Initial revision

24 files changed, 2120 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/bfd/doc/Makefile b/bfd/doc/Makefile
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..3cb3f47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+.SUFFIXES: .texi .o .c .h .p .ip
+VPATH=..
+.c.texi:
+	scanit $< $@
+
+.h.texi:
+	scanit $< $@
+
+.c.p:
+	scanph $< $@
+
+.h.p:
+	scanph $< $@
+
+.c.ip:
+	scanph -i $< $@
+
+
+DOCFILES = syms.texi  bfd.texi  cache.texi \
+	 format.texi  section.texi  archive.texi \
+	 core.texi  libbfd.texi  archures.texi \
+	 reloc.texi  opncls.texi  targets.texi \
+	 aoutx.texi  coffcode.texi cache.texi
+
+PROTOS = opncls.p archures.p libbfd.p \
+	section.p syms.p bfd.p \
+	archive.p reloc.p targets.p \
+	format.p coffcode.p core.p
+
+IPROTOS = cache.ip libbfd.ip reloc.ip
+
+docs: $(DOCFILES)
+
+protos: $(PROTOS) $(IPROTOS)
+	sed -f intobfd bfd-in.h  > bfd.h
+	sed -f tolibbfd libbfd-in.h  > libbfd.h
+	sed -f tolibcoff libcoff-in.h  > libcoff.h
+
+
+
+clean:
+	rm -f $(PROTOS) *.p *.ip *.h bfd.?? $(DOCFILES) bfd.dvi bfd.ps *~* *# bfd.??? 
+
+bfd.info: $(DOCFILES) bfd.texinfo
+	makeinfo +no-validate bfd.texinfo
+
+bfd.dvi: $(DOCFILES) bfd.texinfo
+	tex bfd.texinfo
+	texindex bfd.??
+	tex bfd.texinfo
+
+bfd.ps: bfd.dvi
+	dvips bfd -o
+	
+quickdoc: $(DSRC) docs
+	tex bfd.texinfo
diff --git a/bfd/doc/awkscan b/bfd/doc/awkscan
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..69b0cea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/awkscan
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# NOTE: BEGIN pattern gives errors if other than 1st line; 
+# END ditto if other than last.
+BEGIN { print "@c ------------------------------START TEXT FROM " FILENAME }
+#
+# Keep /*doc* blocks (terminated by either */ or *-*/)
+/^\/\*doc\*/,/^\*\/|^\*-\*\//
+#
+# Also keep two kinds of /*proto blocks
+/^\/\*proto\*/,/^\*\/|^\*-\*\//
+/^\/\*proto-internal\*/,/^\*\/|^\*-\*\//
+#
+END { print "@c ------------------------------END TEXT FROM " FILENAME }
diff --git a/bfd/doc/awkscan-ip b/bfd/doc/awkscan-ip
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..73bd61f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/awkscan-ip
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# Awk filter, 1st filter for BFD internal prototype file extraction
+#
+# keep /*proto-internal blocks
+/^\/\*proto-internal\*/,/^\*\/|^\*-\*\//
+#
+# Apparent bug in sed can discard last line in some situations; therefore
+# make last line harmless.
+END { print "\n" }
diff --git a/bfd/doc/awkscan-p b/bfd/doc/awkscan-p
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..c7fe79f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/awkscan-p
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# Awk filter, 1st filter for BFD prototype file extraction
+#
+# keep /*proto blocks
+/^\/\*proto\*/,/^\*\/|^\*-\*\//
+#
+# Apparent bug in sed can discard last line in some situations; therefore
+# make last line harmless.
+END { print "\n" }
diff --git a/bfd/doc/bfd.texinfo b/bfd/doc/bfd.texinfo
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d8ce6f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/bfd.texinfo
@@ -0,0 +1,430 @@
+\input texinfo
+@setfilename bfdinfo
+@c $Id$
+@synindex ky cp
+@ifinfo
+This file documents the BFD library.
+
+Copyright (C) 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
+this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
+are preserved on all copies.
+
+@ignore
+Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
+results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
+notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
+(this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
+
+@end ignore
+Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
+manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, subject to the terms
+of the GNU General Public License, which includes the provision that the
+entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
+permission notice identical to this one.
+
+Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
+into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
+@end ifinfo
+@iftex
+@c@finalout
+@setchapternewpage on
+@c@setchapternewpage odd
+@settitle LIB BFD, the Binary File Descriptor Library
+@titlepage
+@title{libbfd}
+@subtitle{The Binary File Descriptor Library}
+@sp 1
+@subtitle First Edition---BFD version < 2.0
+@subtitle April 1991
+@author {Steve Chamberlain}
+@author {Cygnus Support}
+@page
+
+@tex
+\def\$#1${{#1}}  % Kluge: collect RCS revision info without $...$
+\xdef\manvers{\$Revision$}  % For use in headers, footers too
+{\parskip=0pt
+\hfill Cygnus Support\par
+\hfill steve\@cygnus.com\par
+\hfill {\it BFD}, \manvers\par
+\hfill \TeX{}info \texinfoversion\par
+}
+\global\parindent=0pt % Steve likes it this way
+@end tex
+
+@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
+Copyright @copyright{} 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
+this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
+are preserved on all copies.
+
+Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
+manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, subject to the terms
+of the GNU General Public License, which includes the provision that the
+entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
+permission notice identical to this one.
+
+Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
+into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
+@end titlepage
+@end iftex
+
+@node Top, Overview, (dir), (dir)
+@ifinfo
+This file documents the binary file descriptor library libbfd.
+@end ifinfo
+
+@menu
+* Overview::			Overview of BFD
+* History::			History of BFD
+* Backends::			Backends
+* Porting::			Porting
+* Future::			Future
+* Index::			Index
+
+BFD body:
+* Memory usage::
+* Sections::
+* Symbols::
+* Archives::
+* Formats::
+* Relocations::
+* Core Files::
+* Targets::
+* Architecturs::
+* Opening and Closing::
+* Internal::
+* File Caching::
+
+BFD backends:
+* a.out backends::
+* coff backends::
+@end menu
+
+@node Overview, History, Top, Top
+@chapter Introduction
+@cindex BFD
+@cindex what is it?
+Simply put, BFD is a package which allows applications to use the
+same routines to operate on object files whatever the object file
+format.  A different object file format can be supported simply by
+creating a new BFD back end and adding it to the library.
+
+BFD is split into two parts; the front end and the many back ends.
+@itemize @bullet
+@item The front end of BFD provides the interface to the user. It manages
+memory, and various canonical data structures. The front end also
+decides which back end to use, and when to call back end routines.
+@item The back ends provide BFD its view of the real world. Each back
+end provides a set of calls which the BFD front end can use to maintain
+its canonical form. The back ends also may keep around information for
+their own use, for greater efficiency.
+@end itemize
+@node History, How It Works, Overview,Top
+@section History
+
+One spur behind BFD was the desire, on the part of the GNU 960 team at
+Intel Oregon, for interoperability of applications on their COFF and
+b.out file formats.  Cygnus was providing GNU support for the team, and
+Cygnus was contracted to provide the required functionality.
+
+The name came from a conversation David Wallace was having with Richard
+Stallman about the library: RMS said that it would be quite hard---David
+said ``BFD''.  Stallman was right, but the name stuck.
+
+At the same time, Ready Systems wanted much the same thing, but for
+different object file formats: IEEE-695, Oasys, Srecords, a.out and 68k
+coff.
+
+BFD was first implemented by Steve Chamberlain (steve@@cygnus.com),
+John Gilmore (gnu@@cygnus.com),  K. Richard Pixley (rich@@cygnus.com) and
+David Wallace (gumby@@cygnus.com) at Cygnus Support in Palo Alto,
+California.
+
+@node How It Works, History, Porting, Top
+@section How It Works
+
+To use the library, include @code{bfd.h} and link with @code{libbfd.a}.	
+
+BFD provides a common interface to the parts of an object file
+for a calling application. 
+
+When an application sucessfully opens a target file (object, archive or
+whatever) a pointer to an internal structure is returned. This pointer
+points to a structure called @code{bfd}, described in
+@code{include/bfd.h}.  Our convention is to call this pointer a BFD, and
+instances of it within code @code{abfd}.  All operations on
+the target object file are applied as methods to the BFD.  The mapping is
+defined within @code{bfd.h} in a set of macros, all beginning
+@samp{bfd}_.
+
+For example, this sequence would do what you would probably expect:
+return the number of sections in an object file attached to a BFD
+@code{abfd}. 
+
+@lisp
+@cartouche
+#include "bfd.h"
+
+unsigned int number_of_sections(abfd)
+bfd *abfd;
+@{
+  return bfd_count_sections(abfd);
+@}
+@end cartouche
+@end lisp
+
+The abstraction used within BFD is that an object file has a header,
+a number of sections containing raw data, a set of relocations, and some
+symbol information. Also, BFDs opened for archives have the
+additional attribute of an index and contain subordinate BFDs. This approach is
+fine for a.out and coff, but loses efficiency when applied to formats
+such as S-records and IEEE-695. 
