linking.
@item B
+@itemx b
The symbol is in the uninitialized data section (known as BSS).
@item C
@end ifclear
@item D
+@itemx d
The symbol is in the initialized data section.
@item G
+@itemx g
The symbol is in an initialized data section for small objects. Some
object file formats permit more efficient access to small data objects,
such as a global int variable as opposed to a large global array.
The symbol is an indirect reference to another symbol. This is a @sc{gnu}
extension to the a.out object file format which is rarely used.
+@item i
+The symbol is in a section specific to the implementation of DLLs.
+
@item N
The symbol is a debugging symbol.
+@item p
+The symbols is in a stack unwind section.
+
@item R
+@itemx r
The symbol is in a read only data section.
@item S
+@itemx s
The symbol is in an uninitialized data section for small objects.
@item T
+@itemx t
The symbol is in the text (code) section.
@item U
The symbol is undefined.
@item V
+@itemx v
The symbol is a weak object. When a weak defined symbol is linked with
a normal defined symbol, the normal defined symbol is used with no error.
When a weak undefined symbol is linked and the symbol is not defined,
-the value of the weak symbol becomes zero with no error.
+the value of the weak symbol becomes zero with no error. On some
+systems, uppercase indicates that a default value has been specified.
@item W
+@itemx w
The symbol is a weak symbol that has not been specifically tagged as a
weak object symbol. When a weak defined symbol is linked with a normal
defined symbol, the normal defined symbol is used with no error.
error. On some systems, uppercase indicates that a default value has been
specified.
-
@item -
The symbol is a stabs symbol in an a.out object file. In this case, the
next values printed are the stabs other field, the stabs desc field, and
@itemx --syms
@cindex symbol table entries, printing
Print the symbol table entries of the file.
-This is similar to the information provided by the @samp{nm} program.
+This is similar to the information provided by the @samp{nm} program,
+although the display format is different. The format of the output
+depends upon the format of the file being dumped, but there are two main
+types. One looks like this:
+
+@smallexample
+[ 4](sec 3)(fl 0x00)(ty 0)(scl 3) (nx 1) 0x00000000 .bss
+[ 6](sec 1)(fl 0x00)(ty 0)(scl 2) (nx 0) 0x00000000 fred
+@end smallexample
+
+where the number inside the square brackets is the number of the entry
+in the symbol table, the @var{sec} number is the section number, the
+@var{fl} value are the symbol's flag bits, the @var{ty} number is the
+symbol's type, the @var{scl} number is the symbol's storage class and
+the @var{nx} value is the number of auxilary entries associated with
+the symbol. The last two fields are the symbol's value and its name.
+
+The other common output format, usually seen with ELF based files,
+looks like this:
+
+@smallexample
+00000000 l d .bss 00000000 .bss
+00000000 g .text 00000000 fred
+@end smallexample
+
+Here the first number is the symbol's value (sometimes refered to as
+its address). The next field is actually a set of characters and
+spaces indicating the flag bits that are set on the symbol. These
+characters are described below. The next field is another number
+associated with the symbol, which for common symbols is the alignment
+and for other symbol is the size. Finally the symbol's name is
+displayed.
+
+The flag characters are divided into 7 groups as follows:
+@table @code
+@item l
+@itemx g
+@itemx !
+The symbol is local (l), global (g), neither (a space) or both (!). A
+symbol can be neither local or global for a variety of reasons, eg
+because it is used for debugging, but it is probably an indication of
+a bug if it is ever both local and global.
+
+@item w
+The symbol is weak (w) or strong (a space).
+
+@item C
+The symbol denotes a constructor (C) or an ordinary symbol (a space).
+
+@item W
+The symbol is a warning (W) or a normal symbol (a space). A warning
+symbol's name is a message to be displayed if the symbol following the
+warning symbol is ever referenced.
+
+@item I
+The symbol is an indirect reference to another symbol (I) or a normal
+symbol (a space).
+
+@item d
+@itemx D
+The symbol is a debugging symbol (d) or a dynamic symbol (D) or a
+normal symbol (a space).
+
+@item F
+@item f
+@item O
+The symbol is the name of a function (f) or a file (F) or an object
+(O) or just a normal symbol (a space).
+@end table
@item -T
@itemx --dynamic-syms
projects / external / binutils.git / commitdiff