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objcopy(1)




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]
             [-B bfdarch|--binary-architecture=bfdarch]
             [-S|--strip-all]
             [-g|--strip-debug]
             [--strip-unneeded]
             [-K symbolname|--keep-symbol=symbolname]
             [-N symbolname|--strip-symbol=symbolname]
             [--strip-unneeded-symbol=symbolname]
             [-G symbolname|--keep-global-symbol=symbolname]
             [--localize-hidden]
             [-L symbolname|--localize-symbol=symbolname]
             [--globalize-symbol=symbolname]
             [-W symbolname|--weaken-symbol=symbolname]
             [-w|--wildcard]
             [-x|--discard-all]
             [-X|--discard-locals]
             [-b byte|--byte=byte]
             [-i [breadth]|--interleave[=breadth]]
             [--interleave-width=width]
             [-j sectionpattern|--only-section=sectionpattern]
             [-R sectionpattern|--remove-section=sectionpattern]
             [--remove-relocations=sectionpattern]
             [-p|--preserve-dates]
             [-D|--enable-deterministic-archives]
             [-U|--disable-deterministic-archives]
             [--debugging]
             [--gap-fill=val]
             [--pad-to=address]
             [--set-start=val]
             [--adjust-start=incr]
             [--change-addresses=incr]
             [--change-section-address sectionpattern{=,+,-}val]
             [--change-section-lma sectionpattern{=,+,-}val]
             [--change-section-vma sectionpattern{=,+,-}val]
             [--change-warnings] [--no-change-warnings]
             [--set-section-flags sectionpattern=flags]
             [--add-section sectionname=filename]
             [--dump-section sectionname=filename]
             [--update-section sectionname=filename]
             [--rename-section oldname=newname[,flags]]
             [--long-section-names {enable,disable,keep}]
             [--change-leading-char] [--remove-leading-char]
             [--reverse-bytes=num]
             [--srec-len=ival] [--srec-forceS3]
             [--redefine-sym old=new]
             [--redefine-syms=filename]

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             [--weaken]
             [--keep-symbols=filename]
             [--strip-symbols=filename]
             [--strip-unneeded-symbols=filename]
             [--keep-global-symbols=filename]
             [--localize-symbols=filename]
             [--globalize-symbols=filename]
             [--weaken-symbols=filename]
             [--add-symbol name=[section:]value[,flags]
             [--alt-machine-code=index]
             [--prefix-symbols=string]
             [--prefix-sections=string]
             [--prefix-alloc-sections=string]
             [--add-gnu-debuglink=path-to-file]
             [--keep-file-symbols]
             [--only-keep-debug]
             [--strip-dwo]
             [--extract-dwo]
             [--extract-symbol]
             [--writable-text]
             [--readonly-text]
             [--pure]
             [--impure]
             [--file-alignment=num]
             [--heap=size]
             [--image-base=address]
             [--section-alignment=num]
             [--stack=size]
             [--subsystem=which:major.minor]
             [--compress-debug-sections]
             [--decompress-debug-sections]
             [--elf-stt-common=val]
             [--merge-notes]
             [--no-merge-notes]
             [-v|--verbose]
             [-V|--version]
             [--help] [--info]
             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.  Note that objcopy should be able to
     copy a fully linked file between any two formats. However,
     copying a relocatable object file between any two formats
     may not work as expected.

     objcopy creates temporary files to do its translations and
     deletes them afterward.  objcopy uses BFD to do all its

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     translation work; it has access to all the formats described
     in BFD 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 load 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 that is not needed by the
     binary file.

     Note---objcopy is not able to change the endianness of its
     input files.  If the input format has an endianness (some
     formats do not), objcopy can only copy the inputs into file
     formats that have the same endianness or which have no
     endianness (e.g., srec).  (However, see the --reverse-bytes
     option.)


OPTIONS

     infile
     outfile
         The input and output files, respectively.  If you do not
         specify outfile, objcopy creates a temporary file and
         destructively renames the result with the name of
         infile.

     -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.