+
+@section What BFD Version 1 Can Do
+As different information from the the object files is required,
+BFD reads from different sections of the file and processes them.
+For example a very common operation for the linker is processing symbol
+tables.  Each BFD back end provides a routine for converting
+between the object file's representation of symbols and an internal
+canonical format. When the linker asks for the symbol table of an object
+file, it calls through the memory pointer to the relevant BFD
+back end routine which reads and converts the table into a canonical
+form.  The linker then operates upon the canonical form. When the link is
+finished and the linker writes the output file's symbol table,
+another BFD back end routine is called which takes the newly
+created symbol table and converts it into the chosen output format.
+
+@node BFD information loss, Mechanism, BFD outline, BFD
+@subsection Information Loss
+@emph{Some information is lost due to the nature of the file format.} The output targets
+supported by BFD do not provide identical facilities, and
+information which may be described in one form has nowhere to go in
+another format. One example of this is alignment information in
+@code{b.out}. There is nowhere in an @code{a.out} format file to store
+alignment information on the contained data, so when a file is linked
+from @code{b.out} and an @code{a.out} image is produced, alignment
+information will not propagate to the output file. (The linker will
+still use the alignment information internally, so the link is performed
+correctly).
+
+Another example is COFF section names. COFF files may contain an
+unlimited number of sections, each one with a textual section name. If
+the target of the link is a format which does not have many sections (eg
+@code{a.out}) or has sections without names (eg the Oasys format) the
+link cannot be done simply. You can circumvent this problem by
+describing the desired input-to-output section mapping with the linker command
+language.
+
+@emph{Information can be lost during canonicalization.} The BFD
+internal canonical form of the external formats is not exhaustive; there
+are structures in input formats for which there is no direct
+representation internally.  This means that the BFD back ends
+cannot maintain all possible data richness through the transformation
+between external to internal and back to external formats.
+
+This limitation is only a problem when an application reads one
+format and writes another.  Each BFD back end is responsible for
+maintaining as much data as possible, and the internal BFD
+canonical form has structures which are opaque to the BFD core,
+and exported only to the back ends. When a file is read in one format,
+the canonical form is generated for BFD and the application. At the
+same time, the back end saves away any information which may otherwise
+be lost. If the data is then written back in the same format, the back
+end routine will be able to use the canonical form provided by the
+BFD core as well as the information it prepared earlier.  Since
+there is a great deal of commonality between back ends, this mechanism
+is very useful. There is no information lost for this reason when
+linking or copying big endian COFF to little endian COFF, or @code{a.out} to
+@code{b.out}.  When a mixture of formats is linked, the information is
+only lost from the files whose format differs from the destination.
+
+@node Mechanism,  , BFD information loss, BFD
+@subsection Mechanism 
+The greatest potential for loss of information is when there is least
+overlap between the information provided by the source format, that
+stored by the canonical format, and the information needed by the
+destination format. A brief description of the canonical form may help
+you appreciate what kinds of data you can count on preserving across
+conversions.
+@cindex BFD canonical format
+@cindex internal object-file format
+
+@table @emph
+@item files
+Information on target machine architecture, particular implementation
+and format type are stored on a per-file basis. Other information
+includes a demand pageable bit and a write protected bit.  Note that
+information like Unix magic numbers is not stored here---only the magic
+numbers' meaning, so a @code{ZMAGIC} file would have both the demand
+pageable bit and the write protected text bit set.  The byte order of
+the target is stored on a per-file basis, so that big- and little-endian
+object files may be linked with one another.
+@c FIXME: generalize above from "link"?
+
+@item sections
+Each section in the input file contains the name of the section, the
+original address in the object file, various flags, size and alignment
+information and pointers into other BFD data structures.
+
+@item symbols
+Each symbol contains a pointer to the object file which originally
+defined it, its name, its value, and various flag bits.  When a
+BFD back end reads in a symbol table, the back end relocates all
+symbols to make them relative to the base of the section where they were
+defined.  This ensures that each symbol points to its containing
+section.  Each symbol also has a varying amount of hidden data to contain
+private data for the BFD back end.  Since the symbol points to the
+original file, the private data format for that symbol is accessible.
+@code{gld} can operate on a collection of symbols of wildly different
+formats without problems.
+
+Normal global and simple local symbols are maintained on output, so an
+output file (no matter its format) will retain symbols pointing to
+functions and to global, static, and common variables.  Some symbol
+information is not worth retaining; in @code{a.out} type information is
+stored in the symbol table as long symbol names.  This information would
+be useless to most COFF debuggers; the linker has command line switches
+to allow users to throw it away.
+
+There is one word of type information within the symbol, so if the
+format supports symbol type information within symbols (for example COFF,
+IEEE, Oasys) and the type is simple enough to fit within one word
+(nearly everything but aggregates) the information will be preserved.
+
+@item relocation level
+Each canonical BFD relocation record contains a pointer to the symbol to
+relocate to, the offset of the data to relocate, the section the data
+is in and a pointer to a relocation type descriptor. Relocation is
+performed effectively by message passing through the relocation type
+descriptor and symbol pointer. It allows relocations to be performed
+on output data using a relocation method only available in one of the
+input formats. For instance, Oasys provides a byte relocation format.
+A relocation record requesting this relocation type would point
+indirectly to a routine to perform this, so the relocation may be
+performed on a byte being written to a COFF file, even though 68k COFF
+has no such relocation type.
+
+@item line numbers
+Object formats can contain, for debugging purposes, some form of mapping
+between symbols, source line numbers, and addresses in the output file.
+These addresses have to be relocated along with the symbol information.
+Each symbol with an associated list of line number records points to the
+first record of the list.  The head of a line number list consists of a
+pointer to the symbol, which allows divination of the address of the
+function whose line number is being described. The rest of the list is
+made up of pairs: offsets into the section and line numbers. Any format
+which can simply derive this information can pass it successfully
+between formats (COFF, IEEE and Oasys).
+@end table
+
+@c FIXME: what is this line about?  Do we want introductory remarks 
+@c FIXME... on back ends?  commented out for now.
+@c What is a backend
+@node BFD front end, BFD back end, Mechanism, Top
+@chapter BFD front end
+@include  bfd.texi
+
+@node Memory Usage, Sections, bfd, Top
+@section Memory Usage
+BFD keeps all its internal structures in obstacks. There is one obstack
+per open BFD file, into which the current state is stored. When a BFD is
+closed, the obstack is deleted, and so everything which has been
+allocated by libbfd for the closing file will be thrown away.
+
+BFD will not free anything created by an application, but pointers into
+@code{bfd} structures will be invalidated on a @code{bfd_close}; for example,
+after a @code{bfd_close} the vector passed to
+@code{bfd_canonicalize_symtab} will still be around, since it has been
+allocated by the application, but the data that it pointed to will be
+lost.
+
+The general rule is not to close a BFD until all operations dependent
+upon data from the BFD have been completed, or all the data from within
+the file has been copied. To help with the management of memory, there is a function
+(@code{bfd_alloc_size}) which returns the number of bytes in obstacks
+associated with the supplied BFD. This could be used to select the
+greediest open BFD, close it to reclaim the memory, perform some
+operation and reopen the BFD again, to get a fresh copy of the data structures.
+
+@node Sections,Symbols ,Memory Usage, Top
+@include  section.texi
+
+@node Symbols, Archives ,Sections, To
+@include  syms.texi
+
+@node Archives, Formats, Symbols, Top
+@include  archive.texi
+
+@node Formats, Relocations, Archives, Top
+@include  format.texi
+
+@node Relocations, Core Files,Formats, Top
+@include  reloc.texi
+
+@node Core Files, Targets,  Relocations, Top
+@include  core.texi
+
+@node Targets, Architectures, Core Files, Top
+@include  targets.texi
+
+@node Architectures, Opening and Closing, Targets, Top
+@include  archures.texi
+
+@node Opening and Closing, Internal, Architectures, Top
+@include  opncls.texi
+
+@node Internal, File Caching, Opening and Closing, Top
+@include  libbfd.texi
+
+@node File Caching, Top, Internal, Top
+@include  cache.texi
+
+@chapter BFD back end
+@node BFD back end, ,BFD front end, Top
+@menu
+* What to put where
+* a.out backends::
+* coff backends::
+* oasys backend::
+* ieee backend::
+* srecord backend::
+@end menu
+@node What to Put Where, aout backends, BFD back end, BFD back end
+All of BFD lives in one directory.
+
+@node aout backends, coff backends, What to Put Where, BFD back end
+@include  aoutx.texi
+
+@node coff backends, oasys backends, aout backends, BFD back end
+@include  coffcode.texi
+
+@node Index,  , BFD, Top
+@unnumbered Function Index
+@printindex  fn
+@unnumbered Index
+@printindex cp
+
+@tex
+% I think something like @colophon should be in texinfo.  In the
+% meantime:
+\long\def\colophon{\hbox to0pt{}\vfill
+\centerline{The body of this manual is set in}
+\centerline{\fontname\tenrm,}
+\centerline{with headings in {\bf\fontname\tenbf}}
+\centerline{and examples in {\tt\fontname\tentt}.}
+\centerline{{\it\fontname\tenit\/} and}
+\centerline{{\sl\fontname\tensl\/}}
+\centerline{are used for emphasis.}\vfill}
+\page\colophon
+% Blame: pesch@cygnus.com, 28mar91.
+@end tex
+
+
+@contents
+@bye
+
+
diff --git a/bfd/doc/bfdinfo b/bfd/doc/bfdinfo
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..5bb06ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/bfdinfo
@@ -0,0 +1,1281 @@
+Info file bfdinfo, produced by Makeinfo, -*- Text -*- from input file
+bfd.texinfo.
+
+   This file documents the BFD library.
+
+   Copyright (C) 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+   Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
+this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
+are preserved on all copies.
+
+   Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
+this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, subject to the
+terms of the GNU General Public License, which includes the provision
+that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms
+of a permission notice identical to this one.
+
+   Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
+manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
+versions.
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: Top,  Next: Overview,  Prev: (dir),  Up: (dir)
+
+   This file documents the binary file descriptor library libbfd.
+
+* Menu:
+
+* Overview::			Overview of BFD
+* History::			History of BFD
+* Backends::			Backends
+* Porting::			Porting
+* Future::			Future
+* Index::			Index
+
+BFD body:
+* Memory usage::
+* Sections::
+* Symbols::
+* Archives::
+* Formats::
+* Relocations::
+* Core Files::
+* Targets::
+* Architecturs::
+* Opening and Closing::
+* Internal::
+* File Caching::
+
+BFD backends:
+* a.out backends::
+* coff backends::
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: Overview,  Next: History,  Prev: Top,  Up: Top
+
+Introduction
+************
+
+   Simply put, BFD is a package which allows applications to use the
+same routines to operate on object files whatever the object file
+format.  A different object file format can be supported simply by
+creating a new BFD back end and adding it to the library.
+
+   BFD is split into two parts; the front end and the many back ends.
+
+   * memory, and various canonical data structures. The front end also
+     decides which back end to use, and when to call back end routines.
+
+   * end provides a set of calls which the BFD front end can use to
+     maintain its canonical form. The back ends also may keep around
+     information for their own use, for greater efficiency.
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: History,  Next: How It Works,  Prev: Overview,  Up: Top
+
+History
+=======
+
+   One spur behind BFD was the desire, on the part of the GNU 960 team
+at Intel Oregon, for interoperability of applications on their COFF and
+b.out file formats.  Cygnus was providing GNU support for the team, and
+Cygnus was contracted to provide the required functionality.
+
+   The name came from a conversation David Wallace was having with
+Richard Stallman about the library: RMS said that it would be quite
+hard--David said "BFD".  Stallman was right, but the name stuck.
+
+   At the same time, Ready Systems wanted much the same thing, but for
+different object file formats: IEEE-695, Oasys, Srecords, a.out and 68k
+coff.
+
+   BFD was first implemented by Steve Chamberlain (steve@cygnus.com),
+John Gilmore (gnu@cygnus.com),  K. Richard Pixley (rich@cygnus.com) and
+David Wallace (gumby@cygnus.com) at Cygnus Support in Palo Alto,
+California.
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: How It Works,  Next: History,  Prev: Porting,  Up: Top
+
+How It Works
+============
+
+   To use the library, include `bfd.h' and link with `libbfd.a'.	
+
+   BFD provides a common interface to the parts of an object file for
+a calling application.
+
+   When an application sucessfully opens a target file (object,
+archive or whatever) a pointer to an internal structure is returned.
+This pointer points to a structure called `bfd', described in
+`include/bfd.h'.  Our convention is to call this pointer a BFD, and
+instances of it within code `abfd'.  All operations on the target
+object file are applied as methods to the BFD.  The mapping is defined
+within `bfd.h' in a set of macros, all beginning `bfd'_.
+
+   For example, this sequence would do what you would probably expect:
+return the number of sections in an object file attached to a BFD
+`abfd'.
+
+
+     #include "bfd.h"
+     
+     unsigned int number_of_sections(abfd)
+     bfd *abfd;
+     {
+       return bfd_count_sections(abfd);
+     }
+
+   lisp
+
+   The abstraction used within BFD is that an object file has a header,
+a number of sections containing raw data, a set of relocations, and
+some symbol information. Also, BFDs opened for archives have the
+additional attribute of an index and contain subordinate BFDs. This
+approach is fine for a.out and coff, but loses efficiency when applied
+to formats such as S-records and IEEE-695.
+
+What BFD Version 1 Can Do
+=========================
+
+   As different information from the the object files is required, BFD
+reads from different sections of the file and processes them.  For
+example a very common operation for the linker is processing symbol
+tables.  Each BFD back end provides a routine for converting between
+the object file's representation of symbols and an internal canonical
+format. When the linker asks for the symbol table of an object file,
+it calls through the memory pointer to the relevant BFD back end
+routine which reads and converts the table into a canonical form.  The
+linker then operates upon the canonical form. When the link is
+finished and the linker writes the output file's symbol table, another
+BFD back end routine is called which takes the newly created symbol
+table and converts it into the chosen output format.
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: BFD information loss,  Next: Mechanism,  Prev: BFD outline,  Up: BFD
+
+Information Loss
+----------------
+
+   *Some information is lost due to the nature of the file format.*
+The output targets supported by BFD do not provide identical
+facilities, and information which may be described in one form has
+nowhere to go in another format. One example of this is alignment
+information in `b.out'. There is nowhere in an `a.out' format file to
+store alignment information on the contained data, so when a file is
+linked from `b.out' and an `a.out' image is produced, alignment
+information will not propagate to the output file. (The linker will
+still use the alignment information internally, so the link is
+performed correctly).
+
+   Another example is COFF section names. COFF files may contain an
+unlimited number of sections, each one with a textual section name. If
+the target of the link is a format which does not have many sections
+(eg `a.out') or has sections without names (eg the Oasys format) the
+link cannot be done simply. You can circumvent this problem by
+describing the desired input-to-output section mapping with the linker
+command language.
+
+   *Information can be lost during canonicalization.* The BFD internal
+canonical form of the external formats is not exhaustive; there are
+structures in input formats for which there is no direct
+representation internally.  This means that the BFD back ends cannot
+maintain all possible data richness through the transformation between
+external to internal and back to external formats.
+
+   This limitation is only a problem when an application reads one
+format and writes another.  Each BFD back end is responsible for
+maintaining as much data as possible, and the internal BFD canonical
+form has structures which are opaque to the BFD core, and exported
+only to the back ends. When a file is read in one format, the
+canonical form is generated for BFD and the application. At the same
+time, the back end saves away any information which may otherwise be
+lost. If the data is then written back in the same format, the back
+end routine will be able to use the canonical form provided by the BFD
+core as well as the information it prepared earlier.  Since there is a
+great deal of commonality between back ends, this mechanism is very
+useful. There is no information lost for this reason when linking or
+copying big endian COFF to little endian COFF, or `a.out' to `b.out'. 
+When a mixture of formats is linked, the information is only lost from
+the files whose format differs from the destination.
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: Mechanism,  Prev: BFD information loss,  Up: BFD
+
+Mechanism
+---------
+
+   The greatest potential for loss of information is when there is
+least overlap between the information provided by the source format,
+that stored by the canonical format, and the information needed by the
+destination format. A brief description of the canonical form may help
+you appreciate what kinds of data you can count on preserving across
+conversions.
+
+*files*
+     Information on target machine architecture, particular
+     implementation and format type are stored on a per-file basis.
+     Other information includes a demand pageable bit and a write
+     protected bit.  Note that information like Unix magic numbers is
+     not stored here--only the magic numbers' meaning, so a `ZMAGIC'
+     file would have both the demand pageable bit and the write
+     protected text bit set.  The byte order of the target is stored
+     on a per-file basis, so that big- and little-endian object files
+     may be linked with one another.
+
+*sections*
+     Each section in the input file contains the name of the section,
+     the original address in the object file, various flags, size and
+     alignment information and pointers into other BFD data structures.
+
+*symbols*
+     Each symbol contains a pointer to the object file which originally
+     defined it, its name, its value, and various flag bits.  When a
+     BFD back end reads in a symbol table, the back end relocates all
+     symbols to make them relative to the base of the section where
+     they were defined.  This ensures that each symbol points to its
+     containing section.  Each symbol also has a varying amount of
+     hidden data to contain private data for the BFD back end.  Since
+     the symbol points to the original file, the private data format
+     for that symbol is accessible.  `gld' can operate on a collection
+     of symbols of wildly different formats without problems.
