3 * Add support for the LoongArch instruction set.
5 * Tools which display symbols or strings (readelf, strings, nm, objdump)
6 have a new command line option which controls how unicode characters are
7 handled. By default they are treated as normal for the tool. Using
8 --unicode=locale will display them according to the current locale.
9 Using --unicode=hex will display them as hex byte values, whilst
10 --unicode=escape will display them as escape sequences. In addition
11 using --unicode=highlight will display them as unicode escape sequences
12 highlighted in red (if supported by the output device).
16 * The readelf tool has a new command line option which can be used to specify
17 how the numeric values of symbols are reported. --sym-base=0|8|10|16 tells
18 readelf to display the values in base 8, base 10 or base 16. A sym base of 0
19 represents the default action of displaying values under 10000 in base 10 and
20 values above that in base 16.
22 * Binutils now requires a C99 compiler and library to build.
24 * A new format has been added to the nm program. Specifying
25 --format=just-symbols (or just using -j) will tell the program to only
26 display symbol names and nothing else.
28 * A new command line --keep-section-symbols has been added to objcopy and
29 strip. This stops the removal of unused section symbols when the file is
30 copied. Removing these symbols saves space, but sometimes they are needed by
33 * objcopy --weaken, --weaken-symbol and --weaken-symbols now make undefined
34 symbols weak on targets that support weak symbols.
36 * Readelf and objdump can now display and use the contents of .debug_sup
39 * Readelf and objdump will now follow links to separate debug info files by
40 default. This behaviour can be stopped via the use of the new -wN or
41 --debug-dump=no-follow-links options for readelf and the -WN or
42 --dwarf=no-follow-links options for objdump. Also the old behaviour can be
43 restored by the use of the --enable-follow-debug-links=no configure time
46 The semantics of the =follow-links option have also been slightly changed.
47 When enabled, the option allows for the loading of symbol tables and string
48 tables from the separate files which can be used to enhance the information
49 displayed when dumping other sections, but it does not automatically imply
50 that information from the separate files should be displayed.
52 If other debug section display options are also enabled (eg
53 --debug-dump=info) then the contents of matching sections in both the main
54 file and the separate debuginfo file *will* be displayed. This is because in
55 most cases the debug section will only be present in one of the files.
57 If however non-debug section display options are enabled (eg --sections) then
58 the contents of matching parts of the separate debuginfo file will *not* be
59 displayed. This is because in most cases the user probably only wanted to
60 load the symbol information from the separate debuginfo file. In order to
61 change this behaviour a new command line option --process-links can be used.
62 This will allow di0pslay options to applied to both the main file and any
63 separate debuginfo files.
65 * Nm has a new command line option: --quiet. This suppresses "no symbols"
70 * Update elfedit and readelf with LAM_U48 and LAM_U57 support.
72 * Nm has a new command line option: --ifunc-chars=CHARS. This specifies a
73 string of one or two characters. The first character is used as the type
74 character when displaying global ifunc symbols. The second character, if
75 present is used when displaying local ifunc symbols.
77 In addition a new configure time option --enable-f-for-ifunc-symbols has been
78 created, which if used will change nm's default characters for ifunc symbols
79 from i (both local and global) to F (global) and f (local).
81 * The ar tool's previously unused l modifier is now used for specifying
82 dependencies of a static library. The arguments of this option
83 (or --record-libdeps long form option) will be stored verbatim in the
84 __.LIBDEP member of the archive, which the linker may read at link time.
86 * Readelf can now display the contents of LTO symbol table sections when asked
87 to do so via the --lto-syms command line option.
89 * Readelf now accepts the -C command line option to enable the demangling of
90 symbol names. In addition the --demangle=<style>, --no-demangle,
91 --recurse-limit and --no-recurse-limit options are also now availale.
93 * Add support for the SHF_GNU_RETAIN ELF section flag.
94 This flag specifies that the section should not be garbage collected by the
99 * Changed readelf's display of symbol names when wide mode is not enabled.
100 If the name is too long it will be truncated and the last five characters
101 replaced with "[...]". The old behaviour of displaying 5 more characters but
102 not indicating that truncation has happened can be restored by the use of the
103 -T or --silent-truncation options.
105 * X86 NaCl target support is removed.
