binutils/NEWS

   1 -*- text -*-
   2
   3 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 2K1000 processor which implements
   4   the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE, Loongson-ext ASE,
   5   Loongson-ext2 ASE and MSA ASE instructions. Add -march=gs264e option for
   6   Loongson 2K1000 processor.
   7
   8 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor which
   9   implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE,
  10   Loongson-ext ASE and Loongson-ext2 ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464e
  11   option for Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor.
  12
  13 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A1000 processor, aka Loongson3a,
  14   which implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE
  15   and Loongson-ext ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464 option for Loongson
  16   3A1000 processor, The -march=loongson3a is an alias of -march=gs464 for
  17   compatibility.
  18
  19 Changes in 2.31:
  20
  21 * Add support for disassembling netronome Flow Processor (NFP) firmware files.
  22
  23 * The AArch64 port now supports showing disassembly notes which are emitted
  24   when inconsistencies are found with the instruction that may result in the
  25   instruction being invalid.  These can be turned on with the option -M notes
  26   to objdump.
  27
  28 * The AArch64 port now emits warnings when a combination of an instruction and
  29   a named register could be invalid.
  30
  31 * Added O modifier to ar to display member offsets inside an archive
  32
  33 Changes in 2.30:
  34
  35 * Add --debug-dump=links option to readelf and --dwarf=links option to objdump
  36   which displays the contents of any .gnu_debuglink or .gnu_debugaltlink
  37   sections.
  38
  39   Add a --debug-dump=follow-links option to readelf and a --dwarf=follow-links
  40   option to objdump which causes indirect links into separate debug info files
  41   to be followed when dumping other DWARF sections.
  42
  43 Changes in 2.29:
  44
  45 * The MIPS port now supports microMIPS eXtended Physical Addressing (XPA)
  46   instructions for assembly and disassembly.
  47
  48 * The MIPS port now supports the microMIPS Release 5 ISA for assembly and
  49   disassembly.
  50
  51 * The MIPS port now supports the Imagination interAptiv MR2 processor,
  52   which implements the MIPS32r3 ISA, the MIPS16e2 ASE as well as a couple
  53   of implementation-specific regular MIPS and MIPS16e2 ASE instructions.
  54
  55 * The SPARC port now supports the SPARC M8 processor, which implements the
  56   Oracle SPARC Architecture 2017.
  57
  58 * The MIPS port now supports the MIPS16e2 ASE for assembly and disassembly.
  59
  60 * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX.
  61
  62 * Add support for the wasm32 ELF conversion of the WebAssembly file format.
  63
  64 * Add --inlines option to objdump, which extends the --line-numbers option
  65   so that inlined functions will display their nesting information.
  66
  67 * Add --merge-notes options to objcopy to reduce the size of notes in
  68   a binary file by merging and deleting redundant notes.
  69
  70 * Add support for locating separate debug info files using the build-id
  71   method, where the separate file has a name based upon the build-id of
  72   the original file.
  73
  74 Changes in 2.28:
  75
  76 * This version of binutils fixes a problem with PowerPC VLE 16A and 16D
  77   relocations which were functionally swapped, for example,
  78   R_PPC_VLE_HA16A performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16D while R_PPC_VLE_HA16D
  79   performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16A.  This could have been fixed by
  80   renumbering relocations, which would keep object files created by an
  81   older version of gas compatible with a newer ld.  However, that would
  82   require an ABI update, affecting other assemblers and linkers that
  83   create and process the relocations correctly.  It is recommended that
  84   all VLE object files be recompiled, but ld can modify the relocations
  85   if --vle-reloc-fixup is passed to ld.  If the new ld command-line
  86   option is not used, ld will ld warn on finding relocations inconsistent
  87   with the instructions being relocated.
  88
  89 * The nm program has a new command-line option (--with-version-strings)
  90   which will display a symbol's version information, if any, after the
  91   symbol's name.
  92
  93 * The ARC port of objdump now accepts a -M option to specify the extra
  94   instruction class(es) that should be disassembled.
  95
  96 * The --remove-section option for objcopy and strip now accepts section
  97   patterns starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching
  98   section.  A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections
  99   matched by an earlier --remove-section pattern.
 100
 101 * The --only-section option for objcopy now accepts section patterns
 102   starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching section.
 103   A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections matched by
 104   an earlier --only-section pattern.
 105
 106 * New --remove-relocations=SECTIONPATTERN option for objcopy and strip.
 107   This option can be used to remove sections containing relocations.
 108   The SECTIONPATTERN is the section to which the relocations apply, not
 109   the relocation section itself.
 110
 111 Changes in 2.27:
 112
 113 * Add a configure option, --enable-64-bit-archive, to force use of a
 114   64-bit format when creating an archive symbol index.
 115
 116 * Add --elf-stt-common= option to objcopy for ELF targets to control
 117   whether to convert common symbols to the STT_COMMON type.
 118
 119 Changes in 2.26:
 120
 121 * Add option to objcopy to insert new symbols into a file:
 122   --add-symbol <name>=[<section>:]<value>[,<flags>]
 123
 124 * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures.
 125
 126 * Extend objcopy --compress-debug-sections option to support
 127   --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi] for ELF
 128   targets.
 129
 130 * Add --update-section option to objcopy.
 131
 132 * Add --output-separator option to strings.
 133
 134 Changes in 2.25:
 135
 136 * Add --data option to strings to only print strings in loadable, initialized
 137   data sections.  Change the default behaviour to be --all, but add a new
 138   configure time option of --disable-default-strings-all to restore the old
 139   default behaviour.
 140
 141 * Add --include-all-whitespace to strings.
 142
 143 * Add --dump-section option to objcopy.
 144
 145 * Add support for the Andes NDS32.
 146
 147 Changes in 2.24:
 148
 149 * Objcopy now supports wildcard characters in command-line options that take
 150   section names.
 151
 152 * Add support for Altera Nios II.
 153
 154 Changes in 2.23:
 155
 156 * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture.
 157
 158 * Add support for x64 Windows target of the delayed-load-library.
 159
 160 * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture.
 161
 162 Changes in 2.22:
 163
 164 * Add support for displaying the contents of .debug.macro sections.
 165
 166 * Add --preprocessor-arg option to windres to specify additional options
 167   passed to preprocessor.
 168
 169 * Add --dwarf-start and --dwarf-end to readelf and objdump.  These are used by
 170   the new Emacs mode, see dwarf-mode.el.
 171
 172 * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures.
 173
 174 changes in 2.21:
 175
 176 * Add --interleave-width option to objcopy to allowing copying a range of
 177   bytes from the input to the output with the --interleave option.
 178
 179 * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family.
 180
 181 * Readelf can now display ARM unwind tables (.ARM.exidx / .ARM.extab) using
 182   the -u / --unwind option.
 183
 184 * Add --dyn-syms to readelf to dump dynamic symbol table.
 185
 186 * A new tool - elfedit - has been added to directly manipulate ELF format
 187   binaries.
 188
 189 * Add to dlltool .def file feature of aliasing PE internal symbol name by
 190   '== <ID>' option.
 191
 192 * Add a new command-line option -a / --addresses to addr2line to display the
 193   address before function name or source filename.
 194
 195 * Add a new command-line option -p / --pretty-print to addr2line to have
 196   a more human readable output.
 197
 198 * The hppa/som targets can now be compiled on any host.
 199
 200 Changes in 2.20:
 201
 202 * Add support for delay importing to dlltool.  Use the --output-delaylib <file>
 203   switch to create a delay-import library.  The resulting app will load the dll
 204   as soon as the first function is called.  It will link to __delayLoadHelper2()
 205   from the static delayimp library, which will import LoadLibraryA and
 206   GetProcAddress from kernel32.
 207
 208 * Add a new command-line option, --insn-width=WIDTH, to objdump to specify
 209   number of bytes to be displayed on a single line when disassembling
 210   instructions.
 211
 212 * Readelf can now display the relocated contents of a section as a sequence
 213   of bytes via the --relocated-dump=<name|number> command-line option.
 214
 215 * The gprof program has been given a new command-line option:
 216   --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified
 217   file.
 218
 219 * The plugin target has been added to bfd. It can load the same shared objects
 220   used by gold and uses them to provide basic support for new file formats.
 221
 222 * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format
 223   for objcopy.
