arm: Add support for Neoverse N2 CPU
[deliverable/binutils-gdb.git] / gas / NEWS
CommitLineData
252b5132 1-*- text -*-
81d54bb7 2* Add support for Intel TDX instructions.
96a84ea3 3
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TG
4* Add support for Intel Key Locker instructions.
5
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6* Added a .nop directive to generate a single no-op instruction in a target
7 neutral manner. This instruction does have an effect on DWARF line number
8 generation, if that is active.
9
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ML
10* Removed --reduce-memory-overheads and --hash-size as gas now
11 uses hash tables that can be expand and shrink automatically.
12
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13* Add {disp16} pseudo prefix to x86 assembler.
14
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LC
15* Add support for Intel AMX instructions.
16
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17* Configure with --enable-x86-used-note by default for Linux/x86.
18
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NC
19Changes in 2.35:
20
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L
21* X86 NaCl target support is removed.
22
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L
23* Extend .symver directive to update visibility of the original symbol
24 and assign one original symbol to different versioned symbols.
25
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L
26* Add support for Intel SERIALIZE and TSXLDTRK instructions.
27
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L
28* Add -mlfence-after-load=, -mlfence-before-indirect-branch= and
29 -mlfence-before-ret= options to x86 assembler to help mitigate
30 CVE-2020-0551.
31
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32* Add --gdwarf-5 option to the assembler to generate DWARF 5 debug output
33 (if such output is being generated). Added the ability to generate
34 version 5 .debug_line sections.
35
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36* Add -mbig-obj support to i386 MingW targets.
37
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38Changes in 2.34:
39
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40* Add -malign-branch-boundary=NUM, -malign-branch=TYPE[+TYPE...],
41 -malign-branch-prefix-size=NUM and -mbranches-within-32B-boundaries
42 options to x86 assembler to align branches within a fixed boundary
43 with segment prefixes or NOPs.
44
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45* Add support for Zilog eZ80 and Zilog Z180 CPUs.
46
47* Add support for z80-elf target.
48
49* Add support for relocation of each byte or word of multibyte value to Z80
50 targets (just use right shift to 0, 8, 16, or 24 bits or AND operation
51 with 0xff/0xffff mask): ld a, label >> 16 \ ld hl, label & 0xffff
52
53* Add SDCC support for Z80 targets.
54
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55Changes in 2.33:
56
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57* Add support for the Arm Scalable Vector Extension version 2 (SVE2)
58 instructions.
59
60* Add support for the Arm Transactional Memory Extension (TME)
61 instructions.
62
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63* Add support for the Armv8.1-M Mainline and M-profile Vector Extension (MVE)
64 instructions.
65
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66* For MIPS, Add -m[no-]fix-loongson3-llsc option to fix (or not) Loongson3
67 LLSC Errata. Add a --enable-mips-fix-loongson3-llsc=[yes|no] configure
68 time option to set the default behavior. Set the default if the configure
69 option is not used to "no".
6f2117ba 70
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71* Add support for the Arm Cortex-A76AE, Cortex-A77 and Cortex-M35P
72 processors.
73
74* Add support for the AArch64 Cortex-A34, Cortex-A65, Cortex-A65AE,
75 Cortex-A76AE, and Cortex-A77 processors.
76
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77* Add .float16 directive for both Arm and AArch64 to allow encoding of 16-bit
78 floating point literals. Add .float16_format directive and
79 -mfp16-format=[ieee|alternative] option for Arm to control the format of the
80 encoding.
81
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82* Add --gdwarf-cie-version command line flag. This allows control over which
83 version of DWARF CIE the assembler creates.
84
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85Changes in 2.32:
86
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87* Add -mvexwig=[0|1] option to x86 assembler to control encoding of
88 VEX.W-ignored (WIG) VEX instructions.
89
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90* Add -mx86-used-note=[yes|no] option to generate (or not) x86 GNU property
91 notes. Add a --enable-x86-used-note configure time option to set the
92 default behavior. Set the default if the configure option is not used
93 to "no".
94
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95* Add support for the MIPS Loongson EXTensions R2 (EXT2) instructions.
96
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97* Add support for the MIPS Loongson EXTensions (EXT) instructions.
98
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99* Add support for the MIPS Loongson Content Address Memory (CAM) ASE.
100
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101* Add support for the C-SKY processor series.
102
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103* Add support for the MIPS Loongson MultiMedia extensions Instructions (MMI)
104 ASE.
105
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106Changes in 2.31:
107
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108* The ADR and ADRL pseudo-instructions supported by the ARM assembler
109 now only set the bottom bit of the address of thumb function symbols
110 if the -mthumb-interwork command line option is active.
