3 * Add to dlltool .def file feature of aliasing PE internal symbol name by
6 * Add a new command line option -a / --addresses to addr2line to display the
7 address before function name or source filename.
11 * Add support for delay importing to dlltool. Use the --output-delaylib <file>
12 switch to create a delay-import library. The resulting app will load the dll
13 as soon as the first function is called. It will link to __delayLoadHelper2()
14 from the static delayimp library, which will import LoadLibraryA and
15 GetProcAddress from kernel32.
17 * Add a new command line option, --insn-width=WIDTH, to objdump to specify
18 number of bytes to be displayed on a single line when disassembling
21 * Readelf can now display the relocated contents of a section as a sequence
22 of bytes via the --relocated-dump=<name|number> command line option.
24 * The gprof program has been given a new command line option:
25 --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified
28 * The plugin target has been added to bfd. It can load the same shared objects
29 used by gold and uses them to provide basic support for new file formats.
31 * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format
34 * Add --file-alignment, --heap, --image-base, --section-alignment,
35 --stack and --subsystem command line options to objcopy, which will
36 set PE optional header.
38 * Option --dwarf/-W of objdump is now as flexible as readelf --debug-dump/-w.
40 * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined
41 symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries. In the
42 latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED
43 entry of one of the libraries already linked.
45 * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to
46 add absolute paths for -S.
48 * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to dlltool to allow fall-
49 back to old import table generation with null element prefix.
51 * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to
52 report an error when the import library is associated with
55 * Added --identify <implib> option to dlltool, which determines the
56 name of the DLL associated with the specified <implib>.
58 * Support for PowerPC booke64 instructions has been removed. The assembler no
59 longer accepts -mbooke32 or -mbooke64 and the disassembler no longer accepts
60 -Mbooke32 or -Mbooke64. Instead, -mbooke and -Mbooke should be used.
64 * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line.
66 * Added support for "thin" archives which contain pathnames pointing to
67 object files rather than the files themselves and which contain a
68 flattened symbol index for all objects, and archives, which have been
71 * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly.
73 * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index.
75 * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port.
77 * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections.
81 * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null
82 pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as
83 revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
85 * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
88 * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets. This is a message
89 compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version.
91 * Add codepage support to the windres tool. It now supports many new
92 resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc). The output generation
93 for binary files is done now via bfd itself. The endianess problems
94 for different hosts are solved. Dumps of .res files can now be
95 re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors.
96 Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected.
98 * Add --extract-symbol command line option to objcopy, which will
99 strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except
100 for its symbol table. Files containing just symbols can be useful
105 * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
107 * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt. -i disables the display of implementation
108 specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling
111 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
112 that extra switches can be read from <file>.
114 * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
117 * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
118 "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
120 * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security
121 conscious. This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all
122 code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt. The old PLT
123 and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt.
125 * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
126 for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
128 * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
130 * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
131 when disassembling VAX binaries.
133 * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
134 to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
136 * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
137 several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.
141 * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
143 * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and
144 --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard
145 matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but
146 retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations.
148 * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections. This
149 happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered. The
150 command line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display
151 the contents of the .debug_range section.
153 * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of
154 symbols which the target considers to be special. By default these symbols
155 are no longer displayed. Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping
156 symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and
157 between ARM and THUMB code.
159 * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
160 import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
164 * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the
165 disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some
166 pseudo instruction name. I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move",
167 "sll" instead of "nop", etc.
169 * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on
170 the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them.
172 * readelf can now parse archives.
174 * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
175 format compatible with ctags tool.
177 * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing
178 those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug. The idea is that
179 this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create
180 a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the
183 * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink
184 section into a (presumably stripped) executable. This allows the debug
185 information for the file to be held in a separate file.
187 * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX
188 single-character representation. This can be checked by running nm
193 * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
195 * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
197 * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
199 * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
200 --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
202 * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
205 * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other
206 headers that declare the same. Users of BFD should replace boolean,
207 false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type.
209 * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
213 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
216 Changes in version 2.12:
218 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
220 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
222 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
223 lines to fit into 80 columns.
225 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings. By Markus Kuhn.
227 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
229 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions. Support added for
230 displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
232 * New command line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
233 global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
236 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
238 * New command line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
239 with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
240 description. Only supported for ELF targets. By Alexandre Oliva.
242 * New command line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
243 the architecture of the output file to the given argument. This option only
244 makes sense, if the input target is binary. Otherwise it is ignored.
247 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
249 Changes in binutils 2.11:
251 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
254 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command line switch to objcopy.
257 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
259 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
261 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
263 Changes in binutils 2.10:
265 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
267 * New command line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
268 entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
271 * New command line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
272 a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
273 disassembler. Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
276 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
279 * New program: readelf. This displays the contents of ELF format files,
280 regardless of target machine.
282 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
283 --change-section-address options. The old --adjust-section-vma option is
284 equivalent to --change-section-address. The other --adjust-* options are now
285 renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
287 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
289 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
292 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
294 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
295 --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
297 Changes in binutils 2.9:
299 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
300 files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
302 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
303 the VMA of the sections.
305 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
307 Changes in binutils 2.8:
309 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved. Use
310 the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format. There are also new
311 --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
314 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets. For example,
315 objdump -b i386-pc-linux. The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
316 so they must be in canonical form.
318 * Added new addr2line program. This uses the debugging information to convert
319 an address into a file name and line number within a program.
321 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
323 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
325 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
327 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
329 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
331 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
333 Changes in binutils 2.7:
335 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
337 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
339 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
341 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
343 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
345 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
347 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
349 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
351 Changes in binutils 2.6:
353 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
355 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
356 file is laid out in memory. Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
357 generating plain binary files.
359 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
361 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX. The tools are now built by default on AIX.
363 Changes in binutils 2.5:
365 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
366 listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
368 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
369 Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
371 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
373 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
376 Changes in binutils 2.4:
378 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
379 PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
381 * Support for Irix 5.
383 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
384 ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
386 Changes in binutils 2.3:
388 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
391 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added. It can convert object files into
392 Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
394 * The strings program has been added.
396 Changes in binutils 2.2:
398 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
399 'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
402 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
403 (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names. (Note: This
404 may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
406 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
407 the output from BSD nm.
409 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
411 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
413 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
415 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
417 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
419 Changes in binutils 2.1:
421 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
422 should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix. Please let us know how well this works.
424 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
425 version), if there are any object files in the archive. So running ranlib is
426 now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used). This is required
427 for Posix.2 conformance.
429 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
430 independently of the selected target format. This is to encourage people to
431 switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
433 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
434 and/or local symbols only. They now also support long options.