User:Maffblaster/Drafts/GNU Binutils

Resources

Installation

USE flags

USE flags for sys-devel/binutils Tools necessary to build programs

`cet`	Enable Intel Control-flow Enforcement Technology.
`debuginfod`	Enable debuginfod support via dev-libs/elfutils libdebuginfod
`default-gold`	Set ld to point to ld.gold instead of ld.bfd
`doc`	Add extra documentation (API, Javadoc, etc). It is recommended to enable per package instead of globally
`gold`	Build ld.gold linker
`gprofng`	Enable the next-generation gprofng profiler
`hardened`	Activate default security enhancements for toolchain (gcc, glibc, binutils)
`multitarget`	Adds support to binutils for cross compiling (does not work with gas)
`nls`	Add Native Language Support (using gettext - GNU locale utilities)
`pgo`	Build binutils with Profile Guided Optimization (PGO) and LTO
`plugins`	Enable plugin support in tools
`static-libs`	Build static versions of dynamic libraries as well
`test`	Enable dependencies and/or preparations necessary to run tests (usually controlled by FEATURES=test but can be toggled independently)
`vanilla`	Do not add extra patches which change default behaviour; DO NOT USE THIS ON A GLOBAL SCALE as the severity of the meaning changes drastically
`zstd`	Enable support for ZSTD compression

Data provided by the Gentoo Package Database · Last update: 2024-05-11 00:45 More information about USE flags

Emerge

root #emerge --ask sys-devel/binutils

Configuration

Select a newer version

Upon binutils package upgrades it is occasionally necessary to select a newer profile to be used for the system's toolchain. This can be done using the binutils-config command. First list known (installed) versions:

root #binutils-config --list-profiles

 [1] x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-2.25.1 *
 [2] x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-2.26.1

Select the newest profile. Either the integer number or the full profile name can be used to select the profile; below the profile name is used:

root #binutils-config x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-2.26.1

 * Switching to x86_64-pc-linux-gnu-2.26.1 ...                                                                                   [ ok ]

 * Please remember to run:

 *   # . /etc/profile

Alternatively one can use the eselect binutils command instead of binutils-config.

Usage

There are several command-line tools for binary manipulation distributed in binutils, each has its own expectation on acceptable options, arguments, and parameters. Covering them all goes beyond the scope of this article, however they may eventually be expounded upon in the future. See upstream documentation or the appropriate man page for usage on each utility.

Troubleshooting

Preserved-rebuild loop

When Portage is caught in a @preserved-rebuild loop and the only culprit failing is binutils, use the following steps to resolve the issue. First use the binutils-config command to select the latest emerged version. See Select a new version section above. After executing this step, return here and perform a --depclean:

root #emerge --ask --depclean

Finally perform a @preserved-rebuild a final time:

root #emerge --ask @preserved-rebuild

Removal

Generally speaking this collection of software tools should only have old versions removed by passing the --depclean option to emerge.

Unmerge

root #emerge --ask --depclean sys-devel/binutils