binutils/NEWS

   1 -*- text -*-
   2
   3 * Nm has a new command line option: --ifunc-chars=CHARS.  This specifies a
   4   string of one or two characters.  The first character is used as the type
   5   character when displaying global ifunc symbols.  The second character, if
   6   present is used when displaying local ifunc symbols.
   7
   8   In addition a new configure time option --enable-f-for-ifunc-symbols has been
   9   created, which if used will change nm's default characters for ifunc symbols
  10   from i (both local and global) to F (global) and f (local).
  11
  12 * The ar tool's previously unused l modifier is now used for specifying
  13   dependencies of a static library. The arguments of this option
  14   (or --record-libdeps long form option) will be stored verbatim in the
  15   __.LIBDEP member of the archive, which the linker may read at link time.
  16
  17 * Readelf can now display the contents of LTO symbol table sections when asked
  18   to do so via the --lto-syms command line option.
  19
  20 * Readelf now accepts the -C command line option to enable the demangling of
  21   symbol names.  In addition the --demangle=<style>, --no-demangle,
  22   --recurse-limit and --no-recurse-limit options are also now availale.
  23
  24 * Add support for the SHF_GNU_RETAIN ELF section flag.
  25   This flag specifies that the section should not be garbage collected by the
  26   linker.
  27
  28 Changes in 2.35:
  29
  30 * Changed readelf's display of symbol names when wide mode is not enabled.
  31   If the name is too long it will be truncated and the last five characters
  32   replaced with "[...]".  The old behaviour of displaying 5 more characters but
  33   not indicating that truncation has happened can be restored by the use of the
  34   -T or --silent-truncation options.
  35
  36 * X86 NaCl target support is removed.
  37
  38 * The readelf tool now has a -L or --lint or --enable-checks option which turns
  39   on warning messages about possible problems with the file(s) being examined.
  40   These checks include things like zero-sized sections, which are allowed by
  41   the ELF standard but which nevertheless might be of concern if the user
  42   was expecting them to actually contain something.
  43
  44 Changes in 2.34:
  45
  46 * Binutils now supports debuginfod, an HTTP server for distributing
  47   ELF/DWARF debugging information as well as source code. When built with
  48   debuginfod, readelf and objdump can automatically query debuginfod
  49   servers for separate debug files when they otherwise cannot be found.
  50   To build binutils with debuginfod, pass --with-debuginfod to configure.
  51   This requires libdebuginfod, the debuginfod client library. debuginfod
  52   is distributed with elfutils, starting with version 0.178. For more
  53   information see https://sourceware.org/elfutils.
  54
  55 * Add --output option to the "ar" program.  This option can be used to specify
  56   the output directory when extracting members from an archive.
  57
  58 * Add --keep-section option to objcopy and strip.  This option keeps the
  59   specified section from being removed.
  60
  61  * Add visualization of jumps inside a function by drawing an ascii character
  62    graph between the address and the disassembler column.  Enabled via the
  63    --visualize-jumps command line option for objdump.  Currently supported by
  64    the x86, x86_64, and ARM targets.  The output looks something like this:
  65
  66   c6:   |  |     \----------> be 00 00 00 00            mov    $0x0,%esi
  67   cb:   |  |           /----> 48 8b 3d 00 00 00 00      mov    0x0(%rip),%rdi        # d2 <main+0xd2>
  68   d2:   |  |           |      31 c0                     xor    %eax,%eax
  69   d4:   |  |           |  /-- e8 00 00 00 00            callq  d9 <main+0xd9>
  70   d9:   |  |           |  \-> bf 02 00 00 00            mov    $0x2,%edi
  71   de:   |  +-----------|----- e8 00 00 00 00            callq  e3 <main+0xe3>
  72   e3:   |  \-----------|----> 48 89 da                  mov    %rbx,%rdx
  73   e6:   |              |      be 00 00 00 00            mov    $0x0,%esi
  74   eb:   |              \----- eb de                     jmp    cb <main+0xcb>
  75   ed:   \-------------------> 48 8b 16                  mov    (%rsi),%rdx
  76
  77   Additional arguments to the --visualize-jumps option add colors to the
  78   output.