     -B bfdarch

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     --binary-architecture=bfdarch
         Useful when transforming a architecture-less input file
         into an object file.  In this case the output
         architecture can be set to bfdarch.  This option will be
         ignored if the input file has a known bfdarch.  You can
         access this binary data inside a program by referencing
         the special symbols that are created by the conversion
         process.  These symbols are called
         _binary_objfile_start, _binary_objfile_end and
         _binary_objfile_size.  e.g. you can transform a picture
         file into an object file and then access it in your code
         using these symbols.

     -j sectionpattern
     --only-section=sectionpattern
         Copy only the indicated sections from the input file to
         the output file.  This option may be given more than
         once.  Note that using this option inappropriately may
         make the output file unusable.  Wildcard characters are
         accepted in sectionpattern.

         If the first character of sectionpattern is the
         exclamation point (!) then matching sections will not be
         copied, even if earlier use of --only-section on the
         same command line would otherwise copy it.  For example:

                   --only-section=.text.* --only-section=!.text.foo

         will copy all sectinos maching '.text.*' but not the
         section '.text.foo'.

     -R sectionpattern
     --remove-section=sectionpattern
         Remove any section matching sectionpattern from the
         output file.  This option may be given more than once.
         Note that using this option inappropriately may make the
         output file unusable.  Wildcard characters are accepted
         in sectionpattern.  Using both the -j and -R options
         together results in undefined behaviour.

         If the first character of sectionpattern is the
         exclamation point (!) then matching sections will not be
         removed even if an earlier use of --remove-section on
         the same command line would otherwise remove it.  For
         example:

                   --remove-section=.text.* --remove-section=!.text.foo

         will remove all sections matching the pattern '.text.*',
         but will not remove the section '.text.foo'.

     --remove-relocations=sectionpattern

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         Remove relocations from the output file for any section
         matching sectionpattern.  This option may be given more
         than once.  Note that using this option inappropriately
         may make the output file unusable.  Wildcard characters
         are accepted in sectionpattern.  For example:

                   --remove-relocations=.text.*

         will remove the relocations for all sections matching
         the patter '.text.*'.

         If the first character of sectionpattern is the
         exclamation point (!) then matching sections will not
         have their relocation removed even if an earlier use of
         --remove-relocations on the same command line would
         otherwise cause the relocations to be removed.  For
         example:

                   --remove-relocations=.text.* --remove-relocations=!.text.foo

         will remove all relocations for sections matching the
         pattern '.text.*', but will not remove relocations for
         the section '.text.foo'.

     -S
     --strip-all
         Do not copy relocation and symbol information from the
         source file.

     -g
     --strip-debug
         Do not copy debugging symbols or sections from the
         source file.

     --strip-unneeded
         Strip all symbols that are not needed for relocation
         processing.

     -K symbolname
     --keep-symbol=symbolname
         When stripping symbols, keep symbol symbolname even if
         it would normally be stripped.  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.

     --strip-unneeded-symbol=symbolname
         Do not copy symbol symbolname from the source file
         unless it is needed by a relocation.  This option may be

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         given more than once.

     -G symbolname
     --keep-global-symbol=symbolname
         Keep only symbol symbolname global.  Make all other
         symbols local to the file, so that they are not visible
         externally.  This option may be given more than once.

     --localize-hidden
         In an ELF object, mark all symbols that have hidden or
         internal visibility as local.  This option applies on
         top of symbol-specific localization options such as -L.

     -L symbolname
     --localize-symbol=symbolname
         Convert a global or weak symbol called symbolname into a
         local symbol, so that it is not visible externally.
         This option may be given more than once.  Note - unique
         symbols are not converted.

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

     --globalize-symbol=symbolname
         Give symbol symbolname global scoping so that it is
         visible outside of the file in which it is defined.
         This option may be given more than once.

     -w
     --wildcard
         Permit regular expressions in symbolnames used in other
         command line options.  The question mark (?), asterisk
         (*), backslash (\) and square brackets ([]) operators
         can be used anywhere in the symbol name.  If the first
         character of the symbol name is the exclamation point
         (!) then the sense of the switch is reversed for that
         symbol.  For example:

                   -w -W !foo -W fo*

         would cause objcopy to weaken all symbols that start
         with "fo" except for the symbol "foo".