+
+     Normal global and simple local symbols are maintained on output,
+     so an output file (no matter its format) will retain symbols
+     pointing to functions and to global, static, and common
+     variables.  Some symbol information is not worth retaining; in
+     `a.out' type information is stored in the symbol table as long
+     symbol names.  This information would be useless to most COFF
+     debuggers; the linker has command line switches to allow users to
+     throw it away.
+
+     There is one word of type information within the symbol, so if the
+     format supports symbol type information within symbols (for
+     example COFF, IEEE, Oasys) and the type is simple enough to fit
+     within one word (nearly everything but aggregates) the
+     information will be preserved.
+
+*relocation level*
+     Each canonical BFD relocation record contains a pointer to the
+     symbol to relocate to, the offset of the data to relocate, the
+     section the data is in and a pointer to a relocation type
+     descriptor. Relocation is performed effectively by message
+     passing through the relocation type descriptor and symbol
+     pointer. It allows relocations to be performed on output data
+     using a relocation method only available in one of the input
+     formats. For instance, Oasys provides a byte relocation format. 
+     A relocation record requesting this relocation type would point
+     indirectly to a routine to perform this, so the relocation may be
+     performed on a byte being written to a COFF file, even though 68k
+     COFF has no such relocation type.
+
+*line numbers*
+     Object formats can contain, for debugging purposes, some form of
+     mapping between symbols, source line numbers, and addresses in
+     the output file.  These addresses have to be relocated along with
+     the symbol information.  Each symbol with an associated list of
+     line number records points to the first record of the list.  The
+     head of a line number list consists of a pointer to the symbol,
+     which allows divination of the address of the function whose line
+     number is being described. The rest of the list is made up of
+     pairs: offsets into the section and line numbers. Any format
+     which can simply derive this information can pass it successfully
+     between formats (COFF, IEEE and Oasys).
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: BFD front end,  Next: BFD back end,  Prev: Mechanism,  Up: Top
+
+BFD front end
+*************
+
+typedef bfd
+===========
+
+   Pointers to bfd structs are the cornerstone of any application using
+`libbfd'. References though the BFD and to data in the BFD give the
+entire BFD functionality.
+
+   Here is the BFD struct itself.  This contains the major data about
+the file, and contains pointers to the rest of the data.
+
+     struct _bfd 
+     {
+
+   The filename the application opened the BFD with.
+
+       CONST char *filename;
+
+   A pointer to the target jump table.
+
+       struct bfd_target *xvec;
+
+   To avoid dragging too many header files into every file that
+includes `bfd.h', IOSTREAM has been declared as a "char *", and MTIME
+as a "long".  Their correct types, to which they are cast when used,
+are "FILE *" and "time_t".
+
+   The iostream is the result of an fopen on the filename.
+
+       char *iostream;
+
+   Is the file being cached *Note File Caching::.
+
+       boolean cacheable;
+
+   Marks whether there was a default target specified when the BFD was
+opened. This is used to select what matching algorithm to use to chose
+the back end.
+
+       boolean target_defaulted;
+
+   The caching routines use these to maintain a least-recently-used
+list of BFDs (*note File Caching::.).
+
+       struct _bfd *lru_prev, *lru_next;
+
+   When a file is closed by the caching routines, BFD retains state
+information on the file here:
+
+       file_ptr where;
+
+   and here:
+
+       boolean opened_once;
+
+       boolean mtime_set;
+
+   File modified time
+
+       long mtime;
+
+   Reserved for an unimplemented file locking extension.
+
+     int ifd;
+
+   The format which belongs to the BFD.
+
+       bfd_format format;
+
+   The direction the BFD was opened with
+
+       enum bfd_direction {no_direction = 0,
+                            read_direction = 1,
+                            write_direction = 2,
+                            both_direction = 3} direction;
+
+   Format_specific flags
+
+       flagword flags;
+
+   Currently my_archive is tested before adding origin to anything. I
+believe that this can become always an add of origin, with origin set
+to 0 for non archive files.
+
+       file_ptr origin;
+
+   Remember when output has begun, to stop strange things happening.
+
+       boolean output_has_begun;
+
+   Pointer to linked list of sections
+
+       struct sec  *sections;
+
+   The number of sections
+
+       unsigned int section_count;
+
+   Stuff only useful for object files: The start address.
+
+       bfd_vma start_address;
+
+   Used for input and output
+
+       unsigned int symcount;
+
+   Symbol table for output BFD
+
+       struct symbol_cache_entry  **outsymbols;
+
+   Architecture of object machine, eg m68k
+
+       enum bfd_architecture obj_arch;
+
+   Particular machine within arch, e.g. 68010
+
+       unsigned long obj_machine;
+
+   Stuff only useful for archives:
+
+       PTR arelt_data;              
+       struct _bfd *my_archive;     
+       struct _bfd *next;           
+       struct _bfd *archive_head;   
+       boolean has_armap;
+
+   Used by the back end to hold private data.
+
+       PTR tdata;
+
+   Used by the application to hold private data
+
+       PTR usrdata;
+
+   Where all the allocated stuff under this BFD goes (*note Memory
+Usage::.).
+
+       struct obstack memory;
+     };
+
+`bfd_set_start_address'
+.......................
+
+   Marks the entry point of an output BFD. Returns `true' on success,
+`false' otherwise.
+
+     boolean bfd_set_start_address(bfd *, bfd_vma);
+
+`bfd_get_mtime'
+...............
+
+   Return cached file modification time (e.g. as read from archive
+header for archive members, or from file system if we have been called
+before); else determine modify time, cache it, and return it.
+
+     long bfd_get_mtime(bfd *);
+
+`stuff'
+.......
+
+
+
+     #define bfd_sizeof_headers(abfd, reloc) \
+          BFD_SEND (abfd, _bfd_sizeof_headers, (abfd, reloc))
+     
+     #define bfd_find_nearest_line(abfd, section, symbols, offset, filename_ptr, func, line_ptr) \
+          BFD_SEND (abfd, _bfd_find_nearest_line,  (abfd, section, symbols, offset, filename_ptr, func, line_ptr))
+     
+     #define bfd_debug_info_start(abfd) \
+             BFD_SEND (abfd, _bfd_debug_info_start, (abfd))
+     
+     #define bfd_debug_info_end(abfd) \
+             BFD_SEND (abfd, _bfd_debug_info_end, (abfd))
+     
+     #define bfd_debug_info_accumulate(abfd, section) \
+             BFD_SEND (abfd, _bfd_debug_info_accumulate, (abfd, section))
+     
+     #define bfd_stat_arch_elt(abfd, stat) \
+             BFD_SEND (abfd, _bfd_stat_arch_elt,(abfd, stat))
+     
+     #define bfd_coff_swap_aux_in(a,e,t,c,i) \
+             BFD_SEND (a, _bfd_coff_swap_aux_in, (a,e,t,c,i))
+     
+     #define bfd_coff_swap_sym_in(a,e,i) \
+             BFD_SEND (a, _bfd_coff_swap_sym_in, (a,e,i))
+     
+     #define bfd_coff_swap_lineno_in(a,e,i) \
+             BFD_SEND ( a, _bfd_coff_swap_lineno_in, (a,e,i))
+
+   lisp
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: Memory Usage,  Next: Sections,  Prev: bfd,  Up: Top
+
+Memory Usage
+============
+
+   BFD keeps all its internal structures in obstacks. There is one
+obstack per open BFD file, into which the current state is stored.
+When a BFD is closed, the obstack is deleted, and so everything which
+has been allocated by libbfd for the closing file will be thrown away.
+
+   BFD will not free anything created by an application, but pointers
+into `bfd' structures will be invalidated on a `bfd_close'; for
+example, after a `bfd_close' the vector passed to
+`bfd_canonicalize_symtab' will still be around, since it has been
+allocated by the application, but the data that it pointed to will be
+lost.
+
+   The general rule is not to close a BFD until all operations
+dependent upon data from the BFD have been completed, or all the data
+from within the file has been copied. To help with the management of
+memory, there is a function (`bfd_alloc_size') which returns the
+number of bytes in obstacks associated with the supplied BFD. This
+could be used to select the greediest open BFD, close it to reclaim
+the memory, perform some operation and reopen the BFD again, to get a
+fresh copy of the data structures.
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: Sections,  Next: Symbols,  Prev: Memory Usage,  Up: Top
+
+Sections
+========
+
+   Sections are supported in BFD in `section.c'.
+
+   The raw data contained within a BFD is maintained through the
+section abstraction.  A single BFD may have any number of sections,
+and keeps hold of them by pointing to the first, each one points to
+the next in the list.