107 * The readelf tool now has a -L or --lint or --enable-checks option which turns
108 on warning messages about possible problems with the file(s) being examined.
109 These checks include things like zero-sized sections, which are allowed by
110 the ELF standard but which nevertheless might be of concern if the user
111 was expecting them to actually contain something.
115 * Binutils now supports debuginfod, an HTTP server for distributing
116 ELF/DWARF debugging information as well as source code. When built with
117 debuginfod, readelf and objdump can automatically query debuginfod
118 servers for separate debug files when they otherwise cannot be found.
119 To build binutils with debuginfod, pass --with-debuginfod to configure.
120 This requires libdebuginfod, the debuginfod client library. debuginfod
121 is distributed with elfutils, starting with version 0.178. For more
122 information see https://sourceware.org/elfutils.
124 * Add --output option to the "ar" program. This option can be used to specify
125 the output directory when extracting members from an archive.
127 * Add --keep-section option to objcopy and strip. This option keeps the
128 specified section from being removed.
130 * Add visualization of jumps inside a function by drawing an ascii character
131 graph between the address and the disassembler column. Enabled via the
132 --visualize-jumps command line option for objdump. Currently supported by
133 the x86, x86_64, and ARM targets. The output looks something like this:
135 c6: | | \----------> be 00 00 00 00 mov $0x0,%esi
136 cb: | | /----> 48 8b 3d 00 00 00 00 mov 0x0(%rip),%rdi # d2 <main+0xd2>
137 d2: | | | 31 c0 xor %eax,%eax
138 d4: | | | /-- e8 00 00 00 00 callq d9 <main+0xd9>
139 d9: | | | \-> bf 02 00 00 00 mov $0x2,%edi
140 de: | +-----------|----- e8 00 00 00 00 callq e3 <main+0xe3>
141 e3: | \-----------|----> 48 89 da mov %rbx,%rdx
142 e6: | | be 00 00 00 00 mov $0x0,%esi
143 eb: | \----- eb de jmp cb <main+0xcb>
144 ed: \-------------------> 48 8b 16 mov (%rsi),%rdx
146 Additional arguments to the --visualize-jumps option add colors to the
151 * Add --source-comment[=<txt>] option to objdump which if present,
152 provides a prefix to source code lines displayed in a disassembly.
154 * Add --set-section-alignment <section-name>=<align> option to objcopy to allow
155 the changing of section alignments.
157 * Add --verilog-data-width option to objcopy for verilog targets to control
158 width of data elements in verilog hex format.
160 * Add support for the Armv8.1-M Mainline and M-profile Vector Extension (MVE)
163 * The separate debug info file options of readelf (--debug-dump=links
164 and --debug-dump=follow) and objdump (--dwarf=links and
165 --dwarf=follow-links) will now display and/or follow multiple links if
166 more than one are present in a file. (This usually happens when gcc's
167 -gsplit-dwarf option is used).
169 In addition objdump's --dwarf=follow-links now also affects its other
170 display options, so that for example, when combined with --syms it will
171 cause the symbol tables in any linked debug info files to also be
172 displayed. In addition when combined with --disassemble the --dwarf=
173 follow-links option will ensure that any symbol tables in the linked
174 files are read and used when disassembling code in the main file.
176 * Add support for dumping types encoded in the Compact Type Format
177 to objdump and readelf.
181 * The addr2line, c++filt, nm and objdump tools now have a limit on the
182 maximum amount of recursion that is allowed whilst demangling strings.
183 The value for this limit is defined by the DEMANGLE_RECRUSE_LIMIT
184 constant declared in the include/demangle.h header file. At the time
185 of writing this constant has the value of 2048.
187 The --no-recurse-limit option can be used to remove the limit, restoring
188 the behaviour of earlier versions of these tools. This may be needed in
189 order to dmangle truly complicated names, but it also leaves the tools
190 vulnerable to stack exhaustion from maliciously constructed mangled names.
192 * Objdump's --disassemble option can now take a parameter, specifying the
193 starting symbol for disassembly. Disassembly will continue from this
194 symbol up to the next symbol or the end of the function.
196 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 2K1000 processor which implements
197 the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE, Loongson-ext ASE,
198 Loongson-ext2 ASE and MSA ASE instructions. Add -march=gs264e option for
199 Loongson 2K1000 processor.
201 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor which
202 implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE,
203 Loongson-ext ASE and Loongson-ext2 ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464e
204 option for Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor.
