5 * Add --debug-dump=links option to readelf and --dwarf=links option to objdump
6 which displays the contents of any .gnu_debuglink or .gnu_debugaltlink
9 Add a --debug-dump=follow-links option to readelf and a --dwarf=follow-links
10 option to objdump which causes indirect links into separate debug info files
11 to be followed when dumping other DWARF sections.
15 * The MIPS port now supports microMIPS eXtended Physical Addressing (XPA)
16 instructions for assembly and disassembly.
18 * The MIPS port now supports the microMIPS Release 5 ISA for assembly and
21 * The MIPS port now supports the Imagination interAptiv MR2 processor,
22 which implements the MIPS32r3 ISA, the MIPS16e2 ASE as well as a couple
23 of implementation-specific regular MIPS and MIPS16e2 ASE instructions.
25 * The SPARC port now supports the SPARC M8 processor, which implements the
26 Oracle SPARC Architecture 2017.
28 * The MIPS port now supports the MIPS16e2 ASE for assembly and disassembly.
30 * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX.
32 * Add support for the wasm32 ELF conversion of the WebAssembly file format.
34 * Add --inlines option to objdump, which extends the --line-numbers option
35 so that inlined functions will display their nesting information.
37 * Add --merge-notes options to objcopy to reduce the size of notes in
38 a binary file by merging and deleting redundant notes.
40 * Add support for locating separate debug info files using the build-id
41 method, where the separate file has a name based upon the build-id of
46 * This version of binutils fixes a problem with PowerPC VLE 16A and 16D
47 relocations which were functionally swapped, for example,
48 R_PPC_VLE_HA16A performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16D while R_PPC_VLE_HA16D
49 performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16A. This could have been fixed by
50 renumbering relocations, which would keep object files created by an
51 older version of gas compatible with a newer ld. However, that would
52 require an ABI update, affecting other assemblers and linkers that
53 create and process the relocations correctly. It is recommended that
54 all VLE object files be recompiled, but ld can modify the relocations
55 if --vle-reloc-fixup is passed to ld. If the new ld command line
56 option is not used, ld will ld warn on finding relocations inconsistent
57 with the instructions being relocated.
59 * The nm program has a new command line option (--with-version-strings)
60 which will display a symbol's version information, if any, after the
63 * The ARC port of objdump now accepts a -M option to specify the extra
64 instruction class(es) that should be disassembled.
66 * The --remove-section option for objcopy and strip now accepts section
67 patterns starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching
68 section. A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections
69 matched by an earlier --remove-section pattern.
71 * The --only-section option for objcopy now accepts section patterns
72 starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching section.
73 A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections matched by
74 an earlier --only-section pattern.
76 * New --remove-relocations=SECTIONPATTERN option for objcopy and strip.
77 This option can be used to remove sections containing relocations.
78 The SECTIONPATTERN is the section to which the relocations apply, not
79 the relocation section itself.
83 * Add a configure option, --enable-64-bit-archive, to force use of a
84 64-bit format when creating an archive symbol index.
86 * Add --elf-stt-common= option to objcopy for ELF targets to control
87 whether to convert common symbols to the STT_COMMON type.
91 * Add option to objcopy to insert new symbols into a file:
92 --add-symbol <name>=[<section>:]<value>[,<flags>]
94 * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures.
96 * Extend objcopy --compress-debug-sections option to support
97 --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi] for ELF
100 * Add --update-section option to objcopy.
102 * Add --output-separator option to strings.
106 * Add --data option to strings to only print strings in loadable, initialized
107 data sections. Change the default behaviour to be --all, but add a new
108 configure time option of --disable-default-strings-all to restore the old
111 * Add --include-all-whitespace to strings.
113 * Add --dump-section option to objcopy.
115 * Add support for the Andes NDS32.
119 * Objcopy now supports wildcard characters in command line options that take
122 * Add support for Altera Nios II.
126 * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture.
