Updating an object file using the BFD interface
I need to add a symbol to an existing object file. I am currently trying to use the elf32-i386 target. I tried to open the object file in read / write mode:
abfd = bfd_fopen ("test.o", "elf32-i386", "r+", -1);
I have no problem reading the existing symbol table. I compared it with the output of objdump and that's ok. But when I add a new symbol to the existing asymmetric list ** and try to set a new symbol table by calling `bfd_set_symtab (abfd, newsymtab, newsymtab_count), it fails.
Looking at the syms.c file where it is bfd_set_symtab()
defined, it seems that the bfd object created using write-only mode can set the symbol.
if (abfd->format != bfd_object || bfd_read_p (abfd))
{
bfd_set_error (bfd_error_invalid_operation);
return FALSE;
}
bfd_read_p (abfd) expands to :
((abfd)->direction == read_direction || (abfd)->direction == both_direction)
"+" is both directions.
I cannot open the object file in write mode as it will destroy the existing data in the file. I was left with the only option to copy a BFD object created using read mode to another created using write mode of the new output object file. Looked at the BFD interface and I don't see any api to copy / clone an existing BFD object. There is a sample program in the BFD documentation for creating a symbol table, but it is in a new output object file. I want to update an existing object file.
Can anyone please explain how we can edit an object file using the BFD interface for any simple use.
Many thanks!
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I thought about it myself. I mentioned the objcopy utility code. The copy_object () function does the task that I wanted. It uses a lot of additional stuff based on the command line option. I had to throw away all those codes and keep only the basic copy functionality like setting up partitions, copying symbol table, copying repos, copying partition contents and personal data. I can post the code in case anyone is interested.
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