WINDRES(1) GNU Development Tools WINDRES(1)
windres - manipulate Windows resources.
windres [options] [input-file] [output-file]
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.
-i filename
--input filename
The name of the input file. If this option is not used,
binutils-050707 2022-12-23 1
WINDRES(1) GNU Development Tools WINDRES(1)
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
compatability 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, including any leading
arguments. The default preprocessor argument is "gcc -E
-xc-header -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 descrived in the -J option), it
will issue a deprecation warning, and behave just like
binutils-050707 2022-12-23 2
WINDRES(1) GNU Development Tools WINDRES(1)
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.
-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.
binutils-050707 2022-12-23 3
WINDRES(1) GNU Development Tools WINDRES(1)
the Info entries for binutils.
Copyright (c) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997,
1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 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 1.1 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-050707 2022-12-23 4