  79
  80 Changes in 2.33:
  81
  82 * Add --source-comment[=<txt>] option to objdump which if present,
  83   provides a prefix to source code lines displayed in a disassembly.
  84
  85 * Add --set-section-alignment <section-name>=<align> option to objcopy to allow
  86   the changing of section alignments.
  87
  88 * Add --verilog-data-width option to objcopy for verilog targets to control
  89   width of data elements in verilog hex format.
  90
  91 * Add support for the Armv8.1-M Mainline and M-profile Vector Extension (MVE)
  92   instructions.
  93
  94 * The separate debug info file options of readelf (--debug-dump=links
  95   and --debug-dump=follow) and objdump (--dwarf=links and
  96   --dwarf=follow-links) will now display and/or follow multiple links if
  97   more than one are present in a file.  (This usually happens when gcc's
  98   -gsplit-dwarf option is used).
  99
 100   In addition objdump's --dwarf=follow-links now also affects its other
 101   display options, so that for example, when combined with --syms it will
 102   cause the symbol tables in any linked debug info files to also be
 103   displayed.  In addition when combined with --disassemble the --dwarf=
 104   follow-links option will ensure that any symbol tables in the linked
 105   files are read and used when disassembling code in the main file.
 106
 107  * Add support for dumping types encoded in the Compact Type Format
 108    to objdump and readelf.
 109
 110 Changes in 2.32:
 111
 112 * The addr2line, c++filt, nm and objdump tools now have a limit on the
 113   maximum amount of recursion that is allowed whilst demangling strings.
 114   The value for this limit is defined by the DEMANGLE_RECRUSE_LIMIT
 115   constant declared in the include/demangle.h header file.  At the time
 116   of writing this constant has the value of 2048.
 117
 118   The --no-recurse-limit option can be used to remove the limit, restoring
 119   the behaviour of earlier versions of these tools.  This may be needed in
 120   order to dmangle truly complicated names, but it also leaves the tools
 121   vulnerable to stack exhaustion from maliciously constructed mangled names.
 122
 123 * Objdump's --disassemble option can now take a parameter, specifying the
 124   starting symbol for disassembly.  Disassembly will continue from this
 125   symbol up to the next symbol or the end of the function.
 126
 127 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 2K1000 processor which implements
 128   the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE, Loongson-ext ASE,
 129   Loongson-ext2 ASE and MSA ASE instructions. Add -march=gs264e option for
 130   Loongson 2K1000 processor.
 131
 132 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor which
 133   implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE,
 134   Loongson-ext ASE and Loongson-ext2 ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464e
 135   option for Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor.
 136
 137 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A1000 processor, aka Loongson3a,
 138   which implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE
 139   and Loongson-ext ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464 option for Loongson
 140   3A1000 processor, The -march=loongson3a is an alias of -march=gs464 for
 141   compatibility.
 142
 143 * The size tool now has a new output format '--format=GNU' or '-G'.  The
 144   results are displayed in a similar manor to the default berkeley layout,
 145   except read-only data is counted in the data column, not the text column.
 146   Additionally the total is only included once.
 147
 148 Changes in 2.31:
 149
 150 * Add support for disassembling netronome Flow Processor (NFP) firmware files.
 151
 152 * The AArch64 port now supports showing disassembly notes which are emitted
 153   when inconsistencies are found with the instruction that may result in the
 154   instruction being invalid.  These can be turned on with the option -M notes
 155   to objdump.
 156
 157 * The AArch64 port now emits warnings when a combination of an instruction and
 158   a named register could be invalid.
 159
 160 * Added O modifier to ar to display member offsets inside an archive
 161
 162 Changes in 2.30:
 163
 164 * Add --debug-dump=links option to readelf and --dwarf=links option to objdump
 165   which displays the contents of any .gnu_debuglink or .gnu_debugaltlink
 166   sections.
