3.3. build-id Unique Identification of Binaries

Each executable or shared library built with Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 or later is assigned a unique identification 160-bit SHA-1 string, generated as a checksum of selected parts of the binary. This allows two builds of the same program on the same host to always produce consistent build-ids and binary content.

Display the build-id of a binary with the following command:

eu-readelf -n /bin/bash

$ eu-readelf -n /bin/bash
[...]
Note section [ 3] '.note.gnu.build-id' of 36 bytes at offset 0x274:
  Owner		Data size    Type
  GNU		       20    GNU_BUILD_ID
    Build ID: efdd0b5e69b0742fa5e5bad0771df4d1df2459d1

Unique identificators of binaries are useful in cases such as analysing core files, documented Section 4.2.1, “Installing Debuginfo Packages for Core Files Analysis”.