+
+* Menu:
+
+* Section Input::
+* Section Output::
+* typedef asection::
+* section prototypes::
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: Section Input,  Next: Section Output,  Up: Sections
+
+Section Input
+-------------
+
+   When a BFD is opened for reading, the section structures are created
+and attached to the BFD.
+
+   Each section has a name which describes the section in the outside
+world - for example, `a.out' would contain at least three sections,
+called `.text', `.data' and `.bss'.
+
+   Sometimes a BFD will contain more than the 'natural' number of
+sections. A back end may attach other sections containing constructor
+data, or an application may add a section (using bfd_make_section) to
+the sections attached to an already open BFD. For example, the linker
+creates a supernumary section `COMMON' for each input file's BFD to
+hold information about common storage.
+
+   The raw data is not necessarily read in at the same time as the
+section descriptor is created. Some targets may leave the data in
+place until a `bfd_get_section_contents' call is made. Other back ends
+may read in all the data at once - For example; an S-record file has
+to be read once to determine the size of the data. An IEEE-695 file
+doesn't contain raw data in sections, but data and relocation
+expressions intermixed, so the data area has to be parsed to get out
+the data and relocations.
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: Section Output,  Next: typedef asection,  Prev: Section Input,  Up: Sections
+
+Section Output
+--------------
+
+   To write a new object style BFD, the various sections to be written
+have to be created. They are attached to the BFD in the same way as
+input sections, data is written to the sections using
+`bfd_set_section_contents'.
+
+   The linker uses the fields `output_section' and `output_offset' to
+create an output file.
+
+   The data to be written comes from input sections attached to the
+output sections.  The output section structure can be considered a
+filter for the input section, the output section determines the vma of
+the output data and the name, but the input section determines the
+offset into the output section of the data to be written.
+
+   Eg to create a section "O", starting at 0x100, 0x123 long,
+containing two subsections, "A" at offset 0x0 (ie at vma 0x100) and
+"B" at offset 0x20 (ie at vma 0x120) the structures would look like:
+
+
+
+        section name          "A"
+          output_offset   0x00
+          size            0x20
+          output_section ----------->  section name    "O"
+                                  |    vma             0x100
+        section name          "B" |    size            0x123
+          output_offset   0x20    |
+          size            0x103   |
+          output_section  --------|
+
+   lisp
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: typedef asection,  Next: section prototypes,  Prev: Section Output,  Up: Sections
+
+typedef asection
+----------------
+
+   The shape of a section struct:
+
+     typedef struct sec {
+
+   The name of the section, the name isn't a copy, the pointer is the
+same as that passed to bfd_make_section.
+
+         CONST char *name;
+
+   The next section in the list belonging to the BFD, or NULL.
+
+         struct sec *next;
+
+   The field flags contains attributes of the section. Some of these
+flags are read in from the object file, and some are synthesized from
+other information.
+
+     flagword flags;
+
+     #define SEC_NO_FLAGS   0x000
+
+   Tells the OS to allocate space for this section when loaded.  This
+would clear for a section containing debug information only.
+
+     #define SEC_ALLOC      0x001
+
+   Tells the OS to load the section from the file when loading.  This
+would be clear for a .bss section
+
+     #define SEC_LOAD       0x002
+
+   The section contains data still to be relocated, so there will be
+some relocation information too.
+
+     #define SEC_RELOC      0x004
+
+   Obsolete
+
+     #define SEC_BALIGN     0x008
+
+   A signal to the OS that the section contains read only data.
+
+     #define SEC_READONLY   0x010
+
+   The section contains code only.
+
+     #define SEC_CODE       0x020
+
+   The section contains data only.
+
+     #define SEC_DATA        0x040
+
+   The section will reside in ROM.
+
+     #define SEC_ROM        0x080
+
+   The section contains constructor information. This section type is
+used by the linker to create lists of constructors and destructors
+used by `g++'. When a back end sees a symbol which should be used in a
+constructor list, it creates a new section for the type of name (eg
+`__CTOR_LIST__'), attaches the symbol to it and builds a relocation.
+To build the lists of constructors, all the linker has to to is
+catenate all the sections called `__CTOR_LIST__' and relocte the data
+contained within - exactly the operations it would peform on standard
+data.
+
+     #define SEC_CONSTRUCTOR 0x100
+
+   The section is a constuctor, and should be placed at the end of the
+..
+
+     #define SEC_CONSTRUCTOR_TEXT 0x1100
+
+     #define SEC_CONSTRUCTOR_DATA 0x2100
+
+     #define SEC_CONSTRUCTOR_BSS  0x3100
+
+   The section has contents - a bss section could be `SEC_ALLOC' |
+`SEC_HAS_CONTENTS', a debug section could be `SEC_HAS_CONTENTS'
+
+     #define SEC_HAS_CONTENTS 0x200
+
+   An instruction to the linker not to output sections containing this
+flag even if they have information which would normally be written.
+
+     #define SEC_NEVER_LOAD 0x400
+
+   The base address of the section in the address space of the target.
+
+        bfd_vma vma;
+
+   The size of the section in bytes of the loaded section. This
+contains a value even if the section has no contents (eg, the size of
+`.bss').
+
+        bfd_size_type size;
+
+   If this section is going to be output, then this value is the
+offset into the output section of the first byte in the input section.
+Eg, if this was going to start at the 100th byte in the output
+section, this value would be 100.
+
+        bfd_vma output_offset;
+
+   The output section through which to map on output.
+
+        struct sec *output_section;
+
+   The alignment requirement of the section, as an exponent - eg 3
+aligns to 2^3 (or 8)
+
+        unsigned int alignment_power;
+
+   If an input section, a pointer to a vector of relocation records for
+the data in this section.
+
+        struct reloc_cache_entry *relocation;
+
+   If an output section, a pointer to a vector of pointers to
+relocation records for the data in this section.
+
+        struct reloc_cache_entry **orelocation;
+
+   The number of relocation records in one of the above
+
+        unsigned reloc_count;
+
+   Which section is it 0..nth
+
+        int index;
+
+   Information below is back end specific - and not always used or
+updated
+
+   File position of section data
+
+        file_ptr filepos;
+
+   File position of relocation info
+
+        file_ptr rel_filepos;
+
+   File position of line data
+
+        file_ptr line_filepos;
+
+   Pointer to data for applications
+
+        PTR userdata;
+
+        struct lang_output_section *otheruserdata;
+
+   Attached line number information
+
+        alent *lineno;
+
+   Number of line number records
+
+        unsigned int lineno_count;
+
+   When a section is being output, this value changes as more
+linenumbers are written out
+
+        file_ptr moving_line_filepos;
+
+   what the section number is in the target world
+
+        unsigned int target_index;
+
+        PTR used_by_bfd;
+
+   If this is a constructor section then here is a list of the
+relocations created to relocate items within it.
+
+        struct relent_chain *constructor_chain;
+
+   The BFD which owns the section.
+
+        bfd *owner;
+
+     } asection ;
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: section prototypes,  Next: Section,  Prev: typedef section,  Up: Sections
+
+section prototypes
+------------------
+
+`bfd_get_section_by_name'
+.........................
+
+   Runs through the provided ABFD and returns the `asection' who's
+name matches that provided, otherwise NULL. *Note Sections::, for more
+information.
+
+     asection * bfd_get_section_by_name(bfd *abfd, CONST char *name);
+
+`bfd_make_section'
+..................
+
+   This function creates a new empty section called NAME and attaches
+it to the end of the chain of sections for the BFD supplied. An
+attempt to create a section with a name which is already in use,
+returns the old section by that name instead.
+
+   Possible errors are:
+
+`invalid_operation'
+     If output has already started for this BFD.
+
+`no_memory'
+     If obstack alloc fails.
+
+     asection * bfd_make_section(bfd *, CONST char *name);
+
+`bfd_set_section_flags'
+.......................
+
+   Attempts to set the attributes of the section named in the BFD
+supplied to the value. Returns true on success, false on error. 
+Possible error returns are:
+
+`invalid operation'
+     The section cannot have one or more of the attributes requested.
+     For example, a .bss section in `a.out' may not have the
+     `SEC_HAS_CONTENTS' field set.
+
+     boolean bfd_set_section_flags(bfd *, asection *, flagword);
+
+`bfd_map_over_sections'
+.......................
+
+   Calls the provided function FUNC for each section attached to the
+BFD ABFD, passing OBJ as an argument. The function will be called as
+if by
+
+       func(abfd, the_section, obj);
+
+     void bfd_map_over_sections(bfd *abfd, void (*func)(), PTR obj);
+
+   This is the prefered method for iterating over sections, an
+alternative would be to use a loop:
+
+        section *p;
+        for (p = abfd->sections; p != NULL; p = p->next)
+           func(abfd, p, ...)
+
+`bfd_set_section_size'
+......................
+
+   Sets SECTION to the size VAL. If the operation is ok, then `true'
+is returned, else `false'.
