70 lines
3.1 KiB
HTML
70 lines
3.1 KiB
HTML
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<title>BFD outline - Untitled</title>
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<link rel="up" href="BFD.html#BFD" title="BFD">
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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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<div class="node">
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<p>
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<a name="BFD-outline"></a>Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="BFD.html#BFD">BFD</a>
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<hr><br>
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</div>
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<h3 class="section">5.1 How It Works: An Outline of BFD</h3>
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<p><a name="index-opening-object-files-635"></a><!-- This summary of BFD is shared by the BFD and LD docs. -->
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When an object file is opened, BFD subroutines automatically determine
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the format of the input object file. They then build a descriptor in
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memory with pointers to routines that will be used to access elements of
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the object file's data structures.
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<p>As different information from the object files is required,
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BFD reads from different sections of the file and processes them.
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For example, a very common operation for the linker is processing symbol
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tables. Each BFD back end provides a routine for converting
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between the object file's representation of symbols and an internal
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canonical format. When the linker asks for the symbol table of an object
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file, it calls through a memory pointer to the routine from the
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relevant BFD back end which reads and converts the table into a canonical
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form. The linker then operates upon the canonical form. When the link is
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finished and the linker writes the output file's symbol table,
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another BFD back end routine is called to take the newly
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created symbol table and convert it into the chosen output format.
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<ul class="menu">
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<li><a accesskey="1" href="BFD-information-loss.html#BFD-information-loss">BFD information loss</a>: Information Loss
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<li><a accesskey="2" href="Canonical-format.html#Canonical-format">Canonical format</a>: The BFD canonical object-file format
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</ul>
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</body></html>
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