Install x86_64-linux-gnu-binutils with Homebrew

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• x86_64-linux-gnu-addr2line
• x86_64-linux-gnu-ar
• x86_64-linux-gnu-as
• x86_64-linux-gnu-c++filt
• x86_64-linux-gnu-elfedit
• x86_64-linux-gnu-gprof
• x86_64-linux-gnu-ld
• x86_64-linux-gnu-ld.bfd
• x86_64-linux-gnu-nm
• x86_64-linux-gnu-objcopy
• x86_64-linux-gnu-objdump
• x86_64-linux-gnu-ranlib
• x86_64-linux-gnu-readelf
• x86_64-linux-gnu-size
• x86_64-linux-gnu-strings
• x86_64-linux-gnu-strip

Project history

The GNU assembler line dates to the early GNU toolchain: GAS first appeared in 1986-1987, written by Dean Elsner for the VAX. The broader binutils suite grew into the GNU system's standard binary tool layer, with BFD providing a common library for many object-file formats.

The project has long been hosted through Sourceware and shares the binutils-gdb git repository with GDB. Its release process uses versioned branches and tags, with public snapshots and release tarballs, and the project maintains public mailing lists for bug reports and development discussion.

Adoption history

Binutils is central to GNU and GNU/Linux because it supplies the assembler and linker facilities needed to compile and link programs. The GNU project page describes its main reason for existence as giving the GNU system and GNU/Linux the facility to compile and link programs.

The suite's portability and BFD-based format handling made it a standard component of cross-compilers, embedded SDKs, Linux distribution builds, kernel development, and reverse-engineering or binary-inspection workflows. The target-prefixed naming convention is part of the GNU cross-toolchain culture: x86_64-linux-gnu-as, x86_64-linux-gnu-ld, x86_64-linux-gnu-objdump, and peers make the target explicit.

How it is used

Developers use the x86_64-linux-gnu tools to assemble Linux x86-64 assembly, link ELF objects, inspect symbols, disassemble code, transform object files, build archives, strip symbols, and read ELF metadata while keeping the target ABI distinct from the host platform.

The package is especially useful in cross-build systems, CI, compiler work, and systems programming where a build host needs to produce or inspect Linux x86-64 binaries without relying on host-default binutils. It complements x86_64-linux-gnu GCC or Clang workflows and can also be used independently for binary analysis.

Why package nerds care

Target-prefixed binutils are the bedrock of cross-compilation. Seeing x86_64-linux-gnu in the executable names tells package nerds that the tools target the Linux GNU ABI for x86-64, not bare-metal x86_64-elf and not the local host's default object format.

Timeline

• 1986-1987: The first GNU assembler is released for VAX.
• 1990s: BFD and the GNU binary tools become core parts of GNU and Cygnus-era toolchain work.
• 1999: The Sourceware page still points users to older gas2 and bfd mailing-list archives as the pre-May-1999 discussion lists.
• 2000s-2020s: Binutils continues as a regularly released GNU package with support for new CPU extensions, object formats, and toolchain features.

Related projects

• GCC commonly invokes GNU as and ld during compilation and linking.
• GDB shares the binutils-gdb source repository and uses the surrounding object-file ecosystem.
• elfutils overlaps with some ELF and DWARF inspection use cases but is Linux/ELF-focused rather than the same portable GNU binutils suite.

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Assembler
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Binutils
• https://sourceware.org/binutils/
• https://sourceware.org/binutils/docs-2.38/ld.html
• https://sourceware.org/binutils/docs-2.41/as.html
• https://www.gnu.org/software/binutils/