Nick Clifton

Learn how to use a linker's section ordering feature to experiment with the layout of code and data in memory, without the need to write full linker scripts.

Create scanning tools that search for specific instruction sequences in binary files. These tools help you verify compiled executable security and uniformity.

Get quick tips for solving problems with comments, data, symbols, instructions, and sections in portable GNU Assembler (GAS) assembly code.

We explain how to include large data files into the body of an executable program so that it's there when the program runs.

Annocheck a new utility to examine how a binary was built and to check that it has all of the appropriate security hardening features enabled. It also has several other modes that perform different kinds of examination of binary files.

This blog is part of a series covering the latest changes and improvements in the Spring 2018 GNU Toolchain Update and components that make up this Toolchain. Apart from the announcement of new releases, however, the features described here are at the bleeding edge of software development in the tools.

Compiled files, often called binaries, are a mainstay of modern computer systems. It is often hard for system builders and users to find out more than just very basic information about these files. The Annobin project exists as means to understand how the binary was built and what testing was performed on the binary.