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) 1991-2023 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".