<s>
The	O
Binary	B-Application
File	I-Application
Descriptor	I-Application
library	I-Application
(	O
BFD	O
)	O
is	O
the	B-Application
GNU	I-Application
Project	I-Application
's	O
main	O
mechanism	O
for	O
the	O
portable	B-Architecture
manipulation	O
of	O
object	B-Application
files	I-Application
in	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
formats	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
,	O
it	O
supports	O
approximately	O
50	O
file	O
formats	O
for	O
some	O
25	O
instruction	B-General_Concept
set	I-General_Concept
architectures	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
David	O
Henkel-Wallace	O
of	O
Cygnus	O
Support	O
proposed	O
developing	O
the	O
library	B-Library
as	O
a	O
way	O
to	O
open	O
up	O
new	O
business	O
opportunities	O
for	O
the	O
company	O
,	O
Richard	O
Stallman	O
said	O
that	O
it	O
would	O
be	O
difficult	O
;	O
David	O
's	O
response	O
was	O
that	O
it	O
was	O
n't	O
such	O
a	O
"	O
Big	O
Fucking	O
Deal	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Abbreviated	O
to	O
"	O
BFD	O
"	O
,	O
this	O
became	O
the	O
library	B-Library
name	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
"	O
Binary	B-Application
File	I-Application
Descriptor	I-Application
"	O
was	O
invented	O
later	O
as	O
a	O
backronym	O
for	O
"	O
BFD	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BFD	O
works	O
by	O
presenting	O
a	O
common	O
abstract	O
view	O
of	O
object	B-Application
files	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
object	B-Application
file	I-Application
has	O
a	O
"	O
header	O
"	O
with	O
descriptive	O
info	O
;	O
a	O
variable	O
number	O
of	O
"	O
sections	O
"	O
that	O
each	O
has	O
a	O
name	O
,	O
some	O
attributes	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
block	O
of	O
data	O
;	O
a	O
symbol	B-Application
table	I-Application
;	O
relocation	B-Library
entries	O
;	O
and	O
so	O
forth	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Internally	O
,	O
BFD	O
translates	O
the	O
data	O
from	O
the	O
abstract	O
view	O
into	O
the	O
details	O
of	O
the	O
bit/byte	O
layout	O
required	O
by	O
the	O
target	O
processor	B-General_Concept
and	O
file	O
format	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
key	O
services	O
include	O
handling	O
byte	O
order	O
differences	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
between	O
a	O
little-endian	O
host	O
and	O
big-endian	O
target	O
,	O
correct	O
conversion	O
between	O
32-bit	O
and	O
64-bit	B-Device
data	O
,	O
and	O
details	O
of	O
address	B-General_Concept
arithmetic	O
specified	O
by	O
relocation	B-Library
entries	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
BFD	O
was	O
originally	O
designed	O
to	O
be	O
a	O
generic	O
library	B-Library
usable	O
by	O
a	O
wide	O
variety	O
of	O
tools	O
,	O
the	O
frequent	O
need	O
to	O
tinker	O
with	O
the	O
API	O
to	O
accommodate	O
new	O
systems	O
 '	O
capabilities	O
has	O
tended	O
to	O
limit	O
its	O
use	O
;	O
BFD	O
's	O
main	O
clients	O
are	O
the	O
GNU	B-Application
Assembler	I-Application
(	O
GAS	O
)	O
,	O
GNU	B-Application
Linker	I-Application
(	O
GLD	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
other	O
GNU	B-Application
Binary	I-Application
Utilities	I-Application
(	O
"	O
binutils	B-Application
"	O
)	O
tools	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
GNU	B-Language
Debugger	I-Language
(	O
GDB	B-Language
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
result	O
,	O
BFD	O
is	O
not	O
distributed	O
separately	O
,	O
but	O
is	O
always	O
included	O
with	O
releases	O
of	O
binutils	B-Application
and	O
GDB	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nevertheless	O
,	O
BFD	O
is	O
a	O
critical	O
component	O
in	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
GNU	O
tools	O
for	O
embedded	B-Architecture
systems	I-Architecture
development	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
BFD	O
library	B-Library
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
read	O
the	O
structured	O
data	O
out	O
of	O
a	O
core	B-Error_Name
dump	I-Error_Name
.	O
</s>
