vtool.1   [plain text]


.ig

  Copyright (c) 2019 Apple Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

..
.Dd December 31, 2018
.Os "Darwin"
.Dt VTOOL 1
.Sh NAME
.Nm vtool
.Nd Mach-O version number utility
.\"  SYNOPSIS
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Op Fl arch Aq arch
.Ar ...
.Aq Ar show\ command
.Ar ...
.Ar file
.Nm
.Op Fl arch Aq arch
.Ar ...
.Aq Ar set\ command
.Ar ...
.Op Fl replace
.Fl output Ar out_file
.Ar file
.Nm
.Op Fl arch Aq arch
.Ar ...
.Aq Ar remove\ command
.Ar ...
.Fl output Ar out_file
.Ar file
.Nm
.Fl help
.\"  DESCRIPTION
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
utility displays and edits build and source version numbers embedded in the
.Xr Mach-O 5
file format. These version numbers are stored within the Mach-O load
commands, as described in the
.Aq Pa mach-o/loader.h
header file and in the
.Sx VERSION LOAD COMMANDS
section below. When editing files, a new
.Ar out_file
must be specified using the
.Fl output
flag;
.Nm
will only ever write to a single output file, and input files are never modified
in place.
.Pp
.Nm
operates in one of three functional modes (in addition to a
.Em help
mode) depending on the type of arguments specified on the command line:
.Em show ,
.Em set ,
and
.Em remove .
All of these modes operate on
.Dq universal
(multi-architecture) files as well as
ordinary Mach-O files. The
.Fl arch
flag limits operation to one or more architectures within a universal file.
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width "XXkeepParent"
.It Em Show
Show options include
.Fl show ,
.Fl show-build ,
.Fl show-source ,
and
.Fl show-space .
Only one of these commands may be specified. The version information will be
printed in a manner similar to
.Xr otool 1
or
.Xr otool-classic 1 .
.It Em Set
Set options include
.Fl set-build-tool ,
.Fl set-build-version ,
.Fl set-source-version ,
and
.Fl set-version-min .
Any number of these commands can be combined in a single
.Nm
invocation. You can use these set commands to add a new build version to a
Mach-O or to replace an existing version for a specific platform. When used
with the
.Fl replace
option, all existing build versions will be entirely replaced by the new
build versions specified on the command line.
.It Em Remove
Remove options include
.Fl remove-build-tool ,
.Fl remove-build-version ,
and
.Fl remove-source-version .
Any number of these commands can be combined in a single
.Nm
invocation.
.El
.Pp
Currently
.Nm
only operates on final linked binaries, such as executable files, dynamic
libraries, and bundles. Because the executable code in Mach-O final linked
binaries cannot be moved or resized, and because the load commands reside
between the mach header and the executable code, there is only a limited amount
of space available for
.Nm
to save changes. Set operations that add or resize load commands may fail if
there isn't enough space in the Mach-O file availble to hold the new load
commands.
.\"  OPTIONS
.Sh OPTIONS
.Bl -tag -width "XXkeepParent"
.It Fl arch Aq arch
Specifies the architecture,
.Aq arch ,
for
.Nm
to operate on when the file is a universal (multi-architecture) file. See
.Xr arch 3
for the current list of architectures. More than one architecture can be
specified, and by default
.Nm
will operate on all architectures in a universal file.
.It Fl h , help
Print full usage.
.It Fl o , output Ar out_file
Commands that create new files write to the
.Ar out_file
file specified by the
.Fl output
flag. This option is required for all set and remove commands.
.It Fl r , replace
When used with
.Fl set-build-version
or
.Fl set-version-min
the
.Fl replace
option instructs
.Nm
to discard all of the existing build versions from the input file. Use this to
change a file's platform in a single call to
.Nm .
When used with the
.Fl set-build-tool
command,
.Nm
will discard all of the existing tool versions from the specified platform's
build version. This option has no effect on source versions.
.It Fl remove-build-tool Ar platform tool
Removes
.Ar tool
from the
.Ar platform
build version. A build version for the specified platform must exist in the
input file and that build version must be an
.Dv LC_BUILD_VERSION .
Must be used with
.Fl output .
See
.Sx VERSION LOAD COMMANDS
for more information on platform and tool values.
.It Fl remove-build-version Ar platform
Removes the build version for the specified
.Ar platform .
Must be used with
.Fl output .
See
.Sx VERSION LOAD COMMANDS
for more information on platform values.
.It Fl remove-source-version
Removes the source version from the Mach-O file. Must be used with
.Fl output .
.It Fl set-build-tool Ar platform tool version
Updates the build version load command for
