elf_getident(3E)

NAME
     elf_getident - Retrieves file identification data

SYNOPSIS
     cc [flag ...] file ...  -lelf [library ...]

     #include <libelf.h>

     char *elf_getident(Elf *elf, size_t *ptr);

IMPLEMENTATION
     IRIX systems

DESCRIPTION
     ELF provides a framework for various classes of files, where basic
     objects may have 32 bits, 64 bits, etc.  To accommodate these
     differences without forcing the larger sizes on smaller machines, the
     initial bytes in an ELF file hold identification information common to
     all file classes.  Every ELF header's e_ident has EI_NIDENT bytes with
     the following interpretation:

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
      e_ident Index                Value                   Purpose
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 EI_MAG0                  ELFMAG0                   File identification
 EI_MAG1                  ELFMAG1
 EI_MAG2                  ELFMAG2
 EI_MAG3                  ELFMAG3
 EI_CLASS                 ELFCLASSNONE              File class
                          ELFCLASS32
                          ELFCLASS64
 EI_DATA                  ELFDATANONE               Data encoding
                          ELFDATA2LSB
                          ELFDATA2MSB
 EI_VERSION               EV_CURRENT                File version
 7-15                     0                         Unused, set to zero
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     Other kinds of files [see elf_kind(3E)] also may have identification
     data, though they would not conform to e_ident.

     elf_getident returns a pointer to the file's initial bytes.  If the
     library recognizes the file, a conversion from the file image to the
     memory image may occur.  In any case, the identification bytes are
     guaranteed to not have been modified, though the size of the
     unmodified area depends on the file type.  If ptr is non-null, the
     library stores the number of identification bytes in the location to
     which ptr points.  If no data are present, elf is null, or an error
     occurs, the return value is a null pointer, with zero optionally
     stored through ptr.

SEE ALSO
     elf(3E), elf_begin(3E), elf_getehdr(3E), elf_kind(3E), elf_rawfile(3E)

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