work and demangle the name to ``f()'' whereas:
3359 will not work. (Note the extra comma at the end of the mangled
3360 name which makes it invalid). This command however will work:
3363 echo _Z1fv, | c++filt -n
3366 and will display ``f(),'', i.e., the demangled name followed by a
3367 trailing comma. This behaviour is because when the names are read
3368 from the standard input it is expected that they might be part of an
3369 assembler source file where there might be extra, extraneous
3370 characters trailing after a mangled name. For example:
3373 .type _Z1fv, @@function
3378 @c man begin OPTIONS cxxfilt
3382 @itemx --strip-underscore
3383 On some systems, both the C and C++ compilers put an underscore in front
3384 of every name. For example, the C name @code{foo} gets the low-level
3385 name @code{_foo}. This option removes the initial underscore. Whether
3386 @command{c++filt} removes the underscore by default is target dependent.
3389 @itemx --no-strip-underscore
3390 Do not remove the initial underscore.
3394 When demangling the name of a function, do not display the types of
3395 the function's parameters.
3399 Attempt to demangle types as well as function names. This is disabled
3400 by default since mangled types are normally only used internally in
3401 the compiler, and they can be confused with non-mangled names. For example,
3402 a function called ``a'' treated as a mangled type name would be
3403 demangled to ``signed char''.
3407 Do not include implementation details (if any) in the demangled
3410 @item -s @var{format}
3411 @itemx --format=@var{format}
3412 @command{c++filt} can decode various methods of mangling, used by
3413 different compilers. The argument to this option selects which
3418 Automatic selection based on executable (the default method)
3420 the one used by the @sc{gnu} C++ compiler (g++)
3422 the one used by the Lucid compiler (lcc)
3424 the one specified by the C++ Annotated Reference Manual
3426 the one used by the HP compiler (aCC)
3428 the one used by the EDG compiler
3430 the one used by the @sc{gnu} C++ compiler (g++) with the V3 ABI.
3432 the one used by the @sc{gnu} Java compiler (gcj)
3434 the one used by the @sc{gnu} Ada compiler (GNAT).
3438 Print a summary of the options to @command{c++filt} and exit.
3441 Print the version number of @command{c++filt} and exit.
3447 @c man begin SEEALSO cxxfilt
3448 the Info entries for @file{binutils}.
3453 @emph{Warning:} @command{c++filt} is a new utility, and the details of its
3454 user interface are subject to change in future releases. In particular,
3455 a command-line option may be required in the future to decode a name
3456 passed as an argument on the command line; in other words,
3459 c++filt @var{symbol}
3463 may in a future release become
3466 c++filt @var{option} @var{symbol}
3474 @cindex address to file name and line number
3476 @c man title addr2line convert addresses into file names and line numbers.
3479 @c man begin SYNOPSIS addr2line
3480 addr2line [@option{-a}|@option{--addresses}]
3481 [@option{-b} @var{bfdname}|@option{--target=}@var{bfdname}]
3482 [@option{-C}|@option{--demangle}[=@var{style}]]
3483 [@option{-e} @var{filename}|@option{--exe=}@var{filename}]
3484 [@option{-f}|@option{--functions}] [@option{-s}|@option{--basename}]
3485 [@option{-i}|@option{--inlines}]
3486 [@option{-p}|@option{--pretty-print}]
3487 [@option{-j}|@option{--section=}@var{name}]
3488 [@option{-H}|@option{--help}] [@option{-V}|@option{--version}]
3493 @c man begin DESCRIPTION addr2line
3495 @command{addr2line} translates addresses into file names and line numbers.
3496 Given an address in an executable or an offset in a section of a relocatable
3497 object, it uses the debugging information to figure out which file name and
3498 line number are associated with it.
3500 The executable or relocatable object to use is specified with the @option{-e}
3501 option. The default is the file @file{a.out}. The section in the relocatable
3502 object to use is specified with the @option{-j} option.
3504 @command{addr2line} has two modes of operation.
3506 In the first, hexadecimal addresses are specified on the command line,
3507 and @command{addr2line} displays the file name and line number for each
3510 In the second, @command{addr2line} reads hexadecimal addresses from
3511 standard input, and prints the file name and line number for each
3512 address on standard output. In this mode, @command{addr2line} may be used
3513 in a pipe to convert dynamically chosen addresses.
3515 The format of the output is @samp{FILENAME:LINENO}. By default
3516 each input address generates one line of output.
3518 Two options can generate additional lines before each
3519 @samp{FILENAME:LINENO} line (in that order).
3521 If the @option{-a} option is used then a line with the input address
3524 If the @option{-f} option is used, then a line with the
3525 @samp{FUNCTIONNAME} is displayed. This is the name of the function
3526 containing the address.
3528 One option can generate additional lines after the
3529 @samp{FILENAME:LINENO} line.
3531 If the @option{-i} option is used and the code at the given address is
3532 present there because of inlining by the compiler then additional
3533 lines are displayed afterwards. One or two extra lines (if the
3534 @option{-f} option is used) are displayed for each inlined function.
3536 Alternatively if the @option{-p} option is used then each input
3537 address generates a single, long, output line containing the address,
3538 the function name, the file name and the line number. If the
3539 @option{-i} option has also been used then any inlined functions will
3540 be displayed in the same manner, but on separate lines, and prefixed
3541 by the text @samp{(inlined by)}.
3543 If the file name or function name can not be determined,
3544 @command{addr2line} will print two question marks in their place. If the
3545 line number can not be determined, @command{addr2line} will print 0.
3549 @c man begin OPTIONS addr2line
3551 The long and short forms of options, shown here as alternatives, are
3557 Display the address before the function name, file and line number
3558 information. The address is printed with a @samp{0x} prefix to easily
3561 @item -b @var{bfdname}
3562 @itemx --target=@var{bfdname}
3563 @cindex object code format
3564 Specify that the object-code format for the object files is
3568 @itemx --demangle[=@var{style}]
3569 @cindex demangling in objdump
3570 Decode (@dfn{demangle}) low-level symbol names into user-level names.
3571 Besides removing any initial underscore prepended by the system, this
3572 makes C++ function names readable. Different compilers have different
3573 mangling styles. The optional demangling style argument can be used to
3574 choose an appropriate demangling style for your compiler. @xref{c++filt},
3575 for more information on demangling.
3577 @item -e @var{filename}
3578 @itemx --exe=@var{filename}
3579 Specify the name of the executable for which addresses should be
3580 translated. The default file is @file{a.out}.
3584 Display function names as well as file and line number information.
3588 Display only the base of each file name.
3592 If the address belongs to a function that was inlined, the source
3593 information for all enclosing scopes back to the first non-inlined
3594 function will also be printed. For example, if @code{main} inlines
3595 @code{callee1} which inlines @code{callee2}, and address is from
3596 @code{callee2}, the source information for @code{callee1} and @code{main}
3597 will also be printed.
3601 Read offsets relative to the specified section instead of absolute addresses.
3604 @itemx --pretty-print
3605 Make the output more human friendly: each location are printed on one line.
3606 If option @option{-i} is specified, lines for all enclosing scopes are
3607 prefixed with @samp{(inlined by)}.
3613 @c man begin SEEALSO addr2line
3614 Info entries for @file{binutils}.
3621 @command{nlmconv} converts a relocatable object file into a NetWare
3625 @command{nlmconv} currently works with @samp{i386} object
3626 files in @code{coff}, @sc{elf}, or @code{a.out} format, and @sc{SPARC}
3627 object files in @sc{elf}, or @code{a.out} format@footnote{
3628 @command{nlmconv} should work with any @samp{i386} or @sc{sparc} object
3629 format in the Binary File Descriptor library. It has only been tested
3630 with the above formats.}.