     -x
     --discard-all
         Do not copy non-global symbols from the source file.

     -X
     --discard-locals
         Do not copy compiler-generated local symbols.  (These

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         usually start with L or ..)

     -b byte
     --byte=byte
         If interleaving has been enabled via the --interleave
         option then start the range of bytes to keep at the
         byteth byte.  byte can be in the range from 0 to
         breadth-1, where breadth is the value given by the
         --interleave option.

     -i [breadth]
     --interleave[=breadth]
         Only copy a range out of every breadth bytes.  (Header
         data is not affected).  Select which byte in the range
         begins the copy with the --byte option.  Select the
         width of the range with the --interleave-width option.

         This option is useful for creating files to program ROM.
         It is typically used with an "srec" output target.  Note
         that objcopy will complain if you do not specify the
         --byte option as well.

         The default interleave breadth is 4, so with --byte set
         to 0, objcopy would copy the first byte out of every
         four bytes from the input to the output.

     --interleave-width=width
         When used with the --interleave option, copy width bytes
         at a time.  The start of the range of bytes to be copied
         is set by the --byte option, and the extent of the range
         is set with the --interleave option.

         The default value for this option is 1.  The value of
         width plus the byte value set by the --byte option must
         not exceed the interleave breadth set by the
         --interleave option.

         This option can be used to create images for two 16-bit
         flashes interleaved in a 32-bit bus by passing -b 0 -i 4
         --interleave-width=2 and -b 2 -i 4 --interleave-width=2
         to two objcopy commands.  If the input was '12345678'
         then the outputs would be '1256' and '3478'
         respectively.

     -p
     --preserve-dates
         Set the access and modification dates of the output file
         to be the same as those of the input file.

     -D
     --enable-deterministic-archives
         Operate in deterministic mode.  When copying archive

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         members and writing the archive index, use zero for
         UIDs, GIDs, timestamps, and use consistent file modes
         for all files.

         If binutils was configured with
         --enable-deterministic-archives, then this mode is on by
         default.  It can be disabled with the -U option, below.

     -U
     --disable-deterministic-archives
         Do not operate in deterministic mode.  This is the
         inverse of the -D option, above: when copying archive
         members and writing the archive index, use their actual
         UID, GID, timestamp, and file mode values.

         This is the default unless binutils was configured with
         --enable-deterministic-archives.

     --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.

     --change-start incr
     --adjust-start incr
         Change the start address by adding incr.  Not all object
         file formats support setting the start address.

     --change-addresses incr
     --adjust-vma incr
         Change the VMA and LMA addresses 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

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         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.

     --change-section-address sectionpattern{=,+,-}val
     --adjust-section-vma sectionpattern{=,+,-}val
         Set or change both the VMA address and the LMA address
         of any section matching sectionpattern.  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 --change-addresses, above. If
         sectionpattern does not match any sections in the input
         file, a warning will be issued, unless
         --no-change-warnings is used.

     --change-section-lma sectionpattern{=,+,-}val
         Set or change the LMA address of any sections matching
         sectionpattern.  The LMA address is the address where
         the section will be loaded into memory at program load
         time.  Normally this is the same as the VMA address,
         which is the address of the section at program run time,
         but on some systems, especially those where a program is
         held in ROM, the two can be different.  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 --change-addresses, above.  If
         sectionpattern does not match any sections in the input
         file, a warning will be issued, unless
         --no-change-warnings is used.

     --change-section-vma sectionpattern{=,+,-}val
         Set or change the VMA address of any section matching
         sectionpattern.  The VMA address is the address where
         the section will be located once the program has started
         executing.  Normally this is the same as the LMA
         address, which is the address where the section will be
         loaded into memory, but on some systems, especially
         those where a program is held in ROM, the two can be
         different.  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
         --change-addresses, above.  If sectionpattern does not
         match any sections in the input file, a warning will be
         issued, unless --no-change-warnings is used.

     --change-warnings
     --adjust-warnings
         If --change-section-address or --change-section-lma or
         --change-section-vma is used, and the section pattern
         does not match any sections, issue a warning.  This is
         the default.

