[llvm-dev] Adding sections in a binary

[Fangrui Song via llvm-dev]

On 2020-08-13, David Blaikie via llvm-dev wrote:
>Sounds like the llvm-objcopy source code (llvm/tools/llvm-objcopy) is
>probably a good place to start.
>
>On Thu, Aug 13, 2020 at 8:11 AM Joseph via llvm-dev
><llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:
>>
>> Hey,
>>
>> LLVM has logic to parse ELF and PE binaries using `llvm::object::createBinary`. I tried to search in the codebase to see if there's a possibility to add/remove sections after parsing a binary and re-write the binary to another location. Basically, like what llvm-objcopy does. Can you point me to the right classes to look into, if this is something that LLVM has?
>>
>> Many thanks
>>
>> Joseph

For ELF,

* adding a non-SHF_ALLOC section is simple. A non-SHF_ALLOC section is not part of
   the memory image and not used by the program (unless for some rare
   introspection use cases)

* adding a SHF_ALLOC section is difficult. You likely need to fix the
   containing PT_LOAD segment. llvm-objcopy only does the base p_offset fix.
   You need to take care p_vaddr/p_paddr/p_filesz/p_memsz by your self.

   + adding a section smaller than the known lowest address (ET_EXEC with a
     non-zero image base) or larger than the known largest address:
     The PT_LOAD fixes are doable.
   + adding a section within the existing address ranges: this is very difficult
     due to many implicit inter-section references. If you have an advanced
     binary rewriting tool, this is still doable, but definitely brittle.

   File offsets (p_offset,sh_offset) can be reconstructed from addresses.
   llvm-objcopy/ELF/Object.cpp layoutSections has some code.
   A more sophisticated implementation is in the linker: lld/ELF/Writer.cpp assignFileOffsets