binutils/NEWS

   1 -*- text -*-
   2
   3 * Binutils now requires a C99 compiler and library to build.
   4
   5 * A new format has been added to the nm program.  Specifying
   6   --format=just-symbols (or just using -j) will tell the program to only
   7   display symbol names and nothing else.
   8
   9 * A new command line --keep-section-symbols has been added to objcopy and
  10   strip.  This stops the removal of unused section symbols when the file is
  11   copied.  Removing these symbols saves space, but sometimes they are needed by
  12   other tools.
  13
  14 * objcopy --weaken, --weaken-symbol and --weaken-symbols now make undefined
  15   symbols weak on targets that support weak symbols.
  16
  17 * Readelf and objdump can now display and use the contents of .debug_sup
  18   sections.
  19
  20 * Readelf and objdump will now follow links to separate debug info files by
  21   default.  This behaviour can be stopped via the use of the new -wN or
  22   --debug-dump=no-follow-links options for readelf and the -WN or
  23   --dwarf=no-follow-links options for objdump.  Also the old behaviour can be
  24   restored by the use of the --enable-follow-debug-links=no configure time
  25   option.
  26
  27   The semantics of the =follow-links option have also been slightly changed.
  28   When enabled, the option allows for the loading of symbol tables and string
  29   tables from the separate files which can be used to enhance the information
  30   displayed when dumping other sections, but it does not automatically imply
  31   that information from the separate files should be displayed.
  32
  33   If other debug section display options are also enabled (eg
  34   --debug-dump=info) then the contents of matching sections in both the main
  35   file and the separate debuginfo file *will* be displayed.  This is because in
  36   most cases the debug section will only be present in one of the files.
  37
  38   If however non-debug section display options are enabled (eg --sections) then
  39   the contents of matching parts of the separate debuginfo file will *not* be
  40   displayed.  This is because in most cases the user probably only wanted to
  41   load the symbol information from the separate debuginfo file.  In order to
  42   change this behaviour a new command line option --process-links can be used.
  43   This will allow di0pslay options to applied to both the main file and any
  44   separate debuginfo files.
  45
  46 * Nm has a new command line option: --quiet.  This suppresses "no symbols"
  47   diagnostic.
  48
  49 Changes in 2.36:
  50
  51 * Update elfedit and readelf with LAM_U48 and LAM_U57 support.
  52
  53 * Nm has a new command line option: --ifunc-chars=CHARS.  This specifies a
  54   string of one or two characters.  The first character is used as the type
  55   character when displaying global ifunc symbols.  The second character, if
  56   present is used when displaying local ifunc symbols.
  57
  58   In addition a new configure time option --enable-f-for-ifunc-symbols has been
  59   created, which if used will change nm's default characters for ifunc symbols
  60   from i (both local and global) to F (global) and f (local).
  61
  62 * The ar tool's previously unused l modifier is now used for specifying
  63   dependencies of a static library. The arguments of this option
  64   (or --record-libdeps long form option) will be stored verbatim in the
  65   __.LIBDEP member of the archive, which the linker may read at link time.
  66
  67 * Readelf can now display the contents of LTO symbol table sections when asked
  68   to do so via the --lto-syms command line option.
  69
  70 * Readelf now accepts the -C command line option to enable the demangling of
  71   symbol names.  In addition the --demangle=<style>, --no-demangle,
  72   --recurse-limit and --no-recurse-limit options are also now availale.
  73
  74 * Add support for the SHF_GNU_RETAIN ELF section flag.
  75   This flag specifies that the section should not be garbage collected by the
  76   linker.
  77
  78 Changes in 2.35:
  79
  80 * Changed readelf's display of symbol names when wide mode is not enabled.
  81   If the name is too long it will be truncated and the last five characters
  82   replaced with "[...]".  The old behaviour of displaying 5 more characters but
  83   not indicating that truncation has happened can be restored by the use of the
  84   -T or --silent-truncation options.
  85
  86 * X86 NaCl target support is removed.
  87
  88 * The readelf tool now has a -L or --lint or --enable-checks option which turns
  89   on warning messages about possible problems with the file(s) being examined.
  90   These checks include things like zero-sized sections, which are allowed by
  91   the ELF standard but which nevertheless might be of concern if the user
  92   was expecting them to actually contain something.