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     --no-change-warnings
     --no-adjust-warnings
         Do not issue a warning if --change-section-address or
         --adjust-section-lma or --adjust-section-vma is used,
         even if the section pattern does not match any sections.

     --set-section-flags sectionpattern=flags
         Set the flags for any sections matching sectionpattern.
         The flags argument is a comma separated string of flag
         names.  The recognized names are alloc, contents, load,
         noload, readonly, code, data, rom, share, and debug.
         You can set the contents flag for a section which does
         not have contents, but it is not meaningful to clear the
         contents flag of a section which does have contents--
         just remove the section instead.  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.
         Note - it may be necessary to use the
         --set-section-flags option to set the attributes of the
         newly created section.

     --dump-section sectionname=filename
         Place the contents of section named sectionname into the
         file filename, overwriting any contents that may have
         been there previously.  This option is the inverse of
         --add-section.  This option is similar to the
         --only-section option except that it does not create a
         formatted file, it just dumps the contents as raw binary
         data, without applying any relocations.  The option can
         be specified more than once.

     --update-section sectionname=filename
         Replace the existing contents of a section named
         sectionname with the contents of file filename.  The
         size of the section will be adjusted to the size of the
         file.  The section flags for sectionname will be
         unchanged.  For ELF format files the section to segment
         mapping will also remain unchanged, something which is
         not possible using --remove-section followed by
         --add-section.  The option can be specified more than
         once.

         Note - it is possible to use --rename-section and
         --update-section to both update and rename a section
         from one command line.  In this case, pass the original
         section name to --update-section, and the original and

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         new section names to --rename-section.

     --add-symbol name=[section:]value[,flags]
         Add a new symbol named name while copying the file.
         This option may be specified multiple times.  If the
         section is given, the symbol will be associated with and
         relative to that section, otherwise it will be an ABS
         symbol.  Specifying an undefined section will result in
         a fatal error.  There is no check for the value, it will
         be taken as specified.  Symbol flags can be specified
         and not all flags will be meaningful for all object file
         formats.  By default, the symbol will be global.  The
         special flag 'before=othersym' will insert the new
         symbol in front of the specified othersym, otherwise the
         symbol(s) will be added at the end of the symbol table
         in the order they appear.

     --rename-section oldname=newname[,flags]
         Rename a section from oldname to newname, optionally
         changing the section's flags to flags in the process.
         This has the advantage over using a linker script to
         perform the rename in that the output stays as an object
         file and does not become a linked executable.

         This option is particularly helpful when the input
         format is binary, since this will always create a
         section called .data.  If for example, you wanted
         instead to create a section called .rodata containing
         binary data you could use the following command line to
         achieve it:

                   objcopy -I binary -O <output_format> -B <architecture> \
                    --rename-section .data=.rodata,alloc,load,readonly,data,contents \
                    <input_binary_file> <output_object_file>

     --long-section-names {enable,disable,keep}
         Controls the handling of long section names when
         processing "COFF" and "PE-COFF" object formats.  The
         default behaviour, keep, is to preserve long section
         names if any are present in the input file.  The enable
         and disable options forcibly enable or disable the use
         of long section names in the output object; when disable
         is in effect, any long section names in the input object
         will be truncated.  The enable option will only emit
         long section names if any are present in the inputs;
         this is mostly the same as keep, but it is left
         undefined whether the enable option might force the
         creation of an empty string table in the output file.

     --change-leading-char
         Some object file formats use special characters at the
         start of symbols.  The most common such character is

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         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 --change-leading-char
         because it always changes the symbol name when
         appropriate, regardless of the object file format of the
         output file.

     --reverse-bytes=num
         Reverse the bytes in a section with output contents.  A
         section length must be evenly divisible by the value
         given in order for the swap to be able to take place.
         Reversing takes place before the interleaving is
         performed.

         This option is used typically in generating ROM images
         for problematic target systems.  For example, on some
         target boards, the 32-bit words fetched from 8-bit ROMs
         are re-assembled in little-endian byte order regardless
         of the CPU byte order.  Depending on the programming
         model, the endianness of the ROM may need to be
         modified.

         Consider a simple file with a section containing the
         following eight bytes:  12345678.

         Using --reverse-bytes=2 for the above example, the bytes
         in the output file would be ordered 21436587.

         Using --reverse-bytes=4 for the above example, the bytes
         in the output file would be ordered 43218765.

         By using --reverse-bytes=2 for the above example,
         followed by --reverse-bytes=4 on the output file, the
         bytes in the second output file would be ordered
         34127856.

     --srec-len=ival
         Meaningful only for srec output.  Set the maximum length

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         of the Srecords being produced to ival.  This length
         covers both address, data and crc fields.

     --srec-forceS3
         Meaningful only for srec output.  Avoid generation of
         S1/S2 records, creating S3-only record format.

     --redefine-sym old=new
         Change the name of a symbol old, to new.  This can be
         useful when one is trying link two things together for
         which you have no source, and there are name collisions.

     --redefine-syms=filename
         Apply --redefine-sym to each symbol pair "old new"
         listed in the file filename.  filename is simply a flat
         file, with one symbol pair per line.  Line comments may
         be introduced by the hash character.  This option may be
         given more than once.

     --weaken
         Change all global symbols in the file to be weak.  This
         can be useful when building an object which will be
         linked against other objects using the -R option to the
         linker.  This option is only effective when using an
         object file format which supports weak symbols.

     --keep-symbols=filename
         Apply --keep-symbol option to each symbol listed in the
         file filename.  filename is simply a flat file, with one
         symbol name per line.  Line comments may be introduced
         by the hash character.  This option may be given more
         than once.

     --strip-symbols=filename
         Apply --strip-symbol option to each symbol listed in the
         file filename.  filename is simply a flat file, with one
         symbol name per line.  Line comments may be introduced
         by the hash character.  This option may be given more
         than once.

     --strip-unneeded-symbols=filename
         Apply --strip-unneeded-symbol option to each symbol
         listed in the file filename.  filename is simply a flat
         file, with one symbol name per line.  Line comments may
         be introduced by the hash character.  This option may be
         given more than once.

     --keep-global-symbols=filename
         Apply --keep-global-symbol option to each symbol listed
         in the file filename.  filename is simply a flat file,
         with one symbol name per line.  Line comments may be
         introduced by the hash character.  This option may be

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         given more than once.

     --localize-symbols=filename
         Apply --localize-symbol option to each symbol listed in
         the file filename.  filename is simply a flat file, with
         one symbol name per line.  Line comments may be
         introduced by the hash character.  This option may be
         given more than once.

     --globalize-symbols=filename
         Apply --globalize-symbol option to each symbol listed in
         the file filename.  filename is simply a flat file, with
         one symbol name per line.  Line comments may be
         introduced by the hash character.  This option may be
         given more than once.

     --weaken-symbols=filename
         Apply --weaken-symbol option to each symbol listed in
         the file filename.  filename is simply a flat file, with
         one symbol name per line.  Line comments may be
         introduced by the hash character.  This option may be
         given more than once.

     --alt-machine-code=index
         If the output architecture has alternate machine codes,
         use the indexth code instead of the default one.  This
         is useful in case a machine is assigned an official code
         and the tool-chain adopts the new code, but other
         applications still depend on the original code being
         used.  For ELF based architectures if the index
         alternative does not exist then the value is treated as
         an absolute number to be stored in the e_machine field
         of the ELF header.

     --writable-text
         Mark the output text as writable.  This option isn't
         meaningful for all object file formats.

     --readonly-text
         Make the output text write protected.  This option isn't
         meaningful for all object file formats.

     --pure
         Mark the output file as demand paged.  This option isn't
         meaningful for all object file formats.

     --impure
         Mark the output file as impure.  This option isn't
         meaningful for all object file formats.

     --prefix-symbols=string
         Prefix all symbols in the output file with string.

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     --prefix-sections=string
         Prefix all section names in the output file with string.

     --prefix-alloc-sections=string
         Prefix all the names of all allocated sections in the
         output file with string.

     --add-gnu-debuglink=path-to-file
         Creates a .gnu_debuglink section which contains a
         reference to path-to-file and adds it to the output
         file.  Note: the file at path-to-file must exist.  Part
         of the process of adding the .gnu_debuglink section
         involves embedding a checksum of the contents of the
         debug info file into the section.

         If the debug info file is built in one location but it
         is going to be installed at a later time into a
         different location then do not use the path to the
         installed location.  The --add-gnu-debuglink option will
         fail because the installed file does not exist yet.
         Instead put the debug info file in the current directory
         and use the --add-gnu-debuglink option without any
         directory components, like this:

                  objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.debug

         At debug time the debugger will attempt to look for the
         separate debug info file in a set of known locations.
         The exact set of these locations varies depending upon
         the distribution being used, but it typically includes:

         "* The same directory as the executable."
        executable"
         "* A sub-directory of the directory containing the
             called .debug

         "* A global debug directory such as /usr/lib/debug."

         As long as the debug info file has been installed into
         one of these locations before the debugger is run
         everything should work correctly.

     --keep-file-symbols
         When stripping a file, perhaps with --strip-debug or
         --strip-unneeded, retain any symbols specifying source
         file names, which would otherwise get stripped.

     --only-keep-debug
         Strip a file, removing contents of any sections that
         would not be stripped by --strip-debug and leaving the
         debugging sections intact.  In ELF files, this preserves
         all note sections in the output.

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         Note - the section headers of the stripped sections are
         preserved, including their sizes, but the contents of
         the section are discarded.  The section headers are
         preserved so that other tools can match up the debuginfo
         file with the real executable, even if that executable
         has been relocated to a different address space.

         The intention is that this option will be used in
         conjunction with --add-gnu-debuglink to create a two
         part executable.  One a stripped binary which will
         occupy less space in RAM and in a distribution and the
         second a debugging information file which is only needed
         if debugging abilities are required.  The suggested
         procedure to create these files is as follows:

        called>
         1.<Link the executable as normal.  Assuming that is is
             "foo" then...

         1.<Run "objcopy --only-keep-debug foo foo.dbg" to>
             create a file containing the debugging info.

         1.<Run "objcopy --strip-debug foo" to create a>
             stripped executable.

         1.<Run "objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.dbg foo">
             to add a link to the debugging info into the
             stripped executable.

         Note---the choice of ".dbg" as an extension for the
         debug info file is arbitrary.  Also the
         "--only-keep-debug" step is optional.  You could instead
         do this:

         1.<Link the executable as normal.>
         1.<Copy "foo" to  "foo.full">
         1.<Run "objcopy --strip-debug foo">
         1.<Run "objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=foo.full foo">

         i.e., the file pointed to by the --add-gnu-debuglink can
         be the full executable.  It does not have to be a file
         created by the --only-keep-debug switch.

         Note---this switch is only intended for use on fully
         linked files.  It does not make sense to use it on
         object files where the debugging information may be
         incomplete.  Besides the gnu_debuglink feature currently
         only supports the presence of one filename containing
         debugging information, not multiple filenames on a one-
         per-object-file basis.

     --strip-dwo

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         Remove the contents of all DWARF .dwo sections, leaving
         the remaining debugging sections and all symbols intact.
         This option is intended for use by the compiler as part
         of the -gsplit-dwarf option, which splits debug
         information between the .o file and a separate .dwo
         file.  The compiler generates all debug information in
         the same file, then uses the --extract-dwo option to
         copy the .dwo sections to the .dwo file, then the
         --strip-dwo option to remove those sections from the
         original .o file.

     --extract-dwo
         Extract the contents of all DWARF .dwo sections.  See
         the --strip-dwo option for more information.

     --file-alignment num
         Specify the file alignment.  Sections in the file will
         always begin at file offsets which are multiples of this
         number.  This defaults to 512.  [This option is specific
         to PE targets.]

     --heap reserve
     --heap reserve,commit
         Specify the number of bytes of memory to reserve (and
         optionally commit) to be used as heap for this program.
         [This option is specific to PE targets.]

     --image-base value
         Use value as the base address of your program or dll.
         This is the lowest memory location that will be used
         when your program or dll is loaded.  To reduce the need
         to relocate and improve performance of your dlls, each
         should have a unique base address and not overlap any
         other dlls.  The default is 0x400000 for executables,
         and 0x10000000 for dlls.  [This option is specific to PE
         targets.]

     --section-alignment num
         Sets the section alignment.  Sections in memory will
         always begin at addresses which are a multiple of this
         number.  Defaults to 0x1000.  [This option is specific
         to PE targets.]

     --stack reserve
     --stack reserve,commit
         Specify the number of bytes of memory to reserve (and
         optionally commit) to be used as stack for this program.
         [This option is specific to PE targets.]

     --subsystem which
     --subsystem which:major
     --subsystem which:major.minor

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         Specifies the subsystem under which your program will
         execute.  The legal values for which are "native",
         "windows", "console", "posix", "efi-app", "efi-bsd",
         "efi-rtd", "sal-rtd", and "xbox".  You may optionally
         set the subsystem version also.  Numeric values are also
         accepted for which.  [This option is specific to PE
         targets.]

     --extract-symbol
         Keep the file's section flags and symbols but remove all
         section data.  Specifically, the option:

         *<removes the contents of all sections;>
         *<sets the size of every section to zero; and>
         *<sets the file's start address to zero.>

         This option is used to build a .sym file for a VxWorks
         kernel.  It can also be a useful way of reducing the
         size of a --just-symbols linker input file.

     --compress-debug-sections
         Compress DWARF debug sections using zlib with
         SHF_COMPRESSED from the ELF ABI.  Note - if compression
         would actually make a section larger, then it is not
         compressed.

     --compress-debug-sections=none
     --compress-debug-sections=zlib
     --compress-debug-sections=zlib-gnu
     --compress-debug-sections=zlib-gabi
         For ELF files, these options control how DWARF debug
         sections are compressed.  --compress-debug-sections=none
         is equivalent to --decompress-debug-sections.
         --compress-debug-sections=zlib and
         --compress-debug-sections=zlib-gabi are equivalent to
         --compress-debug-sections.
         --compress-debug-sections=zlib-gnu compresses DWARF
         debug sections using zlib.  The debug sections are
         renamed to begin with .zdebug instead of .debug.  Note -
         if compression would actually make a section larger,
         then it is not compressed nor renamed.

     --decompress-debug-sections
         Decompress DWARF debug sections using zlib.  The
         original section names of the compressed sections are
         restored.

     --elf-stt-common=yes
     --elf-stt-common=no
         For ELF files, these options control whether common
         symbols should be converted to the "STT_COMMON" or
         "STT_OBJECT" type.  --elf-stt-common=yes converts common

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         symbol type to "STT_COMMON". --elf-stt-common=no
         converts common symbol type to "STT_OBJECT".

     --merge-notes
     --no-merge-notes
         For ELF files, attempt (or do not attempt) to reduce the
         size of any SHT_NOTE type sections by removing duplicate
         notes.

     -V
     --version
         Show the version number of objcopy.

     -v
     --verbose
         Verbose output: list all object files modified.  In the
         case of archives, objcopy -V lists all members of the
         archive.

     --help
         Show a summary of the options to objcopy.

     --info
         Display a list showing all architectures and object
         formats available.

     @file
         Read command-line options from file.  The options read
         are inserted in place of the original @file option.  If
         file does not exist, or cannot be read, then the option
         will be treated literally, and not removed.

         Options in file are separated by whitespace.  A
         whitespace character may be included in an option by
         surrounding the entire option in either single or double
         quotes.  Any character (including a backslash) may be
         included by prefixing the character to be included with
         a backslash.  The file may itself contain additional
         @file options; any such options will be processed
         recursively.


SEE ALSO

     ld(1), objdump(1), and the Info entries for binutils.


COPYRIGHT

     Copyright (c) 1991-2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

     Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
     document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation
     License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the
     Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with
     no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts.  A copy

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     of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free
     Documentation License".

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