Table of Contents

• 1 Introduction
  • 1.1 History
  • 1.2 How To Use BFD
  • 1.3 What BFD Version 2 Can Do
    • 1.3.1 Information Loss
    • 1.3.2 The BFD canonical object-file format
• 2 BFD Front End
  • 2.1 typedef bfd
  • 2.2 Error reporting
    • 2.2.1 Type bfd_error_type
      • 2.2.1.1 bfd_get_error
      • 2.2.1.2 bfd_set_error
      • 2.2.1.3 bfd_errmsg
      • 2.2.1.4 bfd_perror
    • 2.2.2 BFD error handler
      • 2.2.2.1 bfd_set_error_handler
      • 2.2.2.2 bfd_set_error_program_name
      • 2.2.2.3 bfd_get_error_handler
  • 2.3 Miscellaneous
    • 2.3.1 Miscellaneous functions
      • 2.3.1.1 bfd_get_reloc_upper_bound
      • 2.3.1.2 bfd_canonicalize_reloc
      • 2.3.1.3 bfd_set_reloc
      • 2.3.1.4 bfd_set_file_flags
      • 2.3.1.5 bfd_get_arch_size
      • 2.3.1.6 bfd_get_sign_extend_vma
      • 2.3.1.7 bfd_set_start_address
      • 2.3.1.8 bfd_get_gp_size
      • 2.3.1.9 bfd_set_gp_size
      • 2.3.1.10 bfd_scan_vma
      • 2.3.1.11 bfd_copy_private_header_data
      • 2.3.1.12 bfd_copy_private_bfd_data
      • 2.3.1.13 bfd_merge_private_bfd_data
      • 2.3.1.14 bfd_set_private_flags
      • 2.3.1.15 Other functions
      • 2.3.1.16 bfd_alt_mach_code
      • 2.3.1.17 bfd_preserve_save
      • 2.3.1.18 bfd_preserve_restore
      • 2.3.1.19 bfd_preserve_finish
      • 2.3.1.20 bfd_emul_get_maxpagesize
      • 2.3.1.21 bfd_emul_set_maxpagesize
      • 2.3.1.22 bfd_emul_get_commonpagesize
      • 2.3.1.23 bfd_emul_set_commonpagesize
      • 2.3.1.24 bfd_demangle
      • 2.3.1.25 struct bfd_iovec
      • 2.3.1.26 bfd_get_mtime
      • 2.3.1.27 bfd_get_size
  • 2.4 Memory Usage
  • 2.5 Initialization
    • 2.5.1 Initialization functions
      • 2.5.1.1 bfd_init
  • 2.6 Sections
    • 2.6.1 Section input
    • 2.6.2 Section output
    • 2.6.3 Link orders
    • 2.6.4 typedef asection
    • 2.6.5 Section prototypes
      • 2.6.5.1 bfd_section_list_clear
      • 2.6.5.2 bfd_get_section_by_name
      • 2.6.5.3 bfd_get_section_by_name_if
      • 2.6.5.4 bfd_get_unique_section_name
      • 2.6.5.5 bfd_make_section_old_way
      • 2.6.5.6 bfd_make_section_anyway_with_flags
      • 2.6.5.7 bfd_make_section_anyway
      • 2.6.5.8 bfd_make_section_with_flags
      • 2.6.5.9 bfd_make_section
      • 2.6.5.10 bfd_set_section_flags
      • 2.6.5.11 bfd_map_over_sections
      • 2.6.5.12 bfd_sections_find_if
      • 2.6.5.13 bfd_set_section_size
      • 2.6.5.14 bfd_set_section_contents
      • 2.6.5.15 bfd_get_section_contents
      • 2.6.5.16 bfd_malloc_and_get_section
      • 2.6.5.17 bfd_copy_private_section_data
      • 2.6.5.18 bfd_generic_is_group_section
      • 2.6.5.19 bfd_generic_discard_group
  • 2.7 Symbols
    • 2.7.1 Reading symbols
    • 2.7.2 Writing symbols
    • 2.7.3 Mini Symbols
    • 2.7.4 typedef asymbol
    • 2.7.5 Symbol handling functions
      • 2.7.5.1 bfd_get_symtab_upper_bound
      • 2.7.5.2 bfd_is_local_label
      • 2.7.5.3 bfd_is_local_label_name
      • 2.7.5.4 bfd_is_target_special_symbol
      • 2.7.5.5 bfd_canonicalize_symtab
      • 2.7.5.6 bfd_set_symtab
      • 2.7.5.7 bfd_print_symbol_vandf
      • 2.7.5.8 bfd_make_empty_symbol
      • 2.7.5.9 _bfd_generic_make_empty_symbol
      • 2.7.5.10 bfd_make_debug_symbol
      • 2.7.5.11 bfd_decode_symclass
      • 2.7.5.12 bfd_is_undefined_symclass
      • 2.7.5.13 bfd_symbol_info
      • 2.7.5.14 bfd_copy_private_symbol_data
  • 2.8 Archives
    • 2.8.1 Archive functions
      • 2.8.1.1 bfd_get_next_mapent
      • 2.8.1.2 bfd_set_archive_head
      • 2.8.1.3 bfd_openr_next_archived_file
  • 2.9 File formats
    • 2.9.1 File format functions
      • 2.9.1.1 bfd_check_format
      • 2.9.1.2 bfd_check_format_matches
      • 2.9.1.3 bfd_set_format
      • 2.9.1.4 bfd_format_string
  • 2.10 Relocations
    • 2.10.1 typedef arelent
      • 2.10.1.1 enum complain_overflow
      • 2.10.1.2 reloc_howto_type
      • 2.10.1.3 The HOWTO Macro
      • 2.10.1.4 bfd_get_reloc_size
      • 2.10.1.5 arelent_chain
      • 2.10.1.6 bfd_check_overflow
      • 2.10.1.7 bfd_perform_relocation
      • 2.10.1.8 bfd_install_relocation
    • 2.10.2 The howto manager
      • 2.10.2.1 bfd_reloc_code_type
      • 2.10.2.2 bfd_reloc_type_lookup
      • 2.10.2.3 bfd_default_reloc_type_lookup
      • 2.10.2.4 bfd_get_reloc_code_name
      • 2.10.2.5 bfd_generic_relax_section
      • 2.10.2.6 bfd_generic_gc_sections
      • 2.10.2.7 bfd_generic_merge_sections
      • 2.10.2.8 bfd_generic_get_relocated_section_contents
  • 2.11 Core files
    • 2.11.1 Core file functions
      • 2.11.1.1 bfd_core_file_failing_command
      • 2.11.1.2 bfd_core_file_failing_signal
      • 2.11.1.3 core_file_matches_executable_p
      • 2.11.1.4 generic_core_file_matches_executable_p
  • 2.12 Targets
    • 2.12.1 bfd_target
      • 2.12.1.1 bfd_set_default_target
      • 2.12.1.2 bfd_find_target
      • 2.12.1.3 bfd_target_list
      • 2.12.1.4 bfd_seach_for_target
  • 2.13 Architectures
    • 2.13.1 bfd_architecture
    • 2.13.2 bfd_arch_info
      • 2.13.2.1 bfd_printable_name
      • 2.13.2.2 bfd_scan_arch
      • 2.13.2.3 bfd_arch_list
      • 2.13.2.4 bfd_arch_get_compatible
      • 2.13.2.5 bfd_default_arch_struct
      • 2.13.2.6 bfd_set_arch_info
      • 2.13.2.7 bfd_default_set_arch_mach
      • 2.13.2.8 bfd_get_arch
      • 2.13.2.9 bfd_get_mach
      • 2.13.2.10 bfd_arch_bits_per_byte
      • 2.13.2.11 bfd_arch_bits_per_address
      • 2.13.2.12 bfd_default_compatible
      • 2.13.2.13 bfd_default_scan
      • 2.13.2.14 bfd_get_arch_info
      • 2.13.2.15 bfd_lookup_arch
      • 2.13.2.16 bfd_printable_arch_mach
      • 2.13.2.17 bfd_octets_per_byte
      • 2.13.2.18 bfd_arch_mach_octets_per_byte
  • 2.14 Opening and closing BFDs
    • 2.14.1 Functions for opening and closing
      • 2.14.1.1 bfd_fopen
      • 2.14.1.2 bfd_openr
      • 2.14.1.3 bfd_fdopenr
      • 2.14.1.4 bfd_openstreamr
      • 2.14.1.5 bfd_openr_iovec
      • 2.14.1.6 bfd_openw
      • 2.14.1.7 bfd_close
      • 2.14.1.8 bfd_close_all_done
      • 2.14.1.9 bfd_create
      • 2.14.1.10 bfd_make_writable
      • 2.14.1.11 bfd_make_readable
      • 2.14.1.12 bfd_alloc
      • 2.14.1.13 bfd_alloc2
      • 2.14.1.14 bfd_zalloc
      • 2.14.1.15 bfd_zalloc2
      • 2.14.1.16 bfd_calc_gnu_debuglink_crc32
      • 2.14.1.17 get_debug_link_info
      • 2.14.1.18 separate_debug_file_exists
      • 2.14.1.19 find_separate_debug_file
      • 2.14.1.20 bfd_follow_gnu_debuglink
      • 2.14.1.21 bfd_create_gnu_debuglink_section
      • 2.14.1.22 bfd_fill_in_gnu_debuglink_section
  • 2.15 Implementation details
    • 2.15.1 Internal functions
      • 2.15.1.1 bfd_write_bigendian_4byte_int
      • 2.15.1.2 bfd_put_size
      • 2.15.1.3 bfd_get_size
      • 2.15.1.4 bfd_h_put_size
      • 2.15.1.5 bfd_log2
  • 2.16 File caching
    • 2.16.1 Caching functions
      • 2.16.1.1 bfd_cache_init
      • 2.16.1.2 bfd_cache_close
      • 2.16.1.3 bfd_cache_close_all
      • 2.16.1.4 bfd_open_file
  • 2.17 Linker Functions
    • 2.17.1 Creating a linker hash table
    • 2.17.2 Adding symbols to the hash table
      • 2.17.2.1 Differing file formats
      • 2.17.2.2 Adding symbols from an object file
      • 2.17.2.3 Adding symbols from an archive
    • 2.17.3 Performing the final link
      • 2.17.3.1 Information provided by the linker
      • 2.17.3.2 Relocating the section contents
      • 2.17.3.3 Writing the symbol table
      • 2.17.3.4 bfd_link_split_section
      • 2.17.3.5 bfd_section_already_linked
  • 2.18 Hash Tables
    • 2.18.1 Creating and freeing a hash table
    • 2.18.2 Looking up or entering a string
    • 2.18.3 Traversing a hash table
    • 2.18.4 Deriving a new hash table type
      • 2.18.4.1 Define the derived structures
      • 2.18.4.2 Write the derived creation routine
      • 2.18.4.3 Write other derived routines
• 3 BFD back ends
  • 3.1 What to Put Where
  • 3.2 a.out backends
    • 3.2.1 Relocations
    • 3.2.2 Internal entry points
      • 3.2.2.1 aout_size_swap_exec_header_in
      • 3.2.2.2 aout_size_swap_exec_header_out
      • 3.2.2.3 aout_size_some_aout_object_p
      • 3.2.2.4 aout_size_mkobject
      • 3.2.2.5 aout_size_machine_type
      • 3.2.2.6 aout_size_set_arch_mach
      • 3.2.2.7 aout_size_new_section_hook
  • 3.3 coff backends
    • 3.3.1 Porting to a new version of coff
    • 3.3.2 How the coff backend works
      • 3.3.2.1 File layout
      • 3.3.2.2 Bit twiddling
      • 3.3.2.3 Symbol reading
      • 3.3.2.4 Symbol writing
      • 3.3.2.5 coff_symbol_type
      • 3.3.2.6 bfd_coff_backend_data
      • 3.3.2.7 Writing relocations
      • 3.3.2.8 Reading linenumbers
      • 3.3.2.9 Reading relocations
  • 3.4 ELF backends
    • 3.4.0.1 bfd_elf_find_section
  • 3.5 mmo backend
    • 3.5.1 File layout
    • 3.5.2 Symbol table format
    • 3.5.3 mmo section mapping
• Appendix A GNU Free Documentation License
  • ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents
• BFD Index