  93
  94 Changes in 2.34:
  95
  96 * Binutils now supports debuginfod, an HTTP server for distributing
  97   ELF/DWARF debugging information as well as source code. When built with
  98   debuginfod, readelf and objdump can automatically query debuginfod
  99   servers for separate debug files when they otherwise cannot be found.
 100   To build binutils with debuginfod, pass --with-debuginfod to configure.
 101   This requires libdebuginfod, the debuginfod client library. debuginfod
 102   is distributed with elfutils, starting with version 0.178. For more
 103   information see https://sourceware.org/elfutils.
 104
 105 * Add --output option to the "ar" program.  This option can be used to specify
 106   the output directory when extracting members from an archive.
 107
 108 * Add --keep-section option to objcopy and strip.  This option keeps the
 109   specified section from being removed.
 110
 111  * Add visualization of jumps inside a function by drawing an ascii character
 112    graph between the address and the disassembler column.  Enabled via the
 113    --visualize-jumps command line option for objdump.  Currently supported by
 114    the x86, x86_64, and ARM targets.  The output looks something like this:
 115
 116   c6:   |  |     \----------> be 00 00 00 00            mov    $0x0,%esi
 117   cb:   |  |           /----> 48 8b 3d 00 00 00 00      mov    0x0(%rip),%rdi        # d2 <main+0xd2>
 118   d2:   |  |           |      31 c0                     xor    %eax,%eax
 119   d4:   |  |           |  /-- e8 00 00 00 00            callq  d9 <main+0xd9>
 120   d9:   |  |           |  \-> bf 02 00 00 00            mov    $0x2,%edi
 121   de:   |  +-----------|----- e8 00 00 00 00            callq  e3 <main+0xe3>
 122   e3:   |  \-----------|----> 48 89 da                  mov    %rbx,%rdx
 123   e6:   |              |      be 00 00 00 00            mov    $0x0,%esi
 124   eb:   |              \----- eb de                     jmp    cb <main+0xcb>
 125   ed:   \-------------------> 48 8b 16                  mov    (%rsi),%rdx
 126
 127   Additional arguments to the --visualize-jumps option add colors to the
 128   output.
 129
 130 Changes in 2.33:
 131
 132 * Add --source-comment[=<txt>] option to objdump which if present,
 133   provides a prefix to source code lines displayed in a disassembly.
 134
 135 * Add --set-section-alignment <section-name>=<align> option to objcopy to allow
 136   the changing of section alignments.
 137
 138 * Add --verilog-data-width option to objcopy for verilog targets to control
 139   width of data elements in verilog hex format.
 140
 141 * Add support for the Armv8.1-M Mainline and M-profile Vector Extension (MVE)
 142   instructions.
 143
 144 * The separate debug info file options of readelf (--debug-dump=links
 145   and --debug-dump=follow) and objdump (--dwarf=links and
 146   --dwarf=follow-links) will now display and/or follow multiple links if
 147   more than one are present in a file.  (This usually happens when gcc's
 148   -gsplit-dwarf option is used).
 149
 150   In addition objdump's --dwarf=follow-links now also affects its other
 151   display options, so that for example, when combined with --syms it will
 152   cause the symbol tables in any linked debug info files to also be
 153   displayed.  In addition when combined with --disassemble the --dwarf=
 154   follow-links option will ensure that any symbol tables in the linked
 155   files are read and used when disassembling code in the main file.
 156
 157  * Add support for dumping types encoded in the Compact Type Format
 158    to objdump and readelf.
 159
 160 Changes in 2.32:
 161
 162 * The addr2line, c++filt, nm and objdump tools now have a limit on the
 163   maximum amount of recursion that is allowed whilst demangling strings.
 164   The value for this limit is defined by the DEMANGLE_RECRUSE_LIMIT
 165   constant declared in the include/demangle.h header file.  At the time
 166   of writing this constant has the value of 2048.
 167
 168   The --no-recurse-limit option can be used to remove the limit, restoring
 169   the behaviour of earlier versions of these tools.  This may be needed in
 170   order to dmangle truly complicated names, but it also leaves the tools
 171   vulnerable to stack exhaustion from maliciously constructed mangled names.
 172
 173 * Objdump's --disassemble option can now take a parameter, specifying the
 174   starting symbol for disassembly.  Disassembly will continue from this
 175   symbol up to the next symbol or the end of the function.
 176
 177 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 2K1000 processor which implements
 178   the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE, Loongson-ext ASE,
 179   Loongson-ext2 ASE and MSA ASE instructions. Add -march=gs264e option for
 180   Loongson 2K1000 processor.
 181
 182 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor which
 183   implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE,
 184   Loongson-ext ASE and Loongson-ext2 ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464e
 185   option for Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor.
 186
 187 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A1000 processor, aka Loongson3a,
 188   which implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE
 189   and Loongson-ext ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464 option for Loongson
 190   3A1000 processor, The -march=loongson3a is an alias of -march=gs464 for
 191   compatibility.
 192
 193 * The size tool now has a new output format '--format=GNU' or '-G'.  The
 194   results are displayed in a similar manor to the default berkeley layout,
 195   except read-only data is counted in the data column, not the text column.
 196   Additionally the total is only included once.
 197
 198 Changes in 2.31:
 199
 200 * Add support for disassembling netronome Flow Processor (NFP) firmware files.
 201
 202 * The AArch64 port now supports showing disassembly notes which are emitted
 203   when inconsistencies are found with the instruction that may result in the
 204   instruction being invalid.  These can be turned on with the option -M notes
 205   to objdump.
 206
 207 * The AArch64 port now emits warnings when a combination of an instruction and
 208   a named register could be invalid.
 209
 210 * Added O modifier to ar to display member offsets inside an archive
 211
 212 Changes in 2.30:
 213
 214 * Add --debug-dump=links option to readelf and --dwarf=links option to objdump
 215   which displays the contents of any .gnu_debuglink or .gnu_debugaltlink
 216   sections.
 217
 218   Add a --debug-dump=follow-links option to readelf and a --dwarf=follow-links
 219   option to objdump which causes indirect links into separate debug info files
 220   to be followed when dumping other DWARF sections.
 221
 222 Changes in 2.29:
 223
 224 * The MIPS port now supports microMIPS eXtended Physical Addressing (XPA)
 225   instructions for assembly and disassembly.
 226
 227 * The MIPS port now supports the microMIPS Release 5 ISA for assembly and
 228   disassembly.
 229
 230 * The MIPS port now supports the Imagination interAptiv MR2 processor,
 231   which implements the MIPS32r3 ISA, the MIPS16e2 ASE as well as a couple
 232   of implementation-specific regular MIPS and MIPS16e2 ASE instructions.
 233
 234 * The SPARC port now supports the SPARC M8 processor, which implements the
 235   Oracle SPARC Architecture 2017.
 236
 237 * The MIPS port now supports the MIPS16e2 ASE for assembly and disassembly.
 238
 239 * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX.
 240
 241 * Add support for the wasm32 ELF conversion of the WebAssembly file format.
 242
 243 * Add --inlines option to objdump, which extends the --line-numbers option
 244   so that inlined functions will display their nesting information.
 245
 246 * Add --merge-notes options to objcopy to reduce the size of notes in
 247   a binary file by merging and deleting redundant notes.
 248
 249 * Add support for locating separate debug info files using the build-id
 250   method, where the separate file has a name based upon the build-id of
 251   the original file.
 252
 253 Changes in 2.28:
 254
 255 * This version of binutils fixes a problem with PowerPC VLE 16A and 16D
 256   relocations which were functionally swapped, for example,
 257   R_PPC_VLE_HA16A performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16D while R_PPC_VLE_HA16D
 258   performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16A.  This could have been fixed by
 259   renumbering relocations, which would keep object files created by an
 260   older version of gas compatible with a newer ld.  However, that would
 261   require an ABI update, affecting other assemblers and linkers that
 262   create and process the relocations correctly.  It is recommended that
 263   all VLE object files be recompiled, but ld can modify the relocations
 264   if --vle-reloc-fixup is passed to ld.  If the new ld command-line
 265   option is not used, ld will ld warn on finding relocations inconsistent
 266   with the instructions being relocated.
 267
 268 * The nm program has a new command-line option (--with-version-strings)
 269   which will display a symbol's version information, if any, after the
 270   symbol's name.
 271
 272 * The ARC port of objdump now accepts a -M option to specify the extra
 273   instruction class(es) that should be disassembled.
 274
 275 * The --remove-section option for objcopy and strip now accepts section
 276   patterns starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching
 277   section.  A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections
 278   matched by an earlier --remove-section pattern.
 279
 280 * The --only-section option for objcopy now accepts section patterns
 281   starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching section.
 282   A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections matched by
 283   an earlier --only-section pattern.
 284
 285 * New --remove-relocations=SECTIONPATTERN option for objcopy and strip.
 286   This option can be used to remove sections containing relocations.
 287   The SECTIONPATTERN is the section to which the relocations apply, not
 288   the relocation section itself.
 289
 290 Changes in 2.27:
 291
 292 * Add a configure option, --enable-64-bit-archive, to force use of a
 293   64-bit format when creating an archive symbol index.
 294
 295 * Add --elf-stt-common= option to objcopy for ELF targets to control
 296   whether to convert common symbols to the STT_COMMON type.
 297
 298 Changes in 2.26:
 299
 300 * Add option to objcopy to insert new symbols into a file:
 301   --add-symbol <name>=[<section>:]<value>[,<flags>]
 302
 303 * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures.
 304
 305 * Extend objcopy --compress-debug-sections option to support
 306   --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi] for ELF
 307   targets.
 308
 309 * Add --update-section option to objcopy.
 310
 311 * Add --output-separator option to strings.
 312
 313 Changes in 2.25:
 314
 315 * Add --data option to strings to only print strings in loadable, initialized
 316   data sections.  Change the default behaviour to be --all, but add a new
 317   configure time option of --disable-default-strings-all to restore the old
 318   default behaviour.
 319
 320 * Add --include-all-whitespace to strings.
 321
 322 * Add --dump-section option to objcopy.
 323
 324 * Add support for the Andes NDS32.
 325
 326 Changes in 2.24:
 327
 328 * Objcopy now supports wildcard characters in command-line options that take
 329   section names.
 330
 331 * Add support for Altera Nios II.
 332
 333 Changes in 2.23:
 334
 335 * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture.
 336
 337 * Add support for x64 Windows target of the delayed-load-library.
 338
 339 * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture.
 340
 341 Changes in 2.22:
 342
 343 * Add support for displaying the contents of .debug.macro sections.
 344
 345 * Add --preprocessor-arg option to windres to specify additional options
 346   passed to preprocessor.
 347
 348 * Add --dwarf-start and --dwarf-end to readelf and objdump.  These are used by
 349   the new Emacs mode, see dwarf-mode.el.
 350
 351 * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures.
 352
 353 changes in 2.21:
 354
 355 * Add --interleave-width option to objcopy to allowing copying a range of
 356   bytes from the input to the output with the --interleave option.
 357
 358 * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family.
 359
 360 * Readelf can now display ARM unwind tables (.ARM.exidx / .ARM.extab) using
 361   the -u / --unwind option.
 362
 363 * Add --dyn-syms to readelf to dump dynamic symbol table.
 364
 365 * A new tool - elfedit - has been added to directly manipulate ELF format
 366   binaries.
 367
 368 * Add to dlltool .def file feature of aliasing PE internal symbol name by
 369   '== <ID>' option.
 370
 371 * Add a new command-line option -a / --addresses to addr2line to display the
 372   address before function name or source filename.
 373
 374 * Add a new command-line option -p / --pretty-print to addr2line to have
 375   a more human readable output.
 376
 377 * The hppa/som targets can now be compiled on any host.
 378
 379 Changes in 2.20:
 380
 381 * Add support for delay importing to dlltool.  Use the --output-delaylib <file>
 382   switch to create a delay-import library.  The resulting app will load the dll
 383   as soon as the first function is called.  It will link to __delayLoadHelper2()
 384   from the static delayimp library, which will import LoadLibraryA and
 385   GetProcAddress from kernel32.
 386
 387 * Add a new command-line option, --insn-width=WIDTH, to objdump to specify
 388   number of bytes to be displayed on a single line when disassembling
 389   instructions.
 390
 391 * Readelf can now display the relocated contents of a section as a sequence
 392   of bytes via the --relocated-dump=<name|number> command-line option.
 393
 394 * The gprof program has been given a new command-line option:
 395   --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified
 396   file.
 397
 398 * The plugin target has been added to bfd. It can load the same shared objects
 399   used by gold and uses them to provide basic support for new file formats.
 400
 401 * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format
 402   for objcopy.
 403
 404 * Add --file-alignment, --heap, --image-base, --section-alignment,
 405   --stack and --subsystem command-line options to objcopy, which will
 406   set PE optional header.
 407
 408 * Option --dwarf/-W of objdump is now as flexible as readelf --debug-dump/-w.
 409
 410 * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined
 411   symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries.  In the
 412   latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED
 413   entry of one of the libraries already linked.
 414
 415 * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to
 416   add absolute paths for -S.
 417
 418 * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to dlltool to allow fall-
 419   back to old import table generation with null element prefix.
 420
 421 * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to
 422   report an error when the import library is associated with
 423   multiple DLLs.
 424
 425 * Added --identify <implib> option to dlltool, which determines the
 426   name of the DLL associated with the specified <implib>.
 427
 428 * Support for PowerPC booke64 instructions has been removed.  The assembler no
 429   longer accepts -mbooke32 or -mbooke64 and the disassembler no longer accepts
 430   -Mbooke32 or -Mbooke64.  Instead, -mbooke and -Mbooke should be used.
 431
 432 Changes in 2.19:
 433
 434 * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line.
 435
 436 * Added support for "thin" archives which contain pathnames pointing to
 437   object files rather than the files themselves and which contain a
 438   flattened symbol index for all objects, and archives, which have been
 439   added to the archive.
 440
 441 * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly.
 442
 443 * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index.
 444
 445 * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port.
 446
 447 * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections.
 448
 449 Changes in 2.18:
 450
 451 * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null
 452   pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as
 453   revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
 454
 455 * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
 456   Public License.
 457
 458 * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets.  This is a message
 459   compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version.
 460
 461 * Add codepage support to the windres tool.  It now supports many new
 462   resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc).  The output generation
 463   for binary files is done now via bfd itself.  The endianess problems
 464   for different hosts are solved.  Dumps of .res files can now be
 465   re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors.
 466   Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected.
 467
 468 * Add --extract-symbol command-line option to objcopy, which will
 469   strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except
 470   for its symbol table.  Files containing just symbols can be useful
 471   to some OSes.
 472
 473 Changes in 2.17:
 474
 475 * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
 476
 477 * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt.  -i disables the display of implementation
 478   specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling
 479   of types.
 480
 481 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
 482   that extra switches can be read from <file>.
 483
 484 * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
 485   debug sections.
 486
 487 * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
 488   "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
 489
 490 * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security
 491   conscious.  This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all
 492   code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt.  The old PLT
 493   and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt.
 494
 495 * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
 496   for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
 497
 498 * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
 499
 500 * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
 501   when disassembling VAX binaries.
 502
 503 * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
 504   to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
 505
 506 * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
 507   several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.
 508
 509 Changes in 2.16:
 510
 511 * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
 512
 513 * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and
 514   --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard
 515   matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but
 516   retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations.
 517
 518 * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections.  This
 519   happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered.  The
 520   command-line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display
 521   the contents of the .debug_range section.
 522
 523 * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of
 524   symbols which the target considers to be special.  By default these symbols
 525   are no longer displayed.  Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping
 526   symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and
 527   between ARM and THUMB code.
 528
 529 * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
 530   import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
 531
 532 Changes in 2.15:
 533
 534 * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the
 535   disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some
 536   pseudo instruction name.  I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move",
 537   "sll" instead of "nop", etc.
 538
 539 * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on
 540   the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them.
 541
 542 * readelf can now parse archives.
 543
 544 * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
 545   format compatible with ctags tool.
 546
 547 * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing
 548   those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug.  The idea is that
 549   this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create
 550   a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the
 551   debugging info.
 552
 553 * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink
 554   section into a (presumably stripped) executable.  This allows the debug
 555   information for the file to be held in a separate file.
 556
 557 * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX
 558   single-character representation.  This can be checked by running nm
 559   with the -a switch.
 560
 561 Changes in 2.14:
 562
 563 * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
 564
 565 * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
 566
 567 * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
 568
 569 * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
 570   --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
 571
 572 * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
 573   Parallel C compiler.
 574
 575 * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other
 576   headers that declare the same.  Users of BFD should replace boolean,
 577   false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type.
