.\" -*- nroff -*-
.\" Copyright 2000 by Jakub Jelinek.  All Rights Reserved.
.\" This file may be copied under the terms of the GNU Public License.
.\" 
.TH ELFTOAOUT 1 "June 2000" "Elftoaout version 2.3"
.SH NAME
elftoaout \- ELF to a.out convertor
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B elftoaout
[
.B -b
]
[
.B -o
.I outfile
]
[
.B -V
]
.I infile
.SH DESCRIPTION
.BI elftoaout
converts a 32bit or 64bit SPARC ELF image to a.out format.
This is needed for SPARC bootstraps, as Sun PROM expects a.out image when
booting via net or tape or from the disk. On the disk, most of the people
use 
.B SILO, 
which uses
.I elftoaout
to create first stage loader, but understands ELF format, so you don't need
to convert a kernel if you will boot it with 
.B SILO.
.PP
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.I -b
.B sun4
format. Unlike other PROMs (
.B sun4[cdemu]
), sun4 PROM does not understand the 32bit 
.B a.out
header and thus this option strips the header from the image. Other PROMs
need such a header, so use this only if you are building an image for
.B sun4
or other architectures that explicitly reqire a headerless image.
.TP
.I -V
Print
.B elftoaout
version and exit.
.TP
.I -o outfile
Specify output file name, instead of the default
.B a.out
.TP
.I -c
Compute an image checksum and store it in a.out header.
.TP
.I infile
Required parameter which specifies the ELF image to be converted.
.SH BUGS
This utility can handle just a couple of specific cases needed for kernel
and SILO conversions, but is not able to to convert all 
.B ELF 
binaries to
.B a.out.
It can only convert static binaries and has a couple of other limitations.
.SH AUTHOR
.B elftoaout
has been written by Pete A. Zaitcev <zaitcev@vger.rutgers.edu>, support for
64bit ELF has been added by Jakub Jelinek <jj@ultra.linux.cz>.
.SH AVAILABILITY
.B elftoaout
is available for anonymous ftp from sunsite.mff.cuni.cz in
/OS/Linux/Sparc/local/elftoaout/.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR silo (8)