ELFEDIT(1)

✨ ELFEDIT(1) ✨

okay bestie, welcome to the elfedit manual page — it lives in the GNU Development Tools section, and it is literally here to glow up your ELF files 💅

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🌸 NAME 🌸

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

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🎀 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...

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so elfedit updates the ELF header and the program property of ELF files that have the matching ELF machine and file types, no cap. the options are the whole vibe control panel — they decide how and which fields in the ELF header and program property get updated. 🛠️

elffile... is the list of ELF files getting that little makeover. 💖 32-bit and 64-bit ELF files are both supported, and so are archives that contain ELF files. iconic, honestly.

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💜 OPTIONS 💜

the long and short forms of options, shown here as alternatives, are equivalent — pick whichever one speaks to you. and listen: 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 can't just show up and do nothing, bestie. 🫶

• --input-mach=machine — sets the matching input ELF machine type to machine. if --input-mach isn't specified, it will 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, it will 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, it will 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 whole roster 😭
• --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, it will 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. slay 💅
• --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. 🚫

ngl, important note: --enable-x86-feature and --disable-x86-feature are available only on hosts with mmap support. no mmap, no feature bits, periodt. 💀

• -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 that get 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 it will not be 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, and any such options will be processed recursively. 🌀

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

readelf(1), and the Info entries for binutils. go read those too, bestie, they're giving lore 🫶

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📜 COPYRIGHT 📜

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".

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🎀 this was binutils-2.47, dated 2026-08-11 — so like, go forth and edit those ELF headers, main character energy only 💖✨🦋