| 1 | BFD is an object file library.  It permits applications to use the
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| 2 | same routines to process object files regardless of their format.
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| 3 | 
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| 4 | BFD is used by the GNU debugger, assembler, linker, and the binary
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| 5 | utilities.
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| 6 | 
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| 7 | The documentation on using BFD is scanty and may be occasionally
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| 8 | incorrect.  Pointers to documentation problems, or an entirely
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| 9 | rewritten manual, would be appreciated.
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| 10 | 
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| 11 | There is some BFD internals documentation in doc/bfdint.texi which may
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| 12 | help programmers who want to modify BFD.
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| 13 | 
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| 14 | BFD is normally built as part of another package.  See the build
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| 15 | instructions for that package, probably in a README file in the
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| 16 | appropriate directory.
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| 17 | 
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| 18 | BFD supports the following configure options:
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| 19 | 
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| 20 |   --target=TARGET
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| 21 |         The default target for which to build the library.  TARGET is
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| 22 |         a configuration target triplet, such as sparc-sun-solaris.
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| 23 |   --enable-targets=TARGET,TARGET,TARGET...
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| 24 |         Additional targets the library should support.  To include
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| 25 |         support for all known targets, use --enable-targets=all.
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| 26 |   --enable-64-bit-bfd
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| 27 |         Include support for 64 bit targets.  This is automatically
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| 28 |         turned on if you explicitly request a 64 bit target, but not
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| 29 |         for --enable-targets=all.  This requires a compiler with a 64
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| 30 |         bit integer type, such as gcc.
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| 31 |   --enable-shared
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| 32 |         Build BFD as a shared library.
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| 33 |   --with-mmap
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| 34 |         Use mmap when accessing files.  This is faster on some hosts,
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| 35 |         but slower on others.  It may not work on all hosts.
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| 36 | 
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| 37 | Report bugs with BFD to bug-binutils@gnu.org.
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| 38 | 
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| 39 | Patches are encouraged.  When sending patches, always send the output
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| 40 | of diff -u or diff -c from the original file to the new file.  Do not
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| 41 | send default diff output.  Do not make the diff from the new file to
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| 42 | the original file.  Remember that any patch must not break other
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| 43 | systems.  Remember that BFD must support cross compilation from any
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| 44 | host to any target, so patches which use ``#ifdef HOST'' are not
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| 45 | acceptable.  Please also read the ``Reporting Bugs'' section of the
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| 46 | gcc manual.
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| 47 | 
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| 48 | Bug reports without patches will be remembered, but they may never get
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| 49 | fixed until somebody volunteers to fix them.
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