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