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| author | Nick Clifton <nickc@redhat.com> | 2003-11-26 11:49:10 +0000 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Nick Clifton <nickc@redhat.com> | 2003-11-26 11:49:10 +0000 |
| commit | 9eb20dd876711c0e7d27a52d38676dfb721b0c43 (patch) | |
| tree | c0bafd6470782da3956499d6460013011ebbaa68 /binutils/readelf.c | |
| parent | 526c61eee0e858ee2a9c18fd05768807fbc73ff3 (diff) | |
| download | gdb-9eb20dd876711c0e7d27a52d38676dfb721b0c43.zip gdb-9eb20dd876711c0e7d27a52d38676dfb721b0c43.tar.gz gdb-9eb20dd876711c0e7d27a52d38676dfb721b0c43.tar.bz2 | |
Add a comment describing the difference between readelf and objdump.
Diffstat (limited to 'binutils/readelf.c')
| -rw-r--r-- | binutils/readelf.c | 20 |
1 files changed, 19 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/binutils/readelf.c b/binutils/readelf.c index 9b8b12e..a11d53b 100644 --- a/binutils/readelf.c +++ b/binutils/readelf.c @@ -21,7 +21,25 @@ Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. */ - +/* The difference between readelf and objdump: + + Both programs are capabale of displaying the contents of ELF format files, + so why does the binutils project have two file dumpers ? + + The reason is that objdump sees an ELF file through a BFD filter of the + world; if BFD has a bug where, say, it disagrees about a machine constant + in e_flags, then the odds are good that it will remain internally + consistent. The linker sees it the BFD way, objdump sees it the BFD way, + GAS sees it the BFD way. There was need for a tool to go find out what + the file actually says. + + This is why the readelf program does not link against the BFD library - it + exists as an independent program to help verify the correct working of BFD. + + There is also the case that readelf can provide more information about an + ELF file than is provided by objdump. In particular it can display DWARF + debugging information which (at the moment) objdump cannot. */ + #include <assert.h> #include <sys/types.h> #include <sys/stat.h> |