77 lines
		
	
	
	
		
			3.7 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			HTML
		
	
	
	
	
	
		
		
			
		
	
	
			77 lines
		
	
	
	
		
			3.7 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			HTML
		
	
	
	
	
	
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								<html lang="en">
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								<head>
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								<title>BFD - Untitled</title>
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								<meta name="description" content="Untitled">
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								<link title="Top" rel="start" href="index.html#Top">
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								<link rel="prev" href="Machine-Dependent.html#Machine-Dependent" title="Machine Dependent">
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								<link rel="next" href="Reporting-Bugs.html#Reporting-Bugs" title="Reporting Bugs">
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								<link href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/" rel="generator-home" title="Texinfo Homepage">
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								<!--
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								This file documents the GNU linker LD
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								(GNU Binutils)
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								version 2.19.
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								Copyright (C) 1991, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 2000,
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								2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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								Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
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								under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1
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								or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
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								with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no
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								Back-Cover Texts.  A copy of the license is included in the
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								section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''.-->
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								--></style>
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								</head>
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								<body>
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								<div class="node">
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								<p>
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								<a name="BFD"></a>Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Reporting-Bugs.html#Reporting-Bugs">Reporting Bugs</a>,
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								Previous: <a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="Machine-Dependent.html#Machine-Dependent">Machine Dependent</a>,
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								Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="index.html#Top">Top</a>
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								<hr><br>
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								</div>
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								<h2 class="chapter">5 BFD</h2>
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								<p><a name="index-back-end-629"></a><a name="index-object-file-management-630"></a><a name="index-object-formats-available-631"></a><a name="index-objdump-_002di-632"></a>The linker accesses object and archive files using the BFD libraries. 
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								These libraries allow the linker to use the same routines to operate on
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								object files whatever the object file format.  A different object file
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								format can be supported simply by creating a new BFD back end and adding
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								it to the library.  To conserve runtime memory, however, the linker and
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								associated tools are usually configured to support only a subset of the
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								object file formats available.  You can use <code>objdump -i</code>
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								(see <a href="../binutils/objdump.html#objdump">objdump (The GNU Binary Utilities)</a>) to
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								list all the formats available for your configuration.
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								   <p><a name="index-BFD-requirements-633"></a><a name="index-requirements-for-BFD-634"></a>As with most implementations, BFD is a compromise between
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								several conflicting requirements. The major factor influencing
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								BFD design was efficiency: any time used converting between
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								formats is time which would not have been spent had BFD not
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								been involved. This is partly offset by abstraction payback; since
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								BFD simplifies applications and back ends, more time and care
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								may be spent optimizing algorithms for a greater speed.
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								   <p>One minor artifact of the BFD solution which you should bear in
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								mind is the potential for information loss.  There are two places where
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								useful information can be lost using the BFD mechanism: during
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								conversion and during output. See <a href="BFD-information-loss.html#BFD-information-loss">BFD information loss</a>.
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								<ul class="menu">
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								<li><a accesskey="1" href="BFD-outline.html#BFD-outline">BFD outline</a>:                  How it works: an outline of BFD
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								</ul>
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								   </body></html>
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