---
name: "tos-set-symbols"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "tinyos-tools"
version: "1.4.2-3+b1"
release: "Debian 10 (Buster)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/tos-set-symbols"
---

# tos-set-symbols(1)

set initialized variable values in a binary

## NAME

tos-set-symbols - set initialized variable values in a binary

## SYNOPSIS

**tos-set-symbols** \[**--objcopy=***OBJCOPY*\] \[**--objdump=***OBJDUMP*\] \
                 \[**--target=***TARGET*\] \
                 *INPUTFILE* *OUTPUTFILE* \[*SYMBOL*=\]VALUE...

**tos-set-symbols** --srec \[**--objcopy=***OBJCOPY*\] \[**--objdump=***OBJDUMP*\] \
                 \[**--target=***TARGET*\] \
                 *INPUTFILE* *OUTPUTFILE* \[*SYMBOL*=\]VALUE...

**tos-set-symbols** --exe \[**--objcopy=***OBJCOPY*\] \[**--objdump=***OBJDUMP*\] \
                 *INPUTFILE* *OUTPUTFILE* \[*SYMBOL*=\]VALUE...

**tos-set-symbols** --read \[**--objdump=**...\] *INPUTFILE* *SYMBOL*...

## DESCRIPTION

**tos-set-symbols** is a tool to inspect and modify the initial values of variables in a binary. It is used by the TinyOS build system to set a node's ID and AM address, for example, when using **install.X** or **reinstall.X**.

**tos-set-symbols** *takes an optional first argument that specifies* *the format of the binary being modified or whether it is only being read.* *By default, it acts as if* **--srec** was passed. Instead of passing **--srec**, **--exe**, the **--target** option can be used to specify a target format. This option is passed to objcopy. The **--objdump** and **--objcopy** options allow you to specify which binary tools to use. By default, **tos-set-symbols** uses **avr-objcopy** and **avr-objdump**.

The *SYMBOL* parameter refers to a variable in the image to  modify or print. If the variable is in a component, its name is of the form *component*$*variable*. If the *SYMBOL* is omitted, it defaults to **TOS\_LOCAL\_ADDRESS**, for compatibility with the TinyOS 1.x **set-mode-id** tool.

## EXAMPLE

This reads in a micaZ .srec file, changes the value of TOS\_NODE\_ID  to 4, and writes out a new binary to main.srec.out-4.

  tos-set-symbols build/micaz/main.srec build/micaz/main.srec.out-4 \\\
   TOS\_NODE\_ID=4

This reads in a Telos .srec file, changes the value of TOS\_NODE\_ID and ActiveMessageAddressC$addr to 3, and writes out a new binary to  main.srec.out-3. It uses the msp430, rather than the avr, binary tools, and outputs an ihex format executable.

  tos-set-symbols --objcopy=msp430-objcopy --objdump=msp430-objdump \\\
   \--target=ihex build/telosa/main.ihex build/telosa/main.ihex.out-3 \\\
   TOS\_NODE\_ID=3 ActiveMessageAddressC$addr=3