binutils/NEWS

   1 -*- text -*-
   2
   3 * X86 NaCl target support is removed.
   4
   5 * The readelf tool now has a -L or --lint or --enable-checks option which turns
   6   on warning messages about possible problems with the file(s) being examined.
   7   These checks include things like zero-sized sections, which are allowed by
   8   the ELF standard but which nevertheless might be of concern if the user
   9   was expecting them to actually contain something.
  10
  11 Changes in 2.34:
  12
  13 * Binutils now supports debuginfod, an HTTP server for distributing
  14   ELF/DWARF debugging information as well as source code. When built with
  15   debuginfod, readelf and objdump can automatically query debuginfod
  16   servers for separate debug files when they otherwise cannot be found.
  17   To build binutils with debuginfod, pass --with-debuginfod to configure.
  18   This requires libdebuginfod, the debuginfod client library. debuginfod
  19   is distributed with elfutils, starting with version 0.178. For more
  20   information see https://sourceware.org/elfutils.
  21
  22 * Add --output option to the "ar" program.  This option can be used to specify
  23   the output directory when extracting members from an archive.
  24
  25 * Add --keep-section option to objcopy and strip.  This option keeps the
  26   specified section from being removed.
  27
  28  * Add visualization of jumps inside a function by drawing an ascii character
  29    graph between the address and the disassembler column.  Enabled via the
  30    --visualize-jumps command line option for objdump.  Currently supported by
  31    the x86, x86_64, and ARM targets.  The output looks something like this:
  32
  33   c6:   |  |     \----------> be 00 00 00 00            mov    $0x0,%esi
  34   cb:   |  |           /----> 48 8b 3d 00 00 00 00      mov    0x0(%rip),%rdi        # d2 <main+0xd2>
  35   d2:   |  |           |      31 c0                     xor    %eax,%eax
  36   d4:   |  |           |  /-- e8 00 00 00 00            callq  d9 <main+0xd9>
  37   d9:   |  |           |  \-> bf 02 00 00 00            mov    $0x2,%edi
  38   de:   |  +-----------|----- e8 00 00 00 00            callq  e3 <main+0xe3>
  39   e3:   |  \-----------|----> 48 89 da                  mov    %rbx,%rdx
  40   e6:   |              |      be 00 00 00 00            mov    $0x0,%esi
  41   eb:   |              \----- eb de                     jmp    cb <main+0xcb>
  42   ed:   \-------------------> 48 8b 16                  mov    (%rsi),%rdx
  43
  44   Additional arguments to the --visualize-jumps option add colors to the
  45   output.
  46
  47 Changes in 2.33:
  48
  49 * Add --source-comment[=<txt>] option to objdump which if present,
  50   provides a prefix to source code lines displayed in a disassembly.
  51
  52 * Add --set-section-alignment <section-name>=<align> option to objcopy to allow
  53   the changing of section alignments.
  54
  55 * Add --verilog-data-width option to objcopy for verilog targets to control
  56   width of data elements in verilog hex format.
  57
  58 * Add support for the Armv8.1-M Mainline and M-profile Vector Extension (MVE)
  59   instructions.
  60
  61 * The separate debug info file options of readelf (--debug-dump=links
  62   and --debug-dump=follow) and objdump (--dwarf=links and
  63   --dwarf=follow-links) will now display and/or follow multiple links if
  64   more than one are present in a file.  (This usually happens when gcc's
  65   -gsplit-dwarf option is used).
  66
  67   In addition objdump's --dwarf=follow-links now also affects its other
  68   display options, so that for example, when combined with --syms it will
  69   cause the symbol tables in any linked debug info files to also be
  70   displayed.  In addition when combined with --disassemble the --dwarf=
  71   follow-links option will ensure that any symbol tables in the linked
  72   files are read and used when disassembling code in the main file.
  73
  74  * Add support for dumping types encoded in the Compact Type Format
  75    to objdump and readelf.
  76
  77 Changes in 2.32:
  78
  79 * The addr2line, c++filt, nm and objdump tools now have a limit on the
  80   maximum amount of recursion that is allowed whilst demangling strings.
  81   The value for this limit is defined by the DEMANGLE_RECRUSE_LIMIT
  82   constant declared in the include/demangle.h header file.  At the time
  83   of writing this constant has the value of 2048.
  84
  85   The --no-recurse-limit option can be used to remove the limit, restoring
  86   the behaviour of earlier versions of these tools.  This may be needed in
  87   order to dmangle truly complicated names, but it also leaves the tools
  88   vulnerable to stack exhaustion from maliciously constructed mangled names.
  89
  90 * Objdump's --disassemble option can now take a parameter, specifying the
  91   starting symbol for disassembly.  Disassembly will continue from this
  92   symbol up to the next symbol or the end of the function.
  93
  94 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 2K1000 processor which implements
  95   the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE, Loongson-ext ASE,
  96   Loongson-ext2 ASE and MSA ASE instructions. Add -march=gs264e option for
  97   Loongson 2K1000 processor.
  98
  99 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor which
 100   implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE,
 101   Loongson-ext ASE and Loongson-ext2 ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464e
 102   option for Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor.
 103
 104 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A1000 processor, aka Loongson3a,
 105   which implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE
 106   and Loongson-ext ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464 option for Loongson
 107   3A1000 processor, The -march=loongson3a is an alias of -march=gs464 for
 108   compatibility.
 109
 110 * The size tool now has a new output format '--format=GNU' or '-G'.  The
 111   results are displayed in a similar manor to the default berkeley layout,
 112   except read-only data is counted in the data column, not the text column.
 113   Additionally the total is only included once.
 114
 115 Changes in 2.31:
 116
 117 * Add support for disassembling netronome Flow Processor (NFP) firmware files.
 118
 119 * The AArch64 port now supports showing disassembly notes which are emitted
 120   when inconsistencies are found with the instruction that may result in the
 121   instruction being invalid.  These can be turned on with the option -M notes
 122   to objdump.
 123
 124 * The AArch64 port now emits warnings when a combination of an instruction and
 125   a named register could be invalid.
 126
 127 * Added O modifier to ar to display member offsets inside an archive
 128
 129 Changes in 2.30:
 130
 131 * Add --debug-dump=links option to readelf and --dwarf=links option to objdump
 132   which displays the contents of any .gnu_debuglink or .gnu_debugaltlink
 133   sections.
 134
 135   Add a --debug-dump=follow-links option to readelf and a --dwarf=follow-links
 136   option to objdump which causes indirect links into separate debug info files
 137   to be followed when dumping other DWARF sections.
 138
 139 Changes in 2.29:
 140
 141 * The MIPS port now supports microMIPS eXtended Physical Addressing (XPA)
 142   instructions for assembly and disassembly.
 143
 144 * The MIPS port now supports the microMIPS Release 5 ISA for assembly and
 145   disassembly.
 146
 147 * The MIPS port now supports the Imagination interAptiv MR2 processor,
 148   which implements the MIPS32r3 ISA, the MIPS16e2 ASE as well as a couple
 149   of implementation-specific regular MIPS and MIPS16e2 ASE instructions.
 150
 151 * The SPARC port now supports the SPARC M8 processor, which implements the
 152   Oracle SPARC Architecture 2017.
 153
 154 * The MIPS port now supports the MIPS16e2 ASE for assembly and disassembly.
 155
 156 * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX.
 157
 158 * Add support for the wasm32 ELF conversion of the WebAssembly file format.
 159
 160 * Add --inlines option to objdump, which extends the --line-numbers option
 161   so that inlined functions will display their nesting information.
 162
 163 * Add --merge-notes options to objcopy to reduce the size of notes in
 164   a binary file by merging and deleting redundant notes.
 165
 166 * Add support for locating separate debug info files using the build-id
 167   method, where the separate file has a name based upon the build-id of
 168   the original file.
 169
 170 Changes in 2.28:
 171
 172 * This version of binutils fixes a problem with PowerPC VLE 16A and 16D
 173   relocations which were functionally swapped, for example,
 174   R_PPC_VLE_HA16A performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16D while R_PPC_VLE_HA16D
 175   performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16A.  This could have been fixed by
 176   renumbering relocations, which would keep object files created by an
 177   older version of gas compatible with a newer ld.  However, that would
 178   require an ABI update, affecting other assemblers and linkers that
 179   create and process the relocations correctly.  It is recommended that
 180   all VLE object files be recompiled, but ld can modify the relocations
 181   if --vle-reloc-fixup is passed to ld.  If the new ld command-line
 182   option is not used, ld will ld warn on finding relocations inconsistent
 183   with the instructions being relocated.
 184
 185 * The nm program has a new command-line option (--with-version-strings)
 186   which will display a symbol's version information, if any, after the
 187   symbol's name.
 188
 189 * The ARC port of objdump now accepts a -M option to specify the extra
 190   instruction class(es) that should be disassembled.
 191
 192 * The --remove-section option for objcopy and strip now accepts section
 193   patterns starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching
 194   section.  A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections
 195   matched by an earlier --remove-section pattern.
 196
 197 * The --only-section option for objcopy now accepts section patterns
 198   starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching section.
 199   A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections matched by
 200   an earlier --only-section pattern.
 201
 202 * New --remove-relocations=SECTIONPATTERN option for objcopy and strip.
 203   This option can be used to remove sections containing relocations.
 204   The SECTIONPATTERN is the section to which the relocations apply, not
 205   the relocation section itself.
 206
 207 Changes in 2.27:
 208
 209 * Add a configure option, --enable-64-bit-archive, to force use of a
 210   64-bit format when creating an archive symbol index.
 211
 212 * Add --elf-stt-common= option to objcopy for ELF targets to control
 213   whether to convert common symbols to the STT_COMMON type.
 214
 215 Changes in 2.26:
 216
 217 * Add option to objcopy to insert new symbols into a file:
 218   --add-symbol <name>=[<section>:]<value>[,<flags>]
 219
 220 * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures.
 221
 222 * Extend objcopy --compress-debug-sections option to support
 223   --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi] for ELF
 224   targets.
 225
 226 * Add --update-section option to objcopy.
 227
 228 * Add --output-separator option to strings.
 229
 230 Changes in 2.25:
 231
 232 * Add --data option to strings to only print strings in loadable, initialized
 233   data sections.  Change the default behaviour to be --all, but add a new
 234   configure time option of --disable-default-strings-all to restore the old
 235   default behaviour.
 236
 237 * Add --include-all-whitespace to strings.
 238
 239 * Add --dump-section option to objcopy.
 240
 241 * Add support for the Andes NDS32.
 242
 243 Changes in 2.24:
 244
 245 * Objcopy now supports wildcard characters in command-line options that take
 246   section names.
 247
 248 * Add support for Altera Nios II.
 249
 250 Changes in 2.23:
 251
 252 * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture.
 253
 254 * Add support for x64 Windows target of the delayed-load-library.
 255
 256 * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture.
 257
 258 Changes in 2.22:
 259
 260 * Add support for displaying the contents of .debug.macro sections.
 261
 262 * Add --preprocessor-arg option to windres to specify additional options
 263   passed to preprocessor.
 264
 265 * Add --dwarf-start and --dwarf-end to readelf and objdump.  These are used by
 266   the new Emacs mode, see dwarf-mode.el.
 267
 268 * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures.
 269
 270 changes in 2.21:
 271
 272 * Add --interleave-width option to objcopy to allowing copying a range of
 273   bytes from the input to the output with the --interleave option.
 274
 275 * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family.
 276
 277 * Readelf can now display ARM unwind tables (.ARM.exidx / .ARM.extab) using
 278   the -u / --unwind option.
 279
 280 * Add --dyn-syms to readelf to dump dynamic symbol table.
 281
 282 * A new tool - elfedit - has been added to directly manipulate ELF format
 283   binaries.
 284
 285 * Add to dlltool .def file feature of aliasing PE internal symbol name by
 286   '== <ID>' option.
 287
 288 * Add a new command-line option -a / --addresses to addr2line to display the
 289   address before function name or source filename.
 290
 291 * Add a new command-line option -p / --pretty-print to addr2line to have
 292   a more human readable output.
 293
 294 * The hppa/som targets can now be compiled on any host.
 295
 296 Changes in 2.20:
 297
 298 * Add support for delay importing to dlltool.  Use the --output-delaylib <file>
 299   switch to create a delay-import library.  The resulting app will load the dll
 300   as soon as the first function is called.  It will link to __delayLoadHelper2()
 301   from the static delayimp library, which will import LoadLibraryA and
 302   GetProcAddress from kernel32.
 303
 304 * Add a new command-line option, --insn-width=WIDTH, to objdump to specify
 305   number of bytes to be displayed on a single line when disassembling
 306   instructions.
 307
 308 * Readelf can now display the relocated contents of a section as a sequence
 309   of bytes via the --relocated-dump=<name|number> command-line option.
 310
 311 * The gprof program has been given a new command-line option:
 312   --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified
 313   file.