206 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A1000 processor, aka Loongson3a,
207 which implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE
208 and Loongson-ext ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464 option for Loongson
209 3A1000 processor, The -march=loongson3a is an alias of -march=gs464 for
212 * The size tool now has a new output format '--format=GNU' or '-G'. The
213 results are displayed in a similar manor to the default berkeley layout,
214 except read-only data is counted in the data column, not the text column.
215 Additionally the total is only included once.
219 * Add support for disassembling netronome Flow Processor (NFP) firmware files.
221 * The AArch64 port now supports showing disassembly notes which are emitted
222 when inconsistencies are found with the instruction that may result in the
223 instruction being invalid. These can be turned on with the option -M notes
226 * The AArch64 port now emits warnings when a combination of an instruction and
227 a named register could be invalid.
229 * Added O modifier to ar to display member offsets inside an archive
233 * Add --debug-dump=links option to readelf and --dwarf=links option to objdump
234 which displays the contents of any .gnu_debuglink or .gnu_debugaltlink
237 Add a --debug-dump=follow-links option to readelf and a --dwarf=follow-links
238 option to objdump which causes indirect links into separate debug info files
239 to be followed when dumping other DWARF sections.
243 * The MIPS port now supports microMIPS eXtended Physical Addressing (XPA)
244 instructions for assembly and disassembly.
246 * The MIPS port now supports the microMIPS Release 5 ISA for assembly and
249 * The MIPS port now supports the Imagination interAptiv MR2 processor,
250 which implements the MIPS32r3 ISA, the MIPS16e2 ASE as well as a couple
251 of implementation-specific regular MIPS and MIPS16e2 ASE instructions.
253 * The SPARC port now supports the SPARC M8 processor, which implements the
254 Oracle SPARC Architecture 2017.
256 * The MIPS port now supports the MIPS16e2 ASE for assembly and disassembly.
258 * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX.
260 * Add support for the wasm32 ELF conversion of the WebAssembly file format.
262 * Add --inlines option to objdump, which extends the --line-numbers option
263 so that inlined functions will display their nesting information.
265 * Add --merge-notes options to objcopy to reduce the size of notes in
266 a binary file by merging and deleting redundant notes.
268 * Add support for locating separate debug info files using the build-id
269 method, where the separate file has a name based upon the build-id of
274 * This version of binutils fixes a problem with PowerPC VLE 16A and 16D
275 relocations which were functionally swapped, for example,
276 R_PPC_VLE_HA16A performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16D while R_PPC_VLE_HA16D
277 performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16A. This could have been fixed by
278 renumbering relocations, which would keep object files created by an
279 older version of gas compatible with a newer ld. However, that would
280 require an ABI update, affecting other assemblers and linkers that
281 create and process the relocations correctly. It is recommended that
282 all VLE object files be recompiled, but ld can modify the relocations
283 if --vle-reloc-fixup is passed to ld. If the new ld command-line
284 option is not used, ld will ld warn on finding relocations inconsistent
285 with the instructions being relocated.
287 * The nm program has a new command-line option (--with-version-strings)
288 which will display a symbol's version information, if any, after the
291 * The ARC port of objdump now accepts a -M option to specify the extra
292 instruction class(es) that should be disassembled.
294 * The --remove-section option for objcopy and strip now accepts section
295 patterns starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching
296 section. A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections
297 matched by an earlier --remove-section pattern.
299 * The --only-section option for objcopy now accepts section patterns
300 starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching section.
301 A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections matched by
302 an earlier --only-section pattern.
304 * New --remove-relocations=SECTIONPATTERN option for objcopy and strip.
305 This option can be used to remove sections containing relocations.
306 The SECTIONPATTERN is the section to which the relocations apply, not
307 the relocation section itself.
311 * Add a configure option, --enable-64-bit-archive, to force use of a
312 64-bit format when creating an archive symbol index.
314 * Add --elf-stt-common= option to objcopy for ELF targets to control
315 whether to convert common symbols to the STT_COMMON type.
319 * Add option to objcopy to insert new symbols into a file:
320 --add-symbol <name>=[<section>:]<value>[,<flags>]
322 * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures.