 578
 579 * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
 580
 581 Changes in 2.13:
 582
 583 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
 584   and FR500 included.
 585
 586 Changes in version 2.12:
 587
 588 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
 589
 590 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
 591
 592 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
 593   lines to fit into 80 columns.
 594
 595 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings.  By Markus Kuhn.
 596
 597 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
 598
 599 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions.  Support added for
 600   displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
 601
 602 * New command-line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
 603   global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
 604   by Honda Hiroki.
 605
 606 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
 607
 608 * New command-line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
 609   with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
 610   description.  Only supported for ELF targets.  By Alexandre Oliva.
 611
 612 * New command-line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
 613   the architecture of the output file to the given argument.  This option only
 614   makes sense, if the input target is binary.  Otherwise it is ignored.
 615   By Stefan Geuken.
 616
 617 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
 618
 619 Changes in binutils 2.11:
 620
 621 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
 622   extenstions.
 623
 624 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command-line switch to objcopy.
 625   By Luciano Gemme.
 626
 627 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
 628
 629 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
 630
 631 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
 632
 633 Changes in binutils 2.10:
 634
 635 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
 636
 637 * New command-line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
 638   entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
 639   file.
 640
 641 * New command-line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
 642   a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
 643   disassembler.  Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
 644   raw verions.
 645
 646 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
 647   with intel syntax.
 648
 649 * New program: readelf.  This displays the contents of ELF format files,
 650   regardless of target machine.
 651
 652 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
 653   --change-section-address options.  The old --adjust-section-vma option is
 654   equivalent to --change-section-address.  The other --adjust-* options are now
 655   renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
 656
 657 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
 658
 659 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
 660   sections.
 661
 662 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
 663
 664 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
 665   --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
 666
 667 Changes in binutils 2.9:
 668
 669 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
 670   files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
 671
 672 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
 673   the VMA of the sections.
 674
 675 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
 676
 677 Changes in binutils 2.8:
 678
 679 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved.  Use
 680   the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format.  There are also new
 681   --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
 682   output.
 683
 684 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets.  For example,
 685   objdump -b i386-pc-linux.  The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
 686   so they must be in canonical form.
 687
 688 * Added new addr2line program.  This uses the debugging information to convert
 689   an address into a file name and line number within a program.
 690
 691 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 692
 693 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
 694
 695 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
 696
 697 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
 698
 699 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
 700
 701 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
 702
 703 Changes in binutils 2.7:
 704
 705 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
 706
 707 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
 708
 709 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
 710
 711 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 712
 713 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
 714
 715 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
 716
 717 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
 718
 719 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
 720
 721 Changes in binutils 2.6:
 722
 723 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
 724
 725 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
 726   file is laid out in memory.  Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
 727   generating plain binary files.
 728
 729 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
 730
 731 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX.  The tools are now built by default on AIX.
 732
 733 Changes in binutils 2.5:
 734
 735 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
 736   listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
 737
 738 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
 739   Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
 740
 741 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
 742
 743 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
 744   executables.
 745
 746 Changes in binutils 2.4:
 747
 748 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
 749   PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
 750
 751 * Support for Irix 5.
 752
 753 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
 754   ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
 755
 756 Changes in binutils 2.3:
 757
 758 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
 759   ELF and COFF files.
 760
 761 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added.  It can convert object files into
 762   Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
 763
 764 * The strings program has been added.
 765
 766 Changes in binutils 2.2:
 767
 768 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
 769   'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
 770   'cp'.
 771
 772 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
 773   (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names.  (Note: This
 774   may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
 775
 776 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
 777   the output from BSD nm.
 778
 779 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
 780
 781 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
 782
 783 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
 784
 785 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
 786
 787 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
 788
 789 Changes in binutils 2.1:
 790
 791 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
 792   should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix.  Please let us know how well this works.
 793
 794 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
 795   version), if there are any object files in the archive.  So running ranlib is
 796   now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used).  This is required
 797   for Posix.2 conformance.
 798
 799 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
 800   independently of the selected target format.  This is to encourage people to
 801   switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
 802
 803 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
 804   and/or local symbols only.  They now also support long options.
 805
 806 \f
 807 Copyright (C) 2012-2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 808
 809 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
 810 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
 811 notice and this notice are preserved.
 812
 813 Local variables:
 814 fill-column: 79
 815 End: