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| <a name="ar-1"></a> |
| <h2 class="chapter">1 ar</h2> |
| |
| <a name="index-ar"></a> |
| <a name="index-archives"></a> |
| <a name="index-collections-of-files"></a> |
| |
| |
| <div class="smallexample"> |
| <pre class="smallexample">ar [<samp>--plugin</samp> <var>name</var>] [-]<var>p</var>[<var>mod</var> [<var>relpos</var>] [<var>count</var>]] [<samp>--target</samp> <var>bfdname</var>] <var>archive</var> [<var>member</var>…] |
| ar -M [ <mri-script ] |
| </pre></div> |
| |
| |
| <p>The <small>GNU</small> <code>ar</code> program creates, modifies, and extracts from |
| archives. An <em>archive</em> is a single file holding a collection of |
| other files in a structure that makes it possible to retrieve |
| the original individual files (called <em>members</em> of the archive). |
| </p> |
| <p>The original files’ contents, mode (permissions), timestamp, owner, and |
| group are preserved in the archive, and can be restored on |
| extraction. |
| </p> |
| <a name="index-name-length"></a> |
| <p><small>GNU</small> <code>ar</code> can maintain archives whose members have names of any |
| length; however, depending on how <code>ar</code> is configured on your |
| system, a limit on member-name length may be imposed for compatibility |
| with archive formats maintained with other tools. If it exists, the |
| limit is often 15 characters (typical of formats related to a.out) or 16 |
| characters (typical of formats related to coff). |
| </p> |
| <a name="index-libraries"></a> |
| <p><code>ar</code> is considered a binary utility because archives of this sort |
| are most often used as <em>libraries</em> holding commonly needed |
| subroutines. |
| </p> |
| <a name="index-symbol-index"></a> |
| <p><code>ar</code> creates an index to the symbols defined in relocatable |
| object modules in the archive when you specify the modifier ‘<samp>s</samp>’. |
| Once created, this index is updated in the archive whenever <code>ar</code> |
| makes a change to its contents (save for the ‘<samp>q</samp>’ update operation). |
| An archive with such an index speeds up linking to the library, and |
| allows routines in the library to call each other without regard to |
| their placement in the archive. |
| </p> |
| <p>You may use ‘<samp>nm -s</samp>’ or ‘<samp>nm --print-armap</samp>’ to list this index |
| table. If an archive lacks the table, another form of <code>ar</code> called |
| <code>ranlib</code> can be used to add just the table. |
| </p> |
| <a name="index-thin-archives"></a> |
| <p><small>GNU</small> <code>ar</code> can optionally create a <em>thin</em> archive, |
| which contains a symbol index and references to the original copies |
| of the member files of the archive. This is useful for building |
| libraries for use within a local build tree, where the relocatable |
| objects are expected to remain available, and copying the contents of |
| each object would only waste time and space. |
| </p> |
| <p>An archive can either be <em>thin</em> or it can be normal. It cannot |
| be both at the same time. Once an archive is created its format |
| cannot be changed without first deleting it and then creating a new |
| archive in its place. |
| </p> |
| <p>Thin archives are also <em>flattened</em>, so that adding one thin |
| archive to another thin archive does not nest it, as would happen with |
| a normal archive. Instead the elements of the first archive are added |
| individually to the second archive. |
| </p> |
| <p>The paths to the elements of the archive are stored relative to the |
| archive itself. |
| </p> |
| <a name="index-compatibility_002c-ar"></a> |
| <a name="index-ar-compatibility"></a> |
| <p><small>GNU</small> <code>ar</code> is designed to be compatible with two different |
| facilities. You can control its activity using command-line options, |
| like the different varieties of <code>ar</code> on Unix systems; or, if you |
| specify the single command-line option <samp>-M</samp>, you can control it |
| with a script supplied via standard input, like the MRI “librarian” |
| program. |
| </p> |
| |
| <table class="menu" border="0" cellspacing="0"> |
| <tr><td align="left" valign="top">• <a href="ar-cmdline.html#ar-cmdline" accesskey="1">ar cmdline</a>:</td><td> </td><td align="left" valign="top">Controlling <code>ar</code> on the command line |
| </td></tr> |
| <tr><td align="left" valign="top">• <a href="ar-scripts.html#ar-scripts" accesskey="2">ar scripts</a>:</td><td> </td><td align="left" valign="top">Controlling <code>ar</code> with a script |
| </td></tr> |
| </table> |
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