15.1 Target Selection

A target is an object file format. A given target may be supported for multiple architectures (see section 15.2 Architecture selection). A target selection may also have variations for different operating systems or architectures.

The command to list valid target values is `objdump -i' (the first column of output contains the relevant information).

Some sample values are: `a.out-hp300bsd', `ecoff-littlemips', `a.out-sunos-big'.

You can also specify a target using a configuration triplet. This is the same sort of name that is passed to `configure' to specify a target. When you use a configuration triplet as an argument, it must be fully canonicalized. You can see the canonical version of a triplet by running the shell script `config.sub' which is included with the sources.

Some sample configuration triplets are: `m68k-hp-bsd', `mips-dec-ultrix', `sparc-sun-sunos'.

objdump Target

Ways to specify:

1. command line option: `-b' or `--target'

2. environment variable GNUTARGET

3. deduced from the input file

objcopy and strip Input Target

Ways to specify:

1. command line options: `-I' or `--input-target', or `-F' or `--target'

2. environment variable GNUTARGET

3. deduced from the input file

objcopy and strip Output Target

Ways to specify:

1. command line options: `-O' or `--output-target', or `-F' or `--target'

2. the input target (see "objcopy and strip Input Target" above)

3. environment variable GNUTARGET

4. deduced from the input file

nm, size, and strings Target

Ways to specify:

1. command line option: `--target'

2. environment variable GNUTARGET

3. deduced from the input file

Linker Input Target

Ways to specify:

1. command line option: `-b' or `--format' (see section `Options' in Using LD)

2. script command TARGET (see section `Format Commands' in Using LD)

3. environment variable GNUTARGET (see section `Environment' in Using LD)

4. the default target of the selected linker emulation (see section 15.3 Linker emulation selection)

Linker Output Target

Ways to specify:

1. command line option: `-oformat' (see section `Options' in Using LD)

2. script command OUTPUT_FORMAT (see section `Format Commands' in Using LD)

3. the linker input target (see "Linker Input Target" above)