111
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112* Add support for the MIPS Global INValidate (GINV) ASE.
113
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SE
114* Add support for the MIPS Cyclic Redudancy Check (CRC) ASE.
115
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116* Add support for the Freescale S12Z architecture.
117
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NC
118* Add --generate-missing-build-notes=[yes|no] option to create (or not) GNU
119 Build Attribute notes if none are present in the input sources. Add a
120 --enable-generate-build-notes=[yes|no] configure time option to set the
121 default behaviour. Set the default if the configure option is not used
122 to "no".
123
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124* Remove -mold-gcc command-line option for x86 targets.
125
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L
126* Add -O[2|s] command-line options to x86 assembler to enable alternate
127 shorter instruction encoding.
128
8f065d3b 129* Add support for .nops directive. It is currently supported only for
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130 x86 targets.
131
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132Changes in 2.30:
133
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134* Add support for loaction views in DWARF debug line information.
135
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136Changes in 2.29:
137
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138* Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND.
139
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140* Add support for the WebAssembly file format and wasm32 ELF conversion.
141
7e0de605 142* PowerPC gas now checks that the correct register class is used in
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143 instructions. For instance, "addi %f4,%cr3,%r31" warns three times
144 that the registers are invalid.
7e0de605 145
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146* Add support for the Texas Instruments PRU processor.
147
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148* Support for the ARMv8-R architecture and Cortex-R52 processor has been
149 added to the ARM port.
ced40572 150
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151Changes in 2.28:
152
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153* Add support for the RISC-V architecture.
154
b19ea8d2 155* Add support for the ARM Cortex-M23 and Cortex-M33 processors.
ce1b0a45 156
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157Changes in 2.27:
158
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159* Default to --enable-compressed-debug-sections=gas for Linux/x86 targets.
160
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161* Add --no-pad-sections to stop the assembler from padding the end of output
162 sections up to their alignment boundary.
163
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164* Support for the ARMv8-M architecture has been added to the ARM port. Support
165 for the ARMv8-M Security and DSP Extensions has also been added to the ARM
166 port.
167
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168* ARC backend accepts .extInstruction, .extCondCode, .extAuxRegister, and
169 .extCoreRegister pseudo-ops that allow an user to define custom
170 instructions, conditional codes, auxiliary and core registers.
171
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172* Add a configure option --enable-elf-stt-common to decide whether ELF
173 assembler should generate common symbols with the STT_COMMON type by
174 default. Default to no.
175
a05a5b64 176* New command-line option --elf-stt-common= for ELF targets to control
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177 whether to generate common symbols with the STT_COMMON type.
178
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179* Add ability to set section flags and types via numeric values for ELF
180 based targets.
81c23f82 181
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182* Add a configure option --enable-x86-relax-relocations to decide whether
183 x86 assembler should generate relax relocations by default. Default to
184 yes, except for x86 Solaris targets older than Solaris 12.
185
a05a5b64 186* New command-line option -mrelax-relocations= for x86 target to control
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187 whether to generate relax relocations.
188
a05a5b64 189* New command-line option -mfence-as-lock-add=yes for x86 target to encode
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190 lfence, mfence and sfence as "lock addl $0x0, (%[re]sp)".
191
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192* Add assembly-time relaxation option for ARC cpus.
193
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194* Add --with-cpu=TYPE configure option for ARC gas. This allows the default
195 cpu type to be adjusted at configure time.
196
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197Changes in 2.26:
198
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199* Add a configure option --enable-compressed-debug-sections={all,gas} to
200 decide whether DWARF debug sections should be compressed by default.
e12fe555 201
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202* Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures. Remove
203 assembler support for Argonaut RISC architectures.
204
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205* Symbol and label names can now be enclosed in double quotes (") which allows
206 them to contain characters that are not part of valid symbol names in high
207 level languages.
208
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209* Added the correctly spelled -march=armv6kz, for ARMv6KZ support. The
210 previous spelling, -march=armv6zk, is still accepted.
211
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212* Support for the ARMv8.1 architecture has been added to the Aarch64 port.
213 Support for the individual ARMv8.1 Adv.SIMD, LOR and PAN architecture
214 extensions has also been added to the Aarch64 port.
215
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216* Support for the ARMv8.1 architecture has been added to the ARM port. Support
217 for the individual ARMv8.1 Adv.SIMD and PAN architecture extensions has also
218 been added to the ARM port.
219
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220* Extend --compress-debug-sections option to support
221 --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi] for ELF
222 targets.
223
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224* --compress-debug-sections is turned on for Linux/x86 by default.
225
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226Changes in 2.25:
227
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228* Add support for the AVR Tiny microcontrollers.
229
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230* Replace support for openrisc and or32 with support for or1k.
231
2e6976a8 232* Enhanced the ARM port to accept the assembler output from the CodeComposer
a05a5b64 233 Studio tool. Support is enabled via the new command-line option -mccs.
2e6976a8 234
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235* Add support for the Andes NDS32.
236
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237Changes in 2.24:
238
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239* Add support for the Texas Instruments MSP430X processor.
240
a05a5b64 241* Add -gdwarf-sections command-line option to enable per-code-section
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242 generation of DWARF .debug_line sections.
243
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244* Add support for Altera Nios II.
245
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246* Add support for the Imagination Technologies Meta processor.
247
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248* Add support for the v850e3v5.
249
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250* Remove assembler support for MIPS ECOFF targets.
251
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252Changes in 2.23:
253
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254* Add support for the 64-bit ARM architecture: AArch64.
255
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256* Add support for S12X processor.
257
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JL
258* Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture.
259
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260* Add support for the Freescale XGATE architecture.
261
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262* Add support for .bundle_align_mode, .bundle_lock, and .bundle_unlock
263 directives. These are currently available only for x86 and ARM targets.
264
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265* Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture.
266
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267* Add support for the Adapteva EPIPHANY architecture.
268
fe13e45b 269* For x86, allow 'rep bsf', 'rep bsr', and 'rep ret' syntax.
29c048b6 270
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271Changes in 2.22:
272
69f56ae1 273* Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures.
44f45767 274
90b3661c 275Changes in 2.21:
44f45767 276
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277* Gas no longer requires doubling of ampersands in macros.
278
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279* Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family.
280
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281* GAS now understands an extended syntax in the .section directive flags
282 for COFF targets that allows the section's alignment to be specified. This
283 feature has also been backported to the 2.20 release series, starting with
284 2.20.1.
285
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286* Add support for the Renesas RX processor.
287
a05a5b64 288* New command-line option, --compress-debug-sections, which requests
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289 compression of DWARF debug information sections in the relocatable output
290 file. Compressed debug sections are supported by readelf, objdump, and
291 gold, but not currently by Gnu ld.
292
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293Changes in 2.20:
294
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295* Added support for v850e2 and v850e2v3.
296
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297* GNU/Linux targets now supports "gnu_unique_object" as a value in the .type
298 pseudo op. It marks the symbol as being globally unique in the entire
299 process.
300
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301* ARM assembler now supports .inst[.nw] pseudo-ops to insert opcodes specified
302 in binary rather than text.
6e33da12 303
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304* Add support for common symbol alignment to PE formats.
305
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306* Add support for the new discriminator column in the DWARF line table,
307 with a discriminator operand for the .loc directive.
308
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309* Add support for Sunplus score architecture.
310
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311* The .type pseudo-op now accepts a type of STT_GNU_IFUNC which can be used to
312 indicate that if the symbol is the target of a relocation, its value should
313 not be use. Instead the function should be invoked and its result used as
314 the value.
fa94de6b 315
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316* Add support for Lattice Mico32 (lm32) architecture.
317
fa94de6b 318* Add support for Xilinx MicroBlaze architecture.
caa03924 319
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320Changes in 2.19:
321
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322* New pseudo op .cfi_val_encoded_addr, to record constant addresses in unwind
323 tables without runtime relocation.
324
a05a5b64 325* New command-line option, -h-tick-hex, for sh, m32c, and h8/300 targets, which
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326 adds compatibility with H'00 style hex constants.
327
a05a5b64 328* New command-line option, -msse-check=[none|error|warning], for x86
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329 targets.
330
a05a5b64 331* New sub-option added to the assembler's -a command-line switch to
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332 generate a listing output. The 'g' sub-option will insert into the listing
333 various information about the assembly, such as assembler version, the
a05a5b64 334 command-line options used, and a time stamp.
83f10cb2 335
a05a5b64 336* New command-line option -msse2avx for x86 target to encode SSE
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337 instructions with VEX prefix.
338
f1f8f695 339* Add Intel XSAVE, EPT, MOVBE, AES, PCLMUL, AVX/FMA support for x86 target.
c0f3af97 340
a05a5b64 341* New command-line options, -march=CPU[,+EXTENSION...], -mtune=CPU,
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342 -mmnemonic=[att|intel], -msyntax=[att|intel], -mindex-reg,
343 -mnaked-reg and -mold-gcc, for x86 targets.
344
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345* Support for generating wide character strings has been added via the new
346 pseudo ops: .string16, .string32 and .string64.
347
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348* Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port.
349
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350Changes in 2.18:
351
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352* The GAS sources are now released under the GPLv3.
353
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354* Support for the National Semiconductor CR16 target has been added.
355
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356* Added gas .reloc pseudo. This is a low-level interface for creating
357 relocations.
358
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359* Add support for x86_64 PE+ target.
360
1c0d3aa6 361* Add support for Score target.
83518699 362
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363Changes in 2.17:
364
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365* Support for the Infineon XC16X has been added by KPIT Cummins Infosystems.
366
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367* Support for ms2 architecture has been added.
368
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369* Support for the Z80 processor family has been added.
370
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371* Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command line, so that extra
372 switches can be read from <file>.
373
a05a5b64 374* The SH target supports a new command-line switch --enable-reg-prefix which,
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375 if enabled, will allow register names to be optionally prefixed with a $
376 character. This allows register names to be distinguished from label names.
fa94de6b 377
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378* Macros with a variable number of arguments are now supported. See the
379 documentation for how this works.
380
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381* Added --reduce-memory-overheads switch to reduce the size of the hash
382 tables used, at the expense of longer assembly times, and
383 --hash-size=<NUMBER> to set the size of the hash tables used by gas.
384
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385* Macro names and macro parameter names can now be any identifier that would
386 also be legal as a symbol elsewhere. For macro parameter names, this is
387 known to cause problems in certain sources when the respective target uses
388 characters inconsistently, and thus macro parameter references may no longer
389 be recognized as such (see the documentation for details).
fa94de6b 390
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391* Support the .f_floating, .d_floating, .g_floating and .h_floating directives
392 for the VAX target in order to be more compatible with the VAX MACRO
393 assembler.
394
a05a5b64 395* New command-line option -mtune=[itanium1|itanium2] for IA64 targets.
8c2fda1d 396
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397Changes in 2.16:
398
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399* Redefinition of macros now results in an error.
400
a05a5b64 401* New command-line option -mhint.b=[ok|warning|error] for IA64 targets.
91d777ee 402
a05a5b64 403* New command-line option -munwind-check=[warning|error] for IA64
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404 targets.
405
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406* The IA64 port now uses automatic dependency violation removal as its default
407 mode.
408
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409* Port to MAXQ processor contributed by HCL Tech.
410
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411* Added support for generating unwind tables for ARM ELF targets.
412
a05a5b64 413* Add a -g command-line option to generate debug information in the target's
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414 preferred debug format.
415
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416* Support for the crx-elf target added.
417
1a320fbb 418* Support for the sh-symbianelf target added.
1fe1f39c 419
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420* Added a pseudo-op (.secrel32) to generate 32 bit section relative relocations
421 on pe[i]-i386; required for this target's DWARF 2 support.
422
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423* Support for Motorola MCF521x/5249/547x/548x added.
424
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425* Support for ColdFire EMAC instructions added and Motorola syntax for MAC/EMAC
426 instrucitons.
427
a05a5b64 428* New command-line option -mno-shared for MIPS ELF targets.
aa6975fb 429
a05a5b64 430* New command-line option --alternate and pseudo-ops .altmacro and .noaltmacro
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431 added to enter (and leave) alternate macro syntax mode.
432
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NC
433Changes in 2.15:
434
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435* The MIPS -membedded-pic option (Embedded-PIC code generation) is
436 deprecated and will be removed in a future release.
437
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438* Added PIC m32r Linux (ELF) and support to M32R assembler.
439
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440* Added support for ARM V6.
441
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442* Added support for sh4a and variants.
443
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444* Support for Renesas M32R2 added.
445
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446* Limited support for Mapping Symbols as specified in the ARM ELF
447 specification has been added to the arm assembler.
ed769ec1 448
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449* On ARM architectures, added a new gas directive ".unreq" that undoes
450 definitions created by ".req".
451
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452* Support for Motorola ColdFire MCF528x added.
453
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454* Added --gstabs+ switch to enable the generation of STABS debug format
455 information with GNU extensions.
fa94de6b 456
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457* Added support for MIPS64 Release 2.
458
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NC
459* Added support for v850e1.
