This distribution is a collection of programs that are generally unrelated, except in that they all deal with the ELF file format. The main purpose of these programs is to be illustrative and educational -- to help fellow programmers understand the ELF file format and something of how it works under the Linux platform. For the most part, these programs have limited real-world utility. (Although I myself have found some of these programs quite useful while writing the others.) With the exception of shared use of the elfrw static library, each program is independent of the others. There is no other shared code between them, and they all take slightly different approaches to handling ELF files. The table of contents: sstrip/ sstrip is a small utility that removes as much as possible from an ELF file without affecting the file's memory image. objres/ objres is a simple utility that embeds arbitrary binary data files in object files as exported variables. elfls/ elfls is a utility that displays an ELF file's program and/or section header tables, which serve as a kind of global roadmap to the file's contents. rebind/ rebind is another small utility that alters the binding of selected exported symbols in an ELF object file. elfrw/ libelfrw.a is a small wrapper library. Its main purpose is to make 32-bit ELF structures look like 64-bit structures when reading ELF files (and vice versa when writing them), thus allowing programs to more easily support both flavors of ELF files. The previous four programs all make use of this library. elftoc/ elftoc takes an ELF file and generates C code that defines a structure with the same memory image, using the structures and preprocessor symbols defined in your system's elf.h header file. ebfc/ ebfc is a compiler for a tiny programming language. The compiler can generate 64-bit ELF executables, object files, and shared libraries. infect/ infect provides a very simple example of modifying an ELF executable without affecting its original program. See the README in each directory for more details about each program. The ELF standard is worthwhile reading if you want to understand more about the inner workings of these programs. You can find PDF documents describing the 32-bit ELF standard, and the additions made for 64-bit support, floating around in various unlikely places on the web. Search engines are your friends here. Many years ago I created a flat-text version of the document because the Postscript version was too hard to search. You can find it at <http://www.muppetlabs.com/~breadbox/software/ELF.txt>. Although it only covers 32-bit ELF for x86, nearly all of it is still applicable to 64-bit ELF files as well. Earlier versions of this distribution also included my collection of tiny ELF executables. I stopped including these because they are somewhat orthogonal to the subject of most of the programs here. They can be found at <http://www.muppetlabs.com/~breadbox/software/tiny/> if you are curious about them. These programs are copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2011, 2021 by Brian Raiter. These programs are free software; you can redistribute them and/or modify them under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. These programs are distributed in the hope that they will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License, included in this distribution in the file COPYING, for more details. Bug reports and general feedback should be directed to the author at <breadbox@muppetlabs.com>. Share and enjoy. Brian Raiter <http://www.muppetlabs.com/~breadbox/software/elfkickers.html>