Manual Pages for UNIX Operating System command usage for man mcs

User Commands                                              mcs(1)



NAME
     mcs - manipulate the comment section of an object file

SYNOPSIS
     mcs [-cdpVz] [-a string] [-n name] file...


DESCRIPTION
     The mcs command is used to manipulate a section, by  default
     the  .comment  section, in an ELF object file. It is used to
     add to, delete, print, and compress the contents of  a  sec-
     tion in an ELF object file, and print only the contents of a
     section in a COFF object file. mcs cannot  add,  delete,  or
     compress  the contents of a section that is contained within
     a segment.


     If the input file  is  an  archive  (see  ar.h(3HEAD)),  the
     archive  is  treated as a set of individual files. For exam-
     ple, if the -a option is specified, the string  is  appended
     to  the  comment  section  of  each  ELF  object file in the
     archive; if the archive member is not an  ELF  object  file,
     then it is left unchanged.


     mcs must be given one  or  more  of  the  options  described
     below.  It  applies, in order, each of the specified options
     to each file.


     For operations other than delete, if  the  object  does  not
     already  contain a section with the specified name, mcs will
     create a new empty section with that name before  performing
     the specified operation.

OPTIONS
     The following options are supported:

     -a string    Appends string to the comment  section  of  the
                  ELF  object  files. If string contains embedded
                  blanks, it must be enclosed in quotation marks.


     -c           Compresses the contents of the comment  section
                  of  the ELF object files. All duplicate entries
                  are removed.  The  ordering  of  the  remaining
                  entries is not disturbed.


     -d           Deletes the contents of the  specified  section
                  from  the  ELF object files. The section header
                  for the comment section is also removed.



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User Commands                                              mcs(1)



     -n name      Specifies the name of the section to access  if
                  other than .comment. By default, mcs deals with
                  the section named .comment. This option can  be
                  used  to  specify another section. mcs can take
                  multiple -n options to allow for  specification
                  of  multiple sections.


     -p           Prints the contents of the comment  section  on
                  the  standard  output.  Each section printed is
                  tagged by the name of the file  from  which  it
                  was     extracted,     using     the     format
                  file[member_name]: for archive files and  file:
                  for other files.


     -V           Prints on standard error the version number  of
                  mcs.


     -z           Replaces any SHT_PROGBITS sections  with  zeros
                  while  retaining the original attributes of the
                  sections.


EXAMPLES
     Example 1 Printing a file's comment section


     The following entry


       example% mcs -p elf.file




     prints the comment section of the file elf.file.


     Example 2 Appending a string to a comment section


     The following entry


       example% mcs -a  xyz elf.file








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User Commands                                              mcs(1)



     appends string xyz to elf.file's comment section.


     Example 3 Stripping a specified non-allocable section


     Although used  primarily  with  comment  sections,  mcs  can
     operate  on  any  non-allocable  section. In contrast to the
     strip command, which removes a predefined selection of  non-
     allocable  sections,  mcs  can  be used to delete a specific
     section. The following entry


       example% mcs -d -n .annotate elf.file




     removes the section named .annotate from the file elf.file.


FILES
     /tmp/mcs*    temporary files


ATTRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:



     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | developer/object-file       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Interface Stability         | Committed                   |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|


SEE ALSO
     ar(1),  as(1),  ld(1),  strip(1),  ar.h(3HEAD),   elf(3ELF),
     tmpnam(3C), a.out(4), attributes(5)

NOTES
     When mcs deletes a section using the -d option, it tries  to
     bind  together  sections of type SHT_REL and target sections
     pointed to by the sh_info section header field. If one is to
     be deleted, mcs attempts to delete the other of the pair.






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User Commands                                              mcs(1)



     By using the -z option, it is possible  to  make  an  object
     file by removing the contents of SHT_PROGBITS sections while
     retaining the object file's original  structure  as  an  ELF
     file. The need for use of the -z option is limited. However,
     the option can be used to deliver an object  file  when  the
     contents of SHT_PROGBITS sections are not relevant.

















































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