Commit | Line | Data |
---|---|---|
252b5132 | 1 | -*- text -*- |
60391a25 | 2 | |
4db29512 AM |
3 | * Binutils now requires a C99 compiler and library to build. |
4 | ||
1996d0f1 NC |
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 | ||
ca0e11aa NC |
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 | ||
fd5c076a AM |
14 | * objcopy --weaken, --weaken-symbol and --weaken-symbols now make undefined |
15 | symbols weak on targets that support weak symbols. | |
16 | ||
e38332c2 NC |
17 | * Readelf and objdump can now display and use the contents of .debug_sup |
18 | sections. | |
19 | ||
c46b7066 NC |
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 | ||
ca0e11aa NC |
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 | ||
7fe1b138 FS |
46 | * Nm has a new command line option: --quiet. This suppresses "no symbols" |
47 | diagnostic. | |
48 | ||
055bc77a NC |
49 | Changes in 2.36: |
50 | ||
279d901e L |
51 | * Update elfedit and readelf with LAM_U48 and LAM_U57 support. |
52 | ||
e6f6aa8d NC |
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 | ||
f3016d6c HC |
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 | ||
0f03783c NC |
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 | ||
79bc120c NC |
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 | ||
99fabbc9 JL |
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 | ||
b115b9fd NC |
78 | Changes in 2.35: |
79 | ||
0942c7ab NC |
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 | ||
bbd19b19 L |
86 | * X86 NaCl target support is removed. |
87 | ||
1b513401 NC |
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 | ||
ae774686 NC |
94 | Changes in 2.34: |
95 | ||
301a9420 AM |
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 | ||
197245e3 FS |
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 | ||
64f52b3e FS |
108 | * Add --keep-section option to objcopy and strip. This option keeps the |
109 | specified section from being removed. | |
110 | ||
1d67fe3b TT |
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 | ||
60391a25 PB |
130 | Changes in 2.33: |
131 | ||
a1c110a3 NC |
132 | * Add --source-comment[=<txt>] option to objdump which if present, |
133 | provides a prefix to source code lines displayed in a disassembly. | |
2c610e4b | 134 | |
fa463e9f N |
135 | * Add --set-section-alignment <section-name>=<align> option to objcopy to allow |
136 | the changing of section alignments. | |
137 | ||
37d0d091 JH |
138 | * Add --verilog-data-width option to objcopy for verilog targets to control |
139 | width of data elements in verilog hex format. | |
140 | ||
514bbb0f AV |
141 | * Add support for the Armv8.1-M Mainline and M-profile Vector Extension (MVE) |
142 | instructions. | |
143 | ||
24841daa NC |
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 | ||
39f0547e NC |
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. | |
7d9813f1 NA |
156 | |
157 | * Add support for dumping types encoded in the Compact Type Format | |
158 | to objdump and readelf. | |
159 | ||
f974f26c NC |
160 | Changes in 2.32: |
161 | ||
af03af8f NC |
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 | |
69799d67 | 166 | of writing this constant has the value of 2048. |
af03af8f NC |
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 | ||
d3def5d7 MY |
173 | * Objdump's --disassemble option can now take a parameter, specifying the |
174 | starting symbol for disassembly. Disassembly will continue from this | |
baae986a | 175 | symbol up to the next symbol or the end of the function. |
d3def5d7 | 176 | |
9108bc33 CX |
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 | ||
bd782c07 CX |
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 | ||
ac8cb70f CX |
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 | ||
46cbf38d AB |
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 | ||
719d8288 NC |
198 | Changes in 2.31: |
199 | ||
fe944acf FT |
200 | * Add support for disassembling netronome Flow Processor (NFP) firmware files. |
201 | ||
7d02540a TC |
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 | ||
1869e86f AB |
210 | * Added O modifier to ar to display member offsets inside an archive |
211 | ||
9176ac5b NC |
212 | Changes in 2.30: |
213 | ||
dda8d76d NC |
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 | ||
55a09eb6 TG |
222 | Changes in 2.29: |
223 | ||
909b4e3d MR |
224 | * The MIPS port now supports microMIPS eXtended Physical Addressing (XPA) |
225 | instructions for assembly and disassembly. | |
226 | ||
f5b2fd52 MR |
227 | * The MIPS port now supports the microMIPS Release 5 ISA for assembly and |
228 | disassembly. | |
229 | ||
38bf472a MR |
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 | ||
64517994 JM |
234 | * The SPARC port now supports the SPARC M8 processor, which implements the |
235 | Oracle SPARC Architecture 2017. | |
236 | ||
25499ac7 MR |
237 | * The MIPS port now supports the MIPS16e2 ASE for assembly and disassembly. |
238 | ||
a91e1603 L |
239 | * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX. |
240 | ||
efdf7a02 | 241 | * Add support for the wasm32 ELF conversion of the WebAssembly file format. |
f96bd6c2 | 242 | |
4a14e306 AK |
243 | * Add --inlines option to objdump, which extends the --line-numbers option |
244 | so that inlined functions will display their nesting information. | |
245 | ||
9ef920e9 NC |
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 | ||
2425a30e NC |
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 | ||
9703a4ef TG |
253 | Changes in 2.28: |
254 | ||
08dc996f AM |
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 | |
a05a5b64 | 264 | if --vle-reloc-fixup is passed to ld. If the new ld command-line |
08dc996f AM |
265 | option is not used, ld will ld warn on finding relocations inconsistent |
266 | with the instructions being relocated. | |
267 | ||
a05a5b64 | 268 | * The nm program has a new command-line option (--with-version-strings) |
df2c87b5 NC |
269 | which will display a symbol's version information, if any, after the |
270 | symbol's name. | |
271 | ||
37fd5ef3 CZ |
272 | * The ARC port of objdump now accepts a -M option to specify the extra |
273 | instruction class(es) that should be disassembled. | |
274 | ||
e511c9b1 AB |
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 | ||
d3e5f6c8 AB |
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 | ||
96a84ea3 TG |
290 | Changes in 2.27: |
291 | ||
e6cc316a L |
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 | ||
b8871f35 L |
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 | ||
7feec526 TG |
298 | Changes in 2.26: |
299 | ||
2b35fb28 RH |
300 | * Add option to objcopy to insert new symbols into a file: |
301 | --add-symbol <name>=[<section>:]<value>[,<flags>] | |
302 | ||
886a2506 NC |
303 | * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures. |
304 | ||
ea556d25 L |
305 | * Extend objcopy --compress-debug-sections option to support |
306 | --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi] for ELF | |
307 | targets. | |
308 | ||
acf1419f AB |
309 | * Add --update-section option to objcopy. |
310 | ||
55edd97b EA |
311 | * Add --output-separator option to strings. |
312 | ||
c50415e2 TG |
313 | Changes in 2.25: |
314 | ||
7fac9594 NC |
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 | ||
334ac421 EA |
320 | * Add --include-all-whitespace to strings. |
321 | ||
bbad633b NC |
322 | * Add --dump-section option to objcopy. |
323 | ||
35c08157 KLC |
324 | * Add support for the Andes NDS32. |
325 | ||
58ca03a2 TG |
326 | Changes in 2.24: |
327 | ||
a05a5b64 | 328 | * Objcopy now supports wildcard characters in command-line options that take |
2e62b721 NC |
329 | section names. |
330 | ||
36591ba1 SL |
331 | * Add support for Altera Nios II. |
332 | ||
af18cb59 TG |
333 | Changes in 2.23: |
334 | ||
b9c361e0 JL |
335 | * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture. |
336 | ||
9a30f236 KT |
337 | * Add support for x64 Windows target of the delayed-load-library. |
338 | ||
99c513f6 DD |
339 | * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture. |
340 | ||
a7142d94 TG |
341 | Changes in 2.22: |
342 | ||
4ccf1e31 JJ |
343 | * Add support for displaying the contents of .debug.macro sections. |
344 | ||
ec25acb3 NC |
345 | * Add --preprocessor-arg option to windres to specify additional options |
346 | passed to preprocessor. | |
44f45767 | 347 | |
fd2f0033 TT |
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 | ||
69f56ae1 WL |
351 | * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures. |
352 | ||
353 | changes in 2.21: | |
44f45767 | 354 | |
b7dd81f7 NC |
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 | ||
40b36596 JM |
358 | * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family. |
359 | ||
0b6ae522 DJ |
360 | * Readelf can now display ARM unwind tables (.ARM.exidx / .ARM.extab) using |
361 | the -u / --unwind option. | |
362 | ||
2c610e4b L |
363 | * Add --dyn-syms to readelf to dump dynamic symbol table. |
364 | ||
d2420a8c NC |
365 | * A new tool - elfedit - has been added to directly manipulate ELF format |
366 | binaries. | |
81c23f82 | 367 | |
bf201fdd KT |
368 | * Add to dlltool .def file feature of aliasing PE internal symbol name by |
369 | '== <ID>' option. | |
370 | ||
a05a5b64 | 371 | * Add a new command-line option -a / --addresses to addr2line to display the |
be6f6493 TG |
372 | address before function name or source filename. |
373 | ||
a05a5b64 | 374 | * Add a new command-line option -p / --pretty-print to addr2line to have |
68cdf72f TG |
375 | a more human readable output. |
376 | ||
75875724 TG |
377 | * The hppa/som targets can now be compiled on any host. |
378 | ||
81c23f82 TG |
379 | Changes in 2.20: |
380 | ||
10e636d2 DK |
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 | ||
a05a5b64 | 387 | * Add a new command-line option, --insn-width=WIDTH, to objdump to specify |
10e636d2 DK |
388 | number of bytes to be displayed on a single line when disassembling |
389 | instructions. | |
