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 available 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 windres 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
           argument  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
           argument,  then windres will write to standard output.  windres can not write a COFF file to standard
           output.  Note, for compatibility 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.  The default preprocessor is "gcc".

       --preprocessor-arg option
           When  windres  reads  an  "rc" file, it runs it through the C preprocessor first.  This option may be
           used to specify additional text to be passed to preprocessor on its command line.  This option can be
           used multiple times to add multiple options to the preprocessor command line.  If the  --preprocessor
           option  has  not  been  specified then a default set of preprocessor arguments will be used, with any
           --preprocessor-arg options being placed after them on the command line.  These default arguments  are
           "-E", "-xc-header" and "-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 directory when looking for  files  named
           in  the  "rc"  file.  If the argument passed to this command matches any of the supported formats (as
           described 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 compatibility.

       -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 preprocessor is if you didn't specify one.

       -c val
       --codepage val
           Specify  the default codepage to use when reading an "rc" file.  val should be a hexadecimal prefixed
           by 0x or decimal codepage code. The valid range is from zero up to 0xffff, but the  validity  of  the
           codepage is host and configuration dependent.

       -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., certain 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.

       @file
           Read command-line options from file.  The options read are inserted in place of  the  original  @file
           option.   If  file  does not exist, or cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and
           not removed.

           Options in file are separated by whitespace.  A whitespace character may be included in an option  by
           surrounding  the  entire  option  in  either  single  or  double  quotes.  Any character (including a
           backslash) may be included by prefixing the character to be included with a backslash.  The file  may
           itself contain additional @file options; any such options will be processed recursively.

SEE ALSO

       the Info entries for binutils.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 1991-2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

       Permission  is  granted  to  copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free
       Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software  Foundation;  with
       no Invariant Sections, 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-2.42                                      2024-01-18                                         WINDRES(1)