### 18.2 Architecture Selection

An architecture is a type of cpu on which an object file is to run. Its name may contain a colon, separating the name of the processor family from the name of the particular cpu.

The command to list valid architecture values is ‘`objdump -i`’ (the second column contains the relevant information).

Sample values: ‘`m68k:68020`’, ‘`mips:3000`’, ‘`sparc`’.

#### `objdump` Architecture

Ways to specify:

1. command line option: `-m` or `--architecture`
2. deduced from the input file

#### `objcopy`, `nm`, `size`, `strings` Architecture

Ways to specify:

1. deduced from the input file