php-deluxe.net - description GNU Binutils

GNU Binutils

The GNU Binutils is a collection of programming tools for the manipulation of object code in various object file formats. The current versions were originally written by programmers at Cygnus Solutions using the Binary File Descriptor library. They are typically used in conjunction with GNU Compiler Collection, Make and GNU Debugger.

The binutils include the following commands:

as - Assembler

ld - Linker

addr2line - convert address to file and line

ar (Unix) - create, modify, and extract from archives

c++filt - demangling filter for C plus plus symbols

Nm (UNIX) - list symbols in object files

objcopy - copy object files, possibly making changes

objdump - dump information about object files

ranlib - generate indexes for archives

readelf - display content of Executable and Linkable Format files

size - list total and section sizes

strings - list printable strings

strip - remove symbols from an object file

gprof - Profiler (computer science)

Originally the package consisted of only the minor utilities, but later the GNU Assembler (GAS) and GNU Linker (GLD) were included in releases, since their functionality is so closely related.

Most of the binutils are rather simple programs. Most of the complexity is encapsulated in the Binary File Descriptor and libopcodes libraries that they share.

The original BFD versions were written by David Henkel-Wallace and Steve Chamberlain. Past maintainers have included Ken Raeburn and Ian Lance Taylor. As of 2005 the current maintainer is Nick Clifton.

= External link =

[http://sourceware.org/binutils/ GNU binutils page]

[http://www.nabble.com/Gnu---Binutils-f1499.html GNU binutils forum] - hosted by [http://www.nabble.com Nabble] archiving binutils mailing lists into a searchable forum.