objcopy(1)            GNU Development Tools            objcopy(1)

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]
              [-L symbolname | --localize-symbol=symbolname]
              [-W symbolname | --weaken-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.

       -L symbolname, --localize-symbol=symbolname
              Make symbol symbolname local to the file, so that
              it is not visible externally.  This option may be
              given more than once.

       -W symbolname, --weaken-symbol=symbolname
              Make symbol symbolname weak. This option may be
              given more than once.

       -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
              operation applies to the load address (LMA) of the
              sections.  It 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 load 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.

cygnus support             October 1994                         1