WINDRES(1)            GNU Development Tools            WINDRES(1)



NAME
       windres - manipulate Windows resources.

SYNOPSIS
       windres [options] [input-file] [output-file]

DESCRIPTION
       windres reads resources from an input file and copies them
       into an output file.  Either file may be in one  of  three
       formats:

       "rc"
           A text format read by the Resource Compiler.

       "res"
           A binary format generated by the Resource Compiler.

       "coff"
           A COFF object or executable.

       The exact description of these different formats is avail-
       able in documentation from Microsoft.

       When windres converts from the "rc" format  to  the  "res"
       format,  it  is acting like the Windows Resource Compiler.
       When windres converts from the "res" format to the  "coff"
       format, it is acting like the Windows "CVTRES" program.

       When windres generates an "rc" file, the output is similar
       but not identical to the format expected  for  the  input.
       When an input "rc" file refers to an external filename, an
       output "rc" file will instead include the file contents.

       If the input or output format is  not  specified,  windres
       will guess based on the file name, or, for the input file,
       the file contents.  A file with an extension of  .rc  will
       be  treated  as  an "rc" file, a file with an extension of
       .res will be treated as a "res" file, and a file  with  an
       extension  of .o or .exe will be treated as a "coff" file.

       If no output file is specified,  windres  will  print  the
       resources in "rc" format to standard output.

       The  normal use is for you to write an "rc" file, use win-
       dres to convert it to a COFF object file,  and  then  link
       the  COFF  file into your application.  This will make the
       resources described in the "rc" file available to Windows.

OPTIONS
       -i filename
       --input filename
           The  name  of  the  input file.  If this option is not
           used, then windres will use the first non-option argu-
           ment  as  the  input  file name.  If there are no non-
           option arguments, then windres will read from standard
           input.  windres can not read a COFF file from standard
           input.

       -o filename
       --output filename
           The name of the output file.  If this  option  is  not
           used,  then  windres  will  use  the  first non-option
           argument, after any used for the input file  name,  as
           the output file name.  If there is no non-option argu-
           ment, then windres  will  write  to  standard  output.
           windres  can not write a COFF file to standard output.
           Note, for compatability with rc the option -fo is also
           accepted, but its use is not recommended.

       -J format
       --input-format format
           The  input  format to read.  format may be res, rc, or
           coff.  If no input format is specified,  windres  will
           guess, as described above.

       -O format
       --output-format format
           The output format to generate.  format may be res, rc,
           or coff.  If no output format  is  specified,  windres
           will guess, as described above.

       -F target
       --target target
           Specify the BFD format to use for a COFF file as input
           or output.  This is a BFD target name; you can use the
           --help  option  to  see  a  list of supported targets.
           Normally windres will use the default format, which is
           the first one listed by the --help option.

       --preprocessor program
           When  windres  reads  an "rc" file, it runs it through
           the C preprocessor first.  This option may be used  to
           specify the preprocessor to use, including any leading
           arguments.  The default preprocessor argument is  "gcc
           -E -xc-header -DRC_INVOKED".

       -I directory
       --include-dir directory
           Specify  an  include  directory to use when reading an
           "rc" file.  windres will pass this to the preprocessor
           as an -I option.  windres will also search this direc-
           tory when looking for files named in  the  "rc"  file.
           If  the argument passed to this command matches any of
           the supported formats (as descrived in the -J option),
           it  will  issue a deprecation warning, and behave just
           like the -J option.  New programs should not use  this
           behaviour.   If a directory happens to match a format,
           simple prefix it with ./ to disable the backward  com-
           patibility.

       -D target
       --define sym[=val]
           Specify  a  -D option to pass to the preprocessor when
           reading an "rc" file.

       -U target
       --undefine sym
           Specify a -U option to pass to the  preprocessor  when
           reading an "rc" file.

       -r  Ignored for compatibility with rc.

       -v  Enable  verbose mode.  This tells you what the prepro-
           cessor is if you didn't specify one.

       -l val
       --language val
           Specify the default language to use  when  reading  an
           "rc" file.  val should be a hexadecimal language code.
           The low eight bits are  the  language,  and  the  high
           eight bits are the sublanguage.

       --use-temp-file
           Use a temporary file to instead of using popen to read
           the output of the preprocessor. Use this option if the
           popen  implementation  is buggy on the host (eg., cer-
           tain non-English language versions of Windows  95  and
           Windows  98  are  known  to have buggy popen where the
           output will instead go the console).

       --no-use-temp-file
           Use popen, not a temporary file, to read the output of
           the preprocessor.  This is the default behaviour.

       -h
       --help
           Prints a usage summary.

       -V
       --version
           Prints the version number for windres.

       --yydebug
           If  windres  is  compiled with "YYDEBUG" defined as 1,
           this will turn on parser debugging.

SEE ALSO
       the Info entries for binutils.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (c) 1991, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99,  2000,
       2001, 2002, 2003 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

       Permission  is  granted  to copy, distribute and/or modify
       this document under the terms of the GNU  Free  Documenta-
       tion  License,  Version 1.1 or any later version published
       by the Free Software Foundation; with  no  Invariant  Sec-
       tions,  with  no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
       Texts.  A copy of the license is included in  the  section
       entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''.



binutils-2.14.91            2004-04-09                 WINDRES(1)