 167
 168   Add a --debug-dump=follow-links option to readelf and a --dwarf=follow-links
 169   option to objdump which causes indirect links into separate debug info files
 170   to be followed when dumping other DWARF sections.
 171
 172 Changes in 2.29:
 173
 174 * The MIPS port now supports microMIPS eXtended Physical Addressing (XPA)
 175   instructions for assembly and disassembly.
 176
 177 * The MIPS port now supports the microMIPS Release 5 ISA for assembly and
 178   disassembly.
 179
 180 * The MIPS port now supports the Imagination interAptiv MR2 processor,
 181   which implements the MIPS32r3 ISA, the MIPS16e2 ASE as well as a couple
 182   of implementation-specific regular MIPS and MIPS16e2 ASE instructions.
 183
 184 * The SPARC port now supports the SPARC M8 processor, which implements the
 185   Oracle SPARC Architecture 2017.
 186
 187 * The MIPS port now supports the MIPS16e2 ASE for assembly and disassembly.
 188
 189 * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX.
 190
 191 * Add support for the wasm32 ELF conversion of the WebAssembly file format.
 192
 193 * Add --inlines option to objdump, which extends the --line-numbers option
 194   so that inlined functions will display their nesting information.
 195
 196 * Add --merge-notes options to objcopy to reduce the size of notes in
 197   a binary file by merging and deleting redundant notes.
 198
 199 * Add support for locating separate debug info files using the build-id
 200   method, where the separate file has a name based upon the build-id of
 201   the original file.
 202
 203 Changes in 2.28:
 204
 205 * This version of binutils fixes a problem with PowerPC VLE 16A and 16D
 206   relocations which were functionally swapped, for example,
 207   R_PPC_VLE_HA16A performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16D while R_PPC_VLE_HA16D
 208   performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16A.  This could have been fixed by
 209   renumbering relocations, which would keep object files created by an
 210   older version of gas compatible with a newer ld.  However, that would
 211   require an ABI update, affecting other assemblers and linkers that
 212   create and process the relocations correctly.  It is recommended that
 213   all VLE object files be recompiled, but ld can modify the relocations
 214   if --vle-reloc-fixup is passed to ld.  If the new ld command-line
 215   option is not used, ld will ld warn on finding relocations inconsistent
 216   with the instructions being relocated.
 217
 218 * The nm program has a new command-line option (--with-version-strings)
 219   which will display a symbol's version information, if any, after the
 220   symbol's name.
 221
 222 * The ARC port of objdump now accepts a -M option to specify the extra
 223   instruction class(es) that should be disassembled.
 224
 225 * The --remove-section option for objcopy and strip now accepts section
 226   patterns starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching
 227   section.  A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections
 228   matched by an earlier --remove-section pattern.
 229
 230 * The --only-section option for objcopy now accepts section patterns
 231   starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching section.
 232   A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections matched by
 233   an earlier --only-section pattern.
 234
 235 * New --remove-relocations=SECTIONPATTERN option for objcopy and strip.
 236   This option can be used to remove sections containing relocations.
 237   The SECTIONPATTERN is the section to which the relocations apply, not
 238   the relocation section itself.
 239
 240 Changes in 2.27:
 241
 242 * Add a configure option, --enable-64-bit-archive, to force use of a
 243   64-bit format when creating an archive symbol index.
 244
 245 * Add --elf-stt-common= option to objcopy for ELF targets to control
 246   whether to convert common symbols to the STT_COMMON type.
 247
 248 Changes in 2.26:
 249
 250 * Add option to objcopy to insert new symbols into a file:
 251   --add-symbol <name>=[<section>:]<value>[,<flags>]
 252
 253 * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures.
 254
 255 * Extend objcopy --compress-debug-sections option to support
 256   --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi] for ELF
 257   targets.
