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.
20
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.  The default preprocessor is "gcc".
92
93       --preprocessor-arg option
94           When windres reads an "rc" file, it runs it through the C
95           preprocessor first.  This option may be used to specify additional
96           text to be passed to preprocessor on its command line.  This option
97           can be used multiple times to add multiple options to the
98           preprocessor command line.  If the --preprocessor option has not
99           been specified then a default set of preprocessor arguments will be
100           used, with any --preprocessor-arg options being placed after them
101           on the command line.  These default arguments are "-E",
102           "-xc-header" and "-DRC_INVOKED".
103
104       -I directory
105       --include-dir directory
106           Specify an include directory to use when reading an "rc" file.
107           windres will pass this to the preprocessor as an -I option.
108           windres will also search this directory when looking for files
109           named in the "rc" file.  If the argument passed to this command
110           matches any of the supported formats (as described in the -J
111           option), it will issue a deprecation warning, and behave just like
112           the -J option.  New programs should not use this behaviour.  If a
113           directory happens to match a format, simple prefix it with ./ to
114           disable the backward compatibility.
115
116       -D target
117       --define sym[=val]
118           Specify a -D option to pass to the preprocessor when reading an
119           "rc" file.
120
121       -U target
122       --undefine sym
123           Specify a -U option to pass to the preprocessor when reading an
124           "rc" file.
125
126       -r  Ignored for compatibility with rc.
127
128       -v  Enable verbose mode.  This tells you what the preprocessor is if
129           you didn't specify one.
130
131       -c val
132       --codepage val
133           Specify the default codepage to use when reading an "rc" file.  val
134           should be a hexadecimal prefixed by 0x or decimal codepage code.
135           The valid range is from zero up to 0xffff, but the validity of the
136           codepage is host and configuration dependent.
137
138       -l val
139       --language val
140           Specify the default language to use when reading an "rc" file.  val
141           should be a hexadecimal language code.  The low eight bits are the
142           language, and the high eight bits are the sublanguage.
143
144       --use-temp-file
145           Use a temporary file to instead of using popen to read the output
146           of the preprocessor. Use this option if the popen implementation is
147           buggy on the host (eg., certain non-English language versions of
148           Windows 95 and Windows 98 are known to have buggy popen where the
149           output will instead go the console).
150
151       --no-use-temp-file
152           Use popen, not a temporary file, to read the output of the
153           preprocessor.  This is the default behaviour.
154
155       -h
156       --help
157           Prints a usage summary.
158
159       -V
160       --version
161           Prints the version number for windres.
162
163       --yydebug
164           If windres is compiled with "YYDEBUG" defined as 1, this will turn
165           on parser debugging.
166
167       @file
168           Read command-line options from file.  The options read are inserted
169           in place of the original @file option.  If file does not exist, or
170           cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and not
171           removed.
172
173           Options in file are separated by whitespace.  A whitespace
174           character may be included in an option by surrounding the entire
175           option in either single or double quotes.  Any character (including
176           a backslash) may be included by prefixing the character to be
177           included with a backslash.  The file may itself contain additional
178           @file options; any such options will be processed recursively.
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SEE ALSO

181       the Info entries for binutils.
182
184       Copyright (c) 1991-2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
185
186       Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
187       under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
188       any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
189       Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
190       Texts.  A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
191       Free Documentation License".
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195binutils-2.40.00                  2023-07-30                        WINDRES(1)
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