1WINDRES(1)                   GNU Development Tools                  WINDRES(1)
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NAME

6       windres - manipulate Windows resources
7

SYNOPSIS

9       windres [options] [input-file] [output-file]
10

DESCRIPTION

12       windres reads resources from an input file and copies them into an
13       output file.  Either file may be in one of three formats:
14
15       "rc"
16           A text format read by the Resource Compiler.
17
18       "res"
19           A binary format generated by the Resource Compiler.
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21       "coff"
22           A COFF object or executable.
23
24       The exact description of these different formats is available in
25       documentation from Microsoft.
26
27       When windres converts from the "rc" format to the "res" format, it is
28       acting like the Windows Resource Compiler.  When windres converts from
29       the "res" format to the "coff" format, it is acting like the Windows
30       "CVTRES" program.
31
32       When windres generates an "rc" file, the output is similar but not
33       identical to the format expected for the input.  When an input "rc"
34       file refers to an external filename, an output "rc" file will instead
35       include the file contents.
36
37       If the input or output format is not specified, windres will guess
38       based on the file name, or, for the input file, the file contents.  A
39       file with an extension of .rc will be treated as an "rc" file, a file
40       with an extension of .res will be treated as a "res" file, and a file
41       with an extension of .o or .exe will be treated as a "coff" file.
42
43       If no output file is specified, windres will print the resources in
44       "rc" format to standard output.
45
46       The normal use is for you to write an "rc" file, use windres to convert
47       it to a COFF object file, and then link the COFF file into your
48       application.  This will make the resources described in the "rc" file
49       available to Windows.
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OPTIONS

52       -i filename
53       --input filename
54           The name of the input file.  If this option is not used, then
55           windres will use the first non-option argument as the input file
56           name.  If there are no non-option arguments, then windres will read
57           from standard input.  windres can not read a COFF file from
58           standard input.
59
60       -o filename
61       --output filename
62           The name of the output file.  If this option is not used, then
63           windres will use the first non-option argument, after any used for
64           the input file name, as the output file name.  If there is no non-
65           option argument, then windres will write to standard output.
66           windres can not write a COFF file to standard output.  Note, for
67           compatibility with rc the option -fo is also accepted, but its use
68           is not recommended.
69
70       -J format
71       --input-format format
72           The input format to read.  format may be res, rc, or coff.  If no
73           input format is specified, windres will guess, as described above.
74
75       -O format
76       --output-format format
77           The output format to generate.  format may be res, rc, or coff.  If
78           no output format is specified, windres will guess, as described
79           above.
80
81       -F target
82       --target target
83           Specify the BFD format to use for a COFF file as input or output.
84           This is a BFD target name; you can use the --help option to see a
85           list of supported targets.  Normally windres will use the default
86           format, which is the first one listed by the --help option.
87
88       --preprocessor program
89           When windres reads an "rc" file, it runs it through the C
90           preprocessor first.  This option may be used to specify the
91           preprocessor to use, including any leading arguments.  The default
92           preprocessor argument is "gcc -E -xc-header -DRC_INVOKED".
93
94       --preprocessor-arg option
95           When windres reads an "rc" file, it runs it through the C
96           preprocessor first.  This option may be used to specify additional
97           text to be passed to preprocessor on its command line.  This option
98           can be used multiple times to add multiple options to the
99           preprocessor command line.
100
101       -I directory
102       --include-dir directory
103           Specify an include directory to use when reading an "rc" file.
104           windres will pass this to the preprocessor as an -I option.
105           windres will also search this directory when looking for files
106           named in the "rc" file.  If the argument passed to this command
107           matches any of the supported formats (as described in the -J
108           option), it will issue a deprecation warning, and behave just like
109           the -J option.  New programs should not use this behaviour.  If a
110           directory happens to match a format, simple prefix it with ./ to
111           disable the backward compatibility.
112
113       -D target
114       --define sym[=val]
115           Specify a -D option to pass to the preprocessor when reading an
116           "rc" file.
117
118       -U target
119       --undefine sym
120           Specify a -U option to pass to the preprocessor when reading an
121           "rc" file.
122
123       -r  Ignored for compatibility with rc.
124
125       -v  Enable verbose mode.  This tells you what the preprocessor is if
126           you didn't specify one.
127
128       -c val
129       --codepage val
130           Specify the default codepage to use when reading an "rc" file.  val
131           should be a hexadecimal prefixed by 0x or decimal codepage code.
132           The valid range is from zero up to 0xffff, but the validity of the
133           codepage is host and configuration dependent.
134
135       -l val
136       --language val
137           Specify the default language to use when reading an "rc" file.  val
138           should be a hexadecimal language code.  The low eight bits are the
139           language, and the high eight bits are the sublanguage.
140
141       --use-temp-file
142           Use a temporary file to instead of using popen to read the output
143           of the preprocessor. Use this option if the popen implementation is
144           buggy on the host (eg., certain non-English language versions of
145           Windows 95 and Windows 98 are known to have buggy popen where the
146           output will instead go the console).
147
148       --no-use-temp-file
149           Use popen, not a temporary file, to read the output of the
150           preprocessor.  This is the default behaviour.
151
152       -h
153       --help
154           Prints a usage summary.
155
156       -V
157       --version
158           Prints the version number for windres.
159
160       --yydebug
161           If windres is compiled with "YYDEBUG" defined as 1, this will turn
162           on parser debugging.
163
164       @file
165           Read command-line options from file.  The options read are inserted
166           in place of the original @file option.  If file does not exist, or
167           cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and not
168           removed.
169
170           Options in file are separated by whitespace.  A whitespace
171           character may be included in an option by surrounding the entire
172           option in either single or double quotes.  Any character (including
173           a backslash) may be included by prefixing the character to be
174           included with a backslash.  The file may itself contain additional
175           @file options; any such options will be processed recursively.
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SEE ALSO

178       the Info entries for binutils.
179
181       Copyright (c) 1991-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
182
183       Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
184       under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
185       any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
186       Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
187       Texts.  A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
188       Free Documentation License".
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192binutils-2.34                     2020-02-27                        WINDRES(1)
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