 258
 259 * Add --update-section option to objcopy.
 260
 261 * Add --output-separator option to strings.
 262
 263 Changes in 2.25:
 264
 265 * Add --data option to strings to only print strings in loadable, initialized
 266   data sections.  Change the default behaviour to be --all, but add a new
 267   configure time option of --disable-default-strings-all to restore the old
 268   default behaviour.
 269
 270 * Add --include-all-whitespace to strings.
 271
 272 * Add --dump-section option to objcopy.
 273
 274 * Add support for the Andes NDS32.
 275
 276 Changes in 2.24:
 277
 278 * Objcopy now supports wildcard characters in command-line options that take
 279   section names.
 280
 281 * Add support for Altera Nios II.
 282
 283 Changes in 2.23:
 284
 285 * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture.
 286
 287 * Add support for x64 Windows target of the delayed-load-library.
 288
 289 * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture.
 290
 291 Changes in 2.22:
 292
 293 * Add support for displaying the contents of .debug.macro sections.
 294
 295 * Add --preprocessor-arg option to windres to specify additional options
 296   passed to preprocessor.
 297
 298 * Add --dwarf-start and --dwarf-end to readelf and objdump.  These are used by
 299   the new Emacs mode, see dwarf-mode.el.
 300
 301 * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures.
 302
 303 changes in 2.21:
 304
 305 * Add --interleave-width option to objcopy to allowing copying a range of
 306   bytes from the input to the output with the --interleave option.
 307
 308 * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family.
 309
 310 * Readelf can now display ARM unwind tables (.ARM.exidx / .ARM.extab) using
 311   the -u / --unwind option.
 312
 313 * Add --dyn-syms to readelf to dump dynamic symbol table.
 314
 315 * A new tool - elfedit - has been added to directly manipulate ELF format
 316   binaries.
 317
 318 * Add to dlltool .def file feature of aliasing PE internal symbol name by
 319   '== <ID>' option.
 320
 321 * Add a new command-line option -a / --addresses to addr2line to display the
 322   address before function name or source filename.
 323
 324 * Add a new command-line option -p / --pretty-print to addr2line to have
 325   a more human readable output.
 326
 327 * The hppa/som targets can now be compiled on any host.
 328
 329 Changes in 2.20:
 330
 331 * Add support for delay importing to dlltool.  Use the --output-delaylib <file>
 332   switch to create a delay-import library.  The resulting app will load the dll
 333   as soon as the first function is called.  It will link to __delayLoadHelper2()
 334   from the static delayimp library, which will import LoadLibraryA and
 335   GetProcAddress from kernel32.
 336
 337 * Add a new command-line option, --insn-width=WIDTH, to objdump to specify
 338   number of bytes to be displayed on a single line when disassembling
 339   instructions.
 340
 341 * Readelf can now display the relocated contents of a section as a sequence
 342   of bytes via the --relocated-dump=<name|number> command-line option.
 343
 344 * The gprof program has been given a new command-line option:
 345   --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified
 346   file.
 347
 348 * The plugin target has been added to bfd. It can load the same shared objects
 349   used by gold and uses them to provide basic support for new file formats.
 350
 351 * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format
 352   for objcopy.
 353
 354 * Add --file-alignment, --heap, --image-base, --section-alignment,
 355   --stack and --subsystem command-line options to objcopy, which will
 356   set PE optional header.
 357
 358 * Option --dwarf/-W of objdump is now as flexible as readelf --debug-dump/-w.
 359
 360 * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined
 361   symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries.  In the
 362   latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED
 363   entry of one of the libraries already linked.
 364
 365 * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to
 366   add absolute paths for -S.
 367
 368 * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to dlltool to allow fall-
 369   back to old import table generation with null element prefix.
 370
 371 * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to
 372   report an error when the import library is associated with
 373   multiple DLLs.
