mcs(1)								   User Commands							    mcs(1)

NAME

       mcs - manipulate the comment section of an object file

SYNOPSIS

       mcs [-cdpVz] [-a string] [-n name] file...

DESCRIPTION

       The  mcs  command  is  used  to manipulate a section, by default the .comment section, in an ELF object file. It is used to add to, delete,
       print, and compress the contents of a section in an ELF object file, and print only the contents of a section in a COFF	object	file.  mcs
       cannot add, delete, or compress the contents of a section that is contained within a segment.

       If  the	input  file is an archive (see ar.h(3HEAD)), the archive is treated as a set of individual files. For example, if the -a option is
       specified, the string is appended to the comment section of each ELF object file in the archive; if the archive member is not an ELF object
       file, then it is left unchanged.

       mcs must be given one or more of the options described below. It applies, in order, each of the specified options to each file.

       For  operations	other  than  delete, if the object does not already contain a section with the specified name, mcs will create a new empty
       section with that name before performing the specified operation.

OPTIONS

       The following options are supported:

       -a string    Appends string to the comment section of the ELF object files. If string contains embedded blanks, it must be enclosed in quo-
		    tation marks.

       -c	    Compresses the contents of the comment section of the ELF object files. All duplicate entries are removed. The ordering of the
		    remaining entries is not disturbed.

       -d	    Deletes the contents of the specified section from the ELF object files. The section header for the comment  section  is  also
		    removed.

       -n name	    Specifies  the  name  of  the section to access if other than .comment. By default, mcs deals with the section named .comment.
		    This option can be used to specify another section. mcs can take multiple -n options to allow for specification  of   multiple
		    sections.

       -p	    Prints the contents of the comment section on the standard output. Each section printed is tagged by the name of the file from
		    which it was extracted, using the format file[member_name]: for archive files and file: for other files.

       -V	    Prints on standard error the version number of mcs.

       -z	    Replaces any SHT_PROGBITS sections with zeros while retaining the original attributes of the sections.

EXAMPLES

       Example 1 Printing a file's comment section

       The following entry

	 example% mcs -p elf.file

       prints the comment section of the file elf.file.

       Example 2 Appending a string to a comment section

       The following entry

	 example% mcs -a  xyz elf.file

       appends string xyz to elf.file's comment section.

       Example 3 Stripping a specified non-allocable section

       Although used primarily with comment sections, mcs can operate on any non-allocable section.  In  contrast  to  the  strip  command,  which
       removes a predefined selection of non-allocable sections, mcs can be used to delete a specific section. The following entry

	 example% mcs -d -n .annotate elf.file

       removes the section named .annotate from the file elf.file.

FILES

       /tmp/mcs*    temporary files

ATTRIBUTES

       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWbtool 		   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface Stability	     |Stable			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       ar(1), as(1), ld(1), strip(1), ar.h(3HEAD), elf(3ELF), tmpnam(3C), a.out(4), attributes(5)

NOTES

       When  mcs  deletes  a section using the -d option, it tries to bind together sections of type SHT_REL and target sections pointed to by the
       sh_info section header field. If one is to be deleted, mcs attempts to delete the other of the pair.

       By using the -z option, it is possible to make an object file by removing the contents of SHT_PROGBITS sections while retaining the  object
       file's  original  structure  as	an  ELF  file. The need for use of the -z option is limited. However, the option can be used to deliver an
       object file when the contents of SHT_PROGBITS sections are not relevant.

SunOS 5.11							    5 Oct 2007								    mcs(1)