76 lines
3.7 KiB
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76 lines
3.7 KiB
HTML
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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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or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
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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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