 374
 375 * Added --identify <implib> option to dlltool, which determines the
 376   name of the DLL associated with the specified <implib>.
 377
 378 * Support for PowerPC booke64 instructions has been removed.  The assembler no
 379   longer accepts -mbooke32 or -mbooke64 and the disassembler no longer accepts
 380   -Mbooke32 or -Mbooke64.  Instead, -mbooke and -Mbooke should be used.
 381
 382 Changes in 2.19:
 383
 384 * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line.
 385
 386 * Added support for "thin" archives which contain pathnames pointing to
 387   object files rather than the files themselves and which contain a
 388   flattened symbol index for all objects, and archives, which have been
 389   added to the archive.
 390
 391 * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly.
 392
 393 * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index.
 394
 395 * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port.
 396
 397 * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections.
 398
 399 Changes in 2.18:
 400
 401 * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null
 402   pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as
 403   revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
 404
 405 * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
 406   Public License.
 407
 408 * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets.  This is a message
 409   compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version.
 410
 411 * Add codepage support to the windres tool.  It now supports many new
 412   resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc).  The output generation
 413   for binary files is done now via bfd itself.  The endianess problems
 414   for different hosts are solved.  Dumps of .res files can now be
 415   re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors.
 416   Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected.
 417
 418 * Add --extract-symbol command-line option to objcopy, which will
 419   strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except
 420   for its symbol table.  Files containing just symbols can be useful
 421   to some OSes.
 422
 423 Changes in 2.17:
 424
 425 * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
 426
 427 * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt.  -i disables the display of implementation
 428   specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling
 429   of types.
 430
 431 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
 432   that extra switches can be read from <file>.
 433
 434 * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
 435   debug sections.
 436
 437 * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
 438   "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
 439
 440 * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security
 441   conscious.  This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all
 442   code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt.  The old PLT
 443   and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt.
 444
 445 * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
 446   for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
 447
 448 * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
 449
 450 * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
 451   when disassembling VAX binaries.
 452
 453 * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
 454   to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
 455
 456 * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
 457   several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.
 458
 459 Changes in 2.16:
 460
 461 * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
 462
 463 * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and
 464   --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard
 465   matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but
 466   retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations.
 467
 468 * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections.  This
 469   happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered.  The
 470   command-line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display
 471   the contents of the .debug_range section.
 472
 473 * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of
 474   symbols which the target considers to be special.  By default these symbols
 475   are no longer displayed.  Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping
 476   symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and
 477   between ARM and THUMB code.
 478
 479 * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
 480   import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
 481
 482 Changes in 2.15:
 483
 484 * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the
 485   disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some
 486   pseudo instruction name.  I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move",
 487   "sll" instead of "nop", etc.
 488
 489 * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on
 490   the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them.
 491
 492 * readelf can now parse archives.
 493
 494 * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
 495   format compatible with ctags tool.
 496
 497 * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing
 498   those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug.  The idea is that
 499   this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create
 500   a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the
 501   debugging info.
 502
 503 * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink
 504   section into a (presumably stripped) executable.  This allows the debug
 505   information for the file to be held in a separate file.
 506
 507 * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX
 508   single-character representation.  This can be checked by running nm
 509   with the -a switch.
 510
 511 Changes in 2.14:
 512
 513 * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
 514
 515 * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
 516
 517 * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
 518
 519 * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
 520   --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
 521
 522 * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
 523   Parallel C compiler.
 524
 525 * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other
 526   headers that declare the same.  Users of BFD should replace boolean,
 527   false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type.
 528
 529 * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
 530
 531 Changes in 2.13:
 532
 533 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
 534   and FR500 included.
 535
 536 Changes in version 2.12:
 537
 538 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
 539
 540 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
 541
 542 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
 543   lines to fit into 80 columns.
 544
 545 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings.  By Markus Kuhn.
 546
 547 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
 548
 549 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions.  Support added for
 550   displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
 551
 552 * New command-line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
 553   global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
 554   by Honda Hiroki.
 555
 556 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
 557
 558 * New command-line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
 559   with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
 560   description.  Only supported for ELF targets.  By Alexandre Oliva.
 561
 562 * New command-line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
 563   the architecture of the output file to the given argument.  This option only
 564   makes sense, if the input target is binary.  Otherwise it is ignored.
 565   By Stefan Geuken.
 566
 567 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
 568
 569 Changes in binutils 2.11:
 570
 571 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
 572   extenstions.
 573
 574 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command-line switch to objcopy.
 575   By Luciano Gemme.
 576
 577 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
 578
 579 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
 580
 581 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
 582
 583 Changes in binutils 2.10:
 584
 585 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
 586
 587 * New command-line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
 588   entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
 589   file.
 590
 591 * New command-line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
 592   a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
 593   disassembler.  Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
 594   raw verions.
 595
 596 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
 597   with intel syntax.
 598
 599 * New program: readelf.  This displays the contents of ELF format files,
 600   regardless of target machine.
 601
 602 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
 603   --change-section-address options.  The old --adjust-section-vma option is
 604   equivalent to --change-section-address.  The other --adjust-* options are now
 605   renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
 606
 607 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
 608
 609 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
 610   sections.
 611
 612 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
 613
 614 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
 615   --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
 616
 617 Changes in binutils 2.9:
 618
 619 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
 620   files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
 621
 622 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
 623   the VMA of the sections.
 624
 625 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
 626
 627 Changes in binutils 2.8:
 628
 629 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved.  Use
 630   the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format.  There are also new
 631   --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
 632   output.
 633
 634 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets.  For example,
 635   objdump -b i386-pc-linux.  The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
 636   so they must be in canonical form.
 637
 638 * Added new addr2line program.  This uses the debugging information to convert
 639   an address into a file name and line number within a program.
 640
 641 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 642
 643 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
 644
 645 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
 646
 647 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
 648
 649 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
 650
 651 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
 652
 653 Changes in binutils 2.7:
 654
 655 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
 656
 657 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
 658
 659 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
 660
 661 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 662
 663 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
 664
 665 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
 666
 667 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
 668
 669 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
 670
 671 Changes in binutils 2.6:
 672
 673 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
 674
 675 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
 676   file is laid out in memory.  Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
 677   generating plain binary files.
 678
 679 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
 680
 681 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX.  The tools are now built by default on AIX.
 682
 683 Changes in binutils 2.5:
 684
 685 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
 686   listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
 687
 688 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
 689   Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
 690
 691 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
 692
 693 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
 694   executables.
 695
 696 Changes in binutils 2.4:
 697
 698 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
 699   PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
 700
 701 * Support for Irix 5.
 702
 703 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
 704   ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
 705
 706 Changes in binutils 2.3:
 707
 708 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
 709   ELF and COFF files.
 710
 711 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added.  It can convert object files into
 712   Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
 713
 714 * The strings program has been added.
 715
 716 Changes in binutils 2.2:
 717
 718 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
 719   'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
 720   'cp'.
 721
 722 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
 723   (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names.  (Note: This
 724   may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
 725
 726 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
 727   the output from BSD nm.
 728
 729 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
 730
 731 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
 732
 733 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
 734
 735 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
 736
 737 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
 738
 739 Changes in binutils 2.1:
 740
 741 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
 742   should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix.  Please let us know how well this works.
 743
 744 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
 745   version), if there are any object files in the archive.  So running ranlib is
 746   now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used).  This is required
 747   for Posix.2 conformance.
 748
 749 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
 750   independently of the selected target format.  This is to encourage people to
 751   switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
 752
 753 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
 754   and/or local symbols only.  They now also support long options.
 755
 756 \f
 757 Copyright (C) 2012-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 758
 759 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
 760 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
 761 notice and this notice are preserved.
 762
 763 Local variables:
 764 fill-column: 79
 765 End: