GELF_GETREL(3)

💖 GELF_GETREL(3) — libelf programmer's manual energy ✨

okay bestie, sit down, grab your strawberry drink 🍓, because we're talking about gelf_getrel and gelf_getrela — the libelf glow-up functions that hand you relocation entries in a class-independent way. no more worrying about whether you're on a 32-bit or 64-bit elf, these babies just hand you the nice struct. periodt.

---

🌸 NAME 🌸

gelf_getrel, gelf_getrela — retrieve relocation entries as class-independent structures 🦋

---

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <gelf.h>

GElf_Rel  *gelf_getrel (Elf_Data *data, int ndx, GElf_Rel  *dst);
GElf_Rela *gelf_getrela(Elf_Data *data, int ndx, GElf_Rela *dst);

---

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so here's the vibe. gelf_getrel() and gelf_getrela() take the REL or RELA relocation entry sitting at index ndx inside data, and translate it into a class-independent representation which they store in *dst. it's giving ✨portable✨, it's giving ✨no struct-layout drama✨.

and listen — data has to be the Elf_Data of a section whose type matches whichever function you're calling. that means:

• SHT_REL for gelf_getrel() 🔥
• SHT_RELA for gelf_getrela() 🔥

match them up wrong and you're not slaying, you're just... there. 🙈

---

🎀 PARAMETERS 🎀

• data — pointer to an Elf_Data for a SHT_REL or SHT_RELA relocation section.
• ndx — zero-based index of the relocation entry within data. yes, zero-based, we start counting at 0 in this house 👑
• dst — pointer to a caller-provided structure for storing the relocation: GElf_Rel for gelf_getrel() and GElf_Rela for gelf_getrela(). and dst must not be NULL. like, at all. don't do it. 💀

---

🌈 RETURN VALUE 🌈

• on success: it returns dst 💖 yay, you got your struct back
• on failure: it returns NULL and sets elf_errno 😭 go check that errno bestie
• special case: if data is NULL, then NULL is returned without setting elf_errno. so like, don't go blaming errno for that one, it's innocent 🫶

---

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

elf_getdata(3), gelf_update_rel(3), gelf_update_rela(3), libelf(3), elf(5)

the whole friend group, fr fr 💜

---

🧚 ATTRIBUTES 🧚

• Interface: gelf_getrel(), gelf_getrela()
• Attribute: Thread safety
• Value: MT-Safe

so yeah, they're MT-Safe — you can take them to the group chat and nobody's fighting over the thread. 🌸

---

🐛 REPORTING BUGS 🐛

found a bug? do not suffer in silence, bestie. report it to <elfutils-devel@sourceware.org> or hit up https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/. the maintainers literally want to know. 💖

---

and that's the whole page, no cap. mwah 💅✨

this was the libelf programmer's manual, page dated 2025-09-24, brought to you by Libelf — stay class-independent, stay iconic, and go read a relocation entry responsibly 🎀🦋💜