324 * Extend objcopy --compress-debug-sections option to support
325 --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi] for ELF
328 * Add --update-section option to objcopy.
330 * Add --output-separator option to strings.
334 * Add --data option to strings to only print strings in loadable, initialized
335 data sections. Change the default behaviour to be --all, but add a new
336 configure time option of --disable-default-strings-all to restore the old
339 * Add --include-all-whitespace to strings.
341 * Add --dump-section option to objcopy.
343 * Add support for the Andes NDS32.
347 * Objcopy now supports wildcard characters in command-line options that take
350 * Add support for Altera Nios II.
354 * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture.
356 * Add support for x64 Windows target of the delayed-load-library.
358 * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture.
362 * Add support for displaying the contents of .debug.macro sections.
364 * Add --preprocessor-arg option to windres to specify additional options
365 passed to preprocessor.
367 * Add --dwarf-start and --dwarf-end to readelf and objdump. These are used by
368 the new Emacs mode, see dwarf-mode.el.
370 * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures.
374 * Add --interleave-width option to objcopy to allowing copying a range of
375 bytes from the input to the output with the --interleave option.
377 * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family.
379 * Readelf can now display ARM unwind tables (.ARM.exidx / .ARM.extab) using
380 the -u / --unwind option.
382 * Add --dyn-syms to readelf to dump dynamic symbol table.
384 * A new tool - elfedit - has been added to directly manipulate ELF format
387 * Add to dlltool .def file feature of aliasing PE internal symbol name by
390 * Add a new command-line option -a / --addresses to addr2line to display the
391 address before function name or source filename.
393 * Add a new command-line option -p / --pretty-print to addr2line to have
394 a more human readable output.
396 * The hppa/som targets can now be compiled on any host.
400 * Add support for delay importing to dlltool. Use the --output-delaylib <file>
401 switch to create a delay-import library. The resulting app will load the dll
402 as soon as the first function is called. It will link to __delayLoadHelper2()
403 from the static delayimp library, which will import LoadLibraryA and
404 GetProcAddress from kernel32.
406 * Add a new command-line option, --insn-width=WIDTH, to objdump to specify
407 number of bytes to be displayed on a single line when disassembling
410 * Readelf can now display the relocated contents of a section as a sequence
411 of bytes via the --relocated-dump=<name|number> command-line option.
413 * The gprof program has been given a new command-line option:
414 --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified
417 * The plugin target has been added to bfd. It can load the same shared objects
418 used by gold and uses them to provide basic support for new file formats.
420 * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format
423 * Add --file-alignment, --heap, --image-base, --section-alignment,
424 --stack and --subsystem command-line options to objcopy, which will
425 set PE optional header.
427 * Option --dwarf/-W of objdump is now as flexible as readelf --debug-dump/-w.
429 * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined
430 symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries. In the
431 latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED
432 entry of one of the libraries already linked.
434 * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to
435 add absolute paths for -S.
437 * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to dlltool to allow fall-
438 back to old import table generation with null element prefix.
440 * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to
441 report an error when the import library is associated with
444 * Added --identify <implib> option to dlltool, which determines the
445 name of the DLL associated with the specified <implib>.
447 * Support for PowerPC booke64 instructions has been removed. The assembler no
448 longer accepts -mbooke32 or -mbooke64 and the disassembler no longer accepts
449 -Mbooke32 or -Mbooke64. Instead, -mbooke and -Mbooke should be used.
453 * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line.
455 * Added support for "thin" archives which contain pathnames pointing to
456 object files rather than the files themselves and which contain a
457 flattened symbol index for all objects, and archives, which have been
458 added to the archive.
460 * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly.
462 * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index.
464 * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port.
466 * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections.
470 * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null
471 pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as
472 revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
474 * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
477 * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets. This is a message
478 compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version.
480 * Add codepage support to the windres tool. It now supports many new
481 resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc). The output generation
482 for binary files is done now via bfd itself. The endianess problems
483 for different hosts are solved. Dumps of .res files can now be
484 re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors.
485 Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected.
487 * Add --extract-symbol command-line option to objcopy, which will
488 strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except
489 for its symbol table. Files containing just symbols can be useful
494 * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
496 * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt. -i disables the display of implementation
497 specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling
500 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
501 that extra switches can be read from <file>.
503 * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
506 * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
507 "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
509 * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security
510 conscious. This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all
511 code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt. The old PLT
512 and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt.
514 * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
515 for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
517 * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
519 * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
520 when disassembling VAX binaries.
522 * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
523 to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
525 * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
526 several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.
530 * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
532 * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and
533 --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard
534 matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but
535 retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations.
537 * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections. This
538 happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered. The
539 command-line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display
540 the contents of the .debug_range section.
542 * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of
543 symbols which the target considers to be special. By default these symbols
544 are no longer displayed. Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping
545 symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and
546 between ARM and THUMB code.
548 * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
549 import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
553 * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the
554 disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some
555 pseudo instruction name. I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move",
556 "sll" instead of "nop", etc.
558 * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on
559 the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them.
561 * readelf can now parse archives.
563 * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
564 format compatible with ctags tool.
566 * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing
567 those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug. The idea is that
568 this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create
569 a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the
572 * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink
573 section into a (presumably stripped) executable. This allows the debug
574 information for the file to be held in a separate file.
576 * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX
577 single-character representation. This can be checked by running nm
582 * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
584 * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
586 * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
588 * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
589 --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
591 * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
594 * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other
595 headers that declare the same. Users of BFD should replace boolean,
596 false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type.
598 * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
602 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
605 Changes in version 2.12:
607 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
609 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
611 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
612 lines to fit into 80 columns.
614 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings. By Markus Kuhn.
616 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
618 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions. Support added for
619 displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
621 * New command-line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
622 global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
625 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
627 * New command-line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
628 with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
629 description. Only supported for ELF targets. By Alexandre Oliva.
631 * New command-line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
632 the architecture of the output file to the given argument. This option only
633 makes sense, if the input target is binary. Otherwise it is ignored.
636 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
638 Changes in binutils 2.11:
640 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
643 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command-line switch to objcopy.
646 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
648 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
650 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
652 Changes in binutils 2.10:
654 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
656 * New command-line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
657 entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
660 * New command-line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
661 a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
662 disassembler. Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
665 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
668 * New program: readelf. This displays the contents of ELF format files,
669 regardless of target machine.
671 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
672 --change-section-address options. The old --adjust-section-vma option is
673 equivalent to --change-section-address. The other --adjust-* options are now
674 renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
676 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
678 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
681 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
683 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
684 --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
686 Changes in binutils 2.9:
688 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
689 files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
691 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
692 the VMA of the sections.
694 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
696 Changes in binutils 2.8:
698 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved. Use
699 the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format. There are also new
700 --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
703 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets. For example,
704 objdump -b i386-pc-linux. The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
705 so they must be in canonical form.
707 * Added new addr2line program. This uses the debugging information to convert
708 an address into a file name and line number within a program.
710 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
712 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
714 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
716 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
718 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
720 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
722 Changes in binutils 2.7:
724 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
726 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
728 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
730 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
732 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
734 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
736 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
738 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
740 Changes in binutils 2.6:
742 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
744 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
745 file is laid out in memory. Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
746 generating plain binary files.
748 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
750 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX. The tools are now built by default on AIX.
752 Changes in binutils 2.5:
754 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
755 listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
757 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
758 Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
760 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
762 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
765 Changes in binutils 2.4:
767 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
768 PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
770 * Support for Irix 5.
772 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
773 ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
775 Changes in binutils 2.3:
777 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
780 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added. It can convert object files into
781 Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
783 * The strings program has been added.
785 Changes in binutils 2.2:
787 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
788 'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
791 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
792 (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names. (Note: This
793 may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
795 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
796 the output from BSD nm.
798 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
800 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
802 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
804 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
806 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
808 Changes in binutils 2.1:
810 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
811 should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix. Please let us know how well this works.
813 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
814 version), if there are any object files in the archive. So running ranlib is
815 now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used). This is required
816 for Posix.2 conformance.
818 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
819 independently of the selected target format. This is to encourage people to
820 switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
822 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
823 and/or local symbols only. They now also support long options.
826 Copyright (C) 2012-2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
828 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
829 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
830 notice and this notice are preserved.