3dcb3fcb | 390 | |
cf13d699 | 391 | * Readelf can now display the relocated contents of a section as a sequence |
a05a5b64 | 392 | of bytes via the --relocated-dump=<name|number> command-line option. |
cf13d699 | 393 | |
a05a5b64 | 394 | * The gprof program has been given a new command-line option: |
0e27a8f6 NC |
395 | --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified |
396 | file. | |
6e33da12 | 397 | |
ce3c775b NC |
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 | ||
43cd3ced AG |
401 | * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format |
402 | for objcopy. | |
c067354b | 403 | |
92dd4511 | 404 | * Add --file-alignment, --heap, --image-base, --section-alignment, |
a05a5b64 | 405 | --stack and --subsystem command-line options to objcopy, which will |
92dd4511 L |
406 | set PE optional header. |
407 | ||
4cb93e3b TG |
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 | ||
0dafdf3f | 415 | * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to |
28024d9d | 416 | add absolute paths for -S. |
0dafdf3f | 417 | |
e77b97d4 KT |
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 | ||
3aade688 | 421 | * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to |
71c57c16 NC |
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 | ||
2f3bb96a BE |
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 | ||
6e33da12 TG |
432 | Changes in 2.19: |
433 | ||
a262ae96 NC |
434 | * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line. |
435 | ||
a8da6403 NC |
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. | |
3aade688 | 440 | |
98ec6e72 NC |
441 | * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly. |
442 | ||
4145f1d5 NC |
443 | * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index. |
444 | ||
85f10a01 MM |
445 | * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port. |
446 | ||
09c11c86 NC |
447 | * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections. |
448 | ||
876c34bf | 449 | Changes in 2.18: |
98ec6e72 | 450 | |
ad71ef64 NC |
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). | |
1e4cf259 | 454 | |
32866df7 NC |
455 | * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General |
456 | Public License. | |
457 | ||
692ed3e7 NC |
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. | |
d856f2dd | 467 | |
a05a5b64 | 468 | * Add --extract-symbol command-line option to objcopy, which will |
d3e52d40 RS |
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 | ||
32866df7 NC |
473 | Changes in 2.17: |
474 | ||
aef1f6d0 DJ |
475 | * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER". |
476 | ||
cbf1f5df NC |
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 | ||
4de2ad99 | 484 | * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF |
cbf1f5df | 485 | debug sections. |
4de2ad99 | 486 | |
5477e8a0 | 487 | * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details. |
cbf1f5df | 488 | "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated. |
5477e8a0 | 489 | |
b12fe839 AM |
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 | ||
0c552dc1 FF |
495 | * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information |
496 | for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function. | |
497 | ||
81fc812e L |
498 | * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name. |
499 | ||
ec72cfe5 NC |
500 | * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address |
501 | when disassembling VAX binaries. | |
502 | ||
7b4a0685 NC |
503 | * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches |
504 | to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols. | |
3aade688 | 505 | |
9fbad737 | 506 | * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for |
3aade688 | 507 | several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint. |
7b4a0685 NC |
508 | |
509 | Changes in 2.16: | |
510 | ||
b12fe839 | 511 | * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups. |
81fc812e | 512 | |
bcf32829 JB |
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 | ||
18bd398b NC |
518 | * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections. This |
519 | happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered. The | |
a05a5b64 | 520 | command-line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display |
18bd398b NC |
521 | the contents of the .debug_range section. |
522 | ||
3c9458e9 NC |
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 | ||
607dea97 NC |
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 | ||
e39893d7 | 534 | * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the |
9d317d34 | 535 | disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some |
e39893d7 FF |
536 | pseudo instruction name. I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move", |
537 | "sll" instead of "nop", etc. | |
538 | ||
5fe11841 NC |
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 | ||
fb52b2f4 NC |
542 | * readelf can now parse archives. |
543 | ||
51cdc6e0 NC |
544 | * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a |
545 | format compatible with ctags tool. | |
546 | ||
ed1653a7 NC |
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 | ||
2593f09a NC |
553 | * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink |
554 | section into a (presumably stripped) executable. This allows the debug | |
50c2245b | 555 | information for the file to be held in a separate file. |
3aade688 | 556 | |
a3b6428f NC |
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 | ||
43c58ae6 CD |
561 | Changes in 2.14: |
562 | ||
7c29036b NC |
563 | * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip. |
564 | ||
3b36097d SC |
565 | * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat. |
566 | ||
8745eafa NC |
567 | * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters. |
568 | ||
d7fb0dd2 NC |
569 | * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and |
570 | --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy. | |
571 | ||
84ad6ede NC |
572 | * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified |
573 | Parallel C compiler. | |
574 | ||
7d036af2 AM |
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 | ||
1e4cf259 NC |
579 | * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov. |
580 | ||
2cbb2eef NC |
581 | Changes in 2.13: |
582 | ||
583 | * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400 | |
584 | and FR500 included. | |
252b5132 | 585 | |
9a66911f NC |
586 | Changes in version 2.12: |
587 | ||
49fda6c8 HPN |
588 | * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson. |
589 | ||
15c82623 NC |
590 | * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only). |
591 | ||
d974e256 JJ |
592 | * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing |
593 | lines to fit into 80 columns. | |
594 | ||
d132876a NC |
595 | * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings. By Markus Kuhn. |
596 | ||
594ef5db NC |
597 | * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names. |
598 | ||
e0c60db2 NC |
599 | * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions. Support added for |
600 | displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections. | |
601 | ||
a05a5b64 | 602 | * New command-line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as |
16b2b71c NC |
603 | global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols. |
604 | by Honda Hiroki. | |
605 | ||
87e6d782 NC |
606 | * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg. |
607 | ||
a05a5b64 | 608 | * New command-line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary |
1ae8b3d2 AO |
609 | with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture |
610 | description. Only supported for ELF targets. By Alexandre Oliva. | |
611 | ||
a05a5b64 | 612 | * New command-line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets |
09ad7db3 | 613 | the architecture of the output file to the given argument. This option only |
43a0748c NC |
614 | makes sense, if the input target is binary. Otherwise it is ignored. |
615 | By Stefan Geuken. | |
616 | ||
e135f41b NC |
617 | * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff. |
618 | ||
09ad7db3 AM |
619 | Changes in binutils 2.11: |
620 | ||
077b8428 NC |
621 | * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM |
622 | extenstions. | |
623 | ||
a05a5b64 | 624 | * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command-line switch to objcopy. |
077b8428 | 625 | By Luciano Gemme. |
7d036af2 | 626 | |
156c2f8b NC |
627 | * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander. |
628 | ||
22b36938 JE |
629 | * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt. |
630 | ||
5bcac8a4 HPN |
631 | * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series). |
632 | ||
252b5132 RH |
633 | Changes in binutils 2.10: |
634 | ||
09ad7db3 AM |
635 | * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA. |
636 | ||
a05a5b64 | 637 | * New command-line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the |
f1563258 | 638 | entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given |
7d036af2 | 639 | file. |
f1563258 | 640 | |
a05a5b64 | 641 | * New command-line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes |
dd92f639 NC |
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. | |
7d036af2 | 645 | |
c2c40d93 ILT |
646 | * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed |
647 | with intel syntax. | |
252b5132 RH |
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 | ||
57938635 AM |
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 | ||
252b5132 RH |
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 | |
1049f94e | 736 | listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files. |
252b5132 RH |
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 | |
250d07de | 807 | Copyright (C) 2012-2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
5bf135a7 NC |
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 | ||
252b5132 RH |
813 | Local variables: |
814 | fill-column: 79 | |
815 | End: |