The GNU Binutils are a collection of binary tools. The main ones are:
But they also include:
Most of these programs use BFD, the Binary File Descriptor library, to do low-level manipulation. Many of them also use the opcodes library to assemble and disassemble machine instructions.
The binutils have been ported to most major Unix variants as well as Wintel systems, and their main reason for existence is to give the GNU system (and GNU/Linux) the facility to compile and link programs.
The latest release of GNU binutils is 2.17. The various NEWS files (binutils, gas, and ld) have details of what has changed in this release.
See the SOFTWARE page for information on obtaining releases of GNU binutils and other GNU software. The current release can be downloaded from http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/binutils
If you plan to do active work on GNU binutils, you can access the development source tree by anonymous CVS:
cvs -z 9 -d :pserver:anoncvs@sourceware.org:/cvs/src login {enter "anoncvs" as the password} cvs -z 9 -d :pserver:anoncvs@sourceware.org:/cvs/src co binutils
Alternatively, you can use the cvsweb interface, or the source snapshots, available as bzipped tar files via anonymous FTP from ftp://sourceware.org/pub/binutils/snapshots.
There is a bug-tracking system at http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/.
There are three binutils mailing lists:
You can use this form to subscribe to the binutils@sourceware.org or binutils-cvs@sourceware.org mailing lists:
To subscribe to the bug-binutils@gnu.org mailing list, see the bug-binutils info page.
You may wish to browse the old mail archives of the gas2 and bfd mailing lists. These were the discussion lists for binutils until May 1999. Please do not send mail to them any longer.
The documentation for binutils 2.17 is available.
Return to GNU's home page.
Please send FSF & GNU inquiries & questions to gnu@gnu.org. There are also other ways to contact the FSF.
Please send comments on these web pages to binutils@sourceware.org, send other questions to gnu@gnu.org.
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Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
Updated: Last modified: Fri Jun 23 16:46:41 EDT 2006