mcs(1) - osol9

1mcs(1)                           User Commands                          mcs(1)
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NAME

6       mcs - manipulate the comment section of an object file
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SYNOPSIS

9       mcs [-cdpVz] [-a string] [-n name] file...
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DESCRIPTION

13       The  mcs  command is used to manipulate a section, by default the .com‐
14       ment section, in an ELF object file. It is  used  to  add  to,  delete,
15       print,  and  compress  the contents of a section in an ELF object file,
16       and print only the contents of a section in a  COFF  object  file.  mcs
17       cannot  add, delete, or compress the contents of a section that is con‐
18       tained within a segment.
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21       If the input file is an  archive  (see  ar.h(3HEAD)),  the  archive  is
22       treated  as a set of individual files. For example, if the -a option is
23       specified, the string is appended to the comment section  of  each  ELF
24       object  file in the archive; if the archive member is not an ELF object
25       file, then it is left unchanged.
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28       mcs must be given one or  more  of  the  options  described  below.  It
29       applies, in order, each of the specified options to each file.
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32       For  operations  other than delete, if the object does not already con‐
33       tain a section with the specified name, mcs will  create  a  new  empty
34       section with that name before performing the specified operation.
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OPTIONS

37       The following options are supported:
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39       -a string    Appends  string  to  the comment section of the ELF object
40                    files. If string contains  embedded  blanks,  it  must  be
41                    enclosed in quotation marks.
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44       -c           Compresses  the contents of the comment section of the ELF
45                    object files.  All  duplicate  entries  are  removed.  The
46                    ordering of the remaining entries is not disturbed.
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49       -d           Deletes the contents of the specified section from the ELF
50                    object files. The section header for the  comment  section
51                    is also removed.
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54       -n name      Specifies  the name of the section to access if other than
55                    .comment. By default, mcs deals  with  the  section  named
56                    .comment.  This option can be used to specify another sec‐
57                    tion. mcs can take multiple -n options to allow for speci‐
58                    fication of  multiple sections.
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61       -p           Prints the contents of the comment section on the standard
62                    output. Each section printed is tagged by the name of  the
63                    file  from  which  it  was  extracted,  using  the  format
64                    file[member_name]: for archive files and file:  for  other
65                    files.
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68       -V           Prints on standard error the version number of mcs.
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71       -z           Replaces   any  SHT_PROGBITS  sections  with  zeros  while
72                    retaining the original attributes of the sections.
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EXAMPLES

76       Example 1 Printing a file's comment section
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79       The following entry
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82         example% mcs -p elf.file
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87       prints the comment section of the file elf.file.
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90       Example 2 Appending a string to a comment section
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93       The following entry
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96         example% mcs -a  xyz elf.file
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101       appends string xyz to elf.file's comment section.
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104       Example 3 Stripping a specified non-allocable section
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107       Although used primarily with comment sections, mcs can operate  on  any
108       non-allocable  section. In contrast to the strip command, which removes
109       a predefined selection of non-allocable sections, mcs can  be  used  to
110       delete a specific section. The following entry
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113         example% mcs -d -n .annotate elf.file
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118       removes the section named .annotate from the file elf.file.
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FILES

122       /tmp/mcs*    temporary files
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ATTRIBUTES

126       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
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131       ┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
132       │      ATTRIBUTE TYPE         │      ATTRIBUTE VALUE        │
133       ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
134       │Availability                 │SUNWbtool                    │
135       ├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
136       │Interface Stability          │Stable                       │
137       └─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
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NOTES

144       When mcs deletes a section using  the  -d  option,  it  tries  to  bind
145       together sections of type SHT_REL and target sections pointed to by the
146       sh_info section header field. If one is to be deleted, mcs attempts  to
147       delete the other of the pair.
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150       By using the -z option, it is possible to make an object file by remov‐
151       ing the contents of SHT_PROGBITS sections while  retaining  the  object
152       file's  original  structure  as an ELF file. The need for use of the -z
153       option is limited. However, the option can be used to deliver an object
154       file when the contents of SHT_PROGBITS sections are not relevant.
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158SunOS 5.11                        5 Oct 2007                            mcs(1)