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1The Elftoolchain Project
2========================
3
4.. contents:: Table of Contents
5
6Description
7-----------
8
9This software implements essential compilation tools and libraries for:
10
11- managing program objects conforming to the ELF_ object format, and
12- for managing DWARF_ debugging information in ELF objects.
13
14The project currently implements the following utilities and
15libraries:
16
17=========== ============================================
18Name        Description
19=========== ============================================
20ar          Archive manager.
21addr2line   Debug tool.
22brandelf    Manage the ELF brand on executables.
23c++filt     Translate encoded symbols.
24elfcopy     Copy and translate between object formats.
25elfdump     Diagnostic tool.
26findtextrel Find undesired text relocations.
27libdwarf    DWARF access library.
28libelf      ELF access library.
29mcs         Manage comment sections.
30nm          List symbols in an ELF object.
31ranlib      Add archive symbol tables to an archive.
32readelf     Display ELF information.
33size        List object sizes.
34strings     Extract printable strings.
35strip       Discard information from ELF objects.
36=========== ============================================
37
38.. _ELF: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executable_and_Linkable_Format
39.. _DWARF: http://www.dwarfstd.org/
40
41
42Project Documentation
43---------------------
44
45- Release notes for released versions of this software are present in
46  the file ``RELEASE-NOTES`` in the current directory.
47- The file ``INSTALL`` in the current directory contains instructions
48  on building and installing this software.
49- Reference documentation in the form of manual pages is provided for
50  the utilities and libraries developed by the project.
51- Additional tutorial documentation is present in the
52  ``documentation`` directory.
53
54
55Tracking Ongoing Development
56----------------------------
57
58The project uses subversion_ for its version control system.
59
60.. _subversion: https://subversion.apache.org/
61
62The subversion branch for the current set of sources may be accessed
63at the following URL::
64
65    https://sourceforge.net/p/elftoolchain/code/HEAD/tree/trunk/
66
67The project's source tree may be checked out from its repository by
68using the ``svn checkout`` command::
69
70    % svn checkout https://svn.code.sf.net/p/elftoolchain/code/trunk
71
72Checked-out sources may be kept upto-date by running ``svn update``
73inside the source directory::
74
75    % svn update
76
77
78Instructions on building and installing the software are given in the
79file ``INSTALL`` in the current directory.
80
81Downloading Released Software
82-----------------------------
83
84Released versions of the project's software may also be downloaded
85from SourceForge's `file release system`_.
86
87.. _file release system: http://sourceforge.net/projects/elftoolchain/files/
88
89Copyright and License
90---------------------
91
92This code is copyright its authors, and is distributed under the `BSD
93License`_.
94
95.. _BSD License: http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php
96
97
98Developer Community
99-------------------
100
101The project's developers may be contacted using the mailing list:
102``<elftoolchain-developers@lists.sourceforge.net>``.
103
104
105Reporting Bugs
106--------------
107
108Please use our `bug tracker`_ for viewing existing bug reports and
109for submitting new bug reports.
110
111.. _`bug tracker`: https://sourceforge.net/p/elftoolchain/tickets/
112
113
114Additional Information
115----------------------
116
117Additional information about the project may be found on the `project
118website`_.
119
120.. _project website:  http://elftoolchain.sourceforge.net/
121
122.. $Id: README.rst 3677 2019-02-11 09:37:09Z jkoshy $
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