3 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
5 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
7 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
8 lines to fit into 80 columns.
10 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings. By Markus Kuhn.
12 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
14 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions. Support added for
15 displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
17 * New command line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
18 global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
21 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
23 * New command line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
24 with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
25 description. Only supported for ELF targets. By Alexandre Oliva.
27 * New command line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
28 the architecture of the output file to the given argument. This option only
29 makes sense, if the input target is binary. Otherwise it is ignored.
32 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
34 Changes in binutils 2.11:
36 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
39 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command line switch to objcopy.
42 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
44 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
46 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
48 Changes in binutils 2.10:
50 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
52 * New command line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
53 entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
56 * New command line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
57 a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
58 disassembler. Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
61 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
64 * New program: readelf. This displays the contents of ELF format files,
65 regardless of target machine.
67 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
68 --change-section-address options. The old --adjust-section-vma option is
69 equivalent to --change-section-address. The other --adjust-* options are now
70 renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
72 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
74 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
77 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
79 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
80 --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
82 Changes in binutils 2.9:
84 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
85 files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
87 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
88 the VMA of the sections.
90 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
92 Changes in binutils 2.8:
94 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved. Use
95 the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format. There are also new
96 --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
99 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets. For example,
100 objdump -b i386-pc-linux. The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
101 so they must be in canonical form.
103 * Added new addr2line program. This uses the debugging information to convert
104 an address into a file name and line number within a program.
106 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
108 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
110 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
112 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
114 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
116 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
118 Changes in binutils 2.7:
120 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
122 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
124 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
126 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
128 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
130 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
132 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
134 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
136 Changes in binutils 2.6:
138 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
140 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
141 file is laid out in memory. Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
142 generating plain binary files.
144 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
146 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX. The tools are now built by default on AIX.
148 Changes in binutils 2.5:
150 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
151 listing, for a more useful listing of relocateable files.
153 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
154 Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
156 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
158 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
161 Changes in binutils 2.4:
163 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
164 PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
166 * Support for Irix 5.
168 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
169 ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
171 Changes in binutils 2.3:
173 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
176 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added. It can convert object files into
177 Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
179 * The strings program has been added.
181 Changes in binutils 2.2:
183 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
184 'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
187 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
188 (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names. (Note: This
189 may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
191 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
192 the output from BSD nm.
194 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
196 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
198 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
200 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
202 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
204 Changes in binutils 2.1:
206 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
207 should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix. Please let us know how well this works.
209 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
210 version), if there are any object files in the archive. So running ranlib is
211 now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used). This is required
212 for Posix.2 conformance.
214 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
215 independently of the selected target format. This is to encourage people to
216 switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
218 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
219 and/or local symbols only. They now also support long options.