Commit | Line | Data |
---|---|---|
252b5132 | 1 | -*- text -*- |
97a232d7 | 2 | |
035801ce FS |
3 | * Add command-line option --no-print-map-discarded. |
4 | ||
cd702818 SD |
5 | Changes in 2.33: |
6 | ||
7 | * Add target handlers for AArch64 for ELF GNU program properties. | |
8 | ||
9 | * Add support for GNU_PROPERTY_AARCH64_FEATURE_1_BTI in ELF GNU program | |
10 | properties in the AArch64 ELF linker. | |
11 | ||
12 | * Add support for GNU_PROPERTY_AARCH64_FEATURE_1_PAC in ELF GNU program | |
13 | properties in the AArch64 ELF linker. | |
14 | ||
37c18eed SD |
15 | * Add --force-bti for AArch64 to enable GNU_PROPERTY_AARCH64_FEATURE_1_BTI |
16 | on output while warning about missing GNU_PROPERTY_AARCH64_FEATURE_1_BTI | |
17 | on inputs and use PLTs protected with BTI. | |
18 | ||
1dbade74 SD |
19 | * Add --pac-plt for AArch64 to pick PAC enabled PLTs. |
20 | ||
f48dfe41 NC |
21 | Changes in 2.32: |
22 | ||
d2ef37eb L |
23 | * Report property change in linker map file when merging GNU properties. |
24 | ||
b8891f8d AJ |
25 | * Add support for the C-SKY processor series. |
26 | ||
4f4690cd AM |
27 | * -t now doesn't report members within archives, unless -t is given twice. |
28 | A single -t is now more useful when generating a list of files that should be | |
29 | packaged for a linker bug report. For example: | |
30 | gcc hello.c -save-temps -Wl,-t | xargs realpath | sort | uniq > files | |
31 | tar cJf test.tar.xz `cat files` | |
32 | ||
719d8288 NC |
33 | Changes in 2.31: |
34 | ||
142b7a14 EB |
35 | * Speed up direct linking with DLLs for Cygwin and Mingw targets. |
36 | ||
f6aec96d L |
37 | * Add a configure option --enable-separate-code to decide whether |
38 | -z separate-code should be enabled in ELF linker by default. Default | |
39 | to yes for Linux/x86 targets. Note that -z separate-code can increase | |
40 | disk and memory size. | |
41 | ||
9176ac5b NC |
42 | Changes in 2.30: |
43 | ||
47acac12 L |
44 | * Add -z separate-code to generate separate code PT_LOAD segment. |
45 | ||
a05a5b64 | 46 | * Add "-z undefs" command-line option as the inverse of the "-z defs" option. |
97a232d7 | 47 | |
a05a5b64 | 48 | * Add -z globalaudit command-line option to force audit libraries to be run |
93ab9c0d | 49 | for every dynamic object loaded by an executable - provided that the loader |
6c19b93b | 50 | supports this functionality. |
7feec526 | 51 | |
2b94abd4 AB |
52 | * Tighten linker script grammar around file name specifiers to prevent the use |
53 | of SORT_BY_ALIGNMENT and SORT_BY_INIT_PRIORITY on filenames. These would | |
54 | previously be accepted but had no effect. | |
55 | ||
56 | * The EXCLUDE_FILE directive can now be placed within any SORT_* directive | |
57 | within input section lists. | |
58 | ||
55a09eb6 TG |
59 | Changes in 2.29: |
60 | ||
48580982 L |
61 | * Support for -z shstk in the x86 ELF linker to generate |
62 | GNU_PROPERTY_X86_FEATURE_1_SHSTK in ELF GNU program properties. | |
63 | ||
64 | * Add support for GNU_PROPERTY_X86_FEATURE_1_SHSTK in ELF GNU program | |
65 | properties in the x86 ELF linker. | |
66 | ||
ee2fdd6f | 67 | * Add support for GNU_PROPERTY_X86_FEATURE_1_IBT in ELF GNU program |
48580982 | 68 | properties in the x86 ELF linker. |
ee2fdd6f L |
69 | |
70 | * Support for -z ibtplt in the x86 ELF linker to generate IBT-enabled | |
71 | PLT. | |
72 | ||
73 | * Support for -z ibt in the x86 ELF linker to generate IBT-enabled | |
74 | PLT as well as GNU_PROPERTY_X86_FEATURE_1_IBT in ELF GNU program | |
75 | properties. | |
76 | ||
a91e1603 L |
77 | * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX. |
78 | ||
46bed679 L |
79 | * Add support for ELF GNU program properties. |
80 | ||
0220170b DD |
81 | * Add support for the Texas Instruments PRU processor. |
82 | ||
d7488716 AB |
83 | * When configuring for arc*-*-linux* targets the default linker emulation will |
84 | change if --with-cpu=nps400 is used at configure time. | |
85 | ||
77f5e65e AB |
86 | * Improve assignment of LMAs to orphan sections in some edge cases where a |
87 | mixture of both AT>LMA_REGION and AT(LMA) are used. | |
88 | ||
14ea2c1b AB |
89 | * Orphan sections placed after an empty section that has an AT(LMA) will now |
90 | take an load memory address starting from LMA. | |
91 | ||
7bdf4127 AB |
92 | * Section groups can now be resolved (the group deleted and the group members |
93 | placed like normal sections) at partial link time either using the new linker | |
94 | option --force-group-allocation or by placing FORCE_GROUP_ALLOCATION into the | |
95 | linker script. | |
96 | ||
9703a4ef TG |
97 | Changes in 2.28: |
98 | ||
8f1732fc AB |
99 | * The EXCLUDE_FILE linker script construct can now be applied outside of the |
100 | section list in order for the exclusions to apply over all input sections in | |
101 | the list. | |
102 | ||
e23eba97 | 103 | * Add support for the RISC-V architecture. |
76359541 | 104 | |
a05a5b64 | 105 | * The command-line option --no-eh-frame-hdr can now be used in ELF based |
29063f8b NC |
106 | linkers to disable the automatic generation of .eh_frame_hdr sections. |
107 | ||
0955507f TP |
108 | * Add --in-implib=<infile> to the ARM linker to enable specifying a set of |
109 | Secure Gateway veneers that must exist in the output import library specified | |
110 | by --out-implib=<outfile> and the address they must have. As such, | |
111 | --in-implib is only supported in combination with --cmse-implib. | |
112 | ||
76359541 TP |
113 | * Extended the --out-implib=<file> option, previously restricted to x86 PE |
114 | targets, to any ELF based target. This allows the generation of an import | |
115 | library for an ELF executable, which can then be used by another application | |
116 | to link against the executable. | |
117 | ||
96a84ea3 TG |
118 | Changes in 2.27: |
119 | ||
647e4d46 L |
120 | * Add a configure option --enable-relro to decide whether -z relro should |
121 | be enabled in ELF linker by default. Default to yes for all Linux | |
9194f82d AM |
122 | targets except FRV, HPPA, IA64 and MIPS. Note that -z relro can increase |
123 | disk and memory size. | |
647e4d46 | 124 | |
4c10bbaa L |
125 | * Support for -z noreloc-overflow in the x86-64 ELF linker to disable |
126 | relocation overflow check. | |
127 | ||
b8871f35 L |
128 | * Add -z common/-z nocommon options for ELF targets to control whether to |
129 | convert common symbols to the STT_COMMON type during a relocatable link. | |
130 | ||
aec6b87e L |
131 | * Support for -z nodynamic-undefined-weak in the x86 ELF linker, which |
132 | avoids dynamic relocations against undefined weak symbols in executable. | |
133 | ||
cdf96953 MF |
134 | * The NOCROSSREFSTO command was added to the linker script language. |
135 | ||
1f56df9d JW |
136 | * Add --no-apply-dynamic-relocs to the AArch64 linker to do not apply link-time |
137 | values for dynamic relocations. | |
138 | ||
7feec526 TG |
139 | Changes in 2.26: |
140 | ||
a504d23a LA |
141 | * Add --fix-stm32l4xx-629360 to the ARM linker to enable a link-time |
142 | workaround for a bug in the bus matrix / memory controller for some of | |
143 | the STM32 Cortex-M4 based products (STM32L4xx) | |
81c23f82 | 144 | |
6c3bc0f8 NC |
145 | * Add a configure option --enable-compressed-debug-sections={all,ld} to |
146 | decide whether DWARF debug sections should be compressed by default. | |
147 | ||
886a2506 NC |
148 | * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures. |
149 | ||
0f088b2a KT |
150 | * Experimental support for linker garbage collection (--gc-sections) |
151 | has been enabled for COFF and PE based targets. | |
152 | ||
a05a5b64 | 153 | * New command-line option for ELF targets to compress DWARF debug |
ea556d25 L |
154 | sections, --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi]. |
155 | ||
a05a5b64 | 156 | * New command-line option, --orphan-handling=[place|warn|error|discard], to |
c005eb9e AB |
157 | adjust how orphan sections are handled. The default is 'place' which gives |
158 | the current behaviour, 'warn' and 'error' issue a warning or error | |
159 | respectively when orphan sections are found, and 'discard' will discard all | |
160 | orphan sections. | |
3ea60775 | 161 | |
b0619670 L |
162 | * Add support for LLVM plugin. |
163 | ||
3604cb1f TG |
164 | * Add --print-memory-usage option to report memory blocks usage. |
165 | ||
0a618243 AB |
166 | * Add --require-defined option, it's like --undefined except the new symbol |
167 | must be defined by the end of the link. | |
168 | ||
c50415e2 TG |
169 | Changes in 2.25: |
170 | ||
eeb14e5a LZ |
171 | * PE binaries now once again contain real timestamps by default. To disable |
172 | the inclusion of a timestamp in a PE binary, use the --no-insert-timestamp | |
a05a5b64 | 173 | command-line option. |
eeb14e5a | 174 | |
73589c9d CS |
175 | * Replace support for openrisc and or32 with support for or1k. |
176 | ||
a05a5b64 | 177 | * Add support for the --build-id command-line option to COFF based targets. |
61e2488c JT |
178 | |
179 | * x86/x86_64 pe-coff now supports the --build-id option. | |
180 | ||
35c08157 KLC |
181 | * Add support for the Andes NDS32. |
182 | ||
58ca03a2 TG |
183 | Changes in 2.24: |
184 | ||
2e53f7d6 NC |
185 | * Add LOG2CEIL() builtin function to the linker script language |
186 | ||
13761a11 NC |
187 | * Add support for the Texas Instruments MSP430X processor. |
188 | ||
36591ba1 SL |
189 | * Add support for Altera Nios II. |
190 | ||
78c8d46c NC |
191 | * Add support for the V850E3V5 architecture. |
192 | ||
a3c62988 NC |
193 | * Add support for the Imagination Technologies Meta processor. |
194 | ||
b1b00fcc MF |
195 | * --enable-new-dtags no longer generates old dtags in addition to new dtags. |