460
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461* Added -n switch for x86 assembler. By default, x86 GAS replaces
462 multiple nop instructions used for alignment within code sections
463 with multi-byte nop instructions such as leal 0(%esi,1),%esi. This
464 switch disables the optimization.
465
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466* Removed -n option from MIPS assembler. It was not useful, and confused the
467 existing -non_shared option.
468
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CD
469Changes in 2.14:
470
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471* Added support for MIPS32 Release 2.
472
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NC
473* Added support for Xtensa architecture.
474
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NC
475* Support for Intel's iWMMXt processor (an ARM variant) added.
476
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477* An assembler test generator has been contributed and an example file that
478 uses it (gas/testsuite/gas/all/test-gen.c and test-exmaple.c).
fa94de6b 479
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480* Support for SH2E added.
481
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482* GASP has now been removed.
483
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484* Support for Texas Instruments TMS320C4x and TMS320C3x series of
485 DSP's contributed by Michael Hayes and Svein E. Seldal.
fa94de6b 486
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487* Support for the Ubicom IP2xxx microcontroller added.
488
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489Changes in 2.13:
490
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491* Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
492 and FR500 included.
0ebb9a87 493
a40cbfa3 494* Support for DLX processor added.
52216602 495
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496* GASP has now been deprecated and will be removed in a future release. Use
497 the macro facilities in GAS instead.
3f965e60 498
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499* GASP now correctly parses floating point numbers. Unless the base is
500 explicitly specified, they are interpreted as decimal numbers regardless of
501 the currently specified base.
1ac57253 502
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503Changes in 2.12:
504
a40cbfa3 505* Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
49fda6c8 506
a40cbfa3 507* Support for the OpenRISC 32-bit embedded processor by OpenCores.
3b16e843 508
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509* The ARM assembler now accepts -march=..., -mcpu=... and -mfpu=... for
510 specifying the target instruction set. The old method of specifying the
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511 target processor has been deprecated, but is still accepted for
512 compatibility.
03b1477f 513
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514* Support for the VFP floating-point instruction set has been added to
515 the ARM assembler.
252b5132 516
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517* New psuedo op: .incbin to include a set of binary data at a given point
518 in the assembly. Contributed by Anders Norlander.
7e005732 519
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520* The MIPS assembler now accepts -march/-mtune. -mcpu has been deprecated
521 but still works for compatability.
ec68c924 522
fa94de6b 523* The MIPS assembler no longer issues a warning by default when it
a05a5b64 524 generates a nop instruction from a macro. The new command-line option
a40cbfa3 525 -n will turn on the warning.
63486801 526
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527Changes in 2.11:
528
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529* Support for PDP-11 and 2.11BSD a.out format, by Lars Brinkhoff.
530
a40cbfa3 531* x86 gas now supports the full Pentium4 instruction set.
a167610d 532
a40cbfa3 533* Support for AMD x86-64 architecture, by Jan Hubicka, SuSE Labs.
c0d8940f 534
a40cbfa3 535* Support for Motorola 68HC11 and 68HC12.
df86943d 536
a40cbfa3 537* Support for Texas Instruments TMS320C54x (tic54x).
39bec121 538
a40cbfa3 539* Support for IA-64.
2dac7317 540
a40cbfa3 541* Support for i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
22b36938 542
a40cbfa3 543* Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
5bcac8a4 544
a40cbfa3 545* x86 gas has a new .arch pseudo op to specify the target CPU architecture.
a38cf1db 546
a05a5b64 547* x86 gas -q command-line option quietens warnings about register size changes
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548 due to suffix, indirect jmp/call without `*', stand-alone prefixes, and
549 translating various deprecated floating point instructions.
a38cf1db 550
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551Changes in 2.10:
552
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553* Support for the ARM msr instruction was changed to only allow an immediate
554 operand when altering the flags field.
d14442f4 555
a40cbfa3 556* Support for ATMEL AVR.
adde6300 557
a40cbfa3 558* Support for IBM 370 ELF. Somewhat experimental.
b5ebe70e 559
a40cbfa3 560* Support for numbers with suffixes.
3fd9f047 561
a40cbfa3 562* Added support for breaking to the end of repeat loops.
6a6987a9 563
a40cbfa3 564* Added support for parallel instruction syntax (DOUBLEBAR_PARALLEL).
6a6987a9 565
a40cbfa3 566* New .elseif pseudo-op added.
3fd9f047 567
a40cbfa3 568* New --fatal-warnings option.
1f776aa5 569
a40cbfa3 570* picoJava architecture support added.
252b5132 571
a40cbfa3 572* Motorola MCore 210 processor support added.
041dd5a9 573
fa94de6b 574* A new pseudo-op .intel_syntax has been implemented to allow gas to parse i386
a40cbfa3 575 assembly programs with intel syntax.
252b5132 576
a40cbfa3 577* New pseudo-ops .func,.endfunc to aid in debugging user-written assembler code.
252b5132 578
a40cbfa3 579* Added -gdwarf2 option to generate DWARF 2 debugging information.
041dd5a9 580
a40cbfa3 581* Full 16-bit mode support for i386.
252b5132 582
fa94de6b 583* Greatly improved instruction operand checking for i386. This change will
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584 produce errors or warnings on incorrect assembly code that previous versions
585 of gas accepted. If you get unexpected messages from code that worked with
586 older versions of gas, please double check the code before reporting a bug.
252b5132 587
a40cbfa3 588* Weak symbol support added for COFF targets.
252b5132 589
a40cbfa3 590* Mitsubishi D30V support added.
252b5132 591
a40cbfa3 592* Texas Instruments c80 (tms320c80) support added.
252b5132 593
a40cbfa3 594* i960 ELF support added.
bedf545c 595
a40cbfa3 596* ARM ELF support added.
a057431b 597
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598Changes in 2.9:
599
a40cbfa3 600* Texas Instruments c30 (tms320c30) support added.
252b5132 601
fa94de6b 602* The assembler now optimizes the exception frame information generated by egcs
a40cbfa3 603 and gcc 2.8. The new --traditional-format option disables this optimization.
252b5132 604
a40cbfa3 605* Added --gstabs option to generate stabs debugging information.
252b5132 606
fa94de6b 607* The -a option takes a new suboption, m (e.g., -alm) to expand macros in a
a40cbfa3 608 listing.
252b5132 609
a40cbfa3 610* Added -MD option to print dependencies.
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611
612Changes in 2.8:
613
a40cbfa3 614* BeOS support added.
252b5132 615
a40cbfa3 616* MIPS16 support added.
252b5132 617
a40cbfa3 618* Motorola ColdFire 5200 support added (configure for m68k and use -m5200).
252b5132 619
a40cbfa3 620* Alpha/VMS support added.
252b5132 621
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622* m68k options --base-size-default-16, --base-size-default-32,
623 --disp-size-default-16, and --disp-size-default-32 added.
252b5132 624
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625* The alignment directives now take an optional third argument, which is the
626 maximum number of bytes to skip. If doing the alignment would require
627 skipping more than the given number of bytes, the alignment is not done at
628 all.
252b5132 629
a40cbfa3 630* The ELF assembler has a new pseudo-op, .symver, used for symbol versioning.
252b5132 631
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632* The -a option takes a new suboption, c (e.g., -alc), to skip false
633 conditionals in listings.
252b5132 634
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635* Added new pseudo-op, .equiv; it's like .equ, except that it is an error if
636 the symbol is already defined.
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637
638Changes in 2.7:
639
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640* The PowerPC assembler now allows the use of symbolic register names (r0,
641 etc.) if -mregnames is used. Symbolic names preceded by a '%' (%r0, etc.)
642 can be used any time. PowerPC 860 move to/from SPR instructions have been
643 added.
252b5132 644
a40cbfa3 645* Alpha Linux (ELF) support added.
252b5132 646
a40cbfa3 647* PowerPC ELF support added.
252b5132 648
a40cbfa3 649* m68k Linux (ELF) support added.
252b5132 650
a40cbfa3 651* i960 Hx/Jx support added.
252b5132 652
a40cbfa3 653* i386/PowerPC gnu-win32 support added.
252b5132 654
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655* SCO ELF support added. For OpenServer 5 targets (i386-unknown-sco3.2v5) the
656 default is to build COFF-only support. To get a set of tools that generate
fa94de6b 657 ELF (they'll understand both COFF and ELF), you must configure with
a40cbfa3 658 target=i386-unknown-sco3.2v5elf.
252b5132 659
a40cbfa3 660* m88k-motorola-sysv3* support added.
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661
662Changes in 2.6:
663
a40cbfa3 664* Gas now directly supports macros, without requiring GASP.
252b5132 665
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666* Gas now has an MRI assembler compatibility mode. Use -M or --mri to select
667 MRI mode. The pseudo-op ``.mri 1'' will switch into the MRI mode until the
668 ``.mri 0'' is seen; this can be convenient for inline assembler code.
252b5132 669
a40cbfa3 670* Added --defsym SYM=VALUE option.
252b5132 671
a40cbfa3 672* Added -mips4 support to MIPS assembler.
252b5132 673
a40cbfa3 674* Added PIC support to Solaris and SPARC SunOS 4 assembler.
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675
676Changes in 2.4:
677
a40cbfa3 678* Converted this directory to use an autoconf-generated configure script.
252b5132 679
a40cbfa3 680* ARM support, from Richard Earnshaw.
252b5132 681
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682* Updated VMS support, from Pat Rankin, including considerably improved
683 debugging support.
252b5132 684
a40cbfa3 685* Support for the control registers in the 68060.
252b5132 686
a40cbfa3 687* Handles (ignores) a new directive ".this_GCC_requires_the_GNU_assembler", to
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688 provide for possible future gcc changes, for targets where gas provides some
689 features not available in the native assembler. If the native assembler is
a40cbfa3 690 used, it should become obvious pretty quickly what the problem is.
252b5132 691
a40cbfa3 692* Usage message is available with "--help".
252b5132 693
fa94de6b 694* The GNU Assembler Preprocessor (gasp) is included. (Actually, it was in 2.3
a40cbfa3 695 also, but didn't get into the NEWS file.)
252b5132 696
a40cbfa3 697* Weak symbol support for a.out.
252b5132 698
fa94de6b 699* A bug in the listing code which could cause an infinite loop has been fixed.
a40cbfa3 700 Bugs in listings when generating a COFF object file have also been fixed.
252b5132 701
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702* Initial i386-svr4 PIC implementation from Eric Youngdale, based on code by
703 Paul Kranenburg.
252b5132 704
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705* Improved Alpha support. Immediate constants can have a much larger range
706 now. Support for the 21164 has been contributed by Digital.
252b5132 707
a40cbfa3 708* Updated ns32k (pc532-mach, netbsd532) support from Ian Dall.
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709
710Changes in 2.3:
711
a40cbfa3 712* Mach i386 support, by David Mackenzie and Ken Raeburn.
252b5132 713
a40cbfa3 714* RS/6000 and PowerPC support by Ian Taylor.
252b5132 715
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716* VMS command scripts (make-gas.com, config-gas.com) have been worked on a bit,
717 based on mail received from various people. The `-h#' option should work
718 again too.
252b5132 719
a40cbfa3 720* HP-PA work, by Jeff Law. Note, for the PA, gas-2.3 has been designed to work
fa94de6b 721 with gdb-4.12 and gcc-2.6. As gcc-2.6 has not been released yet, a special
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722 version of gcc-2.5.8 has been patched to work with gas-2.3. You can retrieve
723 this special version of gcc-2.5.8 via anonymous ftp from jaguar.cs.utah.edu
724 in the "dist" directory.
252b5132 725
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726* Vax support in gas fixed for BSD, so it builds and seems to run a couple
727 simple tests okay. I haven't put it through extensive testing. (GNU make is
728 currently required for BSD 4.3 builds.)
252b5132 729
fa94de6b 730* Support for the DEC Alpha, running OSF/1 (ECOFF format). The gas support is
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731 based on code donated by CMU, which used an a.out-based format. I'm afraid
732 the alpha-a.out support is pretty badly mangled, and much of it removed;
733 making it work will require rewriting it as BFD support for the format anyways.
252b5132 734
a40cbfa3 735* Irix 5 support.
252b5132 736
fa94de6b 737* The test suites have been fixed up a bit, so that they should work with a
a40cbfa3 738 couple different versions of expect and dejagnu.
252b5132 739
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740* Symbols' values are now handled internally as expressions, permitting more
741 flexibility in evaluating them in some cases. Some details of relocation
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742 handling have also changed, and simple constant pool management has been
743 added, to make the Alpha port easier.
252b5132 744
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745* New option "--statistics" for printing out program run times. This is
746 intended to be used with the gcc "-Q" option, which prints out times spent in
747 various phases of compilation. (You should be able to get all of them
748 printed out with "gcc -Q -Wa,--statistics", I think.)
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749
750Changes in 2.2:
751
a40cbfa3 752* RS/6000 AIX and MIPS SGI Irix 5 support has been added.
252b5132 753
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754* Configurations that are still in development (and therefore are convenient to
755 have listed in configure.in) still get rejected without a minor change to
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756 gas/Makefile.in, so people not doing development work shouldn't get the
757 impression that support for such configurations is actually believed to be
758 reliable.
252b5132 759
fa94de6b 760* The program name (usually "as") is printed when a fatal error message is
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761 displayed. This should prevent some confusion about the source of occasional
762 messages about "internal errors".
252b5132 763
fa94de6b 764* ELF support is falling into place. Support for the 386 should be working.
a40cbfa3 765 Support for SPARC Solaris is in. HPPA support from Utah is being integrated.
252b5132 766
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767* Symbol values are maintained as expressions instead of being immediately
768 boiled down to add-symbol, sub-symbol, and constant. This permits slightly
769 more complex calculations involving symbols whose values are not alreadey
770 known.
252b5132 771
a40cbfa3 772* DBX-style debugging info ("stabs") is now supported for COFF formats.
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773 If any stabs directives are seen in the source, GAS will create two new
774 sections: a ".stab" and a ".stabstr" section. The format of the .stab
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775 section is nearly identical to the a.out symbol format, and .stabstr is
776 its string table. For this to be useful, you must have configured GCC
777 to generate stabs (by defining DBX_DEBUGGING_INFO), and must have a GDB
778 that can use the stab sections (4.11 or later).
252b5132 779
fa94de6b 780* LynxOS, on i386 and m68k platforms, is now supported. SPARC LynxOS
a40cbfa3 781 support is in progress.
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782
783Changes in 2.1:
784
fa94de6b 785* Several small fixes for i386-aix (PS/2) support from Minh Tran-Le have been
a40cbfa3 786 incorporated, but not well tested yet.
252b5132 787
fa94de6b 788* Altered the opcode table split for m68k; it should require less VM to compile
a40cbfa3 789 with gcc now.
252b5132 790
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791* Some minor adjustments to add (Convergent Technologies') Miniframe support,
792 suggested by Ronald Cole.
252b5132 793
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794* HPPA support (running OSF only, not HPUX) has been contributed by Utah. This
795 includes improved ELF support, which I've started adapting for SPARC Solaris
796 2.x. Integration isn't completely, so it probably won't work.
252b5132 797
a40cbfa3 798* HP9000/300 support, donated by HP, has been merged in.
252b5132 799
a40cbfa3 800* Ian Taylor has finished the MIPS ECOFF (Ultrix, Irix) support.
252b5132 801
a40cbfa3 802* Better error messages for unsupported configurations (e.g., hppa-hpux).
252b5132 803
a40cbfa3 804* Test suite framework is starting to become reasonable.
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805
806Changes in 2.0:
807
a40cbfa3 808* Mostly bug fixes.
252b5132 809
a40cbfa3 810* Some more merging of BFD and ELF code, but ELF still doesn't work.
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811
812Changes in 1.94:
813
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814* BFD merge is partly done. Adventurous souls may try giving configure the
815 "--with-bfd-assembler" option. Currently, ELF format requires it, a.out
816 format accepts it; SPARC CPU accepts it. It's the default only for OS "elf"
817 or "solaris". (ELF isn't really supported yet. It needs work. I've got
818 some code from Utah for HP-PA ELF, and from DG for m88k ELF, but they're not
819 fully merged yet.)
252b5132 820
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821* The 68K opcode table has been split in half. It should now compile under gcc
822 without consuming ridiculous amounts of memory.
252b5132 823
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824* A couple data structures have been reduced in size. This should result in
825 saving a little bit of space at runtime.
252b5132 826
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827* Support for MIPS, from OSF and Ralph Campbell, has been merged in. The OSF
828 code provided ROSE format support, which I haven't merged in yet. (I can
829 make it available, if anyone wants to try it out.) Ralph's code, for BSD
830 4.4, supports a.out format. We don't have ECOFF support in just yet; it's
831 coming.
252b5132 832
a40cbfa3 833* Support for the Hitachi H8/500 has been added.
252b5132 834
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835* VMS host and target support should be working now, thanks chiefly to Eric
836 Youngdale.
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837
838Changes in 1.93.01:
839
a40cbfa3 840* For m68k, support for more processors has been added: 68040, CPU32, 68851.
252b5132 841
a40cbfa3 842* For i386, .align is now power-of-two; was number-of-bytes.
252b5132 843
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844* For m68k, "%" is now accepted before register names. For COFF format, which
845 doesn't use underscore prefixes for C labels, it is required, so variable "a0"
846 can be distinguished from the register.
252b5132 847
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848* Last public release was 1.38. Lots of configuration changes since then, lots
849 of new CPUs and formats, lots of bugs fixed.
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850
851\f
b3adc24a 852Copyright (C) 2012-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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853
854Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
855are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
856notice and this notice are preserved.
857
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858Local variables:
859fill-column: 79
860End:
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