| <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> |
| <html> |
| <!-- This file documents the BFD library. |
| |
| Copyright (C) 1991-2015 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 the |
| Invariant Sections being "GNU General Public License" and "Funding |
| Free Software", the Front-Cover texts being (a) (see below), and with |
| the Back-Cover Texts being (b) (see below). A copy of the license is |
| included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License". |
| |
| (a) The FSF's Front-Cover Text is: |
| |
| A GNU Manual |
| |
| (b) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: |
| |
| You have freedom to copy and modify this GNU Manual, like GNU |
| software. Copies published by the Free Software Foundation raise |
| funds for GNU development. --> |
| <!-- Created by GNU Texinfo 5.2, http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/ --> |
| <head> |
| <title>Untitled Document: Overview</title> |
| |
| <meta name="description" content="Untitled Document: Overview"> |
| <meta name="keywords" content="Untitled Document: Overview"> |
| <meta name="resource-type" content="document"> |
| <meta name="distribution" content="global"> |
| <meta name="Generator" content="makeinfo"> |
| <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> |
| <link href="index.html#Top" rel="start" title="Top"> |
| <link href="BFD-Index.html#BFD-Index" rel="index" title="BFD Index"> |
| <link href="index.html#SEC_Contents" rel="contents" title="Table of Contents"> |
| <link href="index.html#Top" rel="up" title="Top"> |
| <link href="History.html#History" rel="next" title="History"> |
| <link href="index.html#Top" rel="prev" title="Top"> |
| <style type="text/css"> |
| <!-- |
| a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none} |
| blockquote.smallquotation {font-size: smaller} |
| div.display {margin-left: 3.2em} |
| div.example {margin-left: 3.2em} |
| div.indentedblock {margin-left: 3.2em} |
| div.lisp {margin-left: 3.2em} |
| div.smalldisplay {margin-left: 3.2em} |
| div.smallexample {margin-left: 3.2em} |
| div.smallindentedblock {margin-left: 3.2em; font-size: smaller} |
| div.smalllisp {margin-left: 3.2em} |
| kbd {font-style:oblique} |
| pre.display {font-family: inherit} |
| pre.format {font-family: inherit} |
| pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif} |
| pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif} |
| pre.smalldisplay {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller} |
| pre.smallexample {font-size: smaller} |
| pre.smallformat {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller} |
| pre.smalllisp {font-size: smaller} |
| span.nocodebreak {white-space:nowrap} |
| span.nolinebreak {white-space:nowrap} |
| span.roman {font-family:serif; font-weight:normal} |
| span.sansserif {font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal} |
| ul.no-bullet {list-style: none} |
| --> |
| </style> |
| |
| |
| </head> |
| |
| <body lang="en" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#800080" alink="#FF0000"> |
| <a name="Overview"></a> |
| <div class="header"> |
| <p> |
| Next: <a href="BFD-front-end.html#BFD-front-end" accesskey="n" rel="next">BFD front end</a>, Previous: <a href="index.html#Top" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Top</a>, Up: <a href="index.html#Top" accesskey="u" rel="up">Top</a> [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="BFD-Index.html#BFD-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p> |
| </div> |
| <hr> |
| <a name="Introduction"></a> |
| <h2 class="chapter">1 Introduction</h2> |
| <a name="index-BFD"></a> |
| <a name="index-what-is-it_003f"></a> |
| <p>BFD is a package which allows applications to use the |
| same routines to operate on object files whatever the object file |
| format. A new object file format can be supported simply by |
| creating a new BFD back end and adding it to the library. |
| </p> |
| <p>BFD is split into two parts: the front end, and the back ends (one for |
| each object file format). |
| </p><ul> |
| <li> 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. |
| </li><li> 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. |
| </li></ul> |
| <table class="menu" border="0" cellspacing="0"> |
| <tr><td align="left" valign="top">• <a href="History.html#History" accesskey="1">History</a>:</td><td> </td><td align="left" valign="top">History |
| </td></tr> |
| <tr><td align="left" valign="top">• <a href="How-It-Works.html#How-It-Works" accesskey="2">How It Works</a>:</td><td> </td><td align="left" valign="top">How It Works |
| </td></tr> |
| <tr><td align="left" valign="top">• <a href="What-BFD-Version-2-Can-Do.html#What-BFD-Version-2-Can-Do" accesskey="3">What BFD Version 2 Can Do</a>:</td><td> </td><td align="left" valign="top">What BFD Version 2 Can Do |
| </td></tr> |
| </table> |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| </body> |
| </html> |