128 * Add support for x64 Windows target of the delayed-load-library.
130 * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture.
134 * Add support for displaying the contents of .debug.macro sections.
136 * Add --preprocessor-arg option to windres to specify additional options
137 passed to preprocessor.
139 * Add --dwarf-start and --dwarf-end to readelf and objdump. These are used by
140 the new Emacs mode, see dwarf-mode.el.
142 * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures.
146 * Add --interleave-width option to objcopy to allowing copying a range of
147 bytes from the input to the output with the --interleave option.
149 * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family.
151 * Readelf can now display ARM unwind tables (.ARM.exidx / .ARM.extab) using
152 the -u / --unwind option.
154 * Add --dyn-syms to readelf to dump dynamic symbol table.
156 * A new tool - elfedit - has been added to directly manipulate ELF format
159 * Add to dlltool .def file feature of aliasing PE internal symbol name by
162 * Add a new command line option -a / --addresses to addr2line to display the
163 address before function name or source filename.
165 * Add a new command line option -p / --pretty-print to addr2line to have
166 a more human readable output.
168 * The hppa/som targets can now be compiled on any host.
172 * Add support for delay importing to dlltool. Use the --output-delaylib <file>
173 switch to create a delay-import library. The resulting app will load the dll
174 as soon as the first function is called. It will link to __delayLoadHelper2()
175 from the static delayimp library, which will import LoadLibraryA and
176 GetProcAddress from kernel32.
178 * Add a new command line option, --insn-width=WIDTH, to objdump to specify
179 number of bytes to be displayed on a single line when disassembling
182 * Readelf can now display the relocated contents of a section as a sequence
183 of bytes via the --relocated-dump=<name|number> command line option.
185 * The gprof program has been given a new command line option:
186 --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified
189 * The plugin target has been added to bfd. It can load the same shared objects
190 used by gold and uses them to provide basic support for new file formats.
192 * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format
195 * Add --file-alignment, --heap, --image-base, --section-alignment,
196 --stack and --subsystem command line options to objcopy, which will
197 set PE optional header.
199 * Option --dwarf/-W of objdump is now as flexible as readelf --debug-dump/-w.
201 * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined
202 symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries. In the
203 latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED
204 entry of one of the libraries already linked.
206 * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to
207 add absolute paths for -S.
209 * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to dlltool to allow fall-
210 back to old import table generation with null element prefix.
212 * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to
213 report an error when the import library is associated with
216 * Added --identify <implib> option to dlltool, which determines the
217 name of the DLL associated with the specified <implib>.
219 * Support for PowerPC booke64 instructions has been removed. The assembler no
220 longer accepts -mbooke32 or -mbooke64 and the disassembler no longer accepts
221 -Mbooke32 or -Mbooke64. Instead, -mbooke and -Mbooke should be used.
225 * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line.
227 * Added support for "thin" archives which contain pathnames pointing to
228 object files rather than the files themselves and which contain a
229 flattened symbol index for all objects, and archives, which have been
230 added to the archive.
232 * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly.
234 * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index.
236 * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port.
238 * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections.
242 * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null
243 pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as
244 revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
246 * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
249 * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets. This is a message
250 compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version.
252 * Add codepage support to the windres tool. It now supports many new
253 resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc). The output generation
254 for binary files is done now via bfd itself. The endianess problems
255 for different hosts are solved. Dumps of .res files can now be
256 re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors.
257 Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected.
259 * Add --extract-symbol command line option to objcopy, which will
260 strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except
261 for its symbol table. Files containing just symbols can be useful
266 * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
268 * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt. -i disables the display of implementation
269 specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling
272 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
273 that extra switches can be read from <file>.
275 * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
278 * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
279 "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
281 * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security
282 conscious. This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all
283 code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt. The old PLT
284 and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt.
286 * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
287 for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
289 * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
291 * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
292 when disassembling VAX binaries.
294 * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
295 to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
297 * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
298 several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.
302 * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
304 * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and
305 --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard
306 matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but
307 retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations.
309 * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections. This
310 happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered. The
311 command line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display
312 the contents of the .debug_range section.
314 * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of
315 symbols which the target considers to be special. By default these symbols
316 are no longer displayed. Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping
317 symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and
318 between ARM and THUMB code.
320 * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
321 import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
325 * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the
326 disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some
327 pseudo instruction name. I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move",
328 "sll" instead of "nop", etc.
330 * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on
331 the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them.
333 * readelf can now parse archives.
335 * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
336 format compatible with ctags tool.
338 * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing
339 those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug. The idea is that
340 this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create
341 a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the
344 * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink
345 section into a (presumably stripped) executable. This allows the debug
346 information for the file to be held in a separate file.
348 * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX
349 single-character representation. This can be checked by running nm
354 * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
356 * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
358 * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
360 * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
361 --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
363 * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
366 * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other
367 headers that declare the same. Users of BFD should replace boolean,
368 false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type.
370 * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
374 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
377 Changes in version 2.12:
379 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
381 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
383 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
384 lines to fit into 80 columns.
386 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings. By Markus Kuhn.
388 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
390 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions. Support added for
391 displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
393 * New command line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
394 global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
397 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
399 * New command line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
400 with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
401 description. Only supported for ELF targets. By Alexandre Oliva.
403 * New command line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
404 the architecture of the output file to the given argument. This option only
405 makes sense, if the input target is binary. Otherwise it is ignored.
408 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
410 Changes in binutils 2.11:
412 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
415 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command line switch to objcopy.
418 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
420 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
422 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
424 Changes in binutils 2.10:
426 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
428 * New command line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
429 entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
432 * New command line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
433 a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
434 disassembler. Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
437 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
440 * New program: readelf. This displays the contents of ELF format files,
441 regardless of target machine.
443 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
444 --change-section-address options. The old --adjust-section-vma option is
445 equivalent to --change-section-address. The other --adjust-* options are now
446 renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
448 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
450 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
453 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
455 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
456 --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
458 Changes in binutils 2.9:
460 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
461 files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
463 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
464 the VMA of the sections.
466 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
468 Changes in binutils 2.8:
470 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved. Use
471 the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format. There are also new
472 --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
475 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets. For example,
476 objdump -b i386-pc-linux. The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
477 so they must be in canonical form.
479 * Added new addr2line program. This uses the debugging information to convert
480 an address into a file name and line number within a program.
482 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
484 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
486 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
488 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
490 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
492 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
494 Changes in binutils 2.7:
496 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
498 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
500 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
502 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
504 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
506 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
508 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
510 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
512 Changes in binutils 2.6:
514 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
516 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
517 file is laid out in memory. Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
518 generating plain binary files.
520 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
522 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX. The tools are now built by default on AIX.
524 Changes in binutils 2.5:
526 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
527 listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
529 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
530 Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
532 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
534 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
537 Changes in binutils 2.4:
539 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
540 PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
542 * Support for Irix 5.
544 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
545 ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
547 Changes in binutils 2.3:
549 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
552 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added. It can convert object files into
553 Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
555 * The strings program has been added.
557 Changes in binutils 2.2:
559 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
560 'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
563 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
564 (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names. (Note: This
565 may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
567 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
568 the output from BSD nm.
570 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
572 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
574 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
576 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
578 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
580 Changes in binutils 2.1:
582 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
583 should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix. Please let us know how well this works.
585 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
586 version), if there are any object files in the archive. So running ranlib is
587 now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used). This is required
588 for Posix.2 conformance.
590 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
591 independently of the selected target format. This is to encourage people to
592 switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
594 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
595 and/or local symbols only. They now also support long options.
598 Copyright (C) 2012-2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
600 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
601 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
602 notice and this notice are preserved.