binutils/NEWS

   1 -*- text -*-
   2 * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections.
   3
   4 Changes in 2.18:
   5 * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null
   6   pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as
   7   revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
   8
   9 * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
  10   Public License.
  11
  12 * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets.  This is a message
  13   compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version.
  14
  15 * Add codepage support to the windres tool.  It now supports many new
  16   resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc).  The output generation
  17   for binary files is done now via bfd itself.  The endianess problems
  18   for different hosts are solved.  Dumps of .res files can now be
  19   re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors.
  20   Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected.
  21
  22 * Add --extract-symbol command line option to objcopy, which will
  23   strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except
  24   for its symbol table.  Files containing just symbols can be useful
  25   to some OSes.
  26
  27 Changes in 2.17:
  28
  29 * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
  30
  31 * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt.  -i disables the display of implementation
  32   specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling
  33   of types.
  34
  35 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
  36   that extra switches can be read from <file>.
  37
  38 * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
  39   debug sections.
  40
  41 * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
  42   "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
  43
  44 * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security
  45   conscious.  This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all
  46   code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt.  The old PLT
  47   and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt.
  48
  49 * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
  50   for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
  51
  52 * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
  53
  54 * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
  55   when disassembling VAX binaries.
  56
  57 * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
  58   to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
  59
  60 * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
  61   several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.
  62
  63 Changes in 2.16:
  64
  65 * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
  66
  67 * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and
  68   --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard
  69   matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but
  70   retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations.
  71
  72 * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections.  This
  73   happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered.  The
  74   command line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display
  75   the contents of the .debug_range section.
  76
  77 * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of
  78   symbols which the target considers to be special.  By default these symbols
  79   are no longer displayed.  Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping
  80   symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and
  81   between ARM and THUMB code.
  82
  83 * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
  84   import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
  85
  86 Changes in 2.15:
  87
  88 * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the
  89   disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some
  90   pseudo instruction name.  I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move",
  91   "sll" instead of "nop", etc.
  92
  93 * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on
  94   the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them.
  95
  96 * readelf can now parse archives.
  97
  98 * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
  99   format compatible with ctags tool.
 100
 101 * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing
 102   those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug.  The idea is that
 103   this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create
 104   a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the
 105   debugging info.
 106
 107 * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink
 108   section into a (presumably stripped) executable.  This allows the debug
 109   information for the file to be held in a separate file.
 110
 111 * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX
 112   single-character representation.  This can be checked by running nm
 113   with the -a switch.
 114
 115 Changes in 2.14:
 116
 117 * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
 118
 119 * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
 120
 121 * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
 122
 123 * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
 124   --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
 125
 126 * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
 127   Parallel C compiler.
 128
 129 * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other
 130   headers that declare the same.  Users of BFD should replace boolean,
 131   false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type.
 132
 133 * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
 134
 135 Changes in 2.13:
 136
 137 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
 138   and FR500 included.
 139
 140 Changes in version 2.12:
 141
 142 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
 143
 144 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
 145
 146 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
 147   lines to fit into 80 columns.
 148
 149 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings.  By Markus Kuhn.
 150
 151 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
 152
 153 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions.  Support added for
 154   displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
 155
 156 * New command line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
 157   global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
 158   by Honda Hiroki.
 159
 160 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
 161
 162 * New command line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
 163   with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
 164   description.  Only supported for ELF targets.  By Alexandre Oliva.
 165
 166 * New command line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
 167   the architecture of the output file to the given argument.  This option only
 168   makes sense, if the input target is binary.  Otherwise it is ignored.
 169   By Stefan Geuken.
 170
 171 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
 172
 173 Changes in binutils 2.11:
 174
 175 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
 176   extenstions.
 177
 178 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command line switch to objcopy.
 179   By Luciano Gemme.
 180
 181 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
 182
 183 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
 184
 185 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
 186
 187 Changes in binutils 2.10:
 188
 189 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
 190
 191 * New command line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
 192   entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
 193   file.
 194
 195 * New command line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
 196   a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
 197   disassembler.  Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
 198   raw verions.
 199
 200 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
 201   with intel syntax.
 202
 203 * New program: readelf.  This displays the contents of ELF format files,
 204   regardless of target machine.
 205
 206 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
 207   --change-section-address options.  The old --adjust-section-vma option is
 208   equivalent to --change-section-address.  The other --adjust-* options are now
 209   renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
 210
 211 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
 212
 213 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
 214   sections.
 215
 216 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
 217
 218 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
 219   --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
 220
 221 Changes in binutils 2.9:
 222
 223 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
 224   files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
 225
 226 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
 227   the VMA of the sections.
 228
 229 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
 230
 231 Changes in binutils 2.8:
 232
 233 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved.  Use
 234   the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format.  There are also new
 235   --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
 236   output.
 237
 238 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets.  For example,
 239   objdump -b i386-pc-linux.  The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
 240   so they must be in canonical form.
 241
 242 * Added new addr2line program.  This uses the debugging information to convert
 243   an address into a file name and line number within a program.
 244
 245 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 246
 247 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
 248
 249 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
 250
 251 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
 252
 253 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
 254
 255 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
 256
 257 Changes in binutils 2.7:
 258
 259 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
 260
 261 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
 262
 263 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
 264
 265 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 266
 267 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
 268
 269 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
 270
 271 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
 272
 273 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
 274
 275 Changes in binutils 2.6:
 276
 277 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
 278
 279 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
 280   file is laid out in memory.  Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
 281   generating plain binary files.
 282
 283 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
 284
 285 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX.  The tools are now built by default on AIX.
 286
 287 Changes in binutils 2.5:
 288
 289 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
 290   listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
 291
 292 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
 293   Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
 294
 295 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
 296
 297 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
 298   executables.
 299
 300 Changes in binutils 2.4:
 301
 302 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
 303   PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
 304
 305 * Support for Irix 5.
 306
 307 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
 308   ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
 309
 310 Changes in binutils 2.3:
 311
 312 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
 313   ELF and COFF files.
 314
 315 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added.  It can convert object files into
 316   Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
 317
 318 * The strings program has been added.
 319
 320 Changes in binutils 2.2:
 321
 322 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
 323   'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
 324   'cp'.
 325
 326 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
 327   (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names.  (Note: This
 328   may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
 329
 330 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
 331   the output from BSD nm.
 332
 333 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
 334
 335 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
 336
 337 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
 338
 339 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
 340
 341 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
 342
 343 Changes in binutils 2.1:
 344
 345 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
 346   should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix.  Please let us know how well this works.
 347
 348 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
 349   version), if there are any object files in the archive.  So running ranlib is
 350   now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used).  This is required
 351   for Posix.2 conformance.
 352
 353 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
 354   independently of the selected target format.  This is to encourage people to
 355   switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
 356
 357 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
 358   and/or local symbols only.  They now also support long options.
 359
 360 \f
 361 Local variables:
 362 fill-column: 79
 363 End: