binutils/NEWS

   1 -*- text -*-
   2
   3 * The MIPS port now supports the Sony Interactive Entertainment Allegrex
   4   processor, used with the PlayStation Portable, which implements the MIPS
   5   II ISA along with a single-precision FPU and a few implementation-specific
   6   integer instructions.
   7
   8 * Objdump's --private option can now be used on PE format files to display the
   9   fields in the file header and section headers.
  10
  11 * New versioned release of libsframe: libsframe.so.1.  This release introduces
  12   versioned symbols with version node name LIBSFRAME_1.0.  This release also
  13   updates the ABI in an incompatible way: this includes removal of
  14   sframe_get_funcdesc_with_addr API, change in the behavior of
  15   sframe_fre_get_ra_offset and sframe_fre_get_fp_offset APIs.
  16
  17 * SFrame Version 2 is now the default (and only) format version supported by
  18   gas, ld, readelf and objdump.
  19
  20 * Add command-line option, --strip-section-headers, to objcopy and strip to
  21   remove ELF section header from ELF file.
  22
  23 * The RISC-V port now supports the following new standard extensions:
  24   - Zicond (conditional zero instructions)
  25   - Zfa (additional floating-point instructions)
  26
  27 * The RISC-V port now supports the following vendor-defined extensions:
  28   - XVentanaCondOps
  29
  30 Changes in 2.40:
  31
  32 * Objdump has a new command line option --show-all-symbols which will make it
  33   display all symbols that match a given address when disassembling.  (Normally
  34   only the first symbol that matches an address is shown).
  35
  36 * Add --enable-colored-disassembly configure time option to enable colored
  37   disassembly output by default, if the output device is a terminal.  Note,
  38   this configure option is disabled by default.
  39
  40 * DCO signed contributions are now accepted.
  41
  42 * objcopy --decompress-debug-sections now supports zstd compressed debug
  43   sections.  The new option --compress-debug-sections=zstd compresses debug
  44   sections with zstd.
  45
  46 * addr2line and objdump --dwarf now support zstd compressed debug sections.
  47
  48 * The dlltool program now accepts --deterministic-libraries and
  49   --non-deterministic-libraries as command line options to control whether or
  50   not it generates deterministic output libraries.  If neither of these options
  51   are used the default is whatever was set when the binutils were configured.
  52
  53 * readelf and objdump now have a newly added option --sframe which dumps the
  54   SFrame section.
  55
  56 Changes in 2.39:
  57
  58 * Add --no-weak/-W option to nm to make it ignore weak symbols.
  59
  60 * Add an option to objdump and readelf to prevent attempts to access debuginfod
  61   servers when following links.
  62
  63 * objcopy --weaken, --weaken-symbol, and --weaken-symbols now make ELF
  64   STB_GNU_UNIQUE symbols weak.
  65
  66 * objdump now supports syntax highlighting of disassembler output for some
  67   architectures.  Use the --disassembler-color=MODE command line flag, with
  68   mode being either off, color, or extended-color.
  69
  70 Changes in 2.38:
  71
  72 * elfedit: Add --output-abiversion option to update ABIVERSION.
  73
  74 * Add support for the LoongArch instruction set.
  75
  76 * Tools which display symbols or strings (readelf, strings, nm, objdump)
  77   have a new command line option which controls how unicode characters are
  78   handled.  By default they are treated as normal for the tool.  Using
  79   --unicode=locale will display them according to the current locale.
  80   Using --unicode=hex will display them as hex byte values, whilst
  81   --unicode=escape will display them as escape sequences.  In addition
  82   using --unicode=highlight will display them as unicode escape sequences
  83   highlighted in red (if supported by the output device).
  84
  85 * readelf -r dumps RELR relative relocations now.
  86
  87 * Support for efi-app-aarch64, efi-rtdrv-aarch64 and efi-bsdrv-aarch64 has been
  88   added to objcopy in order to enable UEFI development using binutils.
  89
  90 * ar: Add --thin for creating thin archives. -T is a deprecated alias without
  91   diagnostics. In many ar implementations -T has a different meaning, as
  92   specified by X/Open System Interface.
  93
  94 Changes in 2.37:
  95
  96 * The readelf tool has a new command line option which can be used to specify
  97   how the numeric values of symbols are reported.  --sym-base=0|8|10|16 tells
  98   readelf to display the values in base 8, base 10 or base 16.  A sym base of 0
  99   represents the default action of displaying values under 10000 in base 10 and
 100   values above that in base 16.
