objcopy

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
OPTIONS
SEE ALSO
COPYING

NAME

objcopy - copy and translate object files

SYNOPSIS

objcopy

[-F bfdname --target=bfdname] [-I bfdname --input-target=bfdname] [-O bfdname --output-target=bfdname] [-R sectionname --remove-section=sectionname] [-S --strip-all] [-g --strip-debug] [--strip-unneeded] [-K symbolname --keep-symbol=symbolname] [-N symbolname --strip-symbol=symbolname] [-x --discard-all] [-X --discard-locals] [-b byte --byte=byte] [-i interleave --interleave=interleave] [-p --preserve-dates] [--debugging] [--gap-fill=val] [--pad-to=address] [--set-start=val] [--adjust-start=incr] [--adjust-vma=incr] [--adjust-section-vma=section{=,+,-}val] [--adjust-warnings] [--no-adjust-warnings] [--set-section-flags=section=flags] [--add-section=sectionname=filename] [--change-leading-char] [--remove-leading-char] [--weaken] [-v | --verbose] [-V | --version] [--help] infile [outfile]

DESCRIPTION

The GNU objcopy utility copies the contents of an object file to another. objcopy uses the GNU BFD Library to read and write the object files. It can write the destination object file in a format different from that of the source object file. The exact behavior of objcopy is controlled by command-line options.

objcopy creates temporary files to do its translations and deletes them afterward. objcopy uses BFD to do all its translation work; it knows about all the formats BFD knows about, and thus is able to recognize most formats without being told explicitly.

objcopy can be used to generate S-records by using an output target of srec (e.g., use -O srec).

objcopy can be used to generate a raw binary file by using an output target of binary (e.g., use -O binary). When objcopy generates a raw binary file, it will essentially produce a memory dump of the contents of the input object file. All symbols and relocation information will be discarded. The memory dump will start at the virtual address of the lowest section copied into the output file.

When generating an S-record or a raw binary file, it may be helpful to use -S to remove sections containing debugging information. In some cases -R will be useful to remove sections which contain information which is not needed by the binary file.

infile and outfile are the source and output files respectively. If you do not specify outfile, objcopy creates a temporary file and destructively renames the result with the name of the input file.

OPTIONS

-I bfdname, --input-target=bfdname

Consider the source file’s object format to be bfdname, rather than attempting to deduce it.

-O bfdname, --output-target=bfdname

Write the output file using the object format bfdname.

-F bfdname, --target=bfdname

Use bfdname as the object format for both the input and the output file; i.e. simply transfer data from source to destination with no translation.

-R sectionname, --remove-section=sectionname

Remove the named section from the file. This option may be given more than once. Note that using this option inappropriately may make the output file unusable.

-S, --strip-all

Do not copy relocation and symbol information from the source file.

-g, --strip-debug

Do not copy debugging symbols from the source file.

--strip-unneeded

Strip all symbols that are not needed for relocation processing.

-K symbolname, --keep-symbol=symbolname

Copy only symbol symbolname from the source file. This option may be given more than once.

-N symbolname, --strip-symbol=symbolname

Do not copy symbol symbolname from the source file. This option may be given more than once, and may be combined with strip options other than -K.

-x, --discard-all

Do not copy non-global symbols from the source file.

-X, --discard-locals

Do not copy compiler-generated local symbols. (These usually start with "L" or ".").

-b byte, --byte=byte

Keep only every byteth byte of the input file (header data is not affected). byte can be in the range from 0 to the interleave-1. This option is useful for creating files to program ROMs. It is typically used with an srec output target.

-i interleave, --interleave=interleave

Only copy one out of every interleave bytes. Which one to copy is selected by the -b or --byte option. The default is 4. The interleave is ignored if neither -b nor --byte is given.

-p, --preserve-dates

Set the access and modification dates of the output file to be the same as those of the input file.

--debugging

Convert debugging information, if possible. This is not the default because only certain debugging formats are supported, and the conversion process can be time consuming.

--gap-fill=val

Fill gaps between sections with val. This is done by increasing the size of the section with the lower address, and filling in the extra space created with val.

--pad-to=address

Pad the output file up to the virtual address address. This is done by increasing the size of the last section. The extra space is filled in with the value specified by --gap-fill (default zero).

--set-start=val

Set the start address of the new file to val. Not all object file formats support setting the start address.

--adjust-start=incr

Adjust the start address by adding incr. Not all object file formats support setting the start address.

--adjust-vma=incr

Adjust the address of all sections, as well as the start address, by adding incr. Some object file formats do not permit section addresses to be changed arbitrarily. Note that this does not relocate the sections; if the program expects sections to be loaded at a certain address, and this option is used to change the sections such that they are loaded at a different address, the program may fail.

--adjust-section-vma=section{=,+,-}val

Set or adjust the address of the named section. If = is used, the section address is set to val. Otherwise, val is added to or subtracted from the section address. See the comments under --adjust-vma, above. If section does not exist in the input file, a warning will be issued, unless --no-adjust-warnings is used.

--adjust-warnings

If --adjust-section-vma is used, and the named section does not exist, issue a warning. This is the default.

--no-adjust-warnings

Do not issue a warning if --adjust-section-vma is used, even if the named section does not exist.

--set-section-flags=section=flags

Set the flags for the named section. The flags argument is a comma separated string of flag names. The recognized names are alloc, load, readonly, code, data, and rom. Not all flags are meaningful for all object file formats.

--add-section=sectionname=filename

Add a new section named sectionname while copying the file. The contents of the new section are taken from the file filename. The size of the section will be the size of the file. This option only works on file formats which can support sections with arbitrary names.

--change-leading-char

Some object file formats use special characters at the start of symbols. The most common such character is underscore, which compilers often add before every symbol. This option tells objcopy to change the leading character of every symbol when it converts between object file formats. If the object file formats use the same leading character, this option has no effect. Otherwise, it will add a character, or remove a character, or change a character, as appropriate.

--remove-leading-char

If the first character of a global symbol is a special symbol leading character used by the object file format, remove the character. The most common symbol leading character is underscore. This option will remove a leading underscore from all global symbols. This can be useful if you want to link together objects of different file formats with different conventions for symbol names. This is different from @code{--change-leading-char} because it always changes the symbol name when appropriate, regardless of the object file format of the output

--weaken

Change all global symbols in the file to be weak.

-v, --verbose

Verbose output: list all object files modified. In the case of archives, "objcopy -V" lists all members of the archive.

-V, --version

Show the version number of objcopy and exit.

--help

Show a summary of the options to objcopy and exit.

SEE ALSO

binutils’ entry in info; The GNU Binary Utilities, Roland H. Pesch (June 1993).

COPYING

Copyright (c) 1993, 94, 95, 96, 1997 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions, except that this permission notice may be included in translations approved by the Free Software Foundation instead of in the original English.