196 | ||
e8044f35 RS |
197 | * Remove linker support for MIPS ECOFF targets. |
198 | ||
1eec346e NC |
199 | * Add ALIGN_WITH_INPUT to the linker script language to force the alignment of |
200 | an output section to use the maximum alignment of all its input sections. | |
201 | ||
af18cb59 TG |
202 | Changes in 2.23: |
203 | ||
8d55a8a0 KT |
204 | * Enable compressed debug section feature for x86/x86_64 pe-coff. |
205 | ||
da2bb560 NC |
206 | * Add support for the 64-bit ARM architecture: AArch64. |
207 | ||
eda680f8 L |
208 | * Added SORT_NONE to the linker script language to disable section sorting. |
209 | ||
62655c7b RM |
210 | * Add a linker-provided symbol when producing ELF output, '__ehdr_start' |
211 | to point to the ELF file header (and nearby program headers) in the | |
212 | program's memory image. | |
213 | ||
6927f982 NC |
214 | * Add support for S12X processor. |
215 | ||
b9c361e0 JL |
216 | * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture. |
217 | ||
f6c1a2d5 NC |
218 | * Add support for the Freescale XGATE architecture. |
219 | ||
a72173de TG |
220 | * Add option -f FILE on AIX (for response file). |
221 | ||
99c513f6 DD |
222 | * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture. |
223 | ||
cfb8c092 NC |
224 | * Add support for the Adapteva EPIPHANY architecture. |
225 | ||
a7142d94 TG |
226 | Changes in 2.22: |
227 | ||
d064f206 NC |
228 | * --copy-dt-needed-entries is no longer enabled by default. Instead |
229 | --no-copy-dt-needed-entries is the default. | |
230 | ||
ae17ab41 | 231 | * INPUT_SECTION_FLAGS has been added to the linker script language |
cfb8c092 | 232 | to allow selection of input sections by section header section flags. |
ae17ab41 | 233 | |
69f56ae1 | 234 | * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures. |
90b3661c | 235 | |
02ecc8e9 | 236 | * Added SORT_BY_INIT_PRIORITY to the linker script language to permit |
cfb8c092 NC |
237 | sorting sections by numerical value of the GCC init_priority attribute |
238 | encoded in the section name. | |
02ecc8e9 | 239 | |
44f45767 TG |
240 | Changes in 2.21: |
241 | ||
5fec8599 L |
242 | * Linker script expression evaluation is somewhat more sane. This may |
243 | break scripts that depend on quirks of the old expression evaluation. | |
244 | ||
17f73277 KT |
245 | * Turn off underscoring for x86_64 PE+-COFF targets. For old behavior the |
246 | option --enable-leading-mingw64-underscores can be used on configure of | |
247 | bfd. | |
248 | ||
40b36596 JM |
249 | * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family. |
250 | ||
ddbb8a31 NC |
251 | * --add-needed renamed to --copy-dt-needed-entries in order to avoid confusion |
252 | with --as-needed option. | |
253 | ||
7fcab871 KT |
254 | * Extend .def file syntax by '== <ID>' for imports and exports. This allows |
255 | to alias the import/export table name written in PE image. | |
256 | ||
a72173de | 257 | * Add --exclude-all-symbols option to PE based linkers. This prevents all |
2927aaca NC |
258 | symbols from automatically being exported. |
259 | ||
c7927a3c NC |
260 | * Add support for the Renesas RX processor. |
261 | ||
75875724 TG |
262 | * Add support for alpha-vms target. |
263 | ||
81c23f82 TG |
264 | Changes in 2.20: |
265 | ||
3e7a7d11 NC |
266 | * GNU/Linux targets now support the STB_GNU_UNIQUE symbol binding. This is a |
267 | GNU extension to the standard set of ELF symbol bindings. The binding will | |
268 | be passed on to the dynamic linker which will make sure that in the entire | |
269 | process there is just one symbol with the given name and type in use. | |
ce11ba6c | 270 | |
c1711530 DK |
271 | * PE targets now support a GNU extension to allow the alignment of common |
272 | common symbols to be specified. This support uses custom options in | |
273 | the .drectve section, which will be disregarded by the native tools. | |
274 | ||
09e2aba4 DK |
275 | * PE targets now add primitive support for ELF version scripts; symbols |
276 | are not versioned, but the local and global symbol visibility directives | |
277 | are respected when filtering symbols in auto-export mode. | |
278 | ||
267e2722 CD |
279 | * New option --no-export-dynamic to undo the effect of the -E and |
280 | --export-dynamic options. | |
281 | ||
a0c402a5 L |
282 | * ELF: --warn-alternate-em option to warn if an object has alternate |
283 | ELF machine code. | |
284 | ||
4a93e180 NC |
285 | * New script function REGION_ALIAS to add alias names to memory regions. |
286 | ||
88183869 DK |
287 | * PE targets no longer make use of the long section names PE extension to |
288 | the COFF format when generating executable images, by default. The old | |
289 | (slightly non-conformant) behaviour can still be invoked by using the | |
3efd345c DK |
290 | new '--enable-long-section-names' command-line option. It is also enabled |
291 | automatically in the presence of un-stripped debug information, as GDB | |
292 | needs to be able to find the debug info sections by their full names. | |
88183869 | 293 | |
d8045f23 NC |
294 | * For GNU/Linux systems the linker will now avoid processing any relocations |
295 | made against symbols of the STT_GNU_IFUNC type and instead emit them into | |
296 | the resulting binary for processing by the loader. | |
297 | ||
28024d9d L |
298 | * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined |
299 | symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries. In the | |
300 | latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED | |
301 | entry of one of the libraries already linked. | |
302 | ||
a05a5b64 | 303 | * Add a new command-line option, -Ttext-segment ADDR, for ELF targets |
258795f5 L |
304 | to set the address of the first byte of the text segment. |
305 | ||
c3b7224a NC |
306 | * Add support for Sunplus score architecture. |
307 | ||
ce11ba6c KT |
308 | * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to ld for PE targets to |
309 | allow fallback to old import table generation with null element prefix. | |
310 | ||
e1c37eb5 DK |
311 | * Windows PE systems now support a new --exclude-modules-for-implib option, |
312 | allowing users to partition object files and archive members between a DLL | |
313 | and its associated import library as they are generated during linking. | |
314 | ||
84e94c90 NC |
315 | * Add support for Lattice Mico32 (lm32) architecture. |
316 | ||
62655c7b | 317 | * Add CR16 ELF --embedded-relocs (used to embedded relocations into binaries |
7251ccbf SR |
318 | for Embedded-PIC code) option. |
319 | ||
6cb442d3 KT |
320 | * Add to the PE/PE+ targets the support of two different kinds of |
321 | pseudo-relocations. They can be selected by the switches | |
322 | --enable-runtime-pseudo-reloc-v1 and --enable-runtime-pseudo-reloc-v2. | |
323 | For the switch --enable-runtime-pseudo-reloc it uses for 32-bit | |
324 | runtime pseudo relocation version one, for 64-bit the version two. | |
325 | ||
6e33da12 TG |
326 | Changes in 2.19: |
327 | ||
66c103b7 AM |
328 | * Linker scripts support a new INSERT command that makes it easier to |
329 | augment the default script. | |
330 | ||
967928e9 | 331 | * Linker script input section filespecs may now specify a file within an |
66c103b7 | 332 | archive by writing "archive:file". |
967928e9 | 333 | |
de7dd2bd NC |
334 | * The --sort-common switch now has an optional argument which specifies the |
335 | direction of sorting. | |
336 | ||
7fb9f789 | 337 | * The M68K linker now supports multiple GOT generation schemes controlled via |
a05a5b64 | 338 | the --got=<type> command-line option. |
7fb9f789 | 339 | |
66c103b7 AM |
340 | * The ARM EABI linker will now generate stubs for function calls to symbols |
341 | that are too far away. The placement of the stubs is controlled by a new | |
a05a5b64 | 342 | linker command-line option: --stub-group-size=N. |
726150b7 | 343 | |
7c3d153f NC |
344 | Changes in 2.18: |
345 | ||
f96b4a7b NC |
346 | * Linker sources now released under version 3 of the GNU General Public |
347 | License. | |
348 | ||
c0065db7 RM |
349 | * ELF: New --build-id option to generate a unique per-binary identifier |
350 | embedded in a note section. | |
351 | ||
3d3d428f | 352 | * Added support for National Semicondutor CompactRISC (ie CR16) target. |
a19bcec6 | 353 | |
bcb674cf RS |
354 | * -l:foo now searches the library path for a filename called foo, |
355 | without converting it to libfoo.a or libfoo.so. | |
356 | ||
a05a5b64 | 357 | * Add a new command-line option '--default-script=FILE' or '-dT FILE' |
14be8564 L |
358 | which specifies a replacement for the built in, default linker |
359 | script. | |
360 | ||
40b36307 L |
361 | * ELF: Add -Bsymbolic-functions, --dynamic-list-cpp-new, which puts C++ |
362 | operator new and delete on the dynamic list, and --dynamic-list-data, | |
363 | builtin list for --dynamic-list, which puts global data symbols on the | |
364 | dynamic list. | |
365 | ||
99ad8390 NC |
366 | * Add support for x86_64 PE+ target. |
367 | ||
1c0d3aa6 NC |
368 | * Add support for Score target. |
369 | ||
55255dae L |
370 | * ELF: Add --dynamic-list option to specify a list of global symbols |
371 | whose references shouldn't be bound to the definition within the | |
372 | shared library, or a list of symbols which should be added to the | |
373 | symbol table in the executable. | |
374 | ||
dc0b6aa0 AM |
375 | * The default output section LMA has changed for allocatable sections from |
376 | being equal to VMA, to keeping the difference between LMA and VMA the same as | |
377 | the previous output section in the same region. This is a more useful | |
378 | default when using overlays and other cases where you specify an LMA | |
379 | differing from the VMA for some sections. | |
380 | ||
c17d87de NC |
381 | * New switch: --print-gc-sections to list any sections removed by garabge |
382 | collection. | |
383 | ||
c6dd86c6 | 384 | * ARM: Added --vfp11-denorm-fix option to work around an erratum in current |
f96b4a7b | 385 | VFP11 coprocessors. |
c6dd86c6 | 386 | |
c17d87de | 387 | Changes in 2.17: |
cf88bb9f | 388 | |
d70c5fc7 NC |
389 | * Support for the Infineon XC16X has been added by KPIT Cummins Infosystems. |
390 | ||
dfcffada AM |
391 | * Modify the Linux linker search order to better match ld.so search order. |
392 | Look for DT_NEEDED libraries in paths specified by ld.so.conf before | |
393 | searching the default directories, rather than vice versa. | |
394 | Use $prefix/etc/ld.so.conf if it exists, otherwise /etc/ld.so.conf. | |
c1446dba | 395 | |
4b5bd4e7 DS |
396 | * PE-COFF: Forward exports from DLL's can now be specified in .def files |
397 | passed directly to ld. | |
398 | ||
3c9b82ba NC |
399 | * Support for the Z80 processor family has been added. |
400 | ||
3e8a519c MM |
401 | * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command line, so that extra |
402 | switches can be read from <file>. | |
403 | ||
957d91c1 NC |
404 | Changes in 2.16: |
405 | ||
319850b4 JB |
406 | * Support for the R_ARM_V4BX relocation as defined in the ARM AAELF |
407 | specification has been added via the --fix-v4bx command-line option. | |
408 | ||
b717d30e JJ |
409 | * New linker script construct AS_NEEDED(), which sets the --as-needed flag |
410 | for input files listed inside of it. | |
411 | ||
e2243057 RS |
412 | * A new command-line option, --sysroot, can be used to override the |
413 | default sysroot location. It only applies to toolchains that were | |
414 | configured using --with-sysroot. | |
415 | ||
3ec57632 NC |
416 | * New linker script functions: ORIGIN() and LENGTH() which return information |
417 | about a specified memory region. | |
418 | ||
7499d566 NC |
419 | * Port to MAXQ processor contributed by HCL Tech. |
420 | ||
ba916c8a MM |
421 | * Added SEGMENT_START to the linker script language to permit the user to |
422 | override the base address for a segment from the command-line. | |
423 | ||
8fdd7217 NC |
424 | * ELF: --warn-shared-textrel option to warn if adding a DT_TEXTREL to a shared |
425 | object. | |
426 | ||
bcaa7b3e L |
427 | * Added SORT_BY_NAME and SORT_BY_ALIGNMENT to the linker script |
428 | language to permit sorting sections by section name or section | |
429 | maximum alignment. | |
430 | ||
a05a5b64 | 431 | * Added a new linker command-line switch, --sort-section name|alignment, |
bcaa7b3e L |
432 | to sort sections by section name or maximum alignment. |
433 | ||
8fdd7217 NC |
434 | * ELF: --add-needed/--no-add-needed options to control if a DT_NEEDED tag |
435 | should be added when a shared library comes from DT_NEEDED tags. | |
14b3c463 | 436 | |
1fe1f39c NC |
437 | * Support for the crx-elf target added. |
438 | ||
1a320fbb | 439 | * Support for the sh-symbianelf target added. |
1fe1f39c | 440 | |
a05a5b64 | 441 | * A new linker command-line switch has been added which allows the hash table |
2d643429 NC |
442 | size to be set to a suitable prime value near to its argument. This switch |
443 | is --hash-size=<NUMBER>. Also if the switch --reduce-memory-overheads is | |
444 | used, and --hash-size has not been used, then the default value will be set | |
445 | to 1021. | |
446 | ||
35835446 JR |
447 | * Linker map files are now generated with an O(N) algorithm for finding symbols |
448 | that are defined in each section. This uses about 40% more memory for | |
449 | symbols than the old O(N^2) algorithm. You can use the new | |
450 | --reduce-memory-overheads option to select the old algorithm; this option | |
451 | might also be used in the future to select similar tradeoffs. | |
452 | ||
2d643429 | 453 | Changes in 2.15: |
14b3c463 | 454 | |
8fdd7217 NC |
455 | * ELF: --as-needed/--no-as-needed options to control if a DT_NEEDED tag should |
456 | be added only when a shared library is referenced. | |
c0065db7 | 457 | |
8fdd7217 | 458 | * PE: --large-address-aware option to indicate executables support virtual |
26d2d8a2 BF |
459 | addresses greater than 2 gigabytes. |
460 | ||
1b169501 BF |
461 | * DWARF 2 support for i386pe added. |
462 | ||
c894ddfb HPN |
463 | * The linker script operator DEFINED() will now yield 1 only for a symbol that |
464 | is defined before the statement where DEFINED is used. | |
465 | ||
7a7f4e42 CD |
466 | * The MIPS --embedded-relocs (used to embed relocations into binaries for |
467 | Embedded-PIC code) is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. | |
468 | ||
0949843d NC |
469 | * cr16c support added by NSC. |
470 | ||
6edf0760 NC |
471 | * m32r Linux (ELF) support added by Renesas. |
472 | ||
560e09e9 NC |
473 | * Improved linker's handling of unresolved symbols. The switch |
474 | --unresolved-symbols=<method> has been added to tell the linker when it | |
475 | should report them and the switch --warn-unresolved-symbols has been added to | |
476 | make reports be issued as warning messages rather than errors. | |
477 | ||
43c58ae6 CD |
478 | Changes in 2.14: |
479 | ||
e8fd7476 NC |
480 | * Added support for Xtensa architecture. |
481 | ||
9c8ebd6a DJ |
482 | * Added --with-sysroot configure switch to specify a target system root, for |
483 | linking against a target filesystem image. | |
484 | ||
312b768e NC |
485 | * Added --accept-unknown-linker-format to restore old linker behaviour (pre |
486 | 2.14) of silently accepting and linking in any files in an unknown binary | |
487 | file format. | |
488 | ||
63fd3b82 NC |
489 | * Added --no-omagic to undo the effects of the -N option. |
490 | ||
004d9caf NC |
491 | * Support for Texas Instruments TMS320C4x and TMS320C3x series of |
492 | DSP's contributed by Michael Hayes and Svein E. Seldal. | |
c0065db7 | 493 | |
8e523c23 NC |
494 | * Added --with-lib-path configure switch to specify default value for |
495 | LIB_PATH. | |
496 | ||
7e392df6 NC |
497 | * ARM port to QNX operating system added by Graeme Peterson. |
498 | ||
cf88bb9f NC |
499 | * IP2K support added by Denis Chertykov. |
500 | ||
2cbb2eef NC |
501 | Changes in 2.13: |
502 | ||
503 | * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400 | |
504 | and FR500 included. | |
7d553a40 | 505 | |
37020578 JT |
506 | Changes in version 2.13: |
507 | ||
508 | * DEC VAX ELF support, by Matt Thomas. | |
509 | ||
9a66911f NC |
510 | Changes in version 2.12: |
511 | ||
49fda6c8 HPN |
512 | * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson. |
513 | ||
3b16e843 NC |
514 | * Support for the OpenRISC 32-bit embedded processor by OpenCores. |
515 | ||
8bd621d8 AM |
516 | * Support for -z nocopyreloc in the x86 ELF linker, which disables |
517 | production of copy relocs. Warning: using this option may result in | |
518 | non-sharable applications. | |
5b343f5a | 519 | |
db6751f2 JJ |
520 | * Support for -z combreloc in the ELF linker, which puts dynamic |
521 | relocations against the same symbol together, so that dynamic linker | |
522 | can use an one-entry symbol lookup cache. | |
523 | ||
524 | * Support for ELF SHF_MERGE section merging, by Jakub Jelinek. | |
525 | ||
9a66911f NC |
526 | Changes in version 2.11: |
527 | ||
b8355149 JH |
528 | * Support for AMD x86-64 architecture, by Jan Hubicka, SuSE Labs. |
529 | ||
18e03609 NC |
530 | * Support added for eliminating duplicate DWARF2 debug information by |
531 | having the compiler generate the information in sections called | |
532 | .gnu.linkonce.wi.XXXX where XXXX is a checksum for the contents. The | |
533 | linker then merges these sections together into the normal .debug_info | |
534 | section. | |
252b5132 | 535 | |
ec4eb78a L |
536 | * The native ELF linker now searches the directories in DT_RUNPATH or |
537 | DT_RPATH of a shared library for shared libraries needed by it. | |
538 | ||
2d30b3da TW |
539 | * TI C54x support, by Timothy Wall. |
540 | ||
a05a5b64 | 541 | * Added command-line switch --section-start to set the start address of any |
c0065db7 | 542 | specified section. |
176355da | 543 | |
a712da20 NC |
544 | * Added ability to emit full relocation information in linked executables, |
545 | enabled by --emit-relocs. Some post-linkage optimization tools need | |
546 | this information in order to be able to correctly identify and perform | |
547 | symbol relative addressing in the event of changes in section contents | |
548 | (instructions being added or deleted, extending data sections, etc.) | |
549 | ||
22b36938 JE |
550 | * Support for i860, by Jason Eckhardt (preliminary, alpha quality). |
551 | ||
5bcac8a4 HPN |
552 | * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series). |
553 | ||
500800ca NC |
554 | * Support for PDP-11 and 2.11BSD a.out format, by Lars Brinkhoff. |
555 | ||
919e4093 AM |
556 | Changes in version 2.10: |
557 | ||
c0065db7 | 558 | * Added AT> to the linker script language to allow load-time allocation of |
5948916f TW |
559 | sections into regions. |
560 | ||
c0065db7 | 561 | * Added garbage collection of unused sections, enabled by --gc-sections. |
252b5132 | 562 | It does require a bit of backend support; currently implemented are |
4667035e AM |
563 | arm-elf, avr-elf, d10v-elf, fr30-elf, i386-elf, m32r-elf, m68k-elf, |
564 | mcore-elf, mips-elf, mn10300-elf, ppc-elf, sh-elf, sparc-elf, and v850-elf. | |
987fd5b4 | 565 | Others will ignore the option. |
252b5132 RH |
566 | |
567 | * Added SORT to the linker script language to permit sorting sections by file | |
568 | name or section name. | |
569 | ||
570 | * Added EXTERN to the linker script language as an equivalent to the -u | |
571 | command-line option. | |
572 | ||
573 | * Added ASSERT to the linker script language. | |
574 | ||
277c9afe ILT |
575 | * Added EXCLUDE_FILE to the linker script language for further control over |
576 | wildcard file names. | |
577 | ||
252b5132 | 578 | * Added -O option to optimize linker output (as of this writing, this only |
500800ca | 579 | affects ELF shared library generation). |
252b5132 RH |
580 | |
581 | * The -e option now accepts a number as well as a symbol name. | |
582 | ||
2575273d ILT |
583 | * Added --no-undefined option to disallow undefined symbols when creating a |
584 | shared library. | |
585 | ||
9b1d3b78 ILT |
586 | * The linker now issues a warning, not an error, for an undefined symbol when |
587 | using -Bsymbolic; use the new --no-undefined option to get the old | |
588 | behaviour. | |
589 | ||
252b5132 RH |
590 | * Added --demangle and --no-demangle options. |
591 | ||
592 | Changes in version 2.9: | |
593 | ||
594 | * Added SQUAD to the linker script language. | |
595 | ||
596 | * New option --no-warn-mismatch. | |
597 | ||
598 | * The MEMORY command now parses the attributes to determine where sections that | |
599 | are not placed in a specific memory region are placed. | |
600 | ||
601 | Changes in version 2.8: | |
602 | ||
603 | * Linker scripts may now contain shell wildcard characters for file and section | |
604 | names. | |
605 | ||
606 | * The linker now supports symbol versions in ELF. | |
607 | ||
608 | * The NOCROSSREFS command was added to the linker script language. | |
609 | ||
610 | * The LOADADDR expression was added to the linker script language. | |
611 | ||
612 | * MAX and MIN functions were added to the linker script language. | |
613 | ||
614 | * The OVERLAY construct was added to the linker script language. | |
615 | ||
616 | * New option --warn-section-align to warn when the address of an output section | |
617 | changes due to alignment of an input section. | |
618 | ||
619 | * New options --filter/-F and --auxiliary/-f. | |
620 | ||
621 | Changes in version 2.7: | |
622 | ||
623 | * New option --cref to print out a cross reference table. | |
624 | ||
625 | * New option --wrap SYMBOL. | |
626 | ||
627 | * New option --no-whole-archive, to turn off the effect of --whole-archive. | |
628 | ||
629 | * Input sections assigned to the output section /DISCARD/ in the linker script | |
630 | are not included in the output file. | |
631 | ||
632 | * The SunOS and ELF linkers now merge stabs debugging information which uses | |
633 | the N_BINCL and N_EINCL stab types. This reduces the amount of debugging | |
634 | information generated. | |
635 | ||
636 | Changes in version 2.6: | |
637 | ||
638 | * When an ELF section name is representable as a C identifier (this is not true | |
45f111cc NC |
639 | of most ELF section names), the linker will automatically define symbols |
640 | __start_SECNAME and __stop_SECNAME, where SECNAME is the section name, at the | |
641 | beginning and the end of the section. This is used by glibc. | |
642 | ||
643 | Addendum: Current versions of the linker (at least for version 2.18 onwards | |
644 | and possibly much earlier as well) place two restrictions on this feature: The | |
645 | symbols are only implemented for orphaned sections, not for explicitly placed | |
646 | sections and they are PROVIDEd rather than being defined. | |
252b5132 RH |
647 | |
648 | * When an ELF section named .gnu.warning is encountered in an input file, the | |
649 | contents of the section are displayed as an error message, and the section is | |
650 | not copied into the output file. This is used by glibc. | |
651 | ||
652 | * When an ELF section named .gnu.warning.SYMBOL is encountered in an input | |
653 | file, and the symbol SYMBOL is referenced by some object file, the contents of | |
654 | the section are displayed as an error message. The section is not copied into | |
1049f94e | 655 | the output file, unless doing a relocatable or shared link. This is used by |
252b5132 RH |
656 | glibc. |
657 | ||
658 | * New options -split-by-reloc and -split-by-file. | |
659 | ||
660 | * The linker now supports linking PIC compiled code on SPARC SunOS. It can | |
661 | also create SPARC SunOS shared libraries, and, like the native SunOS linker, | |
662 | will do so whenever there is an undefined symbol in the link and neither the -e | |
663 | nor the -r option was used. | |
664 | ||
665 | * The -rpath option may be used on SunOS to set the list of directories to be | |
666 | searched at run time. This overrides the default of building the list from the | |
667 | -L options. | |
668 | ||
669 | * The COFF linker now combines debugging information for structs, unions, and | |
670 | enums, so that even if the same type is defined in multiple input files it will | |
671 | only be defined once in the output file. The --traditional-format switch will | |
672 | prevent this optimization. | |
673 | ||
674 | Changes in version 2.5: | |
675 | ||
676 | * The linker now supports linking against SunOS shared libraries. It still can | |
677 | not link SunOS PIC (Position Independent Code) files, so it can not be used to | |
07f3b6ad | 678 | generate shared libraries. |
252b5132 RH |
679 | |
680 | * The linker now supports linking against ELF shared libraries for the i386 | |
681 | (UnixWare) and SPARC (Solaris). It can also link ELF PIC files, and can be | |
682 | used to generate shared libraries. Shared library generation is not well | |
683 | tested; please report any problems encountered. The linker is now enabled for | |
684 | Solaris again. | |
685 | ||
686 | * Eric Youngdale has contributed Linux support code, including linking against | |
687 | Linux a.out shared libraries. The linker produces Linux QMAGIC binaries. | |
688 | ||
689 | * The ELF backend has been converted to the new linker code. To use the new | |
690 | ELF linker, each particular target requires a relocation function. So far, | |
691 | this function has been written for i386 (UnixWare), SPARC (Solaris) MIPS (Irix | |
692 | 5), and HPPA ELF targets. | |
693 | ||
694 | * The -( (--start-group) and -) (--end-group) options have been added to | |
695 | support searching a group of archives as though they were a single archive. | |
696 | This can also be used in a linker script, as GROUP ( files ). | |
697 | ||
698 | * When a file is named on the command line, and the linker does not recognize | |
699 | it as an object file, the linker will now treat the file as a linker script | |
700 | file. A linker script named in this way augments, but does not replace, the | |
701 | default linker script. | |
702 | ||
703 | * The -warn-once option was added. It causes the linker to only warn once per | |
704 | undefined symbol, rather than once per reference. | |
705 | ||
706 | * The COFF backend has been converted to the new linker code. As with ELF, to | |
707 | use the new linker, each particular target requires a relocation function. So | |
708 | far, this function has been written for the i386, m68k, a29k and SH targets. | |
709 | ||
710 | * The -V flag was made a synonym for -v, for SVR4 compatibility. The old -V | |
711 | behaviour is available via --verbose. | |
712 | ||
713 | Changes in version 2.4: | |
714 | ||
715 | * New linker code, by Steve Chamberlain and Ian Taylor. For a.out and ecoff | |
716 | formats (so far), this should result in considerable savings in time | |
717 | and memory used while linking; slightly poorer performance than | |
718 | before for formats not converted yet. | |
719 | ||
720 | * Command-line parsing is no longer done with flex. This means | |
721 | oddball characters in filenames won't get treated as argument | |
722 | separators. | |
723 | ||
724 | * HP-PA ELF support, by Jeff Law. (No SOM support yet.) | |
725 | ||
726 | * Mach i386 support, by David Mackenzie. | |
727 | ||
728 | * Irix 4 shared libraries are now supported (Irix 5 uses ELF, and ELF shared | |
729 | libraries are not yet supported). | |
730 | ||
731 | * COFF shared libraries (as on SCO) should work as well. | |
732 | ||
733 | * The linker is disabled for Solaris. (Actually, it was in 2.3 also, I just | |
734 | forgot to note it.) Some of their C library routines don't work when | |
735 | statically linked, and the GNU linker doesn't support dynamic linking yet. | |
736 | ||
737 | Changes in version 2.3: | |
738 | ||
739 | * Weak symbols are now supported. | |
740 | ||
741 | * ELF support has been added. The linker has been bootstrapped on | |
742 | UnixWare and Solaris. | |
743 | ||
744 | * Alpha OSF/1 support has been added (non dynamic linking only). | |
745 | ||
746 | Changes in version 2.2: | |
747 | ||
748 | * The `bfd' library has been updated to reduce a.out-format string | |
749 | table size. The effect of this is that files linked from many input | |
750 | files with duplicate symbols (`-g' debugging records, or identical | |
751 | static symbols) should be much smaller. | |
752 | ||
753 | Changes in version 2.1: | |
754 | ||
755 | * The ld -ySYMBOL flag (to trace references to SYMBOL) is now implemented. | |
756 | ||
757 | * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the | |
758 | other utilities should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix. | |
759 | ||
760 | \f | |
82704155 | 761 | Copyright (C) 2012-2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
5bf135a7 NC |
762 | |
763 | Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification, | |
764 | are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright | |
765 | notice and this notice are preserved. | |
766 | ||
252b5132 RH |
767 | Local variables: |
768 | fill-column: 79 | |
769 | End: |