.TH AELFLOD 1 2017-01-18
.SH NAME
aelflod \- ACK ELF loader
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B aelflod
[\-a\fInumber\fP] [\-b] [\-h] [\-l] [\-m\fInumber\fP] [\-v]
inputfile outputfile
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I aelflod
converts an absolute ack.out file into a simple binary memory
dump wrapped up in an ELF executable.
It is suitable for producing executables for operating systems
such as Linux.
.PP
.I aelflod
accepts the following flags:
.TP
.BI \-a number
Set the ABI in the ELF header to \fInumber\fP.
The default value is \fI3\fP for Linux.
.TP
.B \-b
Write a big-endian ELF file.
.TP
.B \-h
Print a help message and exit.
.TP
.B \-l
Write a little-endian ELF file.
This is the default.
.TP
.BI \-m number
Set the machine type in the ELF header to \fInumber\fP.
The default value is \fI3\fP for Intel 386 (i386).
Other values are \fI4\fP for Motorola 68000 (m68k)
and \fI20\fP for PowerPC.
.TP
.B \-v
Be verbose.
.PP
The input file must contain exactly four segments: TEXT, ROM,
DATA and BSS, in that order, all occupying contiguous memory.
The file must have all references resolved and be linked to a
fixed address.
The fixed address must be at least 0x54 bytes greater than a
page boundary, in order to make room for the ELF header itself.
.PP
.I aelflod
will write out an ELF header followed by each segment, in order,
ensuring that enough padding is inserted between each segment
to keep the offsets correct.
The created executable will contain just one ELF segment mapped rwx.
.PP
If the input file has symbols, then
.I aelflod
will convert the symbol table to ELF.
The output file has ELF section headers if and only if it has symbols.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
ack.out(5)