source: clfs-embedded/BOOK/cross-tools/common/binutils.xml@ 537fc5a

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<sect1 id="ch-cross-tools-binutils" role="wrap">
  <?dbhtml filename="binutils.html"?>

  <title>Cross Binutils-&binutils-version;</title>

  <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils">
    <primary sortas="a-Binutils">Binutils</primary>
    <secondary>cross tools</secondary>
  </indexterm>

  <sect2 role="package">
    <title/>

    <para>The Binutils package contains a linker, an assembler, and other
    tools for handling object files.</para>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 role="installation">
    <title>Installation of Cross Binutils</title>

    <para os="a">It is important that Binutils be the first package compiled
    because both uClibc and GCC perform various tests on the available
    linker and assembler to determine which of their own features to
    enable.</para>

    <para os="b">The Binutils documentation recommends building Binutils outside of the
    source directory in a dedicated build directory:</para>

<screen os="c"><userinput>mkdir -v ../binutils-build
cd ../binutils-build</userinput></screen>

    <para os="d">Prepare Binutils for compilation:</para>

<screen os="e"><userinput>../binutils-&binutils-version;/configure --prefix=${CLFS}/cross-tools \
   --target=${CLFS_TARGET} --with-sysroot=${CLFS} --disable-nls \
   --enable-shared --disable-multilib</userinput></screen>

    <variablelist os="f">
      <title>The meaning of the configure options:</title>

      <varlistentry os="f1">
        <term><parameter>--prefix=${CLFS}/cross-tools</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>This tells the configure script to prepare to install the
          package in the <filename class="directory">${CLFS}/cross-tools</filename>
          directory.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry os="f3">
        <term><parameter>--target=${CLFS_TARGET}</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>When used with --host, this creates a cross-architecture
          executable that creates files for ${CLFS_TARGET} but runs on
          the host system.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry os="f4">
        <term><parameter>--with-sysroot=${CLFS}</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>This tells configure that ${CLFS} is going to be the root
          of our system. It will now use the specified sysroot, ${CLFS}, as
          a prefix of the default search paths.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry os="f5">
        <term><parameter>--disable-nls</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>This disables internationalization as i18n is not needed for the
          cross-compile tools.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry os="f6">
        <term><parameter>--enable-shared</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Enable the creation of the shared libraries.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry os="f7">
        <term><parameter>--disable-multilib</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>This option disables the building of a multilib
          capable binutils.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

    <para os="g">Compile the package:</para>

<screen os="h"><userinput>make configure-host
make</userinput></screen>

    <variablelist os="i">
      <title>The meaning of the make options:</title>

      <varlistentry os="i1">
        <term><parameter>configure-host</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>This checks the host environment and makes sure all the
          necessary tools are available to compile Binutils.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

    <para os="j">Install the package:</para>

<screen os="k"><userinput>make install</userinput></screen>

    <para os="l">Copy the <filename class="headerfile">libiberty.h</filename> file to
    <filename class="directory">${CLFS}/usr/include</filename> directory:</para>

<screen os="m"><userinput>cp -v ../binutils-&binutils-version;/include/libiberty.h ${CLFS}/usr/include</userinput></screen>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 id="contents-binutils" role="content">
    <title>Contents of Binutils</title>

    <segmentedlist>
      <segtitle>Installed programs</segtitle>
      <segtitle>Installed libraries</segtitle>

      <seglistitem>
        <seg>addr2line, ar, as, c++filt, elfedit, gprof, ld, nm, objcopy, 
        objdump, ranlib, readelf, size, strings, and strip</seg>
        <seg>libiberty.a, libbfd.[a,so], and libopcodes.[a,so]</seg>
      </seglistitem>
    </segmentedlist>

    <variablelist>
      <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Short Descriptions</bridgehead>
      <?dbfo list-presentation="list"?>
      <?dbhtml list-presentation="table"?>

      <varlistentry id="addr2line">
        <term><command>addr2line</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>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 determine which source file and line
          number are associated with the address</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils addr2line">
            <primary sortas="b-addr2line">addr2line</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="ar">
        <term><command>ar</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Creates, modifies, and extracts from archives</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils ar">
            <primary sortas="b-ar">ar</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="as">
        <term><command>as</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>An assembler that assembles the output of <command>gcc</command>
          into object files</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils as">
            <primary sortas="b-as">as</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="c-filt">
        <term><command>c++filt</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Used by the linker to de-mangle C++ and Java symbols and to keep
          overloaded functions from clashing</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils c-filt">
            <primary sortas="b-c++filt">c++filt</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="elfedit">
        <term><command>elfedit</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Examine and modify ELF metadata within an ELF object</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils elfedit">
            <primary sortas="b-elfedit">elfedit</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="gprof">
        <term><command>gprof</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Displays call graph profile data</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils gprof">
            <primary sortas="b-gprof">gprof</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="ld">
        <term><command>ld</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>A linker that combines a number of object and archive files
          into a single file, relocating their data and tying up symbol
          references</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils ld">
            <primary sortas="b-ld">ld</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="nm">
        <term><command>nm</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Lists the symbols occurring in a given object file</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils nm">
            <primary sortas="b-nm">nm</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="objcopy">
        <term><command>objcopy</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Copy the contents of one object file to another</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils objcopy">
            <primary sortas="b-objcopy">objcopy</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="objdump">
        <term><command>objdump</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Displays information about the given object file, with options
          controlling the particular information to display; the information
          shown is useful to programmers who are working on the compilation
          tools</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils objdump">
            <primary sortas="b-objdump">objdump</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="ranlib">
        <term><command>ranlib</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Generates an index of the contents of an archive and stores it
          in the archive; the index lists all of the symbols defined by archive
          members that are relocatable object files</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils ranlib">
            <primary sortas="b-ranlib">ranlib</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="readelf">
        <term><command>readelf</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Displays information about ELF type binaries</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils readelf">
            <primary sortas="b-readelf">readelf</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="size">
        <term><command>size</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Lists the section sizes and the total size for the given
          object files</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils size">
            <primary sortas="b-size">size</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="strings">
        <term><command>strings</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Outputs, for each given file, the sequences of printable
          characters that are of at least the specified length (defaulting to
          four); for object files, it prints, by default, only the strings from
          the initializing and loading sections while for other types of files,
          it scans the entire file</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils strings">
            <primary sortas="b-strings">strings</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="strip">
        <term><command>strip</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Discards symbols from object files</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils strip">
            <primary sortas="b-strip">strip</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="libiberty">
        <term><filename class="libraryfile">libiberty</filename></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Contains routines used by various GNU programs, including
          <command>getopt</command>, <command>obstack</command>,
          <command>strerror</command>, <command>strtol</command>, and
          <command>strtoul</command></para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils libiberty">
            <primary sortas="c-libiberty">libiberty</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="libbfd">
        <term><filename class="libraryfile">libbfd</filename></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>The Binary File Descriptor library</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils libbfd">
            <primary sortas="c-libbfd">libbfd</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="libopcodes">
        <term><filename class="libraryfile">libopcodes</filename></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>A library for dealing with opcodes&mdash;the <quote>readable
          text</quote> versions of instructions for the processor;
          it is used for building utilities like
          <command>objdump</command>.</para>
          <indexterm zone="ch-cross-tools-binutils libopcodes">
            <primary sortas="c-libopcodes">libopcodes</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

  </sect2>

</sect1>