+
+   Possible error returns:
+
+`invalid_operation'
+     Writing has started to the BFD, so setting the size is invalid
+
+     boolean bfd_set_section_size(bfd *, asection *, bfd_size_type val);
+
+`bfd_set_section_contents'
+..........................
+
+   Sets the contents of the section SECTION in BFD ABFD to the data
+starting in memory at DATA. The data is written to the output section
+starting at offset OFFSET for COUNT bytes.
+
+   Normally `true' is returned, else `false'. Possible error returns
+are:
+
+`no_contents'
+     The output section does not have the `SEC_HAS_CONTENTS'
+     attribute, so nothing can be written to it.
+
+`and some more too'
+   This routine is front end to the back end function
+`_bfd_set_section_contents'.
+
+     boolean bfd_set_section_contents(bfd *abfd,        
+              asection *section,
+              PTR data,
+              file_ptr offset,
+              bfd_size_type count);
+
+`bfd_get_section_contents'
+..........................
+
+   This function reads data from SECTION in BFD ABFD into memory
+starting at LOCATION. The data is read at an offset of OFFSET from the
+start of the input section, and is read for COUNT bytes.
+
+   If the contents of a constuctor with the `SEC_CONSTUCTOR' flag set
+are requested, then the LOCATION is filled with zeroes.
+
+   If no errors occur, `true' is returned, else `false'.  Possible
+errors are:
+
+`unknown yet'
+     boolean bfd_get_section_contents(bfd *abfd, asection *section, PTR location,
+              file_ptr offset, bfd_size_type count);
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: Symbols,  Next: Archives,  Prev: Sections,  Up: To
+
+Symbols
+=======
+
+   BFD trys to maintain as much symbol information as it can when it
+moves information from file to file. BFD passes information to
+applications though the `asymbol' structure. When the application
+requests the symbol table, BFD reads the table in the native form and
+translates parts of it into the internal format. To maintain more than
+the infomation passed to applications some targets keep some
+information 'behind the sceans', in a structure only the particular
+back end knows about. For example, the coff back end keeps the
+original symbol table structure as well as the canonical structure
+when a BFD is read in. On output, the coff back end can reconstruct
+the output symbol table so that no information is lost, even
+information unique to coff which BFD doesn't know or understand. If a
+coff symbol table was read, but was written through an a.out back end,
+all the coff specific information would be lost. (.. until BFD 2 :).
+
+   The symbol table of a BFD is not necessarily read in until a
+canonicalize request is made. Then the BFD back end fills in a table
+provided by the application with pointers to the canonical information.
+
+   To output symbols, the application provides BFD with a table of
+pointers to pointers to `asymbol's. This allows applications like the
+linker to output a symbol as read, since the 'behind the sceens'
+information will be still available.
+
+* Menu:
+
+* Reading Symbols::
+* Writing Symbols::
+* typedef asymbol::
+* symbol handling functions::
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: Reading Symbols,  Next: Writing Symbols,  Prev: Symbols,  Up: Symbols
+
+Reading Symbols
+---------------
+
+   There are two stages to reading a symbol table from a BFD;
+allocating storage, and the actual reading process. This is an excerpt
+from an appliction which reads the symbol table:
+
+
+       unsigned int storage_needed;
+       asymbol **symbol_table;
+       unsigned int number_of_symbols;
+       unsigned int i;
+     
+       storage_needed = get_symtab_upper_bound (abfd);
+     
+       if (storage_needed == 0) {
+          return ;
+       }
+       symbol_table = (asymbol **) malloc (storage_needed);
+         ...
+       number_of_symbols = 
+          bfd_canonicalize_symtab (abfd, symbol_table); 
+     
+       for (i = 0; i < number_of_symbols; i++) {
+          process_symbol (symbol_table[i]);
+       }
+
+   lisp
+
+   All storage for the symbols themselves is in an obstack connected to
+the BFD, and is freed when the BFD is closed.
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: Writing Symbols,  Next: typedef asymbol,  Prev: Reading Symbols,  Up: Symbols
+
+Writing Symbols
+---------------
+
+   Writing of a symbol table is automatic when a BFD open for writing
+is closed. The application attaches a vector of pointers to pointers
+to symbols to the BFD being written, and fills in the symbol count.
+The close and cleanup code reads through the table provided and
+performs all the necessary operations. The outputing code must always
+be provided with an 'owned' symbol; one which has come from another
+BFD, or one which has been created using `bfd_make_empty_symbol'.
+
+   An example showing the creation of a symbol table with only one
+element:
+
+
+     #include "bfd.h"
+     main() 
+     {
+       bfd *abfd;
+       asymbol *ptrs[2];
+       asymbol *new;
+     
+       abfd = bfd_openw("foo","a.out-sunos-big");
+       bfd_set_format(abfd, bfd_object);
+       new = bfd_make_empty_symbol(abfd);
+       new->name = "dummy_symbol";
+       new->section = (asection *)0;
+       new->flags = BSF_ABSOLUTE | BSF_GLOBAL;
+       new->value = 0x12345;
+     
+       ptrs[0] = new;
+       ptrs[1] = (asymbol *)0;
+     
+       bfd_set_symtab(abfd, ptrs, 1);
+       bfd_close(abfd);
+     }
+     
+     ./makesym 
+     nm foo
+     00012345 A dummy_symbol
+
+   lisp
+
+   Many formats cannot represent arbitary symbol information; for
+instance the `a.out' object format does not allow an arbitary number
+of sections. A symbol pointing to a section which is not one of
+`.text', `.data' or `.bss' cannot be described.
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: typedef asymbol,  Next: symbol handling functions,  Prev: Writing Symbols,  Up: Symbols
+
+typedef asymbol
+---------------
+
+   An `asymbol' has the form:
+
+     typedef struct symbol_cache_entry 
+     {
+
+   A pointer to the BFD which owns the symbol. This information is
+necessary so that a back end can work out what additional (invisible to
+the application writer) information is carried with the symbol.
+
+       struct _bfd *the_bfd;
+
+   The text of the symbol. The name is left alone, and not copied - the
+application may not alter it.
+
+        CONST char *name;
+
+   The value of the symbol.
+
+        symvalue value;
+
+   Attributes of a symbol:
+
+     #define BSF_NO_FLAGS    0x00
+
+   The symbol has local scope; `static' in `C'. The value is the
+offset into the section of the data.
+
+     #define BSF_LOCAL	0x01
+
+   The symbol has global scope; initialized data in `C'. The value is
+the offset into the section of the data.
+
+     #define BSF_GLOBAL	0x02
+
+   Obsolete
+
+     #define BSF_IMPORT	0x04
+
+   The symbol has global scope, and is exported. The value is the
+offset into the section of the data.
+
+     #define BSF_EXPORT	0x08
+
+   The symbol is undefined. `extern' in `C'. The value has no meaning.
+
+     #define BSF_UNDEFINED	0x10	
+
+   The symbol is common, initialized to zero; default in `C'. The
+value is the size of the object in bytes.
+
+     #define BSF_FORT_COMM	0x20	
+
+   A normal `C' symbol would be one of: `BSF_LOCAL', `BSF_FORT_COMM', 
+`BSF_UNDEFINED' or `BSF_EXPORT|BSD_GLOBAL'
+
+   The symbol is a debugging record. The value has an arbitary meaning.
+
+     #define BSF_DEBUGGING	0x40
+
+   The symbol has no section attached, any value is the actual value
+and is not a relative offset to a section.
+
+     #define BSF_ABSOLUTE	0x80
+
+   Used by the linker
+
+     #define BSF_KEEP        0x10000
+     #define BSF_KEEP_G      0x80000
+
+   Unused
+
+     #define BSF_WEAK        0x100000
+     #define BSF_CTOR        0x200000 
+     #define BSF_FAKE        0x400000
+
+   The symbol used to be a common symbol, but now it is allocated.
+
+     #define BSF_OLD_COMMON  0x800000
+
+   The default value for common data.
+
+     #define BFD_FORT_COMM_DEFAULT_VALUE 0
+
+   In some files the type of a symbol sometimes alters its location in
+an output file - ie in coff a `ISFCN' symbol which is also `C_EXT'
+symbol appears where it was declared and not at the end of a section. 
+This bit is set by the target BFD part to convey this information.
+
+     #define BSF_NOT_AT_END    0x40000
+
+   Signal that the symbol is the label of constructor section.
+
+     #define BSF_CONSTRUCTOR   0x1000000
+
+   Signal that the symbol is a warning symbol. If the symbol is a
+warning symbol, then the value field (I know this is tacky) will point
+to the asymbol which when referenced will cause the warning.
+
+     #define BSF_WARNING       0x2000000
+
+   Signal that the symbol is indirect. The value of the symbol is a
+pointer to an undefined asymbol which contains the name to use instead.
+
+     #define BSF_INDIRECT     0x4000000
+
+       flagword flags;
+
+   A pointer to the section to which this symbol is relative, or 0 if
+the symbol is absolute or undefined. Note that it is not sufficient to
+set this location to 0 to mark a symbol as absolute - the flag
+`BSF_ABSOLUTE' must be set also.
+
+       struct sec *section;
+
+   Back end special data. This is being phased out in favour of making
+this a union.
+
+       PTR udata;	
+     } asymbol;
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: symbol handling functions,  Next: Symbols,  Prev: typedef asymbol,  Up: Symbols
+
+Symbol Handling Functions
+-------------------------
+
+`get_symtab_upper_bound'
+........................
+
+   Returns the number of bytes required in a vector of pointers to
+`asymbols' for all the symbols in the supplied BFD, including a
+terminal NULL pointer. If there are no symbols in the BFD, then 0 is
+returned.
+
+
+     #define get_symtab_upper_bound(abfd) \
+          BFD_SEND (abfd, _get_symtab_upper_bound, (abfd))
+
+   lisp
+
+`bfd_canonicalize_symtab'
+.........................
+
+   Supplied a BFD and a pointer to an uninitialized vector of pointers. 
+This reads in the symbols from the BFD, and fills in the table with
+pointers to the symbols, and a trailing NULL. The routine returns the
+actual number of symbol pointers not including the NULL.
+
+
+     #define bfd_canonicalize_symtab(abfd, location) \
+          BFD_SEND (abfd, _bfd_canonicalize_symtab,\
+                       (abfd, location))
+
+   lisp
+
+`bfd_set_symtab'
+................
+
+   Provided a table of pointers to to symbols and a count, writes to
+the output BFD the symbols when closed.
+
+     boolean bfd_set_symtab(bfd *, asymbol **, unsigned int );
+
+`bfd_print_symbol_vandf'
+........................
+
+   Prints the value and flags of the symbol supplied to the stream
+file.
+
+     void bfd_print_symbol_vandf(PTR file, asymbol *symbol);
+
+`bfd_make_empty_symbol'
+.......................
+
+   This function creates a new `asymbol' structure for the BFD, and
+returns a pointer to it.
+
+   This routine is necessary, since each back end has private
+information surrounding the `asymbol'. Building your own `asymbol' and
+pointing to it will not create the private information, and will cause
+problems later on.
+
+
+     #define bfd_make_empty_symbol(abfd) \
+          BFD_SEND (abfd, _bfd_make_empty_symbol, (abfd))
+
+   lisp
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: Archives,  Next: Formats,  Prev: Symbols,  Up: Top
+
+Archives
+========
+
+   Gumby, you promised to write this bit...
+
+   Archives are supported in BFD in `archive.c'.
+
+   An archive is represented internally just like another BFD, with a
+pointer to a chain of contained BFDs. Archives can be created by
+opening BFDs, linking them together and attaching them as children to
+another BFD and then closing the parent BFD.
+
+`bfd_get_next_mapent'
+.....................
+
+   What this does
+
+     symindex bfd_get_next_mapent(bfd *, symindex, carsym **);
+
+`bfd_set_archive_head'
+......................
+
+   Used whilst processing archives. Sets the head of the chain of BFDs
+contained in an archive to NEW_HEAD. (see chapter on archives)
+
+     boolean bfd_set_archive_head(bfd *output, bfd *new_head);
+
+`bfd_get_elt_at_index'
+......................
+
+   Return the sub bfd contained within the archive at archive index n.
+
+     bfd * bfd_get_elt_at_index(bfd *, int);
+
+`bfd_openr_next_archived_file'
+..............................
+
+   Initially provided a BFD containing an archive and NULL, opens a BFD
+on the first contained element and returns that. Subsequent calls to
+bfd_openr_next_archived_file should pass the archive and the previous
+return value to return a created BFD to the next contained element. 
+NULL is returned when there are no more.
+
+     bfd* bfd_openr_next_archived_file(bfd *archive, bfd *previous);
+
+
+File: bfdinfo,  Node: Formats,  Next: Relocations,  Prev: Archives,  Up: Top
+
+File Formats
+============
+
+   A format is a BFD concept of high level file contents. The formats
+supported by BFD are:
+
+`bfd_object'
+     The BFD may contain data, symbols, relocations and debug info.
+
+`bfd_archive'
+     The 
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/bfd/doc/blins-p b/bfd/doc/blins-p
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..858dcd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/blins-p
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# sed script for BFD header files
+# Merge adjacent blank lines.  Loop til no change.
+:blin
+/^$/,/^ *[^ ]*.*$/{
+/^$/N
+s/^ *\n *$//
+}
+t blin
diff --git a/bfd/doc/exfil1-p b/bfd/doc/exfil1-p
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..a57fc95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/exfil1-p
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#
+# Locate and coalesce adjacent comments
+/\*\/$/N
+s/\*\/\n\/\*/\
+/
diff --git a/bfd/doc/exfil3-p b/bfd/doc/exfil3-p
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..c557a16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/exfil3-p
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# blank-line activity:
+# Merge adjacent blank lines.  Loop til no change.
+:blin
+/^$/,/^ *[^ ]*.*$/{
+/^$/N
+s/^ *\n *$//
+}
+t blin
+#
+/^$/,/^ *[^ ]*.*$/{
+/^$/N
+# Transpose <blank line> <end comment>
+/^ *\n\*\/$/c\
+*\/\
+
+}
diff --git a/bfd/doc/exfilter b/bfd/doc/exfilter
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..7551607
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/exfilter
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+# SED script for preprocessing embedded doc from source (S. Chamberlain markup)
+# Final pass; cleanup work is done here.
+#
+# Within examples, make '{' and '}' printable:
+/^@lisp$/,/^@end lisp$/s/{/@{/
+/^@lisp$/,/^@end lisp$/s/}/@}/
+/^@example$/,/^@end example$/s/{/@{/
+/^@example$/,/^@end example$/s/}/@}/
+#
+# Delete empty @findex and @subsubsection entries (resulting from *proto*
+# with no further text on same line, in middle pass)
+/^@findex $/d
+/^@subsubsection @code{}/d
+#
diff --git a/bfd/doc/exfilter-p b/bfd/doc/exfilter-p
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..27a1d05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/exfilter-p
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# SED script for preprocessing embedded headers from C source comments 
+# (S. Chamberlain markup)
+# beginning of many passes of cleanup work 
+#
+# Delete empty comment blocks
+/^\/\*$/N
+/^\/\*\n\*\/ *$/d
+#
+# Locate and coalesce adjacent comments
+/\*\/$/N
+s/\*\/\n\/\*/\
+/
diff --git a/bfd/doc/exfiltst b/bfd/doc/exfiltst
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..18bab5a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/exfiltst
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# Merge adjacent blank lines.  Loop til no change.
+:blin
+/^$/,/^ *[^ ]*.*$/{
+/^$/N
+s/^ *\n *$//
+}
+t blin
+
diff --git a/bfd/doc/exmerge b/bfd/doc/exmerge
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..dafa424
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/exmerge
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# SED script for preprocessing embedded doc from source (S. Chamberlain markup)
+# Locate and coalesce adjacent @example blocks
+/^@end example/N
+/^@end example\n@example$/d
diff --git a/bfd/doc/intobfd b/bfd/doc/intobfd
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..b256f4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/intobfd
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+/\/\*:archive.c\*\//r archive.p
+/\/\*:archures.c\*\//r archures.p
+/\/\*:bfd.c\*\//r bfd.p
+/\/\*:core.c\*\//r core.p
+/\/\*:format.c\*\//r format.p
+/\/\*:libbfd.c\*\//r libbfd.p
+/\/\*:opncls.c\*\//r opncls.p
+/\/\*:reloc.c\*\//r reloc.p
+/\/\*:section.c\*\//r section.p
+/\/\*:syms.c\*\//r syms.p
+/\/\*:targets.c\*\//r targets.p
diff --git a/bfd/doc/mergecom-p b/bfd/doc/mergecom-p
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..456478b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/mergecom-p
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# SED script for preprocessing embedded headers from C source comments 
+# Locate and coalesce adjacent comments
+/\*\/$/N
+s/\*\/\n\/\*/\
+/
diff --git a/bfd/doc/movecom-p b/bfd/doc/movecom-p
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..7ed04c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/movecom-p
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# sed script for BFD header files:
+# Transpose <blank line> <end comment>
+/^$/,/^ *[^ ]*.*$/{
+/^$/N
+/^ *\n\*\/$/c\
+*\/\
+
+}
diff --git a/bfd/doc/scanit b/bfd/doc/scanit
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..4271baf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/scanit
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# Script to coordinate parsing of S. Chamberlain source-embedded 
+# documentation markup language.
+
+# Four passes:
+#	1) awk discards lines not intended for docn, and marks blocks of
+#	   text with comments identifying source file;
+#	2) first sed pass interprets Chamberlain markup;
+#	3) second sed pass does cleanup that involves merging lines
+#	4) third sed pass does remaining cleans up---making {}
+#	   printable within examples, and eliminating empty index entries and
+#          headings.
+#Third and second sed passes are separate because order of execution is hard
+#to control otherwise, making one or another of the things involving @example
+#inoperative.
+
+base=`echo $1 | cut -d '.' -f 1`
+out=`echo $2 | cut -d '.' -f 1`
+
+awk -f awkscan $1 | \
+sed -f sedscript | \
+sed -f unPROTO | \
+sed -f exmerge  | \
+sed -f exfilter  >$out.texi
+
diff --git a/bfd/doc/scanph b/bfd/doc/scanph
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..4f36d68
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/scanph
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# Script to coordinate parsing of S. Chamberlain source-embedded 
+# header-file markup language. 
+
+# '-i' option means use *proto-internal* segments, else just *proto*
+SFX=p
+if [ $1 = "-i" ]; then
+	SFX=ip
+	shift
+fi
+
+base=`echo $1 | cut -d '.' -f 1`
+out=`echo $2 | cut -d '.' -f 1`
+
+#  passes:
+#	1) awk discards lines not intended for header, and marks blocks of
+#	   text with comments identifying source file;
+#	2) first sed pass interprets Chamberlain markup;
+#	3) further sed passes clean up---merging adjacent comments etc.
+
+awk -f awkscan-$SFX $1 |\
+sed -f sedscript-p |\
+sed -f mergecom-p |\
+sed -f startcom-p  |\
+sed -f blins-p |\
+sed -f movecom-p  >$out.$SFX
diff --git a/bfd/doc/sedscript b/bfd/doc/sedscript
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..e8e225d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/sedscript
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+# SED script for preprocessing embedded doc from source (S. Chamberlain markup)
+# middle pass; most of the work is done here.
+#
+# First, get rid of /*doc* markers; they've done their job in the first pass.
+/^\/\*doc\*/d
+#
+# /*proto* markers may be optionally followed by a *i-style subsubsec, findex
+# entry.  This will generate empty @findex and @subsubsection entries if
+# the *proto* is on a line by itself; third pass removes them.
+/^\/\*proto\*/s/^\/\*proto\* *\(.*\)$/@findex \1\
+@subsubsection @code{\1}/
+#
+# /*proto-internal* is just like /*proto* from doc point of view.
+/^\/\*proto-internal\*/s/^\/\*proto-internal\* *\(.*\)$/@findex \1\
+@subsubsection @code{\1}/
+#
+# *i at beginning of line: rest of line is both a subsubsection heading
+#   and an entry in function index.
+/^\*i/s/^\*i *\(.*\)$/@findex \1\
+@subsubsection @code{\1}/
+#
+# Two alternative docn block ends, '*/' and '*-*/' on lines by themselves;
+# replace by blank lines (for texinfo source readability).
+/^\*\/$/c\
+
+/^\*-\*\/$/c\
+
+# {* and *} are standins for comment markers (originally embedded in .c 
+# comments)---turn into real comment markers:
+s/{\*/\/\*/
+s/\*}/\*\//
+#
+# '*+++' and '*---' span a block of text that includes both example lines 
+# (marked by leading '$') and explanatory text (to be italicized).
+# Italicize lines lacking '$':
+/\*\+\+\+/,/\*---/s/^\([^$].*\)$/@i{\1}/
+#
+# We don't need *+++ and *--- markers any more; kill them (trailing marker
+# becomes blank line for readability)
+/\*\+\+\+/d
+/\*---/c\
+
+# Any line beginning with '$' is made an example line; third pass later 
+# coalesces adjacent example blocks.  *DO NOT* introduce extra space after
+# @end example, so we can spot adjacent ones in third pass.
+/^\$/i\
+@example
+/^\$/a\
+@end example
+#
+# In any example line, turn '{' and '}' into '@{' and '@}'
+###/^\$/s/{/@{/g
+###/^\$/s/}/@}/g
+#
+# Now delete the '$' markers themselves:
+/^\$/s/\$//
+#
+# *+ and *- delimit large examples to be enclosed in cartouches.
+/^\*\+$/c\
+@lisp\
+@cartouche
+/^\*-$/c\
+@end cartouche\
+@end lisp\
+
+# '*;' introduces an example which may have a single line or multiple lines;
+# it extends until the next semicolon (which is also printed).
+# One-line case: (do this first; else second line address for multi-line case
+# will include random text til we happen to end a line in a doc comment with
+# a semicolon)
+/^\*;.*;$/{
+s/^\*;/@example\
+/
+s/;$/;\
+@end example\
+/
+}
+# Multi-line case:
+/^\*;/,/.*;$/{
+s/^\*;/@example\
+/
+s/;$/;\
+@end example\
+/
+}
diff --git a/bfd/doc/sedscript-p b/bfd/doc/sedscript-p
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..1f24900
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/sedscript-p
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+# SED script for preprocessing embedded headers from source 
+# (S. Chamberlain markup)
+# middle pass; most of the work is done here.
+#
+# First, get rid of /*proto* markers; they've done their job in the first pass.
+# (They remain comment-introducers)
+/^\/\*proto\*/s/^\/\*proto\*/\/*/
+/^\/\*proto-internal\*/s/^\/\*proto-internal\*/\/*/
+#
+# *-*/ is an alternative (older) comment-block end.  Remap for uniformity:
+s/^\*-\*\//\*\//
+#
+# {* and *} are standins for comment markers (originally embedded in .c 
+# comments)---turn into real comment markers:
+s/{\*/\/\*/
+s/\*}/\*\//
+#
+# '*+++' and '*---' span a block of text that includes both header lines 
+# (marked by leading '$') and explanatory text (to be comments).
+# No need to start comment at "*+++", or end it at "*---", since we're 
+# already in a *proto* comment block.  Just delete.
+/\*\+\+\+/d
+/\*---/d
+#
+# Any line beginning with '$' is made a line of code in the header; 
+#  stuff in between is comments, so *precede* each '$' line with 
+#  END-comment, *follow* each '$' line with START-comment; third pass later 
+#  eliminates empty comment blocks.
+/^\$/i\
+*/
+/^\$/a\
+/*
+#
+# Now delete the '$' markers themselves:
+/^\$/s/\$//
+#
+# *+ and *- delimit larger blocks of code, treated the same as '$' lines
+/^\*\+$/c\
+*/
+/^\*-$/c\
+/*
+#
+# '*;' introduces code which may have a single line or multiple lines;
+# it extends until the next semicolon (which is also printed).
+#
+# One-line case: (do this first; else second line address for multi-line case
+# will include random text til we happen to end a line in a proto comment with
+# a semicolon)
+/^\*;.*;$/{
+s/^\*;/*\/\
+/
+s/;$/;\
+\/*\
+/
+}
+# Multi-line case:
+/^\*;/,/.*;$/{
+s/^\*;/*\/\
+/
+s/;$/;\
+\/*\
+/
+}
diff --git a/bfd/doc/startcom-p b/bfd/doc/startcom-p
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..0748fad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/startcom-p
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# sed script for preprocessing BFD header files
+# <start comment> activity:
+/^\/\*$/{
+N
+# Delete empty comment blocks
+/^\/\*\n\*\/ *$/d
+# Transpose <start comment><blank line>
+s/^\/\*\n *$/\
+\/*/
+# merge <start comment> on line by itself with following line
+s/^\/\*\n\(.*\)/\/* \1/
+}
diff --git a/bfd/doc/tolibbfd b/bfd/doc/tolibbfd
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..ef9531e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/tolibbfd
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+/---------------START FROM/,/---------------END FROM/d
+/\/\*:libbfd.c\*\//r libbfd.ip
+/\/\*:cache.c\*\//r cache.ip
+/\/\*:reloc.c\*\//r reloc.ip
diff --git a/bfd/doc/tolibcoff b/bfd/doc/tolibcoff
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..548c8ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/tolibcoff
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+/\/\*:coffcode.h\*\//r coffcode.p
diff --git a/bfd/doc/unPROTO b/bfd/doc/unPROTO
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..a6f9520
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bfd/doc/unPROTO
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#
+# The PROTO macro is a subterfuge to be compatible with both ANSI and K&R 
+# declaration syntax.  It's not widely known, so for the docn just map the 
+# thing to ANSI declaration syntax.
+# 
+# First, join up defns broken across multiple lines in source---but leave
+# any linebreaks, to prettify our examples 
+:pbegn
+/PROTO(.*, *$/N
+s/\n/?/
+t pbegn
+s/?/\
+/g
+# Now actually do the PROTO interpretation.
+# A PROTO invocation looks like
+#   PROTO( resulttype, function, (arglist));
+s/[ 	]*PROTO(\(.*\),[\n 	]*\(.*\),[\n 	]*\((.*)\));/\1 \2\3;/
+