ELFEDIT(1)

📦 version 2.47, in arch rolling

🦋 elfedit(1) — the glow-up your ELF header deserves 🦋

okay so this is the manual page for elfedit, bestie. she's part of the GNU Development Tools and she is literally the main character of binary metadata. let's get into it 💖

✨ NAME ✨

elfedit — update ELF header and program property of ELF files

🎀 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...

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so elfedit updates the ELF header and program property of ELF files — but only the ones that match the ELF machine and file types you asked for. the options control how and which fields in the ELF header and program property should be updated. it's giving surgical precision, fr fr 🌸

elffile... are the ELF files to be updated. 32-bit and 64-bit ELF files are supported, and so are archives containing ELF files. equal opportunity slay 🙌

🌈 OPTIONS 🌈

the long and short forms of options, shown here as alternatives, are equivalent. and bestie, at least one of --output-mach, --output-type, --output-osabi, --output-abiversion, --enable-x86-feature and --disable-x86-feature must be given. no cap, you can't just vibe in here with nothing to do 💀

  • --input-mach=machine — set 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 — change the ELF machine type in the ELF header to machine. the supported ELF machine types are the same as --input-mach.
  • --input-type=type — set 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 — change the ELF file type in the ELF header to type. the supported ELF types are the same as --input-type.
  • --input-osabi=osabi — set 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 friend group ngl 👯
  • --output-osabi=osabi — change the ELF OSABI in the ELF header to osabi. the supported ELF OSABI are the same as --input-osabi.
  • --input-abiversion=version — set 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 — change the ELF ABIVERSION in the ELF header to version. version must be between 0 and 255.
  • --enable-x86-feature=feature — set 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 — clear 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. if your host doesn't have it, those flags simply aren't invited to the party 😭
  • -v, --version — display the version number of elfedit. lil flex, but make it official 💁‍♀️
  • -h, --help — display the command-line options understood by elfedit. the friendliest thing she does tbh 🫶
  • @file — read 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. (yes, really — she'll just hand it back to you untouched 🙈)

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, it's giving turtles all the way down 🐢✨

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

readelf(1), and the Info entries for binutils. go read those too, i'm literally begging 🥺

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".

okay that's the whole page, you ate that 💅✨

💖 signed, sealed, delivered: this was binutils-2.47, dated 2026-08-26 — elfedit(1), out 🎀🦋

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