 101
 102 * Binutils now requires a C99 compiler and library to build.
 103
 104 * A new format has been added to the nm program.  Specifying
 105   --format=just-symbols (or just using -j) will tell the program to only
 106   display symbol names and nothing else.
 107
 108 * A new command line --keep-section-symbols has been added to objcopy and
 109   strip.  This stops the removal of unused section symbols when the file is
 110   copied.  Removing these symbols saves space, but sometimes they are needed by
 111   other tools.
 112
 113 * objcopy --weaken, --weaken-symbol and --weaken-symbols now make undefined
 114   symbols weak on targets that support weak symbols.
 115
 116 * Readelf and objdump can now display and use the contents of .debug_sup
 117   sections.
 118
 119 * Readelf and objdump will now follow links to separate debug info files by
 120   default.  This behaviour can be stopped via the use of the new -wN or
 121   --debug-dump=no-follow-links options for readelf and the -WN or
 122   --dwarf=no-follow-links options for objdump.  Also the old behaviour can be
 123   restored by the use of the --enable-follow-debug-links=no configure time
 124   option.
 125
 126   The semantics of the =follow-links option have also been slightly changed.
 127   When enabled, the option allows for the loading of symbol tables and string
 128   tables from the separate files which can be used to enhance the information
 129   displayed when dumping other sections, but it does not automatically imply
 130   that information from the separate files should be displayed.
 131
 132   If other debug section display options are also enabled (eg
 133   --debug-dump=info) then the contents of matching sections in both the main
 134   file and the separate debuginfo file *will* be displayed.  This is because in
 135   most cases the debug section will only be present in one of the files.
 136
 137   If however non-debug section display options are enabled (eg --sections) then
 138   the contents of matching parts of the separate debuginfo file will *not* be
 139   displayed.  This is because in most cases the user probably only wanted to
 140   load the symbol information from the separate debuginfo file.  In order to
 141   change this behaviour a new command line option --process-links can be used.
 142   This will allow di0pslay options to applied to both the main file and any
 143   separate debuginfo files.
 144
 145 * Nm has a new command line option: --quiet.  This suppresses "no symbols"
 146   diagnostic.
 147
 148 Changes in 2.36:
 149
 150 * Update elfedit and readelf with LAM_U48 and LAM_U57 support.
 151
 152 * Nm has a new command line option: --ifunc-chars=CHARS.  This specifies a
 153   string of one or two characters.  The first character is used as the type
 154   character when displaying global ifunc symbols.  The second character, if
 155   present is used when displaying local ifunc symbols.
 156
 157   In addition a new configure time option --enable-f-for-ifunc-symbols has been
 158   created, which if used will change nm's default characters for ifunc symbols
 159   from i (both local and global) to F (global) and f (local).
 160
 161 * The ar tool's previously unused l modifier is now used for specifying
 162   dependencies of a static library. The arguments of this option
 163   (or --record-libdeps long form option) will be stored verbatim in the
 164   __.LIBDEP member of the archive, which the linker may read at link time.
 165
 166 * Readelf can now display the contents of LTO symbol table sections when asked
 167   to do so via the --lto-syms command line option.
 168
 169 * Readelf now accepts the -C command line option to enable the demangling of
 170   symbol names.  In addition the --demangle=<style>, --no-demangle,
 171   --recurse-limit and --no-recurse-limit options are also now availale.
 172
 173 * Add support for the SHF_GNU_RETAIN ELF section flag.
 174   This flag specifies that the section should not be garbage collected by the
 175   linker.
 176
 177 Changes in 2.35:
 178
 179 * Changed readelf's display of symbol names when wide mode is not enabled.
 180   If the name is too long it will be truncated and the last five characters
 181   replaced with "[...]".  The old behaviour of displaying 5 more characters but
 182   not indicating that truncation has happened can be restored by the use of the
 183   -T or --silent-truncation options.
 184
 185 * X86 NaCl target support is removed.
 186
 187 * The readelf tool now has a -L or --lint or --enable-checks option which turns
 188   on warning messages about possible problems with the file(s) being examined.
 189   These checks include things like zero-sized sections, which are allowed by
 190   the ELF standard but which nevertheless might be of concern if the user
 191   was expecting them to actually contain something.
 192
 193 Changes in 2.34:
 194
 195 * Binutils now supports debuginfod, an HTTP server for distributing
 196   ELF/DWARF debugging information as well as source code. When built with
 197   debuginfod, readelf and objdump can automatically query debuginfod
 198   servers for separate debug files when they otherwise cannot be found.
 199   To build binutils with debuginfod, pass --with-debuginfod to configure.
 200   This requires libdebuginfod, the debuginfod client library. debuginfod
 201   is distributed with elfutils, starting with version 0.178. For more
 202   information see https://sourceware.org/elfutils.
 203
 204 * Add --output option to the "ar" program.  This option can be used to specify
 205   the output directory when extracting members from an archive.
 206
 207 * Add --keep-section option to objcopy and strip.  This option keeps the
 208   specified section from being removed.
 209
 210  * Add visualization of jumps inside a function by drawing an ascii character
 211    graph between the address and the disassembler column.  Enabled via the
 212    --visualize-jumps command line option for objdump.  Currently supported by
 213    the x86, x86_64, and ARM targets.  The output looks something like this:
 214
 215   c6:   |  |     \----------> be 00 00 00 00            mov    $0x0,%esi
 216   cb:   |  |           /----> 48 8b 3d 00 00 00 00      mov    0x0(%rip),%rdi        # d2 <main+0xd2>
 217   d2:   |  |           |      31 c0                     xor    %eax,%eax
 218   d4:   |  |           |  /-- e8 00 00 00 00            callq  d9 <main+0xd9>
 219   d9:   |  |           |  \-> bf 02 00 00 00            mov    $0x2,%edi
 220   de:   |  +-----------|----- e8 00 00 00 00            callq  e3 <main+0xe3>
 221   e3:   |  \-----------|----> 48 89 da                  mov    %rbx,%rdx
 222   e6:   |              |      be 00 00 00 00            mov    $0x0,%esi
 223   eb:   |              \----- eb de                     jmp    cb <main+0xcb>
 224   ed:   \-------------------> 48 8b 16                  mov    (%rsi),%rdx
 225
 226   Additional arguments to the --visualize-jumps option add colors to the
 227   output.
 228
 229 Changes in 2.33:
 230
 231 * Add --source-comment[=<txt>] option to objdump which if present,
 232   provides a prefix to source code lines displayed in a disassembly.
 233
 234 * Add --set-section-alignment <section-name>=<align> option to objcopy to allow
 235   the changing of section alignments.
 236
 237 * Add --verilog-data-width option to objcopy for verilog targets to control
 238   width of data elements in verilog hex format.
 239
 240 * Add support for the Armv8.1-M Mainline and M-profile Vector Extension (MVE)
 241   instructions.
 242
 243 * The separate debug info file options of readelf (--debug-dump=links
 244   and --debug-dump=follow) and objdump (--dwarf=links and
 245   --dwarf=follow-links) will now display and/or follow multiple links if
 246   more than one are present in a file.  (This usually happens when gcc's
 247   -gsplit-dwarf option is used).
 248
 249   In addition objdump's --dwarf=follow-links now also affects its other
 250   display options, so that for example, when combined with --syms it will
 251   cause the symbol tables in any linked debug info files to also be
 252   displayed.  In addition when combined with --disassemble the --dwarf=
 253   follow-links option will ensure that any symbol tables in the linked
 254   files are read and used when disassembling code in the main file.
 255
 256  * Add support for dumping types encoded in the Compact Type Format
 257    to objdump and readelf.
 258
 259 Changes in 2.32:
 260
 261 * The addr2line, c++filt, nm and objdump tools now have a limit on the
 262   maximum amount of recursion that is allowed whilst demangling strings.
 263   The value for this limit is defined by the DEMANGLE_RECRUSE_LIMIT
 264   constant declared in the include/demangle.h header file.  At the time
 265   of writing this constant has the value of 2048.
 266
 267   The --no-recurse-limit option can be used to remove the limit, restoring
 268   the behaviour of earlier versions of these tools.  This may be needed in
 269   order to dmangle truly complicated names, but it also leaves the tools
 270   vulnerable to stack exhaustion from maliciously constructed mangled names.
 271
 272 * Objdump's --disassemble option can now take a parameter, specifying the
 273   starting symbol for disassembly.  Disassembly will continue from this
 274   symbol up to the next symbol or the end of the function.
 275
 276 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 2K1000 processor which implements
 277   the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE, Loongson-ext ASE,
 278   Loongson-ext2 ASE and MSA ASE instructions. Add -march=gs264e option for
 279   Loongson 2K1000 processor.
 280
 281 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor which
 282   implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE,
 283   Loongson-ext ASE and Loongson-ext2 ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464e
 284   option for Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor.
 285
 286 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A1000 processor, aka Loongson3a,
 287   which implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE
 288   and Loongson-ext ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464 option for Loongson
 289   3A1000 processor, The -march=loongson3a is an alias of -march=gs464 for
 290   compatibility.
 291
 292 * The size tool now has a new output format '--format=GNU' or '-G'.  The
 293   results are displayed in a similar manor to the default berkeley layout,
 294   except read-only data is counted in the data column, not the text column.
 295   Additionally the total is only included once.
 296
 297 Changes in 2.31:
 298
 299 * Add support for disassembling netronome Flow Processor (NFP) firmware files.
 300
 301 * The AArch64 port now supports showing disassembly notes which are emitted
 302   when inconsistencies are found with the instruction that may result in the
 303   instruction being invalid.  These can be turned on with the option -M notes
 304   to objdump.
 305
 306 * The AArch64 port now emits warnings when a combination of an instruction and
 307   a named register could be invalid.
 308
 309 * Added O modifier to ar to display member offsets inside an archive
 310
 311 Changes in 2.30:
 312
 313 * Add --debug-dump=links option to readelf and --dwarf=links option to objdump
 314   which displays the contents of any .gnu_debuglink or .gnu_debugaltlink
 315   sections.
 316
 317   Add a --debug-dump=follow-links option to readelf and a --dwarf=follow-links
 318   option to objdump which causes indirect links into separate debug info files
 319   to be followed when dumping other DWARF sections.
 320
 321 Changes in 2.29:
 322
 323 * The MIPS port now supports microMIPS eXtended Physical Addressing (XPA)
 324   instructions for assembly and disassembly.
 325
 326 * The MIPS port now supports the microMIPS Release 5 ISA for assembly and
 327   disassembly.
 328
 329 * The MIPS port now supports the Imagination interAptiv MR2 processor,
 330   which implements the MIPS32r3 ISA, the MIPS16e2 ASE as well as a couple
 331   of implementation-specific regular MIPS and MIPS16e2 ASE instructions.
 332
 333 * The SPARC port now supports the SPARC M8 processor, which implements the
 334   Oracle SPARC Architecture 2017.
 335
 336 * The MIPS port now supports the MIPS16e2 ASE for assembly and disassembly.
 337
 338 * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX.
 339
 340 * Add support for the wasm32 ELF conversion of the WebAssembly file format.
 341
 342 * Add --inlines option to objdump, which extends the --line-numbers option
 343   so that inlined functions will display their nesting information.
 344
 345 * Add --merge-notes options to objcopy to reduce the size of notes in
 346   a binary file by merging and deleting redundant notes.
 347
 348 * Add support for locating separate debug info files using the build-id
 349   method, where the separate file has a name based upon the build-id of
 350   the original file.
 351
 352 Changes in 2.28:
 353
 354 * This version of binutils fixes a problem with PowerPC VLE 16A and 16D
 355   relocations which were functionally swapped, for example,
 356   R_PPC_VLE_HA16A performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16D while R_PPC_VLE_HA16D
 357   performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16A.  This could have been fixed by
 358   renumbering relocations, which would keep object files created by an
 359   older version of gas compatible with a newer ld.  However, that would
 360   require an ABI update, affecting other assemblers and linkers that
 361   create and process the relocations correctly.  It is recommended that
 362   all VLE object files be recompiled, but ld can modify the relocations
 363   if --vle-reloc-fixup is passed to ld.  If the new ld command-line
 364   option is not used, ld will ld warn on finding relocations inconsistent
 365   with the instructions being relocated.
 366
 367 * The nm program has a new command-line option (--with-version-strings)
 368   which will display a symbol's version information, if any, after the
 369   symbol's name.
 370
 371 * The ARC port of objdump now accepts a -M option to specify the extra
 372   instruction class(es) that should be disassembled.
 373
 374 * The --remove-section option for objcopy and strip now accepts section
 375   patterns starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching
 376   section.  A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections
 377   matched by an earlier --remove-section pattern.
 378
 379 * The --only-section option for objcopy now accepts section patterns
 380   starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching section.
 381   A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections matched by
 382   an earlier --only-section pattern.
 383
 384 * New --remove-relocations=SECTIONPATTERN option for objcopy and strip.
 385   This option can be used to remove sections containing relocations.
 386   The SECTIONPATTERN is the section to which the relocations apply, not
 387   the relocation section itself.
 388
 389 Changes in 2.27:
 390
 391 * Add a configure option, --enable-64-bit-archive, to force use of a
 392   64-bit format when creating an archive symbol index.
 393
 394 * Add --elf-stt-common= option to objcopy for ELF targets to control
 395   whether to convert common symbols to the STT_COMMON type.
 396
 397 Changes in 2.26:
 398
 399 * Add option to objcopy to insert new symbols into a file:
 400   --add-symbol <name>=[<section>:]<value>[,<flags>]
 401
 402 * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures.
 403
 404 * Extend objcopy --compress-debug-sections option to support
 405   --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi] for ELF
 406   targets.
 407
 408 * Add --update-section option to objcopy.
 409
 410 * Add --output-separator option to strings.
 411
 412 Changes in 2.25:
 413
 414 * Add --data option to strings to only print strings in loadable, initialized
 415   data sections.  Change the default behaviour to be --all, but add a new
 416   configure time option of --disable-default-strings-all to restore the old
 417   default behaviour.
 418
 419 * Add --include-all-whitespace to strings.
 420
 421 * Add --dump-section option to objcopy.
 422
 423 * Add support for the Andes NDS32.
 424
 425 Changes in 2.24:
 426
 427 * Objcopy now supports wildcard characters in command-line options that take
 428   section names.
 429
 430 * Add support for Altera Nios II.
 431
 432 Changes in 2.23:
 433
 434 * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture.
 435
 436 * Add support for x64 Windows target of the delayed-load-library.
 437
 438 * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture.
 439
 440 Changes in 2.22:
 441
 442 * Add support for displaying the contents of .debug.macro sections.
 443
 444 * Add --preprocessor-arg option to windres to specify additional options
 445   passed to preprocessor.
 446
 447 * Add --dwarf-start and --dwarf-end to readelf and objdump.  These are used by
 448   the new Emacs mode, see dwarf-mode.el.
 449
 450 * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures.
 451
 452 changes in 2.21:
 453
 454 * Add --interleave-width option to objcopy to allowing copying a range of
 455   bytes from the input to the output with the --interleave option.
 456
 457 * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family.
 458
 459 * Readelf can now display ARM unwind tables (.ARM.exidx / .ARM.extab) using
 460   the -u / --unwind option.
 461
 462 * Add --dyn-syms to readelf to dump dynamic symbol table.
 463
 464 * A new tool - elfedit - has been added to directly manipulate ELF format
 465   binaries.
 466
 467 * Add to dlltool .def file feature of aliasing PE internal symbol name by
 468   '== <ID>' option.
 469
 470 * Add a new command-line option -a / --addresses to addr2line to display the
 471   address before function name or source filename.
 472
 473 * Add a new command-line option -p / --pretty-print to addr2line to have
 474   a more human readable output.
 475
 476 * The hppa/som targets can now be compiled on any host.
 477
 478 Changes in 2.20:
 479
 480 * Add support for delay importing to dlltool.  Use the --output-delaylib <file>
 481   switch to create a delay-import library.  The resulting app will load the dll
 482   as soon as the first function is called.  It will link to __delayLoadHelper2()
 483   from the static delayimp library, which will import LoadLibraryA and
 484   GetProcAddress from kernel32.
 485
 486 * Add a new command-line option, --insn-width=WIDTH, to objdump to specify
 487   number of bytes to be displayed on a single line when disassembling
 488   instructions.
 489
 490 * Readelf can now display the relocated contents of a section as a sequence
 491   of bytes via the --relocated-dump=<name|number> command-line option.
 492
 493 * The gprof program has been given a new command-line option:
 494   --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified
 495   file.
 496
 497 * The plugin target has been added to bfd. It can load the same shared objects
 498   used by gold and uses them to provide basic support for new file formats.
 499
 500 * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format
 501   for objcopy.
 502
 503 * Add --file-alignment, --heap, --image-base, --section-alignment,
 504   --stack and --subsystem command-line options to objcopy, which will
 505   set PE optional header.
 506
 507 * Option --dwarf/-W of objdump is now as flexible as readelf --debug-dump/-w.
 508
 509 * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined
 510   symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries.  In the
 511   latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED
 512   entry of one of the libraries already linked.
 513
 514 * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to
 515   add absolute paths for -S.
 516
 517 * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to dlltool to allow fall-
 518   back to old import table generation with null element prefix.
 519
 520 * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to
 521   report an error when the import library is associated with
 522   multiple DLLs.
 523
 524 * Added --identify <implib> option to dlltool, which determines the
 525   name of the DLL associated with the specified <implib>.
 526
 527 * Support for PowerPC booke64 instructions has been removed.  The assembler no
 528   longer accepts -mbooke32 or -mbooke64 and the disassembler no longer accepts
 529   -Mbooke32 or -Mbooke64.  Instead, -mbooke and -Mbooke should be used.
 530
 531 Changes in 2.19:
 532
 533 * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line.
 534
 535 * Added support for "thin" archives which contain pathnames pointing to
 536   object files rather than the files themselves and which contain a
 537   flattened symbol index for all objects, and archives, which have been
 538   added to the archive.
 539
 540 * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly.
 541
 542 * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index.
 543
 544 * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port.
 545
 546 * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections.
 547
 548 Changes in 2.18:
 549
 550 * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null
 551   pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as
 552   revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
 553
 554 * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
 555   Public License.
 556
 557 * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets.  This is a message
 558   compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version.
 559
 560 * Add codepage support to the windres tool.  It now supports many new
 561   resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc).  The output generation
 562   for binary files is done now via bfd itself.  The endianess problems
 563   for different hosts are solved.  Dumps of .res files can now be
 564   re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors.
 565   Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected.
 566
 567 * Add --extract-symbol command-line option to objcopy, which will
 568   strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except
 569   for its symbol table.  Files containing just symbols can be useful
 570   to some OSes.
 571
 572 Changes in 2.17:
 573
 574 * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
 575
 576 * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt.  -i disables the display of implementation
 577   specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling
 578   of types.
 579
 580 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
 581   that extra switches can be read from <file>.
 582
 583 * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
 584   debug sections.
 585
 586 * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
 587   "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
 588
 589 * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security
 590   conscious.  This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all
 591   code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt.  The old PLT
 592   and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt.
 593
 594 * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
 595   for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
 596
 597 * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
 598
 599 * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
 600   when disassembling VAX binaries.
 601
 602 * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
 603   to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
 604
 605 * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
 606   several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.
 607
 608 Changes in 2.16:
 609
 610 * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
 611
 612 * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and
 613   --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard
 614   matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but
 615   retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations.
 616
 617 * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections.  This
 618   happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered.  The
 619   command-line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display
 620   the contents of the .debug_range section.
 621
 622 * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of
 623   symbols which the target considers to be special.  By default these symbols
 624   are no longer displayed.  Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping
 625   symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and
 626   between ARM and THUMB code.
 627
 628 * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
 629   import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
 630
 631 Changes in 2.15:
 632
 633 * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the
 634   disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some
 635   pseudo instruction name.  I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move",
 636   "sll" instead of "nop", etc.
 637
 638 * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on
 639   the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them.
 640
 641 * readelf can now parse archives.
 642
 643 * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
 644   format compatible with ctags tool.
 645
 646 * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing
 647   those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug.  The idea is that
 648   this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create
 649   a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the
 650   debugging info.
 651
 652 * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink
 653   section into a (presumably stripped) executable.  This allows the debug
 654   information for the file to be held in a separate file.
 655
 656 * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX
 657   single-character representation.  This can be checked by running nm
 658   with the -a switch.
 659
 660 Changes in 2.14:
 661
 662 * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
 663
 664 * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
 665
 666 * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
 667
 668 * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
 669   --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
 670
 671 * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
 672   Parallel C compiler.
 673
 674 * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other
 675   headers that declare the same.  Users of BFD should replace boolean,
 676   false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type.
 677
 678 * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
 679
 680 Changes in 2.13:
 681
 682 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
 683   and FR500 included.
 684
 685 Changes in version 2.12:
 686
 687 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
 688
 689 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
 690
 691 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
 692   lines to fit into 80 columns.
 693
 694 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings.  By Markus Kuhn.
 695
 696 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
 697
 698 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions.  Support added for
 699   displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
 700
 701 * New command-line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
 702   global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
 703   by Honda Hiroki.
 704
 705 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
 706
 707 * New command-line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
 708   with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
 709   description.  Only supported for ELF targets.  By Alexandre Oliva.
 710
 711 * New command-line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
 712   the architecture of the output file to the given argument.  This option only
 713   makes sense, if the input target is binary.  Otherwise it is ignored.
 714   By Stefan Geuken.
 715
 716 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
 717
 718 Changes in binutils 2.11:
 719
 720 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
 721   extenstions.
 722
 723 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command-line switch to objcopy.
 724   By Luciano Gemme.
 725
 726 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
 727
 728 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
 729
 730 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
 731
 732 Changes in binutils 2.10:
 733
 734 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
 735
 736 * New command-line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
 737   entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
 738   file.
 739
 740 * New command-line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
 741   a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
 742   disassembler.  Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
 743   raw verions.
 744
 745 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
 746   with intel syntax.
 747
 748 * New program: readelf.  This displays the contents of ELF format files,
 749   regardless of target machine.
 750
 751 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
 752   --change-section-address options.  The old --adjust-section-vma option is
 753   equivalent to --change-section-address.  The other --adjust-* options are now
 754   renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
 755
 756 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
 757
 758 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
 759   sections.
 760
 761 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
 762
 763 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
 764   --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
 765
 766 Changes in binutils 2.9:
 767
 768 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
 769   files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
 770
 771 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
 772   the VMA of the sections.
 773
 774 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
 775
 776 Changes in binutils 2.8:
 777
 778 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved.  Use
 779   the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format.  There are also new
 780   --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
 781   output.
 782
 783 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets.  For example,
 784   objdump -b i386-pc-linux.  The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
 785   so they must be in canonical form.
 786
 787 * Added new addr2line program.  This uses the debugging information to convert
 788   an address into a file name and line number within a program.
 789
 790 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 791
 792 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
 793
 794 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
 795
 796 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
 797
 798 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
 799
 800 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
 801
 802 Changes in binutils 2.7:
 803
 804 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
 805
 806 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
 807
 808 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
 809
 810 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 811
 812 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
 813
 814 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
 815
 816 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
 817
 818 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
 819
 820 Changes in binutils 2.6:
 821
 822 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
 823
 824 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
 825   file is laid out in memory.  Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
 826   generating plain binary files.
 827
 828 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
 829
 830 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX.  The tools are now built by default on AIX.
 831
 832 Changes in binutils 2.5:
 833
 834 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
 835   listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
 836
 837 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
 838   Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
 839
 840 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
 841
 842 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
 843   executables.
 844
 845 Changes in binutils 2.4:
 846
 847 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
 848   PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
 849
 850 * Support for Irix 5.
 851
 852 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
 853   ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
 854
 855 Changes in binutils 2.3:
 856
 857 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
 858   ELF and COFF files.
 859
 860 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added.  It can convert object files into
 861   Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
 862
 863 * The strings program has been added.
 864
 865 Changes in binutils 2.2:
 866
 867 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
 868   'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
 869   'cp'.
 870
 871 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
 872   (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names.  (Note: This
 873   may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
 874
 875 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
 876   the output from BSD nm.
 877
 878 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
 879
 880 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
 881
 882 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
 883
 884 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
 885
 886 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
 887
 888 Changes in binutils 2.1:
 889
 890 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
 891   should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix.  Please let us know how well this works.
 892
 893 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
 894   version), if there are any object files in the archive.  So running ranlib is
 895   now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used).  This is required
 896   for Posix.2 conformance.
 897
 898 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
 899   independently of the selected target format.  This is to encourage people to
 900   switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
 901
 902 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
 903   and/or local symbols only.  They now also support long options.
 904
 905 \f
 906 Copyright (C) 2012-2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 907
 908 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
 909 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
 910 notice and this notice are preserved.
 911
 912 Local variables:
 913 fill-column: 79
 914 End: