CTFDUMP(1)

💅 CTFDUMP — dump the SUNW_ctf section of an ELF file 👑

So bestie, this is the ctfdump(1) page from the General Commands Manual, and honestly? It's giving "niche Unix tool that ate and left no crumbs." Let me walk you through it 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

ctfdump — dump the SUNW_ctf section of an ELF file 💖

Bestie, that's the whole vibe. It takes the CTF section out of an ELF file and shows you everything inside. Iconic.

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

ctfdump [-dfhlsSt] -u file file

Okay so that's the shape of it. Flags go in the bracket part, -u takes the file after it, and then there's another file at the end for the actual ELF binary you're dumping. Two files, one flag. That's the whole recipe 🎀

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

The ctfdump utility dumps the contents of the CTF (Compact C Type Format) data section (SUNW_ctf) present in an ELF binary file. This section was previously created with ctfconvert(1) or ctfmerge(1).

So basically: somebody already ran ctfconvert(1) or ctfmerge(1) to make that section. ctfdump is the friend who shows up after the party to tell you exactly what happened at the party. No cap 💅

The following options are available:

• -d — Show the data object section. 💖
• -f — Show the function section. ✨
• -h — Show the header. 🎀
• -l — Show the label section. 🦋
• -s — Show the string table. 🌸
• -S — Show statistics. 📊
• -t — Show the type section. 👑
• -u ufile — Write the uncompressed CTF data to a raw CTF file called ufile. 💀

Lowkey the whole tool is just "pick which section you want to see, bestie" — and there are eight of them. Not me being obsessed with options that are literally just one letter each. Periodt 😭

Note: -S is capital S and -s is lowercase s. They are not the same flag. Stats ≠ string table. Don't do that to yourself 🙈

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🌈 EXIT STATUS 🌈

The ctfdump utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

That's it. Zero means slay, anything above zero means something went wrong. Fr fr 💜

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

ctfconvert(1), ctfmerge(1), ctf(5)

Go read those next. The lore is deep, iykyk 📚✨

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🧚 HISTORY 🧚

The ctfdump utility first appeared in FreeBSD 7.0.

So it's an elder, but it's still serving 👑

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💜 AUTHORS 💜

The CTF utilities came from OpenSolaris.

Respect the origin story, bestie 🫡

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And that's the page! This version is from Debian, dated April 21, 2022, and it's the CTFDUMP(1) man page in the General Commands Manual. Go dump some CTF data, you absolute icon 💅🎀🦋