lfs-book/appendixa/binutils-desc.xml

<sect2><title>Short descriptions</title>

<para><command>addr2line</command> translates program addresses to file
names and line numbers. Given an address and the name of an executable, it
uses the debugging information in the executable to figure out which source
file and line number are associated with the address.</para>

<para><command>ar</command> creates, modifies, and extracts from archives. An archive
is a single file holding a collection of other files in a structure that makes
it possible to retrieve the original individual files (called members of
the archive).</para>

<para><command>as</command> is an assembler. It assembles the output of
gcc into object files.</para>

<para><command>c++filt</command> is used by the linker to demangle C++ and
Java symbols, to keep overloaded functions from clashing.</para>

<para><command>gprof</command> displays call graph profile data.</para>

<para><command>ld</command> is a linker. It combines a number of object
and archive files into a single file, relocating their data and tying up symbol
references.</para>

<para><command>nm</command> lists the symbols occurring in a given object file.</para>

<para><command>objcopy</command> is used to translate one type of object
file into another.</para>

<para><command>objdump</command> displays information about the given
object file, with options controlling what particular information to display.
The information shown is mostly only useful to programmers who are working on
the compilation tools.</para>

<para><command>ranlib</command> generates an index of the contents of an
archive, and stores it in the archive. The index lists all the symbols defined
by archive members that are relocatable object files.</para>

<para><command>readelf</command> displays information about elf type binaries.</para>

<para><command>size</command> lists the section sizes -- and the grand
total -- for the given object files.</para>

<para><command>strings</command> outputs for each file given the sequences
of printable characters that are of at least the specified length (defaulting to 4)
For object files it prints by default only the strings from the initializing
and loading sections. For other types of files it scans the whole file.</para>

<para><command>strip</command> discards symbols from object files.</para>

<para><command>libiberty</command> contains routines used by various GNU
programs, including getopt, obstack, strerror, strtol and strtoul.</para>

<para><command>libbfd</command> is the Binary File Descriptor library.</para>

<para><command>libopcodes</command> is a library for dealing with opcodes.
It is used for building utilities like objdump. Opcodes are the "readable text"
versions of instructions for the processor.</para>

</sect2>