.Ar platform
to include the specified
.Ar tool ,
adding a new tool entry if necessary. The build version must be an
.Em LC_BUILD_VERSION
load command which either already existss within the input file or is newly
specified on the command line. The
.Ar version
field takes the format X.Y.Z. Must be used with
.Fl output .
See
.Sx VERSION LOAD COMMANDS
for more information on platform and tool values.
.It Fl set-build-version Ar platform minos sdk Op Fl tool Ar tool version
Create or update the
.Em LC_BUILD_VERSION
load command for
.Ar platform
to include the specified
.Ar minos
and
.Ar sdk
version numbers, and zero or more optional tools. The
.Ar minos , sdk ,
and tool
.Ar version
all take the format X.Y.Z. Must be used with
.Fl output .
See
.Sx VERSION LOAD COMMANDS
for more information on platform and tool values.
.It Fl set-source-version Ar version
Create or update the source version load command.
.Ar version
takes the format A.B.C.D.E. Must be used with
.Fl output .
.It Fl set-version-min Ar platform minos sdk
Create or update an
.Em LC_VERSION_MIN_*
load command for
.Ar platform .
This option is included to support older operating systems, and generally one
should favor
.Fl set-build-version
instead. Note that version min load commands do not support tool versions, and
not all platforms can be expressed using version min load commands. Must be used
with
.Fl output .
.It Fl show , show-all
Display the build and source versions within the specified file. This option
cannot be combined with other commands.
.It Fl show-build
Display the build versions within the specified file. This option cannot be
combined with other commands.
.It Fl show-source
Display the source version within the specified file. This option cannot be
combined with other commands.
.It Fl show-space
Show the space in the file consumed by the mach header and the existing load
commands, and measure the amount of additional space available for adding new
load commands.
.It Fl
A single dash instructs
.Nm
to stop parsing arguments. This is useful for operating on files whose names
would otherwise be interpreted as an option or flag.
.El
.\"  VERSION LOAD COMMANDS
.Sh VERSION LOAD COMMANDS
Modern Mach-O files can contain multiple build versions, one for each unqiue
.Em platform
represented in the file. A platform is a loosely-defined concept within
Mach-O, most often used to identify different Darwin operating systems, such
as
.Em macOS
and
.Em iOS .
Platforms and tools can be specified either by name (e.g.,
.Qq macos
or
.Qq clang )
or by number (e.g.,
.Qq 1 ) .
Common platform and tool constants are defined in
.Aq Pa mach-o/loader.h
and
.Nm
will display platform and tool names when invoked with
.Fl help .
.Pp
Modern Mach-O files store build information in one or more
.Dv LC_BUILD_VERSION
load commands.
.Dv LC_BUILD_VERSION
supports arbitrary platforms and can include version information about the
tools used to build the Mach-O file. Older
Mach-O files use a
.Dq version min
load command, such as
.Dv LC_VERSION_MIN_MACOSX .
While version min commands are appropriate when deploying Mach-O files on older
operating systems, be aware that they do not support tool versions, and
version min load commands do not exist for all possible platforms. In some cases
.Dv LC_BUILD_VERSION
and
.Dv LC_VERSION_MIN_*
load commands can appear in a single Mach-O file, but many restrictions apply,
and
.Nm
may not enforce these restrictions.
.Nm
will prevent you from writing more than one build version load command for the
same platform.
.Pp
Source versions are stored in a single
.Dv LC_SOURCE_VERSION
load command.
.Pp
When writing new load commands,
.Nm
will attempt to preserve the order of the load commands as they appear on the
command line. No attempt is made to preserve positions relative to other
existing load commands. Editing an existing load command may have the side
effect of moving the load command to the end of the load command list.
.\"  SEE ALSO
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr ld 1 ,
.Xr lipo 1 ,
.Xr otool-classic 1 ,
.Xr arch 3 ,
.Xr Mach-O 5 .
.\"  HISTORY
.Sh HISTORY
.Em LC_BUILD_VERSION
first appeared in macOS 10.13 in 2017 for use with the bridgeOS platform.
.Pp
.Em LC_BUILD_VERSION
became the default build version load command for the macOS, iOS, tvOS, and
watchOS platforms in 2018 with macOS 10.14, iOS 12.0, and friends. The list of
platforms also grew to include iOSSimulator, tvOSSimulator, and
watchOSSimulator.
.Pp
.Nm
first appeared in macOS 10.15 and iOS 13.0 in 2019.
.\"  BUGS
.Sh BUGS
.Nm
will write load commands in a different order than
.Xr ld 1 .
.Pp
Currently
.Nm
does not work with object files or archives.