bfd/TODO

   1 Things that still need to be handled: -*- Text -*-
   2
   3  o - check all the swapping code.
   4  o - change the memory usage to reflect the message which follows the
   5      page break.
   6  o - implement bfd_abort, which should close the bfd but not alter the
   7      filesystem.
   8  o - remove the following obsolete functions:
   9          bfd_symbol_value
  10          bfd_symbol_name
  11          bfd_get_first_symbol
  12          bfd_get_next_symbol
  13          bfd_classify_symbol
  14          bfd_symbol_hasclass
  15  o - update the bfd doc; write a how-to-write-a-backend doc.
  16  o - change reloc handling as per Steve's suggestion.
  17
  18 \f
  19 Changing the way bfd uses memory.  The new convention is simple:
  20
  21  o - bfd will never write into user-supplied memory, nor attempt to
  22      free it.
  23  o - closing a bfd may reclaim all bfd-allocated memory associated
  24      with that bfd.
  25  - - bfd_target_list will be the one exception; you must reclaim the
  26      returned vector yourself.
  27
  28 Interface implications are minor (get_symcount_upper_bound will go
  29 away; bfd_cannicalize_symtab will allocate its own memory, etc).
  30
  31 Certain operations consume a lot of memory; for them manual
  32 reclaimation is available:
  33
  34  o - bfd_canonicalize_symtab will return a pointer to a
  35      null-terminated vector of symbols.  Subsequent calls may or may
  36      not return the same pointer.
  37      bfd_canonicalize_relocs will do the same; returning a pointer to
  38      an array of arelocs.  Calling this function will read symbols in
  39      too.
  40
  41  o - bfd_reclaim_relocs will free the memory used by these relocs.
  42      the symbols will be untouched.
  43      bfd_reclaim_symtab (ne bfd_reclaim_symbol_table) will free the
  44      memory allocated by canonialize_symtab.
  45      Since relocations point to symbols, any relocations obtained by a
  46      call to bfd_canonicalize_relocs will be reclaimed as well.
  47
  48  o - if you don't call the reclaim_ functions, the memory will be
  49      reclaimed at bfd_close time.