@findex struct bfd_iovec
@subsubsection @code{struct bfd_iovec}
The @code{struct bfd_iovec} contains the internal file I/O class.
Each @code{BFD} has an instance of this class and all file I/O is
routed through it (it is assumed that the instance implements
all methods listed below).
@example
struct bfd_iovec
@{
  /* To avoid problems with macros, a "b" rather than "f"
     prefix is prepended to each method name.  */
  /* Attempt to read/write NBYTES on ABFD's IOSTREAM storing/fetching
     bytes starting at PTR.  Return the number of bytes actually
     transfered (a read past end-of-file returns less than NBYTES),
     or -1 (setting @code{bfd_error}) if an error occurs.  */
  file_ptr (*bread) (struct bfd *abfd, void *ptr, file_ptr nbytes);
  file_ptr (*bwrite) (struct bfd *abfd, const void *ptr,
                      file_ptr nbytes);
  /* Return the current IOSTREAM file offset, or -1 (setting @code{bfd_error}
     if an error occurs.  */
  file_ptr (*btell) (struct bfd *abfd);
  /* For the following, on successful completion a value of 0 is returned.
     Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned (and @code{bfd_error} is set).  */
  int (*bseek) (struct bfd *abfd, file_ptr offset, int whence);
  int (*bclose) (struct bfd *abfd);
  int (*bflush) (struct bfd *abfd);
  int (*bstat) (struct bfd *abfd, struct stat *sb);
  /* Mmap a part of the files. ADDR, LEN, PROT, FLAGS and OFFSET are the usual
     mmap parameter, except that LEN and OFFSET do not need to be page
     aligned.  Returns (void *)-1 on failure, mmapped address on success.
     Also write in MAP_ADDR the address of the page aligned buffer and in
     MAP_LEN the size mapped (a page multiple).  Use unmap with MAP_ADDR and
     MAP_LEN to unmap.  */
  void *(*bmmap) (struct bfd *abfd, void *addr, bfd_size_type len,
                  int prot, int flags, file_ptr offset,
                  void **map_addr, bfd_size_type *map_len);
@};
extern const struct bfd_iovec _bfd_memory_iovec;

@end example

@findex bfd_read
@subsubsection @code{bfd_read}
@deftypefn {Function} bfd_size_type bfd_read (void *, bfd_size_type, bfd *) ATTRIBUTE_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT; 
Attempt to read SIZE bytes from ABFD's iostream to PTR.
Return the amount read.

@end deftypefn
@findex bfd_write
@subsubsection @code{bfd_write}
@deftypefn {Function} bfd_size_type bfd_write (const void *, bfd_size_type, bfd *) ATTRIBUTE_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT; 
Attempt to write SIZE bytes to ABFD's iostream from PTR.
Return the amount written.

@end deftypefn
@findex bfd_tell
@subsubsection @code{bfd_tell}
@deftypefn {Function} file_ptr bfd_tell (bfd *) ATTRIBUTE_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT; 
Return ABFD's iostream file position.

@end deftypefn
@findex bfd_flush
@subsubsection @code{bfd_flush}
@deftypefn {Function} int bfd_flush (bfd *); 
Flush ABFD's iostream pending IO.

@end deftypefn
@findex bfd_stat
@subsubsection @code{bfd_stat}
@deftypefn {Function} int bfd_stat (bfd *, struct stat *) ATTRIBUTE_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT; 
Call fstat on ABFD's iostream.  Return 0 on success, and a
negative value on failure.

@end deftypefn
@findex bfd_seek
@subsubsection @code{bfd_seek}
@deftypefn {Function} int bfd_seek (bfd *, file_ptr, int) ATTRIBUTE_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT; 
Call fseek on ABFD's iostream.  Return 0 on success, and a
negative value on failure.

@end deftypefn
@findex bfd_get_mtime
@subsubsection @code{bfd_get_mtime}
@deftypefn {Function} long bfd_get_mtime (bfd *abfd); 
Return the file modification time (as read from the file system, or
from the archive header for archive members).

@end deftypefn
@findex bfd_get_size
@subsubsection @code{bfd_get_size}
@deftypefn {Function} ufile_ptr bfd_get_size (bfd *abfd); 
Return the file size (as read from file system) for the file
associated with BFD @var{abfd}.

The initial motivation for, and use of, this routine is not
so we can get the exact size of the object the BFD applies to, since
that might not be generally possible (archive members for example).
It would be ideal if someone could eventually modify
it so that such results were guaranteed.

Instead, we want to ask questions like "is this NNN byte sized
object I'm about to try read from file offset YYY reasonable?"
As as example of where we might do this, some object formats
use string tables for which the first @code{sizeof (long)} bytes of the
table contain the size of the table itself, including the size bytes.
If an application tries to read what it thinks is one of these
string tables, without some way to validate the size, and for
some reason the size is wrong (byte swapping error, wrong location
for the string table, etc.), the only clue is likely to be a read
error when it tries to read the table, or a "virtual memory
exhausted" error when it tries to allocate 15 bazillon bytes
of space for the 15 bazillon byte table it is about to read.
This function at least allows us to answer the question, "is the
size reasonable?".

A return value of zero indicates the file size is unknown.

@end deftypefn
@findex bfd_get_file_size
@subsubsection @code{bfd_get_file_size}
@deftypefn {Function} ufile_ptr bfd_get_file_size (bfd *abfd); 
Return the file size (as read from file system) for the file
associated with BFD @var{abfd}.  It supports both normal files
and archive elements.

@end deftypefn
@findex bfd_mmap
@subsubsection @code{bfd_mmap}
@deftypefn {Function} void *bfd_mmap (bfd *abfd, void *addr, bfd_size_type len, int prot, int flags, file_ptr offset, void **map_addr, bfd_size_type *map_len) ATTRIBUTE_WARN_UNUSED_RESULT; 
Return mmap()ed region of the file, if possible and implemented.
LEN and OFFSET do not need to be page aligned.  The page aligned
address and length are written to MAP_ADDR and MAP_LEN.

@end deftypefn
@findex bfd_get_current_time
@subsubsection @code{bfd_get_current_time}
@deftypefn {Function} time_t bfd_get_current_time (time_t now); 
Returns the current time.

If the environment variable SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH is defined
then this is parsed and its value is returned.  Otherwise
if the paramter NOW is non-zero, then that is returned.
Otherwise the result of the system call "time(NULL)" is
returned.

@end deftypefn