What is the best manual for understanding the basics of `nm`?

[Andrew Bennett]

> I am trying to understand `nm`. But it mentions quite some technical
> terms (e.g., "initialized data section", ELF, "text (code) section").
> Is there a manual that describes all the background knowledge
> necessary for understanding `nm` and other binutils tools? Thanks.

I don’t know your background on linkers, but I would recommend firstly 
looking at a book that describes the ELF format, and how a linker works 
in general.

I have found that Linkers and Loaders by John R. Levine to be very useful:
(http://www.amazon.com/Linkers-Kaufmann-Software-Engineering-Programming/dp/1558604960/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418899197&sr=8-1&keywords=linkers+and+loaders&pebp=1418899203520)

Then I would consult the binutils documentation at: 
https://sourceware.org/binutils/docs-2.24/

Finally (if you want a complete technical overview) there is documentation
that describes the internals of gas/ld/bfd etc in the sources, but this is
quite detailed.

I hope this helps.

Regards,


Andrew