When I use gcc-4.4.2 (Fedora 12, 32 bit machine) it creates 10 sections for a simple C program with just a line of code like: .iplt, .rel.dyn, .igot.plt, .shstrtab, .symtab and .strtab Why gcc manual only talks about .text, .data and .bss? What are the other sections? What they are used for?