2 A format is a BFD concept of high level file contents type. The
3 formats supported by BFD are:
10 The BFD may contain data, symbols, relocations and debug info.
17 The BFD contains other BFDs and an optional index.
24 The BFD contains the result of an executable core dump.
26 @findex bfd_check_format
27 @subsubsection @code{bfd_check_format}
30 boolean bfd_check_format(bfd *abfd, bfd_format format);
32 @strong{Description}@*
33 Verify if the file attached to the BFD @var{abfd} is compatible
34 with the format @var{format} (i.e., one of @code{bfd_object},
35 @code{bfd_archive} or @code{bfd_core}).
37 If the BFD has been set to a specific target before the
38 call, only the named target and format combination is
39 checked. If the target has not been set, or has been set to
40 @code{default}, then all the known target backends is
41 interrogated to determine a match. If the default target
42 matches, it is used. If not, exactly one target must recognize
43 the file, or an error results.
45 The function returns @code{true} on success, otherwise @code{false}
46 with one of the following error codes:
51 @code{bfd_error_invalid_operation} -
52 if @code{format} is not one of @code{bfd_object}, @code{bfd_archive} or
56 @code{bfd_error_system_call} -
57 if an error occured during a read - even some file mismatches
58 can cause bfd_error_system_calls.
61 @code{file_not_recognised} -
62 none of the backends recognised the file format.
65 @code{bfd_error_file_ambiguously_recognized} -
66 more than one backend recognised the file format.
69 @findex bfd_check_format_matches
70 @subsubsection @code{bfd_check_format_matches}
73 boolean bfd_check_format_matches(bfd *abfd, bfd_format format, char ***matching);
75 @strong{Description}@*
76 Like @code{bfd_check_format}, except when it returns false with
77 @code{bfd_errno} set to @code{bfd_error_file_ambiguously_recognized}. In that
78 case, if @var{matching} is not NULL, it will be filled in with
79 a NULL-terminated list of the names of the formats that matched,
80 allocated with @code{malloc}.
81 Then the user may choose a format and try again.
83 When done with the list that @var{matching} points to, the caller
86 @findex bfd_set_format
87 @subsubsection @code{bfd_set_format}
90 boolean bfd_set_format(bfd *abfd, bfd_format format);
92 @strong{Description}@*
93 This function sets the file format of the BFD @var{abfd} to the
94 format @var{format}. If the target set in the BFD does not
95 support the format requested, the format is invalid, or the BFD
96 is not open for writing, then an error occurs.
98 @findex bfd_format_string
99 @subsubsection @code{bfd_format_string}
102 const char *bfd_format_string(bfd_format format);
104 @strong{Description}@*
105 Return a pointer to a const string
106 @code{invalid}, @code{object}, @code{archive}, @code{core}, or @code{unknown},
107 depending upon the value of @var{format}.