ELFEDIT(1)

📦
version 2.47 · 6 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 ELFEDIT(1) — the girl who edits your ELF headers 💖

okay so welcome to elfedit(1), bestie ✨ this one lives in the GNU Development Tools family and honestly? she's iconic.

✨ NAME ✨

elfedit — update ELF header and program property of ELF files 🦋

like. she goes in and edits the ELF header. and the program property. that's the whole job. slay.

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

elfedit [--input-mach=machine]
        [--input-type=type]
        [--input-osabi=osabi]
        [--input-abiversion=version]
        --output-mach=machine
        --output-type=type
        --output-osabi=osabi
        --output-abiversion=version
        --enable-x86-feature=feature
        --disable-x86-feature=feature
        [-v|--version]
        [-h|--help]
        elffile...

look at her. 💅 so structured. so composed. not me simping over a binutils command.

👑 DESCRIPTION 👑

elfedit updates the ELF header and program property of ELF files which have the matching ELF machine and file types. so like — the vibe check has to pass first, bestie. her options control how and which fields in the ELF header and program property should be updated. 🎀

elffile... are the ELF files to be updated. 📁 32-bit and 64-bit ELF files are supported, as are archives containing ELF files. yes she does both. she does archives too. versatile queen.

💜 OPTIONS 💜

okay so the long and short forms of options, shown here as alternatives, are equivalent. no cap. 🔥

⚠️ at LEAST one of the --output-mach, --output-type, --output-osabi, --output-abiversion, --enable-x86-feature and --disable-x86-feature options must be given. like. you literally cannot just show up and do nothing. pick a lane. ✋
  • --input-mach=machine — sets the matching input ELF machine type to machine. if --input-mach isn't specified, she'll match any ELF machine types. 🧚

the supported ELF machine types are: i386, IAMCU, L1OM, K1OM and x86-64. ✨

  • --output-mach=machine — changes the ELF machine type in the ELF header to machine. the supported ELF machine types are the same as --input-mach. 🔁
  • --input-type=type — sets the matching input ELF file type to type. if --input-type isn't specified, she'll match any ELF file types. 🎀

the supported ELF file types are: rel, exec and dyn. ⭐

  • --output-type=type — changes the ELF file type in the ELF header to type. the supported ELF types are the same as --input-type. 🔁
  • --input-osabi=osabi — sets the matching input ELF file OSABI to osabi. if --input-osabi isn't specified, she'll match any ELF OSABIs. 💫

the supported ELF OSABIs are: none, HPUX, NetBSD, GNU, Linux (alias for GNU), Solaris, AIX, Irix, FreeBSD, TRU64, Modesto, OpenBSD, OpenVMS, NSK, AROS and FenixOS. that's a lot of OSABIs and she knows every single one. main character energy fr fr. 👑

  • --output-osabi=osabi — changes the ELF OSABI in the ELF header to osabi. the supported ELF OSABI are the same as --input-osabi. 🔁
  • --input-abiversion=version — sets the matching input ELF file ABIVERSION to version. version must be between 0 and 255. 🚨 if --input-abiversion isn't specified, she'll match any ELF ABIVERSIONs.
  • --output-abiversion=version — changes the ELF ABIVERSION in the ELF header to version. version must be between 0 and 255. 🚨
  • --enable-x86-feature=feature — sets the feature bit in program property in exec or dyn ELF files with machine types of i386 or x86-64. 🌈 the supported features are: ibt, shstk, lam_u48 and lam_u57. 🔥
  • --disable-x86-feature=feature — clears the feature bit in program property in exec or dyn ELF files with machine types of i386 or x86-64. the supported features are the same as --enable-x86-feature. 🔁
👀 Note: --enable-x86-feature and --disable-x86-feature are available only on hosts with mmap support. no mmap, no feature bits, sorry bestie. 💀
  • -v, --version — displays the version number of elfedit. 💖
  • -h, --help — displays the command-line options understood by elfedit. 🫶
  • @file — reads command-line options from file. the options read are inserted in place of the original @file option. if file does not exist, or cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and not removed. 😭

options in file are separated by whitespace. a whitespace character may be included in an option by surrounding the entire option in either single or double quotes. 🎀 any character (including a backslash) may be included by prefixing the character to be included with a backslash. the file may itself contain additional @file options; any such options will be processed recursively. 🌀 it's giving inception. iykyk.

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

  • readelf(1), and the Info entries for binutils. 📚 go read those too. she said so. mutuals support mutuals.

Copyright (c) 1991-2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. ✨

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. 📜 a copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License". 🎀

and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🌈✨ this was binutils-2.47, dated 2026-09-12, and it's ELFEDIT(1) — go update some ELF headers and eat, queen 👑💖🎀

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