| '.\" Copyright (C) 1995 Free Software Foundation |
| '.\" This file is part of GNU C Library. |
| '.\" |
| '.\" Author: Ulrich Drepper |
| '.\" |
| .TH MSGFMT 5 "GNU C Library" "FSF" |
| .SH NAME |
| msgfmt \- format of protable object files and message object files |
| .SH DESCRIPTION |
| The |
| .IR msgfmt |
| program from a set of portable object files another set of files, which are |
| machine dependend coded. The special version for GNU msgfmt is |
| carefully designed to be readable in whatever byte order. |
| .SH Input file format |
| (Description of input file format.) |
| .SH Output file format |
| The message object files consist of three parts: |
| .nf |
| 1. Header with magic number etc. |
| 2. Table with offsets to data part. |
| 3. Data part with all the strings. |
| .fi |
| .PP |
| .BR Header. |
| The header consists of two 32-bit integer. The first is a magic number whose |
| value is |
| .B 0x950412DE. |
| When the object file is used and the magic number has the reverse byte order |
| one can still use it. Only all following multi-byte integers must be |
| changed in byte order. |
| .PP |
| The second integer gives the number entries with |
| .B unique |
| hash values. The hash value has to be computed by the same function as in |
| .I msgfmt |
| itself. |
| .BR Offsettable. |
| |