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The GNU Binutils is a collection of programming tools for the manipulation of object code in various object file formats. The current versions were originally written by programmers at Cygnus Solutions using the BFD library. They are typically used in conjunction with GCC, make and GDB. Image File history File links Portal. ... GNU (pronounced ) is a free software operating system consisting of a kernel, libraries, system tools, compilers and many end-user applications. ... A programming tool is a program or application that software developers use to create, debug, or maintain other programs and applications. ... In computer science, object file or object code is an intermediate representation of code generated by a compiler after it processes a source code file. ... In computer science, object file or object code is an intermediate representation of code generated by a compiler after it processes a source code file. ... Cygnus Solutions, originally Cygnus Support, was founded in 1989 by John Gilmore, Michael Tiemann and David Henkel-Wallace to provide commercial support for free software. ... The Binary File Descriptor library, most commonly seen as just BFD, is the GNU projects main mechanism for the portable manipulation of object files in a variety of formats. ... The GNU Compiler Collection (usually shortened to GCC) is a set of programming language compilers produced by the GNU Project. ... The correct title of this article is make. ... The GNU Debugger, usually called just GDB, is the standard debugger for the GNU software system. ...

The binutils include the following commands:

• as - assembler
• ld - linker
• addr2line - convert address to file and line
• ar - create, modify, and extract from archives
• c++filt - demangling filter for C++ symbols
• nm - list symbols in object files
• objcopy - copy object files, possibly making changes
• objdump - dump information about object files
• ranlib - generate indexes for archives
• readelf - display content of ELF files
• size - list total and section sizes
• strings - list printable strings
• strip - remove symbols from an object file
• gprof - Profiler

Originally the package consisted of only the minor utilities, but later the GNU Assembler (GAS) and GNU Linker (GLD) were included in releases, since their functionality is so closely related. Gas, commanded as as when typed from the shell, is the GNU assembler. ... An assembler is a computer program for translating assembly language — essentially, a mnemonic representation of machine language — into object code. ... ld is the name of the GNU linker, which creates an executable file on Unix and Unix-like systems from object files created during compilation. ... Figure of the linking process, where object files and static libraries are assembled into a new library or executable. ... The archiver (also known simply as ar) is a UNIX utility that maintains groups of files as a single archive file. ... For a WikiBook on programming with C++, see Wikibooks: C++ Programming. ... The nm command ships with a number of later versions of Unix and similar operating systems. ... objdump is a program for displaying various information about object files. ... In computing, the Executable and Linkable Format (ELF, formerly called Extensible Linking Format) is a common standard file format for executables, object code, shared libraries, and core dumps. ... In computer programming, a profiler is a computer program that can track the performance of another program by checking information collected while the code is executed . ... Gas, commanded as as when typed from the shell, is the GNU assembler. ... ld is the command for a linker, which creates an executable file on Unix and Unix-like systems, such as GNU, from object files created during compilation. ...

Most of the binutils are rather simple programs. Most of the complexity is encapsulated in the BFD and libopcodes libraries that they share. The Binary File Descriptor library, most commonly seen as just BFD, is the GNU projects main mechanism for the portable manipulation of object files in a variety of formats. ...

The original BFD versions were written by David Henkel-Wallace and Steve Chamberlain. Past maintainers have included Ken Raeburn and Ian Lance Taylor. As of 2005 the current maintainer is Nick Clifton. 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Official GNU Binary Utilities page
• sourceware.org GNU binutils page
• GNU binutils forum - hosted by Nabble archiving binutils mailing lists into a searchable forum.