NAME

       elf_end - Release resources associated with an ELF descriptor.

SYNOPSIS

       #include <libelf.h>

       int elf_end(Elf *elf);

DESCRIPTION

       The  elf_end  function  releases  resources  associated  with  an  ELF  descriptor previously returned by
       elf_begin.  It decrements the ELF descriptor’s internal reference count by one. When this  count  reaches
       zero,  the  resources associated with the descriptor are freed and the descriptor is invalidated.  If elf
       is not an archive member with ELF kind ELF_K_AR, the internal reference count is increased  by  one  each
       time elf is passed to elf_begin as the ref argument.

       An  ELF  descriptor  whose  reference  count  reaches  zero  is  invalidated.   Further operations on the
       descriptor will result in undefined behavior.

PARAMETERS

       elf    The ELF descriptor (may be NULL).

RETURN VALUE

       Return the ELF descriptor's current internal reference count after decrementing. A return value  of  zero
       indicates the ELF descriptor is now invalidated.  If elf is NULL, then elf_end also returns 0.

SEE ALSO

       elf_begin(3), libelf(3), elf(5)

ATTRIBUTES

       For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).
       ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬─────────┐
       │ Interface                                                                   │ Attribute     │ Value   │
       ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────┤
       │ elf_end()                                                                   │ Thread safety │ MT-Safe │
       └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴─────────┘

REPORTING BUGS

       Report bugs to <elfutils-devel@sourceware.org> or https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/.

Libelf                                             2025-03-31                                         ELF_END(3)