 224
 225 * Add --file-alignment, --heap, --image-base, --section-alignment,
 226   --stack and --subsystem command-line options to objcopy, which will
 227   set PE optional header.
 228
 229 * Option --dwarf/-W of objdump is now as flexible as readelf --debug-dump/-w.
 230
 231 * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined
 232   symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries.  In the
 233   latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED
 234   entry of one of the libraries already linked.
 235
 236 * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to
 237   add absolute paths for -S.
 238
 239 * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to dlltool to allow fall-
 240   back to old import table generation with null element prefix.
 241
 242 * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to
 243   report an error when the import library is associated with
 244   multiple DLLs.
 245
 246 * Added --identify <implib> option to dlltool, which determines the
 247   name of the DLL associated with the specified <implib>.
 248
 249 * Support for PowerPC booke64 instructions has been removed.  The assembler no
 250   longer accepts -mbooke32 or -mbooke64 and the disassembler no longer accepts
 251   -Mbooke32 or -Mbooke64.  Instead, -mbooke and -Mbooke should be used.
 252
 253 Changes in 2.19:
 254
 255 * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line.
 256
 257 * Added support for "thin" archives which contain pathnames pointing to
 258   object files rather than the files themselves and which contain a
 259   flattened symbol index for all objects, and archives, which have been
 260   added to the archive.
 261
 262 * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly.
 263
 264 * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index.
 265
 266 * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port.
 267
 268 * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections.
 269
 270 Changes in 2.18:
 271
 272 * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null
 273   pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as
 274   revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
 275
 276 * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
 277   Public License.
 278
 279 * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets.  This is a message
 280   compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version.
 281
 282 * Add codepage support to the windres tool.  It now supports many new
 283   resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc).  The output generation
 284   for binary files is done now via bfd itself.  The endianess problems
 285   for different hosts are solved.  Dumps of .res files can now be
 286   re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors.
 287   Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected.
 288
 289 * Add --extract-symbol command-line option to objcopy, which will
 290   strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except
 291   for its symbol table.  Files containing just symbols can be useful
 292   to some OSes.
 293
 294 Changes in 2.17:
 295
 296 * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
 297
 298 * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt.  -i disables the display of implementation
 299   specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling
 300   of types.
 301
 302 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
 303   that extra switches can be read from <file>.
 304
 305 * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
 306   debug sections.
 307
 308 * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
 309   "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
 310
 311 * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security
 312   conscious.  This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all
 313   code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt.  The old PLT
 314   and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt.
 315
 316 * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
 317   for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
 318
 319 * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
 320
 321 * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
 322   when disassembling VAX binaries.
 323
 324 * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
 325   to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
 326
 327 * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
 328   several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.
 329
 330 Changes in 2.16:
 331
 332 * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
 333
 334 * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and
 335   --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard
 336   matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but
 337   retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations.
 338
 339 * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections.  This
 340   happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered.  The
 341   command-line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display
 342   the contents of the .debug_range section.
 343
 344 * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of
 345   symbols which the target considers to be special.  By default these symbols
 346   are no longer displayed.  Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping
 347   symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and
 348   between ARM and THUMB code.
 349
 350 * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
 351   import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
 352
 353 Changes in 2.15:
 354
 355 * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the
 356   disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some
 357   pseudo instruction name.  I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move",
 358   "sll" instead of "nop", etc.
 359
 360 * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on
 361   the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them.
 362
 363 * readelf can now parse archives.
 364
 365 * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
 366   format compatible with ctags tool.
 367
 368 * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing
 369   those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug.  The idea is that
 370   this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create
 371   a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the
 372   debugging info.
 373
 374 * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink
 375   section into a (presumably stripped) executable.  This allows the debug
 376   information for the file to be held in a separate file.
 377
 378 * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX
 379   single-character representation.  This can be checked by running nm
 380   with the -a switch.
 381
 382 Changes in 2.14:
 383
 384 * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
 385
 386 * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
 387
 388 * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
 389
 390 * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
 391   --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
 392
 393 * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
 394   Parallel C compiler.
 395
 396 * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other
 397   headers that declare the same.  Users of BFD should replace boolean,
 398   false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type.
 399
 400 * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
 401
 402 Changes in 2.13:
 403
 404 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
 405   and FR500 included.
 406
 407 Changes in version 2.12:
 408
 409 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
 410
 411 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
 412
 413 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
 414   lines to fit into 80 columns.
 415
 416 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings.  By Markus Kuhn.
 417
 418 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
 419
 420 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions.  Support added for
 421   displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
 422
 423 * New command-line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
 424   global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
 425   by Honda Hiroki.
 426
 427 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
 428
 429 * New command-line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
 430   with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
 431   description.  Only supported for ELF targets.  By Alexandre Oliva.
 432
 433 * New command-line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
 434   the architecture of the output file to the given argument.  This option only
 435   makes sense, if the input target is binary.  Otherwise it is ignored.
 436   By Stefan Geuken.
 437
 438 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
 439
 440 Changes in binutils 2.11:
 441
 442 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
 443   extenstions.
 444
 445 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command-line switch to objcopy.
 446   By Luciano Gemme.
 447
 448 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
 449
 450 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
 451
 452 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
 453
 454 Changes in binutils 2.10:
 455
 456 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
 457
 458 * New command-line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
 459   entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
 460   file.
 461
 462 * New command-line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
 463   a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
 464   disassembler.  Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
 465   raw verions.
 466
 467 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
 468   with intel syntax.
 469
 470 * New program: readelf.  This displays the contents of ELF format files,
 471   regardless of target machine.
 472
 473 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
 474   --change-section-address options.  The old --adjust-section-vma option is
 475   equivalent to --change-section-address.  The other --adjust-* options are now
 476   renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
 477
 478 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
 479
 480 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
 481   sections.
 482
 483 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
 484
 485 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
 486   --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
 487
 488 Changes in binutils 2.9:
 489
 490 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
 491   files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
 492
 493 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
 494   the VMA of the sections.
 495
 496 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
 497
 498 Changes in binutils 2.8:
 499
 500 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved.  Use
 501   the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format.  There are also new
 502   --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
 503   output.
 504
 505 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets.  For example,
 506   objdump -b i386-pc-linux.  The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
 507   so they must be in canonical form.
 508
 509 * Added new addr2line program.  This uses the debugging information to convert
 510   an address into a file name and line number within a program.
 511
 512 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 513
 514 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
 515
 516 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
 517
 518 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
 519
 520 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
 521
 522 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
 523
 524 Changes in binutils 2.7:
 525
 526 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
 527
 528 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
 529
 530 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
 531
 532 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 533
 534 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
 535
 536 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
 537
 538 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
 539
 540 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
 541
 542 Changes in binutils 2.6:
 543
 544 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
 545
 546 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
 547   file is laid out in memory.  Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
 548   generating plain binary files.
 549
 550 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
 551
 552 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX.  The tools are now built by default on AIX.
 553
 554 Changes in binutils 2.5:
 555
 556 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
 557   listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
 558
 559 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
 560   Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
 561
 562 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
 563
 564 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
 565   executables.
 566
 567 Changes in binutils 2.4:
 568
 569 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
 570   PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
 571
 572 * Support for Irix 5.
 573
 574 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
 575   ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
 576
 577 Changes in binutils 2.3:
 578
 579 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
 580   ELF and COFF files.
 581
 582 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added.  It can convert object files into
 583   Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
 584
 585 * The strings program has been added.
 586
 587 Changes in binutils 2.2:
 588
 589 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
 590   'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
 591   'cp'.
 592
 593 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
 594   (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names.  (Note: This
 595   may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
 596
 597 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
 598   the output from BSD nm.
 599
 600 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
 601
 602 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
 603
 604 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
 605
 606 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
 607
 608 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
 609
 610 Changes in binutils 2.1:
 611
 612 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
 613   should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix.  Please let us know how well this works.
 614
 615 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
 616   version), if there are any object files in the archive.  So running ranlib is
 617   now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used).  This is required
 618   for Posix.2 conformance.
 619
 620 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
 621   independently of the selected target format.  This is to encourage people to
 622   switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
 623
 624 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
 625   and/or local symbols only.  They now also support long options.
 626
 627 \f
 628 Copyright (C) 2012-2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 629
 630 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
 631 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
 632 notice and this notice are preserved.
 633
 634 Local variables:
 635 fill-column: 79
 636 End: