+2008-05-21 Nick Clifton <nickc@redhat.com>
+
+ PR ld/6519
+ * ld.texinfo (Orphan Sections): Mention that the linker will
+ provide start and stop symbols for orphaned sections if their
+ names are valid C identifiers.
+ * NEWS: Add an addendum to the description of the linker feature
+ for providing orphan section start and end symbols.
+
2008-05-21 Maxim Kuvyrkov <maxim@codesourcery.com>
* configure.in (--enable-got): New option. Handle it.
Changes in version 2.6:
* When an ELF section name is representable as a C identifier (this is not true
- of most ELF section names), *and* the section is not explicitly handled by
- the linker script (ie it is an orphaned section) then the linker will
- automatically PROVIDE symbols __start_SECNAME and __stop_SECNAME, where
- SECNAME is the section name, at the beginning and the end of the section.
- This is used by glibc.
+of most ELF section names), the linker will automatically define symbols
+__start_SECNAME and __stop_SECNAME, where SECNAME is the section name, at the
+beginning and the end of the section. This is used by glibc.
+
+ Addendum: Current versions of the linker (at least for version 2.18 onwards
+and possibly much earlier as well) place two restrictions on this feature: The
+symbols are only implemented for orphaned sections, not for explicitly placed
+sections and they are PROVIDEd rather than being defined.
* When an ELF section named .gnu.warning is encountered in an input file, the
contents of the section are displayed as an error message, and the section is