binutils/NEWS

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