3634 @emph{Warning:} @command{nlmconv} is not always built as part of the binary
3635 utilities, since it is only useful for NLM targets.
3638 @c man title nlmconv converts object code into an NLM.
3641 @c man begin SYNOPSIS nlmconv
3642 nlmconv [@option{-I} @var{bfdname}|@option{--input-target=}@var{bfdname}]
3643 [@option{-O} @var{bfdname}|@option{--output-target=}@var{bfdname}]
3644 [@option{-T} @var{headerfile}|@option{--header-file=}@var{headerfile}]
3645 [@option{-d}|@option{--debug}] [@option{-l} @var{linker}|@option{--linker=}@var{linker}]
3646 [@option{-h}|@option{--help}] [@option{-V}|@option{--version}]
3647 @var{infile} @var{outfile}
3651 @c man begin DESCRIPTION nlmconv
3653 @command{nlmconv} converts the relocatable @samp{i386} object file
3654 @var{infile} into the NetWare Loadable Module @var{outfile}, optionally
3655 reading @var{headerfile} for NLM header information. For instructions
3656 on writing the NLM command file language used in header files, see the
3657 @samp{linkers} section, @samp{NLMLINK} in particular, of the @cite{NLM
3658 Development and Tools Overview}, which is part of the NLM Software
3659 Developer's Kit (``NLM SDK''), available from Novell, Inc.
3660 @command{nlmconv} uses the @sc{gnu} Binary File Descriptor library to read
3663 see @ref{BFD,,BFD,ld.info,Using LD}, for more information.
3666 @command{nlmconv} can perform a link step. In other words, you can list
3667 more than one object file for input if you list them in the definitions
3668 file (rather than simply specifying one input file on the command line).
3669 In this case, @command{nlmconv} calls the linker for you.
3673 @c man begin OPTIONS nlmconv
3676 @item -I @var{bfdname}
3677 @itemx --input-target=@var{bfdname}
3678 Object format of the input file. @command{nlmconv} can usually determine
3679 the format of a given file (so no default is necessary).
3680 @xref{Target Selection}, for more information.
3682 @item -O @var{bfdname}
3683 @itemx --output-target=@var{bfdname}
3684 Object format of the output file. @command{nlmconv} infers the output
3685 format based on the input format, e.g. for a @samp{i386} input file the
3686 output format is @samp{nlm32-i386}.
3687 @xref{Target Selection}, for more information.
3689 @item -T @var{headerfile}
3690 @itemx --header-file=@var{headerfile}
3691 Reads @var{headerfile} for NLM header information. For instructions on
3692 writing the NLM command file language used in header files, see@ see the
3693 @samp{linkers} section, of the @cite{NLM Development and Tools
3694 Overview}, which is part of the NLM Software Developer's Kit, available
3699 Displays (on standard error) the linker command line used by @command{nlmconv}.
3701 @item -l @var{linker}
3702 @itemx --linker=@var{linker}
3703 Use @var{linker} for any linking. @var{linker} can be an absolute or a
3708 Prints a usage summary.
3712 Prints the version number for @command{nlmconv}.
3718 @c man begin SEEALSO nlmconv
3719 the Info entries for @file{binutils}.
3726 @command{windmc} may be used to generator Windows message resources.
3729 @emph{Warning:} @command{windmc} is not always built as part of the binary
3730 utilities, since it is only useful for Windows targets.
3733 @c man title windmc generates Windows message resources.
3736 @c man begin SYNOPSIS windmc
3737 windmc [options] input-file
3741 @c man begin DESCRIPTION windmc
3743 @command{windmc} reads message definitions from an input file (.mc) and
3744 translate them into a set of output files. The output files may be of
3749 A C header file containing the message definitions.
3752 A resource file compilable by the @command{windres} tool.
3755 One or more binary files containing the resource data for a specific
3759 A C include file that maps message id's to their symbolic name.
3762 The exact description of these different formats is available in
3763 documentation from Microsoft.
3765 When @command{windmc} converts from the @code{mc} format to the @code{bin}
3766 format, @code{rc}, @code{h}, and optional @code{dbg} it is acting like the
3767 Windows Message Compiler.
3771 @c man begin OPTIONS windmc
3776 Specifies that the input file specified is ASCII. This is the default
3781 Specifies that messages in the output @code{bin} files should be in ASCII
3786 Specifies that @code{bin} filenames should have to be prefixed by the
3787 basename of the source file.
3791 Sets the customer bit in all message id's.
3793 @item -C @var{codepage}
3794 @itemx --codepage_in @var{codepage}
3795 Sets the default codepage to be used to convert input file to UTF16. The
3796 default is ocdepage 1252.
3799 @itemx --decimal_values
3800 Outputs the constants in the header file in decimal. Default is using
3804 @itemx --extension @var{ext}
3805 The extension for the header file. The default is .h extension.
3807 @item -F @var{target}
3808 @itemx --target @var{target}
3809 Specify the BFD format to use for a bin file as output. This
3810 is a BFD target name; you can use the @option{--help} option to see a list
3811 of supported targets. Normally @command{windmc} will use the default
3812 format, which is the first one listed by the @option{--help} option.
3814 @ref{Target Selection}.
3818 @itemx --headerdir @var{path}
3819 The target directory of the generated header file. The default is the
3824 Displays a list of command line options and then exits.
3826 @item -m @var{characters}
3827 @itemx --maxlength @var{characters}
3828 Instructs @command{windmc} to generate a warning if the length
3829 of any message exceeds the number specified.
3832 @itemx --nullterminate
3833 Terminate message text in @code{bin} files by zero. By default they are
3834 terminated by CR/LF.
3837 @itemx --hresult_use
3838 Not yet implemented. Instructs @code{windmc} to generate an OLE2 header
3839 file, using HRESULT definitions. Status codes are used if the flag is not
3842 @item -O @var{codepage}
3843 @itemx --codepage_out @var{codepage}
3844 Sets the default codepage to be used to output text files. The default
3848 @itemx --rcdir @var{path}
3849 The target directory for the generated @code{rc} script and the generated
3850 @code{bin} files that the resource compiler script includes. The default
3851 is the current directory.
3855 Specifies that the input file is UTF16.
3858 @itemx --unicode_out
3859 Specifies that messages in the output @code{bin} file should be in UTF16
3860 format. This is the default behaviour.
3864 Enable verbose mode.
3868 Prints the version number for @command{windmc}.
3871 @itemx --xdgb @var{path}
3872 The path of the @code{dbg} C include file that maps message id's to the
3873 symbolic name. No such file is generated without specifying the switch.
3879 @c man begin SEEALSO windmc
3880 the Info entries for @file{binutils}.
3887 @command{windres} may be used to manipulate Windows resources.
3890 @emph{Warning:} @command{windres} is not always built as part of the binary
3891 utilities, since it is only useful for Windows targets.
3894 @c man title windres manipulate Windows resources.
3897 @c man begin SYNOPSIS windres
3898 windres [options] [input-file] [output-file]
3902 @c man begin DESCRIPTION windres
3904 @command{windres} reads resources from an input file and copies them into
3905 an output file. Either file may be in one of three formats:
3909 A text format read by the Resource Compiler.
3912 A binary format generated by the Resource Compiler.
3915 A COFF object or executable.
3918 The exact description of these different formats is available in
3919 documentation from Microsoft.
3921 When @command{windres} converts from the @code{rc} format to the @code{res}
3922 format, it is acting like the Windows Resource Compiler. When
3923 @command{windres} converts from the @code{res} format to the @code{coff}
3924 format, it is acting like the Windows @code{CVTRES} program.
3926 When @command{windres} generates an @code{rc} file, the output is similar
3927 but not identical to the format expected for the input. When an input
3928 @code{rc} file refers to an external filename, an output @code{rc} file
3929 will instead include the file contents.
3931 If the input or output format is not specified, @command{windres} will
3932 guess based on the file name, or, for the input file, the file contents.
3933 A file with an extension of @file{.rc} will be treated as an @code{rc}
3934 file, a file with an extension of @file{.res} will be treated as a
3935 @code{res} file, and a file with an extension of @file{.o} or
3936 @file{.exe} will be treated as a @code{coff} file.
3938 If no output file is specified, @command{windres} will print the resources
3939 in @code{rc} format to standard output.
3941 The normal use is for you to write an @code{rc} file, use @command{windres}
3942 to convert it to a COFF object file, and then link the COFF file into
3943 your application. This will make the resources described in the
3944 @code{rc} file available to Windows.
3948 @c man begin OPTIONS windres
3951 @item -i @var{filename}
3952 @itemx --input @var{filename}
3953 The name of the input file. If this option is not used, then
3954 @command{windres} will use the first non-option argument as the input file
3955 name. If there are no non-option arguments, then @command{windres} will
3956 read from standard input. @command{windres} can not read a COFF file from
3959 @item -o @var{filename}
3960 @itemx --output @var{filename}
3961 The name of the output file. If this option is not used, then
3962 @command{windres} will use the first non-option argument, after any used
3963 for the input file name, as the output file name. If there is no
3964 non-option argument, then @command{windres} will write to standard output.
3965 @command{windres} can not write a COFF file to standard output. Note,
3966 for compatibility with @command{rc} the option @option{-fo} is also
3967 accepted, but its use is not recommended.
3969 @item -J @var{format}
3970 @itemx --input-format @var{format}
3971 The input format to read. @var{format} may be @samp{res}, @samp{rc}, or
3972 @samp{coff}. If no input format is specified, @command{windres} will
3973 guess, as described above.
3975 @item -O @var{format}
3976 @itemx --output-format @var{format}
3977 The output format to generate. @var{format} may be @samp{res},
3978 @samp{rc}, or @samp{coff}. If no output format is specified,
3979 @command{windres} will guess, as described above.
3981 @item -F @var{target}
3982 @itemx --target @var{target}
3983 Specify the BFD format to use for a COFF file as input or output. This
3984 is a BFD target name; you can use the @option{--help} option to see a list
3985 of supported targets. Normally @command{windres} will use the default
3986 format, which is the first one listed by the @option{--help} option.
3988 @ref{Target Selection}.
3991 @item --preprocessor @var{program}
3992 When @command{windres} reads an @code{rc} file, it runs it through the C
3993 preprocessor first. This option may be used to specify the preprocessor
3994 to use, including any leading arguments. The default preprocessor
3995 argument is @code{gcc -E -xc-header -DRC_INVOKED}.
3997 @item --preprocessor-arg @var{option}
3998 When @command{windres} reads an @code{rc} file, it runs it through
3999 the C preprocessor first. This option may be used to specify additional
4000 text to be passed to preprocessor on its command line.
4001 This option can be used multiple times to add multiple options to the
4002 preprocessor command line.
4004 @item -I @var{directory}
4005 @itemx --include-dir @var{directory}
4006 Specify an include directory to use when reading an @code{rc} file.
4007 @command{windres} will pass this to the preprocessor as an @option{-I}
4008 option. @command{windres} will also search this directory when looking for
4009 files named in the @code{rc} file. If the argument passed to this command
4010 matches any of the supported @var{formats} (as described in the @option{-J}
4011 option), it will issue a deprecation warning, and behave just like the
4012 @option{-J} option. New programs should not use this behaviour. If a
4013 directory happens to match a @var{format}, simple prefix it with @samp{./}
4014 to disable the backward compatibility.
4016 @item -D @var{target}
4017 @itemx --define @var{sym}[=@var{val}]
4018 Specify a @option{-D} option to pass to the preprocessor when reading an
4021 @item -U @var{target}
4022 @itemx --undefine @var{sym}
4023 Specify a @option{-U} option to pass to the preprocessor when reading an
4027 Ignored for compatibility with rc.
4030 Enable verbose mode. This tells you what the preprocessor is if you
4034 @item --codepage @var{val}
4035 Specify the default codepage to use when reading an @code{rc} file.
4036 @var{val} should be a hexadecimal prefixed by @samp{0x} or decimal
4037 codepage code. The valid range is from zero up to 0xffff, but the
4038 validity of the codepage is host and configuration dependent.
4041 @item --language @var{val}
4042 Specify the default language to use when reading an @code{rc} file.
4043 @var{val} should be a hexadecimal language code. The low eight bits are
4044 the language, and the high eight bits are the sublanguage.
4046 @item --use-temp-file
4047 Use a temporary file to instead of using popen to read the output of
4048 the preprocessor. Use this option if the popen implementation is buggy
4049 on the host (eg., certain non-English language versions of Windows 95 and
4050 Windows 98 are known to have buggy popen where the output will instead
4053 @item --no-use-temp-file
4054 Use popen, not a temporary file, to read the output of the preprocessor.
4055 This is the default behaviour.
4059 Prints a usage summary.
4063 Prints the version number for @command{windres}.
4066 If @command{windres} is compiled with @code{YYDEBUG} defined as @code{1},
4067 this will turn on parser debugging.
4073 @c man begin SEEALSO windres
4074 the Info entries for @file{binutils}.
4083 @command{dlltool} is used to create the files needed to create dynamic
4084 link libraries (DLLs) on systems which understand PE format image
4085 files such as Windows. A DLL contains an export table which contains
4086 information that the runtime loader needs to resolve references from a
4087 referencing program.
4089 The export table is generated by this program by reading in a
4090 @file{.def} file or scanning the @file{.a} and @file{.o} files which
4091 will be in the DLL. A @file{.o} file can contain information in
4092 special @samp{.drectve} sections with export information.
4095 @emph{Note:} @command{dlltool} is not always built as part of the
4096 binary utilities, since it is only useful for those targets which
4100 @c man title dlltool Create files needed to build and use DLLs.
4103 @c man begin SYNOPSIS dlltool
4104 dlltool [@option{-d}|@option{--input-def} @var{def-file-name}]
4105 [@option{-b}|@option{--base-file} @var{base-file-name}]
4106 [@option{-e}|@option{--output-exp} @var{exports-file-name}]
4107 [@option{-z}|@option{--output-def} @var{def-file-name}]
4108 [@option{-l}|@option{--output-lib} @var{library-file-name}]
4109 [@option{-y}|@option{--output-delaylib} @var{library-file-name}]
4110 [@option{--export-all-symbols}] [@option{--no-export-all-symbols}]
4111 [@option{--exclude-symbols} @var{list}]
4112 [@option{--no-default-excludes}]
4113 [@option{-S}|@option{--as} @var{path-to-assembler}] [@option{-f}|@option{--as-flags} @var{options}]
4114 [@option{-D}|@option{--dllname} @var{name}] [@option{-m}|@option{--machine} @var{machine}]
4115 [@option{-a}|@option{--add-indirect}]
4116 [@option{-U}|@option{--add-underscore}] [@option{--add-stdcall-underscore}]
4117 [@option{-k}|@option{--kill-at}] [@option{-A}|@option{--add-stdcall-alias}]
4118 [@option{-p}|@option{--ext-prefix-alias} @var{prefix}]
4119 [@option{-x}|@option{--no-idata4}] [@option{-c}|@option{--no-idata5}]
4120 [@option{--use-nul-prefixed-import-tables}]
4121 [@option{-I}|@option{--identify} @var{library-file-name}] [@option{--identify-strict}]
4122 [@option{-i}|@option{--interwork}]
4123 [@option{-n}|@option{--nodelete}] [@option{-t}|@option{--temp-prefix} @var{prefix}]
4124 [@option{-v}|@option{--verbose}]
4125 [@option{-h}|@option{--help}] [@option{-V}|@option{--version}]
4126 [@option{--no-leading-underscore}] [@option{--leading-underscore}]
4127 [object-file @dots{}]
4131 @c man begin DESCRIPTION dlltool
4133 @command{dlltool} reads its inputs, which can come from the @option{-d} and
4134 @option{-b} options as well as object files specified on the command
4135 line. It then processes these inputs and if the @option{-e} option has
4136 been specified it creates a exports file. If the @option{-l} option
4137 has been specified it creates a library file and if the @option{-z} option
4138 has been specified it creates a def file. Any or all of the @option{-e},
4139 @option{-l} and @option{-z} options can be present in one invocation of
4142 When creating a DLL, along with the source for the DLL, it is necessary
4143 to have three other files. @command{dlltool} can help with the creation of
4146 The first file is a @file{.def} file which specifies which functions are
4147 exported from the DLL, which functions the DLL imports, and so on. This
4148 is a text file and can be created by hand, or @command{dlltool} can be used
4149 to create it using the @option{-z} option. In this case @command{dlltool}
4150 will scan the object files specified on its command line looking for
4151 those functions which have been specially marked as being exported and
4152 put entries for them in the @file{.def} file it creates.
4154 In order to mark a function as being exported from a DLL, it needs to
4155 have an @option{-export:<name_of_function>} entry in the @samp{.drectve}
4156 section of the object file. This can be done in C by using the
4160 asm (".section .drectve");
4161 asm (".ascii \"-export:my_func\"");
4163 int my_func (void) @{ @dots{} @}
4166 The second file needed for DLL creation is an exports file. This file
4167 is linked with the object files that make up the body of the DLL and it
4168 handles the interface between the DLL and the outside world. This is a
4169 binary file and it can be created by giving the @option{-e} option to
4170 @command{dlltool} when it is creating or reading in a @file{.def} file.
4172 The third file needed for DLL creation is the library file that programs
4173 will link with in order to access the functions in the DLL (an `import
4174 library'). This file can be created by giving the @option{-l} option to
4175 dlltool when it is creating or reading in a @file{.def} file.
4177 If the @option{-y} option is specified, dlltool generates a delay-import
4178 library that can be used instead of the normal import library to allow
4179 a program to link to the dll only as soon as an imported function is
4180 called for the first time. The resulting executable will need to be
4181 linked to the static delayimp library containing __delayLoadHelper2(),
4182 which in turn will import LoadLibraryA and GetProcAddress from kernel32.
4184 @command{dlltool} builds the library file by hand, but it builds the
4185 exports file by creating temporary files containing assembler statements
4186 and then assembling these. The @option{-S} command line option can be
4187 used to specify the path to the assembler that dlltool will use,
4188 and the @option{-f} option can be used to pass specific flags to that
4189 assembler. The @option{-n} can be used to prevent dlltool from deleting
4190 these temporary assembler files when it is done, and if @option{-n} is
4191 specified twice then this will prevent dlltool from deleting the
4192 temporary object files it used to build the library.
4194 Here is an example of creating a DLL from a source file @samp{dll.c} and
4195 also creating a program (from an object file called @samp{program.o})
4200 dlltool -e exports.o -l dll.lib dll.o
4201 gcc dll.o exports.o -o dll.dll
4202 gcc program.o dll.lib -o program
4206 @command{dlltool} may also be used to query an existing import library
4207 to determine the name of the DLL to which it is associated. See the
4208 description of the @option{-I} or @option{--identify} option.
4212 @c man begin OPTIONS dlltool
4214 The command line options have the following meanings:
4218 @item -d @var{filename}
4219 @itemx --input-def @var{filename}
4220 @cindex input .def file
4221 Specifies the name of a @file{.def} file to be read in and processed.
4223 @item -b @var{filename}
4224 @itemx --base-file @var{filename}
4226 Specifies the name of a base file to be read in and processed. The
4227 contents of this file will be added to the relocation section in the
4228 exports file generated by dlltool.
4230 @item -e @var{filename}
4231 @itemx --output-exp @var{filename}
4232 Specifies the name of the export file to be created by dlltool.
4234 @item -z @var{filename}
4235 @itemx --output-def @var{filename}
4236 Specifies the name of the @file{.def} file to be created by dlltool.
4238 @item -l @var{filename}
4239 @itemx --output-lib @var{filename}
4240 Specifies the name of the library file to be created by dlltool.
4242 @item -y @var{filename}
4243 @itemx --output-delaylib @var{filename}
4244 Specifies the name of the delay-import library file to be created by dlltool.
4246 @item --export-all-symbols
4247 Treat all global and weak defined symbols found in the input object
4248 files as symbols to be exported. There is a small list of symbols which
4249 are not exported by default; see the @option{--no-default-excludes}
4250 option. You may add to the list of symbols to not export by using the
4251 @option{--exclude-symbols} option.
4253 @item --no-export-all-symbols
4254 Only export symbols explicitly listed in an input @file{.def} file or in
4255 @samp{.drectve} sections in the input object files. This is the default
4256 behaviour. The @samp{.drectve} sections are created by @samp{dllexport}
4257 attributes in the source code.
4259 @item --exclude-symbols @var{list}
4260 Do not export the symbols in @var{list}. This is a list of symbol names
4261 separated by comma or colon characters. The symbol names should not
4262 contain a leading underscore. This is only meaningful when
4263 @option{--export-all-symbols} is used.
4265 @item --no-default-excludes
4266 When @option{--export-all-symbols} is used, it will by default avoid
4267 exporting certain special symbols. The current list of symbols to avoid
4268 exporting is @samp{DllMain@@12}, @samp{DllEntryPoint@@0},
4269 @samp{impure_ptr}. You may use the @option{--no-default-excludes} option
4270 to go ahead and export these special symbols. This is only meaningful
4271 when @option{--export-all-symbols} is used.
4274 @itemx --as @var{path}
4275 Specifies the path, including the filename, of the assembler to be used
4276 to create the exports file.
4278 @item -f @var{options}
4279 @itemx --as-flags @var{options}
4280 Specifies any specific command line options to be passed to the
4281 assembler when building the exports file. This option will work even if
4282 the @option{-S} option is not used. This option only takes one argument,
4283 and if it occurs more than once on the command line, then later
4284 occurrences will override earlier occurrences. So if it is necessary to
4285 pass multiple options to the assembler they should be enclosed in
4289 @itemx --dll-name @var{name}
4290 Specifies the name to be stored in the @file{.def} file as the name of
4291 the DLL when the @option{-e} option is used. If this option is not
4292 present, then the filename given to the @option{-e} option will be
4293 used as the name of the DLL.
4295 @item -m @var{machine}
4296 @itemx -machine @var{machine}
4297 Specifies the type of machine for which the library file should be
4298 built. @command{dlltool} has a built in default type, depending upon how
4299 it was created, but this option can be used to override that. This is
4300 normally only useful when creating DLLs for an ARM processor, when the
4301 contents of the DLL are actually encode using Thumb instructions.
4304 @itemx --add-indirect
4305 Specifies that when @command{dlltool} is creating the exports file it
4306 should add a section which allows the exported functions to be
4307 referenced without using the import library. Whatever the hell that
4311 @itemx --add-underscore
4312 Specifies that when @command{dlltool} is creating the exports file it
4313 should prepend an underscore to the names of @emph{all} exported symbols.
4315 @item --no-leading-underscore
4316 @item --leading-underscore
4317 Specifies whether standard symbol should be forced to be prefixed, or
4320 @item --add-stdcall-underscore
4321 Specifies that when @command{dlltool} is creating the exports file it
4322 should prepend an underscore to the names of exported @emph{stdcall}
4323 functions. Variable names and non-stdcall function names are not modified.
4324 This option is useful when creating GNU-compatible import libs for third
4325 party DLLs that were built with MS-Windows tools.
4329 Specifies that @samp{@@<number>} suffixes should be omitted from the names
4330 of stdcall functions that will be imported from the DLL. This is
4331 useful when creating an import library for a DLL which exports stdcall
4332 functions but without the usual @samp{@@<number>} symbol name suffix.
4334 This does not change the naming of symbols provided by the import library
4335 to programs linked against it, but only the entries in the import table
4336 (ie the .idata section).
4339 @itemx --add-stdcall-alias
4340 Specifies that when @command{dlltool} is creating the exports file it
4341 should add aliases for stdcall symbols without @samp{@@ <number>}
4342 in addition to the symbols with @samp{@@ <number>}.
4345 @itemx --ext-prefix-alias @var{prefix}
4346 Causes @command{dlltool} to create external aliases for all DLL
4347 imports with the specified prefix. The aliases are created for both
4348 external and import symbols with no leading underscore.
4352 Specifies that when @command{dlltool} is creating the exports and library
4353 files it should omit the @code{.idata4} section. This is for compatibility
4354 with certain operating systems.
4356 @item --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables
4357 Specifies that when @command{dlltool} is creating the exports and library
4358 files it should prefix the @code{.idata4} and @code{.idata5} by zero an
4359 element. This emulates old gnu import library generation of
4360 @code{dlltool}. By default this option is turned off.
4364 Specifies that when @command{dlltool} is creating the exports and library
4365 files it should omit the @code{.idata5} section. This is for compatibility
4366 with certain operating systems.
4368 @item -I @var{filename}
4369 @itemx --identify @var{filename}
4370 Specifies that @command{dlltool} should inspect the import library
4371 indicated by @var{filename} and report, on @code{stdout}, the name(s)
4372 of the associated DLL(s). This can be performed in addition to any
4373 other operations indicated by the other options and arguments.
4374 @command{dlltool} fails if the import library does not exist or is not
4375 actually an import library. See also @option{--identify-strict}.
4377 @item --identify-strict
4378 Modifies the behavior of the @option{--identify} option, such
4379 that an error is reported if @var{filename} is associated with
4384 Specifies that @command{dlltool} should mark the objects in the library
4385 file and exports file that it produces as supporting interworking
4386 between ARM and Thumb code.
4390 Makes @command{dlltool} preserve the temporary assembler files it used to
4391 create the exports file. If this option is repeated then dlltool will
4392 also preserve the temporary object files it uses to create the library
4395 @item -t @var{prefix}
4396 @itemx --temp-prefix @var{prefix}
4397 Makes @command{dlltool} use @var{prefix} when constructing the names of
4398 temporary assembler and object files. By default, the temp file prefix
4399 is generated from the pid.
4403 Make dlltool describe what it is doing.
4407 Displays a list of command line options and then exits.
4411 Displays dlltool's version number and then exits.
4418 * def file format:: The format of the dlltool @file{.def} file
4421 @node def file format
4422 @section The format of the @command{dlltool} @file{.def} file
4424 A @file{.def} file contains any number of the following commands:
4428 @item @code{NAME} @var{name} @code{[ ,} @var{base} @code{]}
4429 The result is going to be named @var{name}@code{.exe}.
4431 @item @code{LIBRARY} @var{name} @code{[ ,} @var{base} @code{]}
4432 The result is going to be named @var{name}@code{.dll}.
4433 Note: If you want to use LIBRARY as name then you need to quote. Otherwise
4434 this will fail due a necessary hack for libtool (see PR binutils/13710 for more
4437 @item @code{EXPORTS ( ( (} @var{name1} @code{[ = } @var{name2} @code{] ) | ( } @var{name1} @code{=} @var{module-name} @code{.} @var{external-name} @code{) ) [ == } @var{its_name} @code{]}
4438 @item @code{[} @var{integer} @code{] [ NONAME ] [ CONSTANT ] [ DATA ] [ PRIVATE ] ) *}
4439 Declares @var{name1} as an exported symbol from the DLL, with optional
4440 ordinal number @var{integer}, or declares @var{name1} as an alias
4441 (forward) of the function @var{external-name} in the DLL.
4442 If @var{its_name} is specified, this name is used as string in export table.
4444 Note: The @code{EXPORTS} has to be the last command in .def file, as keywords
4445 are treated - beside @code{LIBRARY} - as simple name-identifiers.
4446 If you want to use LIBRARY as name then you need to quote it.
4448 @item @code{IMPORTS ( (} @var{internal-name} @code{=} @var{module-name} @code{.} @var{integer} @code{) | [} @var{internal-name} @code{= ]} @var{module-name} @code{.} @var{external-name} @code{) [ == ) @var{its_name} @code{]} *}
4449 Declares that @var{external-name} or the exported function whose
4450 ordinal number is @var{integer} is to be imported from the file
4451 @var{module-name}. If @var{internal-name} is specified then this is
4452 the name that the imported function will be referred to in the body of
4454 If @var{its_name} is specified, this name is used as string in import table.
4455 Note: The @code{IMPORTS} has to be the last command in .def file, as keywords
4456 are treated - beside @code{LIBRARY} - as simple name-identifiers.
4457 If you want to use LIBRARY as name then you need to quote it.
4459 @item @code{DESCRIPTION} @var{string}
4460 Puts @var{string} into the output @file{.exp} file in the
4461 @code{.rdata} section.
4463 @item @code{STACKSIZE} @var{number-reserve} @code{[, } @var{number-commit} @code{]}
4464 @item @code{HEAPSIZE} @var{number-reserve} @code{[, } @var{number-commit} @code{]}
4465 Generates @code{--stack} or @code{--heap}
4466 @var{number-reserve},@var{number-commit} in the output @code{.drectve}
4467 section. The linker will see this and act upon it.
4469 @item @code{CODE} @var{attr} @code{+}
4470 @item @code{DATA} @var{attr} @code{+}
4471 @item @code{SECTIONS (} @var{section-name} @var{attr}@code{ + ) *}
4472 Generates @code{--attr} @var{section-name} @var{attr} in the output
4473 @code{.drectve} section, where @var{attr} is one of @code{READ},
4474 @code{WRITE}, @code{EXECUTE} or @code{SHARED}. The linker will see
4475 this and act upon it.
4480 @c man begin SEEALSO dlltool
4481 The Info pages for @file{binutils}.
4488 @cindex ELF file information
4491 @c man title readelf Displays information about ELF files.
4494 @c man begin SYNOPSIS readelf
4495 readelf [@option{-a}|@option{--all}]
4496 [@option{-h}|@option{--file-header}]
4497 [@option{-l}|@option{--program-headers}|@option{--segments}]
4498 [@option{-S}|@option{--section-headers}|@option{--sections}]
4499 [@option{-g}|@option{--section-groups}]
4500 [@option{-t}|@option{--section-details}]
4501 [@option{-e}|@option{--headers}]
4502 [@option{-s}|@option{--syms}|@option{--symbols}]
4503 [@option{--dyn-syms}]
4504 [@option{-n}|@option{--notes}]
4505 [@option{-r}|@option{--relocs}]
4506 [@option{-u}|@option{--unwind}]
4507 [@option{-d}|@option{--dynamic}]
4508 [@option{-V}|@option{--version-info}]
4509 [@option{-A}|@option{--arch-specific}]
4510 [@option{-D}|@option{--use-dynamic}]
4511 [@option{-x} <number or name>|@option{--hex-dump=}<number or name>]
4512 [@option{-p} <number or name>|@option{--string-dump=}<number or name>]
4513 [@option{-R} <number or name>|@option{--relocated-dump=}<number or name>]
4514 [@option{-z}|@option{--decompress}]
4515 [@option{-c}|@option{--archive-index}]
4516 [@option{-w[lLiaprmfFsoRt]}|
4517 @option{--debug-dump}[=rawline,=decodedline,=info,=abbrev,=pubnames,=aranges,=macro,=frames,=frames-interp,=str,=loc,=Ranges,=pubtypes,=trace_info,=trace_abbrev,=trace_aranges,=gdb_index]]
4518 [@option{--dwarf-depth=@var{n}}]
4519 [@option{--dwarf-start=@var{n}}]
4520 [@option{-I}|@option{--histogram}]
4521 [@option{-v}|@option{--version}]
4522 [@option{-W}|@option{--wide}]
4523 [@option{-H}|@option{--help}]
4524 @var{elffile}@dots{}
4528 @c man begin DESCRIPTION readelf
4530 @command{readelf} displays information about one or more ELF format object
4531 files. The options control what particular information to display.
4533 @var{elffile}@dots{} are the object files to be examined. 32-bit and
4534 64-bit ELF files are supported, as are archives containing ELF files.
4536 This program performs a similar function to @command{objdump} but it
4537 goes into more detail and it exists independently of the @sc{bfd}
4538 library, so if there is a bug in @sc{bfd} then readelf will not be
4543 @c man begin OPTIONS readelf
4545 The long and short forms of options, shown here as alternatives, are
4546 equivalent. At least one option besides @samp{-v} or @samp{-H} must be
4552 Equivalent to specifying @option{--file-header},
4553 @option{--program-headers}, @option{--sections}, @option{--symbols},
4554 @option{--relocs}, @option{--dynamic}, @option{--notes} and
4555 @option{--version-info}.
4558 @itemx --file-header
4559 @cindex ELF file header information
4560 Displays the information contained in the ELF header at the start of the
4564 @itemx --program-headers
4566 @cindex ELF program header information
4567 @cindex ELF segment information
4568 Displays the information contained in the file's segment headers, if it
4573 @itemx --section-headers
4574 @cindex ELF section information
4575 Displays the information contained in the file's section headers, if it
4579 @itemx --section-groups
4580 @cindex ELF section group information
4581 Displays the information contained in the file's section groups, if it
4585 @itemx --section-details
4586 @cindex ELF section information
4587 Displays the detailed section information. Implies @option{-S}.
4592 @cindex ELF symbol table information
4593 Displays the entries in symbol table section of the file, if it has one.
4596 @cindex ELF dynamic symbol table information
4597 Displays the entries in dynamic symbol table section of the file, if it
4602 Display all the headers in the file. Equivalent to @option{-h -l -S}.
4607 Displays the contents of the NOTE segments and/or sections, if any.
4611 @cindex ELF reloc information
4612 Displays the contents of the file's relocation section, if it has one.
4616 @cindex unwind information
4617 Displays the contents of the file's unwind section, if it has one. Only
4618 the unwind sections for IA64 ELF files, as well as ARM unwind tables
4619 (@code{.ARM.exidx} / @code{.ARM.extab}) are currently supported.
4623 @cindex ELF dynamic section information
4624 Displays the contents of the file's dynamic section, if it has one.
4627 @itemx --version-info
4628 @cindex ELF version sections information
4629 Displays the contents of the version sections in the file, it they
4633 @itemx --arch-specific
4634 Displays architecture-specific information in the file, if there
4638 @itemx --use-dynamic
4639 When displaying symbols, this option makes @command{readelf} use the
4640 symbol hash tables in the file's dynamic section, rather than the
4641 symbol table sections.
4643 @item -x <number or name>
4644 @itemx --hex-dump=<number or name>
4645 Displays the contents of the indicated section as a hexadecimal bytes.
4646 A number identifies a particular section by index in the section table;
4647 any other string identifies all sections with that name in the object file.
4649 @item -R <number or name>
4650 @itemx --relocated-dump=<number or name>
4651 Displays the contents of the indicated section as a hexadecimal
4652 bytes. A number identifies a particular section by index in the
4653 section table; any other string identifies all sections with that name
4654 in the object file. The contents of the section will be relocated
4655 before they are displayed.
4657 @item -p <number or name>
4658 @itemx --string-dump=<number or name>
4659 Displays the contents of the indicated section as printable strings.
4660 A number identifies a particular section by index in the section table;
4661 any other string identifies all sections with that name in the object file.
4665 Requests that the section(s) being dumped by @option{x}, @option{R} or
4666 @option{p} options are decompressed before being displayed. If the
4667 section(s) are not compressed then they are displayed as is.
4670 @itemx --archive-index
4671 @cindex Archive file symbol index information
4672 Displays the file symbol index information contained in the header part
4673 of binary archives. Performs the same function as the @option{t}
4674 command to @command{ar}, but without using the BFD library. @xref{ar}.
4676 @item -w[lLiaprmfFsoRt]
4677 @itemx --debug-dump[=rawline,=decodedline,=info,=abbrev,=pubnames,=aranges,=macro,=frames,=frames-interp,=str,=loc,=Ranges,=pubtypes,=trace_info,=trace_abbrev,=trace_aranges,=gdb_index]
4678 Displays the contents of the debug sections in the file, if any are
4679 present. If one of the optional letters or words follows the switch
4680 then only data found in those specific sections will be dumped.
4682 Note that there is no single letter option to display the content of
4683 trace sections or .gdb_index.
4685 Note: the @option{=decodedline} option will display the interpreted
4686 contents of a .debug_line section whereas the @option{=rawline} option
4687 dumps the contents in a raw format.
4689 Note: the @option{=frames-interp} option will display the interpreted
4690 contents of a .debug_frame section whereas the @option{=frames} option
4691 dumps the contents in a raw format.
4693 Note: the output from the @option{=info} option can also be affected
4694 by the options @option{--dwarf-depth} and @option{--dwarf-start}.
4696 @item --dwarf-depth=@var{n}
4697 Limit the dump of the @code{.debug_info} section to @var{n} children.
4698 This is only useful with @option{--debug-dump=info}. The default is
4699 to print all DIEs; the special value 0 for @var{n} will also have this
4702 With a non-zero value for @var{n}, DIEs at or deeper than @var{n}
4703 levels will not be printed. The range for @var{n} is zero-based.
4705 @item --dwarf-start=@var{n}
4706 Print only DIEs beginning with the DIE numbered @var{n}. This is only
4707 useful with @option{--debug-dump=info}.
4709 If specified, this option will suppress printing of any header
4710 information and all DIEs before the DIE numbered @var{n}. Only
4711 siblings and children of the specified DIE will be printed.
4713 This can be used in conjunction with @option{--dwarf-depth}.
4717 Display a histogram of bucket list lengths when displaying the contents
4718 of the symbol tables.
4722 Display the version number of readelf.
4726 Don't break output lines to fit into 80 columns. By default
4727 @command{readelf} breaks section header and segment listing lines for
4728 64-bit ELF files, so that they fit into 80 columns. This option causes
4729 @command{readelf} to print each section header resp. each segment one a
4730 single line, which is far more readable on terminals wider than 80 columns.
4734 Display the command line options understood by @command{readelf}.
4741 @c man begin SEEALSO readelf
4742 objdump(1), and the Info entries for @file{binutils}.
4749 @cindex Update ELF header
4752 @c man title elfedit Update the ELF header of ELF files.
4755 @c man begin SYNOPSIS elfedit
4756 elfedit [@option{--input-mach=}@var{machine}]
4757 [@option{--input-type=}@var{type}]
4758 [@option{--input-osabi=}@var{osabi}]
4759 @option{--output-mach=}@var{machine}
4760 @option{--output-type=}@var{type}
4761 @option{--output-osabi=}@var{osabi}
4762 [@option{-v}|@option{--version}]
4763 [@option{-h}|@option{--help}]
4764 @var{elffile}@dots{}
4768 @c man begin DESCRIPTION elfedit
4770 @command{elfedit} updates the ELF header of ELF files which have
4771 the matching ELF machine and file types. The options control how and
4772 which fields in the ELF header should be updated.
4774 @var{elffile}@dots{} are the ELF files to be updated. 32-bit and
4775 64-bit ELF files are supported, as are archives containing ELF files.
4778 @c man begin OPTIONS elfedit
4780 The long and short forms of options, shown here as alternatives, are
4781 equivalent. At least one of the @option{--output-mach},
4782 @option{--output-type} and @option{--output-osabi} options must be given.
4786 @item --input-mach=@var{machine}
4787 Set the matching input ELF machine type to @var{machine}. If
4788 @option{--input-mach} isn't specified, it will match any ELF
4791 The supported ELF machine types are, @var{i386}, @var{IAMCU}, @var{L1OM},
4792 @var{K1OM} and @var{x86-64}.
4794 @item --output-mach=@var{machine}
4795 Change the ELF machine type in the ELF header to @var{machine}. The
4796 supported ELF machine types are the same as @option{--input-mach}.
4798 @item --input-type=@var{type}
4799 Set the matching input ELF file type to @var{type}. If
4800 @option{--input-type} isn't specified, it will match any ELF file types.
4802 The supported ELF file types are, @var{rel}, @var{exec} and @var{dyn}.
4804 @item --output-type=@var{type}
4805 Change the ELF file type in the ELF header to @var{type}. The
4806 supported ELF types are the same as @option{--input-type}.
4808 @item --input-osabi=@var{osabi}
4809 Set the matching input ELF file OSABI to @var{osabi}. If
4810 @option{--input-osabi} isn't specified, it will match any ELF OSABIs.
4812 The supported ELF OSABIs are, @var{none}, @var{HPUX}, @var{NetBSD},
4813 @var{GNU}, @var{Linux} (alias for @var{GNU}),
4814 @var{Solaris}, @var{AIX}, @var{Irix},
4815 @var{FreeBSD}, @var{TRU64}, @var{Modesto}, @var{OpenBSD}, @var{OpenVMS},
4816 @var{NSK}, @var{AROS} and @var{FenixOS}.
4818 @item --output-osabi=@var{osabi}
4819 Change the ELF OSABI in the ELF header to @var{osabi}. The
4820 supported ELF OSABI are the same as @option{--input-osabi}.
4824 Display the version number of @command{elfedit}.
4828 Display the command line options understood by @command{elfedit}.
4835 @c man begin SEEALSO elfedit
4836 readelf(1), and the Info entries for @file{binutils}.
4840 @node Common Options
4841 @chapter Common Options
4843 The following command-line options are supported by all of the
4844 programs described in this manual.
4846 @c man begin OPTIONS
4848 @include at-file.texi
4852 Display the command-line options supported by the program.
4855 Display the version number of the program.
4857 @c man begin OPTIONS
4861 @node Selecting the Target System
4862 @chapter Selecting the Target System
4864 You can specify two aspects of the target system to the @sc{gnu}
4865 binary file utilities, each in several ways:
4875 In the following summaries, the lists of ways to specify values are in
4876 order of decreasing precedence. The ways listed first override those
4879 The commands to list valid values only list the values for which the
4880 programs you are running were configured. If they were configured with
4881 @option{--enable-targets=all}, the commands list most of the available
4882 values, but a few are left out; not all targets can be configured in at
4883 once because some of them can only be configured @dfn{native} (on hosts
4884 with the same type as the target system).
4887 * Target Selection::
4888 * Architecture Selection::
4891 @node Target Selection
4892 @section Target Selection
4894 A @dfn{target} is an object file format. A given target may be
4895 supported for multiple architectures (@pxref{Architecture Selection}).
4896 A target selection may also have variations for different operating
4897 systems or architectures.
4899 The command to list valid target values is @samp{objdump -i}
4900 (the first column of output contains the relevant information).
4902 Some sample values are: @samp{a.out-hp300bsd}, @samp{ecoff-littlemips},
4903 @samp{a.out-sunos-big}.
4905 You can also specify a target using a configuration triplet. This is
4906 the same sort of name that is passed to @file{configure} to specify a
4907 target. When you use a configuration triplet as an argument, it must be
4908 fully canonicalized. You can see the canonical version of a triplet by
4909 running the shell script @file{config.sub} which is included with the
4912 Some sample configuration triplets are: @samp{m68k-hp-bsd},
4913 @samp{mips-dec-ultrix}, @samp{sparc-sun-sunos}.
4915 @subheading @command{objdump} Target
4921 command line option: @option{-b} or @option{--target}
4924 environment variable @code{GNUTARGET}
4927 deduced from the input file
4930 @subheading @command{objcopy} and @command{strip} Input Target
4936 command line options: @option{-I} or @option{--input-target}, or @option{-F} or @option{--target}
4939 environment variable @code{GNUTARGET}
4942 deduced from the input file
4945 @subheading @command{objcopy} and @command{strip} Output Target
4951 command line options: @option{-O} or @option{--output-target}, or @option{-F} or @option{--target}
4954 the input target (see ``@command{objcopy} and @command{strip} Input Target'' above)
4957 environment variable @code{GNUTARGET}
4960 deduced from the input file
4963 @subheading @command{nm}, @command{size}, and @command{strings} Target
4969 command line option: @option{--target}
4972 environment variable @code{GNUTARGET}
4975 deduced from the input file
4978 @node Architecture Selection
4979 @section Architecture Selection
4981 An @dfn{architecture} is a type of @sc{cpu} on which an object file is
4982 to run. Its name may contain a colon, separating the name of the
4983 processor family from the name of the particular @sc{cpu}.
4985 The command to list valid architecture values is @samp{objdump -i} (the
4986 second column contains the relevant information).
4988 Sample values: @samp{m68k:68020}, @samp{mips:3000}, @samp{sparc}.
4990 @subheading @command{objdump} Architecture
4996 command line option: @option{-m} or @option{--architecture}
4999 deduced from the input file
5002 @subheading @command{objcopy}, @command{nm}, @command{size}, @command{strings} Architecture
5008 deduced from the input file
5011 @node Reporting Bugs
5012 @chapter Reporting Bugs
5014 @cindex reporting bugs
5016 Your bug reports play an essential role in making the binary utilities
5019 Reporting a bug may help you by bringing a solution to your problem, or
5020 it may not. But in any case the principal function of a bug report is
5021 to help the entire community by making the next version of the binary
5022 utilities work better. Bug reports are your contribution to their
5025 In order for a bug report to serve its purpose, you must include the
5026 information that enables us to fix the bug.
5029 * Bug Criteria:: Have you found a bug?
5030 * Bug Reporting:: How to report bugs
5034 @section Have You Found a Bug?
5035 @cindex bug criteria
5037 If you are not sure whether you have found a bug, here are some guidelines:
5040 @cindex fatal signal
5043 If a binary utility gets a fatal signal, for any input whatever, that is
5044 a bug. Reliable utilities never crash.
5046 @cindex error on valid input
5048 If a binary utility produces an error message for valid input, that is a
5052 If you are an experienced user of binary utilities, your suggestions for
5053 improvement are welcome in any case.
5057 @section How to Report Bugs
5059 @cindex bugs, reporting
5061 A number of companies and individuals offer support for @sc{gnu}
5062 products. If you obtained the binary utilities from a support
5063 organization, we recommend you contact that organization first.
5065 You can find contact information for many support companies and
5066 individuals in the file @file{etc/SERVICE} in the @sc{gnu} Emacs
5070 In any event, we also recommend that you send bug reports for the binary
5071 utilities to @value{BUGURL}.
5074 The fundamental principle of reporting bugs usefully is this:
5075 @strong{report all the facts}. If you are not sure whether to state a
5076 fact or leave it out, state it!
5078 Often people omit facts because they think they know what causes the
5079 problem and assume that some details do not matter. Thus, you might
5080 assume that the name of a file you use in an example does not matter.
5081 Well, probably it does not, but one cannot be sure. Perhaps the bug is
5082 a stray memory reference which happens to fetch from the location where
5083 that pathname is stored in memory; perhaps, if the pathname were
5084 different, the contents of that location would fool the utility into
5085 doing the right thing despite the bug. Play it safe and give a
5086 specific, complete example. That is the easiest thing for you to do,
5087 and the most helpful.
5089 Keep in mind that the purpose of a bug report is to enable us to fix the bug if
5090 it is new to us. Therefore, always write your bug reports on the assumption
5091 that the bug has not been reported previously.
5093 Sometimes people give a few sketchy facts and ask, ``Does this ring a
5094 bell?'' This cannot help us fix a bug, so it is basically useless. We
5095 respond by asking for enough details to enable us to investigate.
5096 You might as well expedite matters by sending them to begin with.
5098 To enable us to fix the bug, you should include all these things:
5102 The version of the utility. Each utility announces it if you start it
5103 with the @option{--version} argument.
5105 Without this, we will not know whether there is any point in looking for
5106 the bug in the current version of the binary utilities.
5109 Any patches you may have applied to the source, including any patches
5110 made to the @code{BFD} library.
5113 The type of machine you are using, and the operating system name and
5117 What compiler (and its version) was used to compile the utilities---e.g.
5121 The command arguments you gave the utility to observe the bug. To
5122 guarantee you will not omit something important, list them all. A copy
5123 of the Makefile (or the output from make) is sufficient.
5125 If we were to try to guess the arguments, we would probably guess wrong
5126 and then we might not encounter the bug.
5129 A complete input file, or set of input files, that will reproduce the
5130 bug. If the utility is reading an object file or files, then it is
5131 generally most helpful to send the actual object files.
5133 If the source files were produced exclusively using @sc{gnu} programs
5134 (e.g., @command{gcc}, @command{gas}, and/or the @sc{gnu} @command{ld}), then it
5135 may be OK to send the source files rather than the object files. In
5136 this case, be sure to say exactly what version of @command{gcc}, or
5137 whatever, was used to produce the object files. Also say how
5138 @command{gcc}, or whatever, was configured.
5141 A description of what behavior you observe that you believe is
5142 incorrect. For example, ``It gets a fatal signal.''
5144 Of course, if the bug is that the utility gets a fatal signal, then we
5145 will certainly notice it. But if the bug is incorrect output, we might
5146 not notice unless it is glaringly wrong. You might as well not give us
5147 a chance to make a mistake.
5149 Even if the problem you experience is a fatal signal, you should still
5150 say so explicitly. Suppose something strange is going on, such as your
5151 copy of the utility is out of sync, or you have encountered a bug in
5152 the C library on your system. (This has happened!) Your copy might
5153 crash and ours would not. If you told us to expect a crash, then when
5154 ours fails to crash, we would know that the bug was not happening for
5155 us. If you had not told us to expect a crash, then we would not be able
5156 to draw any conclusion from our observations.
5159 If you wish to suggest changes to the source, send us context diffs, as
5160 generated by @command{diff} with the @option{-u}, @option{-c}, or @option{-p}
5161 option. Always send diffs from the old file to the new file. If you
5162 wish to discuss something in the @command{ld} source, refer to it by
5163 context, not by line number.
5165 The line numbers in our development sources will not match those in your
5166 sources. Your line numbers would convey no useful information to us.
5169 Here are some things that are not necessary:
5173 A description of the envelope of the bug.
5175 Often people who encounter a bug spend a lot of time investigating
5176 which changes to the input file will make the bug go away and which
5177 changes will not affect it.
5179 This is often time consuming and not very useful, because the way we
5180 will find the bug is by running a single example under the debugger
5181 with breakpoints, not by pure deduction from a series of examples.
5182 We recommend that you save your time for something else.
5184 Of course, if you can find a simpler example to report @emph{instead}
5185 of the original one, that is a convenience for us. Errors in the
5186 output will be easier to spot, running under the debugger will take
5187 less time, and so on.
5189 However, simplification is not vital; if you do not want to do this,
5190 report the bug anyway and send us the entire test case you used.
5193 A patch for the bug.
5195 A patch for the bug does help us if it is a good one. But do not omit
5196 the necessary information, such as the test case, on the assumption that
5197 a patch is all we need. We might see problems with your patch and decide
5198 to fix the problem another way, or we might not understand it at all.
5200 Sometimes with programs as complicated as the binary utilities it is
5201 very hard to construct an example that will make the program follow a
5202 certain path through the code. If you do not send us the example, we
5203 will not be able to construct one, so we will not be able to verify that
5206 And if we cannot understand what bug you are trying to fix, or why your
5207 patch should be an improvement, we will not install it. A test case will
5208 help us to understand.
5211 A guess about what the bug is or what it depends on.
5213 Such guesses are usually wrong. Even we cannot guess right about such
5214 things without first using the debugger to find the facts.
5217 @node GNU Free Documentation License
5218 @appendix GNU Free Documentation License
5222 @node Binutils Index
5223 @unnumbered Binutils Index