 314
 315 * The plugin target has been added to bfd. It can load the same shared objects
 316   used by gold and uses them to provide basic support for new file formats.
 317
 318 * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format
 319   for objcopy.
 320
 321 * Add --file-alignment, --heap, --image-base, --section-alignment,
 322   --stack and --subsystem command-line options to objcopy, which will
 323   set PE optional header.
 324
 325 * Option --dwarf/-W of objdump is now as flexible as readelf --debug-dump/-w.
 326
 327 * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined
 328   symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries.  In the
 329   latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED
 330   entry of one of the libraries already linked.
 331
 332 * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to
 333   add absolute paths for -S.
 334
 335 * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to dlltool to allow fall-
 336   back to old import table generation with null element prefix.
 337
 338 * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to
 339   report an error when the import library is associated with
 340   multiple DLLs.
 341
 342 * Added --identify <implib> option to dlltool, which determines the
 343   name of the DLL associated with the specified <implib>.
 344
 345 * Support for PowerPC booke64 instructions has been removed.  The assembler no
 346   longer accepts -mbooke32 or -mbooke64 and the disassembler no longer accepts
 347   -Mbooke32 or -Mbooke64.  Instead, -mbooke and -Mbooke should be used.
 348
 349 Changes in 2.19:
 350
 351 * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line.
 352
 353 * Added support for "thin" archives which contain pathnames pointing to
 354   object files rather than the files themselves and which contain a
 355   flattened symbol index for all objects, and archives, which have been
 356   added to the archive.
 357
 358 * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly.
 359
 360 * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index.
 361
 362 * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port.
 363
 364 * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections.
 365
 366 Changes in 2.18:
 367
 368 * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null
 369   pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as
 370   revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
 371
 372 * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
 373   Public License.
 374
 375 * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets.  This is a message
 376   compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version.
 377
 378 * Add codepage support to the windres tool.  It now supports many new
 379   resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc).  The output generation
 380   for binary files is done now via bfd itself.  The endianess problems
 381   for different hosts are solved.  Dumps of .res files can now be
 382   re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors.
 383   Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected.
 384
 385 * Add --extract-symbol command-line option to objcopy, which will
 386   strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except
 387   for its symbol table.  Files containing just symbols can be useful
 388   to some OSes.
 389
 390 Changes in 2.17:
 391
 392 * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
 393
 394 * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt.  -i disables the display of implementation
 395   specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling
 396   of types.
 397
 398 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
 399   that extra switches can be read from <file>.
 400
 401 * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
 402   debug sections.
 403
 404 * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
 405   "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
 406
 407 * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security
 408   conscious.  This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all
 409   code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt.  The old PLT
 410   and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt.
 411
 412 * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
 413   for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
 414
 415 * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
 416
 417 * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
 418   when disassembling VAX binaries.
 419
 420 * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
 421   to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
 422
 423 * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
 424   several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.
 425
 426 Changes in 2.16:
 427
 428 * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
 429
 430 * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and
 431   --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard
 432   matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but
 433   retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations.
 434
 435 * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections.  This
 436   happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered.  The
 437   command-line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display
 438   the contents of the .debug_range section.
 439
 440 * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of
 441   symbols which the target considers to be special.  By default these symbols
 442   are no longer displayed.  Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping
 443   symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and
 444   between ARM and THUMB code.
 445
 446 * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
 447   import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
 448
 449 Changes in 2.15:
 450
 451 * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the
 452   disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some
 453   pseudo instruction name.  I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move",
 454   "sll" instead of "nop", etc.
 455
 456 * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on
 457   the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them.
 458
 459 * readelf can now parse archives.
 460
 461 * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
 462   format compatible with ctags tool.
 463
 464 * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing
 465   those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug.  The idea is that
 466   this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create
 467   a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the
 468   debugging info.
 469
 470 * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink
 471   section into a (presumably stripped) executable.  This allows the debug
 472   information for the file to be held in a separate file.
 473
 474 * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX
 475   single-character representation.  This can be checked by running nm
 476   with the -a switch.
 477
 478 Changes in 2.14:
 479
 480 * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
 481
 482 * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
 483
 484 * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
 485
 486 * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
 487   --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
 488
 489 * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
 490   Parallel C compiler.
 491
 492 * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other
 493   headers that declare the same.  Users of BFD should replace boolean,
 494   false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type.
 495
 496 * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
 497
 498 Changes in 2.13:
 499
 500 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
 501   and FR500 included.
 502
 503 Changes in version 2.12:
 504
 505 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
 506
 507 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
 508
 509 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
 510   lines to fit into 80 columns.
 511
 512 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings.  By Markus Kuhn.
 513
 514 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
 515
 516 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions.  Support added for
 517   displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
 518
 519 * New command-line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
 520   global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
 521   by Honda Hiroki.
 522
 523 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
 524
 525 * New command-line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
 526   with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
 527   description.  Only supported for ELF targets.  By Alexandre Oliva.
 528
 529 * New command-line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
 530   the architecture of the output file to the given argument.  This option only
 531   makes sense, if the input target is binary.  Otherwise it is ignored.
 532   By Stefan Geuken.
 533
 534 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
 535
 536 Changes in binutils 2.11:
 537
 538 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
 539   extenstions.
 540
 541 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command-line switch to objcopy.
 542   By Luciano Gemme.
 543
 544 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
 545
 546 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
 547
 548 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
 549
 550 Changes in binutils 2.10:
 551
 552 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
 553
 554 * New command-line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
 555   entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
 556   file.
 557
 558 * New command-line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
 559   a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
 560   disassembler.  Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
 561   raw verions.
 562
 563 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
 564   with intel syntax.
 565
 566 * New program: readelf.  This displays the contents of ELF format files,
 567   regardless of target machine.
 568
 569 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
 570   --change-section-address options.  The old --adjust-section-vma option is
 571   equivalent to --change-section-address.  The other --adjust-* options are now
 572   renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
 573
 574 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
 575
 576 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
 577   sections.
 578
 579 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
 580
 581 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
 582   --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
 583
 584 Changes in binutils 2.9:
 585
 586 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
 587   files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
 588
 589 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
 590   the VMA of the sections.
 591
 592 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
 593
 594 Changes in binutils 2.8:
 595
 596 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved.  Use
 597   the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format.  There are also new
 598   --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
 599   output.
 600
 601 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets.  For example,
 602   objdump -b i386-pc-linux.  The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
 603   so they must be in canonical form.
 604
 605 * Added new addr2line program.  This uses the debugging information to convert
 606   an address into a file name and line number within a program.
 607
 608 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 609
 610 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
 611
 612 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
 613
 614 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
 615
 616 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
 617
 618 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
 619
 620 Changes in binutils 2.7:
 621
 622 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
 623
 624 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
 625
 626 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
 627
 628 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 629
 630 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
 631
 632 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
 633
 634 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
 635
 636 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
 637
 638 Changes in binutils 2.6:
 639
 640 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
 641
 642 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
 643   file is laid out in memory.  Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
 644   generating plain binary files.
 645
 646 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
 647
 648 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX.  The tools are now built by default on AIX.
 649
 650 Changes in binutils 2.5:
 651
 652 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
 653   listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
 654
 655 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
 656   Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
 657
 658 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
 659
 660 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
 661   executables.
 662
 663 Changes in binutils 2.4:
 664
 665 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
 666   PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
 667
 668 * Support for Irix 5.
 669
 670 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
 671   ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
 672
 673 Changes in binutils 2.3:
 674
 675 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
 676   ELF and COFF files.
 677
 678 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added.  It can convert object files into
 679   Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
 680
 681 * The strings program has been added.
 682
 683 Changes in binutils 2.2:
 684
 685 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
 686   'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
 687   'cp'.
 688
 689 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
 690   (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names.  (Note: This
 691   may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
 692
 693 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
 694   the output from BSD nm.
 695
 696 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
 697
 698 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
 699
 700 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
 701
 702 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
 703
 704 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
 705
 706 Changes in binutils 2.1:
 707
 708 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
 709   should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix.  Please let us know how well this works.
 710
 711 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
 712   version), if there are any object files in the archive.  So running ranlib is
 713   now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used).  This is required
 714   for Posix.2 conformance.
 715
 716 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
 717   independently of the selected target format.  This is to encourage people to
 718   switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
 719
 720 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
 721   and/or local symbols only.  They now also support long options.
 722
 723 \f
 724 Copyright (C) 2012-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 725
 726 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
 727 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
 728 notice and this notice are preserved.
 729
 730 Local variables:
 731 fill-column: 79
 732 End: