Binutils

GNU Binutils

Purpose

Guide agents through the binutils toolset for binary manipulation: static libraries, stripping, address-to-source mapping, and symbol demangling.

Triggers

• "How do I create a static library?"
• "How do I strip a binary but keep a debug file?"
• "I have an address from a crash — how do I find the source line?"
• "How do I demangle a C++ symbol name?"
• "How do I extract/replace sections in a binary?"

Workflow

1. ar — static library management

# Create static library
ar rcs libfoo.a foo.o bar.o baz.o

# List contents
ar t libfoo.a

# Extract an object
ar x libfoo.a foo.o

# Add/replace an object
ar r libfoo.a newbar.o

# Delete an object
ar d libfoo.a oldbar.o

# Show symbol index
nm libfoo.a

# Rebuild symbol index (after modifying archive externally)
ranlib libfoo.a

For LTO archives: use gcc-ar/gcc-ranlib or llvm-ar instead of plain ar.

2. strip — remove debug info

# Strip all debug info (reduce binary size)
strip --strip-all prog

# Strip only debug sections (keep symbol table)
strip --strip-debug prog

# Strip unneeded symbols (keep needed for linking)
strip --strip-unneeded prog

# In-place
strip prog

# To a new file
strip -o prog.stripped prog

3. objcopy — binary section manipulation

# Separate debug info from binary
objcopy --only-keep-debug prog prog.debug
objcopy --strip-debug prog

# Add debuglink (GDB finds prog.debug automatically)
objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=prog.debug prog

# Convert binary to another format
objcopy -O binary prog prog.bin      # raw binary (embedded)
objcopy -O srec prog prog.srec       # Motorola S-record

# Add a section from a file
objcopy --add-section .resources=data.bin prog

# Remove a section
objcopy --remove-section .comment prog

# Change section flags
objcopy --set-section-flags .data=alloc,contents,load,readonly prog

# Embed a binary file as a symbol
objcopy -I binary -O elf64-x86-64 \
    --rename-section .data=.rodata,alloc,load,readonly,data,contents \
    data.bin data.o
# Then link data.o; access via _binary_data_bin_start / _binary_data_bin_end

4. addr2line — address to source

# Convert a crash address to source:line
addr2line -e prog -f 0x400a12
# Output:
# my_function
# /home/user/src/main.c:42

# Multiple addresses
addr2line -e prog -f 0x400a12 0x400b34 0x400c56

# Inline frames (-i)
addr2line -e prog -f -i 0x400a12

# Common use: pipe from backtrace output
cat crash.log | grep '0x[0-9a-f]' | grep -o '0x[0-9a-f]*' | \
  addr2line -e prog -f -i

Requires the binary to have debug info (compiled with -g). For stripped binaries, use the unstripped version or a .debug file.

5. c++filt — demangle C++ symbols

# Demangle a single symbol
c++filt _ZN3foo3barEv
# Output: foo::bar()

# Demangle from nm output
nm prog | c++filt

# Demangle from crash log
cat crash.log | c++filt

Alternative: nm -C prog (demangle directly in nm).

6. strings — extract printable strings

strings prog                    # all strings >= 4 chars
strings -n 8 prog               # minimum length 8
strings -t x prog               # with offset (hex)
strings -t d prog               # with offset (decimal)

# Search for specific strings
strings prog | grep "version"
strings prog | grep "Copyright"

7. readelf and objdump quick reference

(Full coverage in skills/binaries/elf-inspection)

# Symbol lookup for crash address (alternative to addr2line)
objdump -d -M intel prog | grep -A5 "400a12:"

# Find which object file defines a symbol
objdump -t prog | grep my_function

8. Cross-binutils

For cross-compilation, use the target-prefixed versions:

aarch64-linux-gnu-strip prog
aarch64-linux-gnu-objcopy --only-keep-debug prog prog.debug
aarch64-linux-gnu-addr2line -e prog 0x400a12
arm-none-eabi-nm libfirmware.a

For a complete command cheatsheet covering all tools (ar, strip, objcopy, addr2line, strings, c++filt), see references/cheatsheet.md.

Related skills

• Use skills/binaries/elf-inspection for readelf, nm, ldd, objdump inspection
• Use skills/binaries/linkers-lto for linker flags and LTO
• Use skills/debuggers/core-dumps for debug file management with objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink