binutils/objcopy.1

   1 .\" Copyright (c) 1991, 93, 94, 95, 96, 1997 Free Software Foundation
   2 .\" See section COPYING for conditions for redistribution
   3 .TH objcopy 1 "October 1994" "cygnus support" "GNU Development Tools"
   4 .de BP
   5 .sp
   6 .ti \-.2i
   7 \(**
   8 ..
   9
  10 .SH NAME
  11 objcopy \- copy and translate object files
  12
  13 .SH SYNOPSIS
  14 .hy 0
  15 .na
  16 .TP
  17 .B objcopy
  18 .RB "[\|" \-F\ \fIbfdname\fR\ |\ \fB\-\-target=\fIbfdname\fR "\|]"
  19 .RB "[\|" \-I\ \fIbfdname\fR\ |\ \fB\-\-input\-target=\fIbfdname\fR "\|]"
  20 .RB "[\|" \-O\ \fIbfdname\fR\ |\ \fB\-\-output\-target=\fIbfdname\fR "\|]"
  21 .RB "[\|" \-R\ \fIsectionname\fR\ |\ \fB\-\-remove\-section=\fIsectionname\fR "\|]"
  22 .RB "[\|" \-S\fR\ |\ \fB\-\-strip\-all\fR "\|]"
  23 .RB "[\|" \-g\fR\ |\ \fB\-\-strip\-debug\fR "\|]"
  24 .RB "[\|" \-\-strip\-unneeded\fR "\|]"
  25 .RB "[\|" \-K\ \fIsymbolname\fR\ |\ \fB\-\-keep\-symbol=\fIsymbolname\fR "\|]"
  26 .RB "[\|" \-N\ \fIsymbolname\fR\ |\ \fB\-\-strip\-symbol=\fIsymbolname\fR "\|]"
  27 .RB "[\|" \-L\ \fIsymbolname\fR\ |\ \fB\-\-localize\-symbol=\fIsymbolname\fR "\|]"
  28 .RB "[\|" \-W\ \fIsymbolname\fR\ |\ \fB\-\-weaken\-symbol=\fIsymbolname\fR "\|]"
  29 .RB "[\|" \-x\fR\ |\ \fB\-\-discard\-all\fR "\|]"
  30 .RB "[\|" \-X\fR\ |\ \fB\-\-discard\-locals\fR "\|]"
  31 .RB "[\|" \-b\ \fIbyte\fR\ |\ \fB\-\-byte=\fIbyte\fR "\|]"
  32 .RB "[\|" \-i\ \fIinterleave\fR\ |\ \fB\-\-interleave=\fIinterleave\fR "\|]"
  33 .RB "[\|" \-p\fR\ |\ \fB\-\-preserve\-dates\fR "\|]"
  34 .RB "[\|" \-\-debugging "\|]"
  35 .RB "[\|" \-\-gap\-fill=\fIval\fR "\|]"
  36 .RB "[\|" \-\-pad\-to=\fIaddress\fR "\|]"
  37 .RB "[\|" \-\-set\-start=\fIval\fR "\|]"
  38 .RB "[\|" \-\-adjust\-start=\fIincr\fR "\|]"
  39 .RB "[\|" \-\-adjust\-vma=\fIincr\fR "\|]"
  40 .RB "[\|" \-\-adjust\-section\-vma=\fIsection{=,+,-}val\fR "\|]"
  41 .RB "[\|" \-\-adjust\-warnings\fR "\|]"
  42 .RB "[\|" \-\-no\-adjust\-warnings\fR "\|]"
  43 .RB "[\|" \-\-set\-section\-flags=\fIsection=flags\fR "\|]"
  44 .RB "[\|" \-\-add\-section=\fIsectionname=filename\fR "\|]"
  45 .RB "[\|" \-\-change\-leading\-char\fR "\|]"
  46 .RB "[\|" \-\-remove\-leading\-char\fR "\|]"
  47 .RB "[\|" \-\-weaken\fR "\|]"
  48 .RB "[\|" \-v\ |\ \-\-verbose\fR "\|]"
  49 .RB "[\|" \-V\ |\ \-\-version\fR "\|]"
  50 .RB "[\|" \-\-help\fR "\|]"
  51 .B infile
  52 .RB "[\|" outfile\fR "\|]"
  53 .SH DESCRIPTION
  54 The GNU
  55 .B objcopy
  56 utility copies the contents of an object file to another.
  57 .B objcopy
  58 uses the GNU BFD Library to read and write the object files.  It can
  59 write the destination object file in a format different from that of
  60 the source object file.  The exact behavior of
  61 .B objcopy
  62 is controlled by command-line options.
  63 .PP
  64 .B objcopy
  65 creates temporary files to do its translations and deletes them
  66 afterward.
  67 .B objcopy
  68 uses BFD to do all its translation work; it knows about all the
  69 formats BFD knows about, and thus is able to recognize most formats
  70 without being told explicitly.
  71 .PP
  72 .B objcopy
  73 can be used to generate S-records by using an output target of
  74 .B srec
  75 (e.g., use
  76 .B -O srec).
  77 .PP
  78 .B objcopy
  79 can be used to generate a raw binary file by using an output target of
  80 .B binary
  81 (e.g., use
  82 .B -O binary).
  83 When
  84 .B objcopy
  85 generates a raw binary file, it will essentially produce a memory dump
  86 of the contents of the input object file.  All symbols and relocation
  87 information will be discarded.  The memory dump will start at the
  88 virtual address of the lowest section copied into the output file.
  89 .PP
  90 When generating an S-record or a raw binary file, it may be helpful to
  91 use
  92 .B -S
  93 to remove sections containing debugging information.  In some cases
  94 .B -R
  95 will be useful to remove sections which contain information which is
  96 not needed by the binary file.
  97 .PP
  98 .I infile
  99 and
 100 .I outfile
 101 are the source and output files respectively.  If you do not specify
 102 .IR outfile ,
 103 .B objcopy
 104 creates a temporary file and destructively renames the result with the
 105 name of the input file.
 106
 107 .SH OPTIONS
 108 .TP
 109 .B \-I \fIbfdname\fR, \fB\-\-input\-target=\fIbfdname
 110 Consider the source file's object format to be
 111 .IR bfdname ,
 112 rather than attempting to deduce it.
 113 .TP
 114 .B \-O \fIbfdname\fR, \fB\-\-output\-target=\fIbfdname
 115 Write the output file using the object format
 116 .IR bfdname .
 117 .TP
 118 .B \-F \fIbfdname\fR, \fB\-\-target=\fIbfdname
 119 Use
 120 .I bfdname
 121 as the object format for both the input and the output file; i.e.
 122 simply transfer data from source to destination with no translation.
 123 .TP
 124 .B \-R \fIsectionname\fR, \fB\-\-remove-section=\fIsectionname
 125 Remove the named section from the file.  This option may be given more
 126 than once.  Note that using this option inappropriately may make the
 127 output file unusable.
 128 .TP
 129 .B \-S\fR, \fB\-\-strip\-all
 130 Do not copy relocation and symbol information from the source file.
 131 .TP
 132 .B \-g\fR, \fB\-\-strip\-debug
 133 Do not copy debugging symbols from the source file.
 134 .TP
 135 .B \-\-strip\-unneeded
 136 Strip all symbols that are not needed for relocation processing.
 137 .TP
 138 .B \-K \fIsymbolname\fR, \fB\-\-keep\-symbol=\fIsymbolname
 139 Copy only symbol \fIsymbolname\fP from the source file. This option
 140 may be given more than once.
 141 .TP
 142 .B \-N \fIsymbolname\fR, \fB\-\-strip\-symbol=\fIsymbolname
 143 Do not copy symbol \fIsymbolname\fP from the source file. This option
 144 may be given more than once.
 145 .TP
 146 .B \-L \fIsymbolname\fR, \fB\-\-localize\-symbol=\fIsymbolname
 147 Make symbol \fIsymbolname\fP local to the file, so that it is not
 148 visible externally.  This option may be given more than once.
 149 .TP
 150 .B \-W \fIsymbolname\fR, \fB\-\-weaken\-symbol=\fIsymbolname
 151 Make symbol \fIsymbolname\fP weak. This option may be given more than once.
 152 .TP
 153 .B \-x\fR, \fB \-\-discard\-all
 154 Do not copy non-global symbols from the source file.
 155 .TP
 156 .B \-X\fR, \fB\-\-discard\-locals
 157 Do not copy compiler-generated local symbols. (These usually start
 158 with "L" or ".").
 159 .TP
 160 .B \-b \fIbyte\fR, \fB\-\-byte=\fIbyte
 161 Keep only every \fIbyte\fPth byte of the input file (header data is
 162 not affected).  \fIbyte\fP can be in the range from 0 to the
 163 interleave-1.  This option is useful for creating files to program
 164 ROMs.  It is typically used with an srec output target.
 165 .TP
 166 .B \-i \fIinterleave\fR, \fB\-\-interleave=\fIinterleave
 167 Only copy one out of every \fIinterleave\fP bytes.  Which one to copy is
 168 selected by the \fB\-b\fP or \fB\-\-byte\fP option.  The default is 4.
 169 The interleave is ignored if neither \fB\-b\fP nor \fB\-\-byte\fP is given.
 170 .TP
 171 .B \-p\fR, \fB\-\-preserve\-dates
 172 Set the access and modification dates of the output file to be the same
 173 as those of the input file.
 174 .TP
 175 .B \-\-debugging
 176 Convert debugging information, if possible.  This is not the default
 177 because only certain debugging formats are supported, and the
 178 conversion process can be time consuming.
 179 .TP
 180 .B \-\-gap\-fill=\fIval
 181 Fill gaps between sections with \fIval\fP.  This operation applies to
 182 the \fIload address\fP (LMA) of the sections.  It is done by increasing
 183 the size of the section with the lower address, and filling in the extra
 184 space created with \fIval\fP.
 185 .TP
 186 .B \-\-pad\-to=\fIaddress
 187 Pad the output file up to the load address \fIaddress\fP.  This is
 188 done by increasing the size of the last section.  The extra space is
 189 filled in with the value specified by \fB\-\-gap\-fill\fP (default
 190 zero).
 191 .TP
 192 .B \fB\-\-set\-start=\fIval
 193 Set the start address of the new file to \fIval\fP.  Not all object
 194 file formats support setting the start address.
 195 .TP
 196 .B \fB\-\-adjust\-start=\fIincr
 197 Adjust the start address by adding \fIincr\fP.  Not all object file
 198 formats support setting the start address.
 199 .TP
 200 .B \fB\-\-adjust\-vma=\fIincr
 201 Adjust the address of all sections, as well as the start address, by
 202 adding \fIincr\fP.  Some object file formats do not permit section
 203 addresses to be changed arbitrarily.  Note that this does not relocate
 204 the sections; if the program expects sections to be loaded at a
 205 certain address, and this option is used to change the sections such
 206 that they are loaded at a different address, the program may fail.
 207 .TP
 208 .B \fB\-\-adjust\-section\-vma=\fIsection{=,+,-}val
 209 Set or adjust the address of the named \fIsection\fP.  If \fI=\fP is
 210 used, the section address is set to \fIval\fP.  Otherwise, \fIval\fP
 211 is added to or subtracted from the section address.  See the comments
 212 under \fB\-\-adjust\-vma\fP, above.  If \fIsection\fP does not exist
 213 in the input file, a warning will be issued, unless
 214 \fB\-\-no\-adjust\-warnings\fP is used.
 215 .TP
 216 .B \fB\-\-adjust\-warnings
 217 If \fB\-\-adjust\-section\-vma\fP is used, and the named section does
 218 not exist, issue a warning.  This is the default.
 219 .TP
 220 .B \fB\-\-no\-adjust\-warnings
 221 Do not issue a warning if \fB\-\-adjust\-section\-vma\fP is used, even
 222 if the named section does not exist.
 223 .TP
 224 .B \fB\-\-set\-section\-flags=\fIsection=flags
 225 Set the flags for the named section.  The \fIflags\fP argument is a
 226 comma separated string of flag names.  The recognized names are
 227 \fIalloc\fP, \fIload\fP, \fIreadonly\fP, \fIcode\fP, \fIdata\fP, and
 228 \fIrom\fP.  Not all flags are meaningful for all object file
 229 formats.
 230 .TP
 231 .B \fB\-\-add\-section=\fIsectionname=filename
 232 Add a new section named \fIsectionname\fR while copying the file.  The
 233 contents of the new section are taken from the file \fIfilename\fR.
 234 The size of the section will be the size of the file.  This option
 235 only works on file formats which can support sections with arbitrary
 236 names.
 237 .TP
 238 .B \-\-change\-leading\-char
 239 Some object file formats use special characters at the start of
 240 symbols.  The most common such character is underscore, which compilers
 241 often add before every symbol.  This option tells
 242 .B objcopy
 243 to change the leading character of every symbol when it converts
 244 between object file formats.  If the object file formats use the same
 245 leading character, this option has no effect.  Otherwise, it will add
 246 a character, or remove a character, or change a character, as
 247 appropriate.
 248 .TP
 249 .B \-\-remove\-leading\-char
 250 If the first character of a global symbol is a special symbol leading
 251 character used by the object file format, remove the character.  The
 252 most common symbol leading character is underscore.  This option will
 253 remove a leading underscore from all global symbols.  This can be
 254 useful if you want to link together objects of different file formats
 255 with different conventions for symbol names.  This is different from
 256 @code{--change-leading-char} because it always changes the symbol name
 257 when appropriate, regardless of the object file format of the output
 258 .TP
 259 .B \-\-weaken
 260 Change all global symbols in the file to be weak.
 261 .TP
 262 .B \-v\fR, \fB\-\-verbose
 263 Verbose output: list all object files modified.  In the case of
 264 archives, "\fBobjcopy \-V\fR" lists all members of the archive.
 265 .TP
 266 .B \-V\fR, \fB\-\-version
 267 Show the version number of
 268 .B objcopy
 269 and exit.
 270 .TP
 271 .B \-\-help
 272 Show a summary of the options to
 273 .B objcopy
 274 and exit.
 275 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 276 .RB "`\|" binutils "\|'"
 277 entry in
 278 .B
 279 info\c
 280 \&;
 281 .I
 282 The GNU Binary Utilities\c
 283 \&, Roland H. Pesch (June 1993).
 284
 285 .SH COPYING
 286 Copyright (c) 1993, 94, 95, 96, 1997 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 287 .PP
 288 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
 289 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
 290 are preserved on all copies.
 291 .PP
 292 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
 293 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
 294 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
 295 permission notice identical to this one.
 296 .PP
 297 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
 298 manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
 299 versions, except that this permission notice may be included in
 300 translations approved by the Free Software Foundation instead of in
 301 the original English.