bsd man page for ranlib

RANLIB(5)							File Formats Manual							 RANLIB(5)

NAME
       ranlib - archive (library) table-of-contents format

SYNOPSIS
       #include <ranlib.h>

DESCRIPTION
       The archive table-of-contents command ranlib creates a table of contents for archives, containing object files, to be used by the link-edi-
       tor ld(1).  It operates on archives created with the utility ar(1).

       The Ranlib function prepends a new file to the archive which has three separate parts.  The first part is a standard archive header,  which
       has a special name field,  "__.SYMDEF".

       The  second  part is a ``long'' followed by a list of ranlib structures.  The long is the size, in bytes, of the list of ranlib structures.
       Each of the ranlib structures consists of a zero based offset into the next section (a string table of symbols)	and  an  offset  from  the
       beginning  of the archive to the start of the archive file which defines the symbol.  The actual number of ranlib structures is this number
       divided by the size of an individual ranlib structure.

       The third part is a ``long'' followed by a string table.  The long is the size, in bytes of the string table.

SEE ALSO
       ar(1), ranlib(1)

4.3 Berkeley Distribution					   May 10, 1991 							 RANLIB(5)