*nix Documentation Project
·  Home
 +   man pages
·  Linux HOWTOs
·  FreeBSD Tips
·  *niX Forums

  man pages->Tru64 Unix man pages -> ar (4)              
Title
Content
Arch
Section
 

ar(4)

Contents


NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

       ar - Archive (library) file format

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

       #include <ar.h>

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

       The  archive command (ar) combines several files into one.
       Archives are used mainly as libraries to  be  searched  by
       the link-editor ld.

       A  file  produced  by  ar has a magic string at the start,
       followed by the constituent files, each preceded by a file
       header.   The  magic number and header layout as described
       in the include file are:
                  COMMON ARCHIVE FORMAT

       ARCHIVE                 File                 Organization:
       _______________________________________________
       |__________ARCHIVE_MAGIC_STRING_______________|
       |__________ARCHIVE_FILE_MEMBER_1______________|          |
       |  |        Archive  File   Header   "ar_hdr"            |
       |.............................................|          |
       Member Contents                       | |               1.
       External  symbol directory   | |              2. Text file
       |          |_____________________________________________|
       |________ARCHIVE_FILE_MEMBER_2________________|          |
       "ar_hdr"                                                 |
       |.............................................|          |
       Member    Contents    (.o    or    text    file)         |
       |_____________________________________________|  |       .
       .               .         |   |         .                .
       .        | |       .              .              .       |
       |_____________________________________________|
       |________ARCHIVE_FILE_MEMBER_n________________|          |
       "ar_hdr"                                                 |
       |.............................................|          |
       Member              Contents                             |
       |_____________________________________________|

       The name is a blank-padded string.  The ar_fmag field contains
 ARFMAG to help verify the presence of a header.  The
       other  fields  are  left-adjusted,  blank-padded  numbers.
       They are decimal except for ar_mode, which is octal.   The
       date  is  the modification date of the file at the time of
       its insertion into the archive.

       Each file begins on an even (0 mod 2) boundary; a new-line
       is  inserted between files if necessary.  Nevertheless the
       size given reflects the actual size of the file  exclusive
       of padding.

       There  is no provision for empty areas in an archive file.

       The encoding of the header is  portable  across  machines.
       If an archive contains printable files, the archive itself
       is printable.

RESTRICTIONS    [Toc]    [Back]

       File names lose trailing blanks.   Most  software  dealing
       with  archives takes even an included blank as a name terminator.

RELATED INFORMATION    [Toc]    [Back]

       ar(1), ld(1), nm(1) delim off



                                                            ar(4)
[ Back ]
 Similar pages
Name OS Title
ranlib NetBSD a.out archive (library) table-of-contents format
pax Tru64 Archive file format
tar Tru64 Archive file format
ar HP-UX common archive file format
ldahread Tru64 read the archive header of a member of an archive file
ldahread IRIX read the archive header of a member of an archive file
tar HP-UX format of tar tape archive
cpio Tru64 Format of cpio archive
cpio HP-UX format of cpio archive
cpio IRIX format of cpio archive
Copyright © 2004-2005 DeniX Solutions SRL
newsletter delivery service