.\" Copyright (c) 2006 Joseph Koshy.  All rights reserved.
.\"
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.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
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.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
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.\" This software is provided by Joseph Koshy ``as is'' and
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.\" are disclaimed.  in no event shall Joseph Koshy be liable
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.\" $FreeBSD: src/lib/libelf/elf_end.3,v 1.2.10.2.2.1 2010/12/21 17:09:25 kensmith Exp $
.\"
.Dd June 29, 2006
.Dt ELF_END 3
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm elf_end
.Nd release an ELF descriptor
.Sh LIBRARY
.Lb libelf
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In libelf.h
.Ft int
.Fn elf_end "Elf *elf"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
Function
.Fn elf_end
is used to release the resources associated with an ELF descriptor
pointed to by argument
.Ar elf .
This descriptor must have been allocated by a previous call to
.Xr elf_begin 3
or
.Xr elf_memory 3 .
For programming convenience, a NULL value is permitted for argument
.Ar elf .
.Pp
A call to
.Fn elf_end
decrements the activation count for descriptor
.Ar elf
by one.
The resources associated with the descriptor are only released
with its activation count goes to zero.
.Pp
Once function
.Fn elf_end
returns zero, the ELF descriptor
.Ar elf
will no longer be valid and should not be used further.
.Sh RETURN VALUES
Function
.Fn elf_end
returns the current value of the ELF descriptor
.Ar elf Ap s
activation count, or zero if argument
.Ar elf
was NULL.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr elf 3 ,
.Xr elf_begin 3 ,
.Xr elf_memory 3 ,
.Xr gelf 3