binutils/NEWS

   1 -*- text -*-
   2
   3 Changes in 2.35:
   4
   5 * Changed readelf's display of symbol names when wide mode is not enabled.
   6   If the name is too long it will be truncated and the last five characters
   7   replaced with "[...]".  The old behaviour of displaying 5 more characters but
   8   not indicating that truncation has happened can be restored by the use of the
   9   -T or --silent-truncation options.
  10
  11 * X86 NaCl target support is removed.
  12
  13 * The readelf tool now has a -L or --lint or --enable-checks option which turns
  14   on warning messages about possible problems with the file(s) being examined.
  15   These checks include things like zero-sized sections, which are allowed by
  16   the ELF standard but which nevertheless might be of concern if the user
  17   was expecting them to actually contain something.
  18
  19 Changes in 2.34:
  20
  21 * Binutils now supports debuginfod, an HTTP server for distributing
  22   ELF/DWARF debugging information as well as source code. When built with
  23   debuginfod, readelf and objdump can automatically query debuginfod
  24   servers for separate debug files when they otherwise cannot be found.
  25   To build binutils with debuginfod, pass --with-debuginfod to configure.
  26   This requires libdebuginfod, the debuginfod client library. debuginfod
  27   is distributed with elfutils, starting with version 0.178. For more
  28   information see https://sourceware.org/elfutils.
  29
  30 * Add --output option to the "ar" program.  This option can be used to specify
  31   the output directory when extracting members from an archive.
  32
  33 * Add --keep-section option to objcopy and strip.  This option keeps the
  34   specified section from being removed.
  35
  36  * Add visualization of jumps inside a function by drawing an ascii character
  37    graph between the address and the disassembler column.  Enabled via the
  38    --visualize-jumps command line option for objdump.  Currently supported by
  39    the x86, x86_64, and ARM targets.  The output looks something like this:
  40
  41   c6:   |  |     \----------> be 00 00 00 00            mov    $0x0,%esi
  42   cb:   |  |           /----> 48 8b 3d 00 00 00 00      mov    0x0(%rip),%rdi        # d2 <main+0xd2>
  43   d2:   |  |           |      31 c0                     xor    %eax,%eax
  44   d4:   |  |           |  /-- e8 00 00 00 00            callq  d9 <main+0xd9>
  45   d9:   |  |           |  \-> bf 02 00 00 00            mov    $0x2,%edi
  46   de:   |  +-----------|----- e8 00 00 00 00            callq  e3 <main+0xe3>
  47   e3:   |  \-----------|----> 48 89 da                  mov    %rbx,%rdx
  48   e6:   |              |      be 00 00 00 00            mov    $0x0,%esi
  49   eb:   |              \----- eb de                     jmp    cb <main+0xcb>
  50   ed:   \-------------------> 48 8b 16                  mov    (%rsi),%rdx
  51
  52   Additional arguments to the --visualize-jumps option add colors to the
  53   output.
  54
  55 Changes in 2.33:
  56
  57 * Add --source-comment[=<txt>] option to objdump which if present,
  58   provides a prefix to source code lines displayed in a disassembly.
  59
  60 * Add --set-section-alignment <section-name>=<align> option to objcopy to allow
  61   the changing of section alignments.
  62
  63 * Add --verilog-data-width option to objcopy for verilog targets to control
  64   width of data elements in verilog hex format.
  65
  66 * Add support for the Armv8.1-M Mainline and M-profile Vector Extension (MVE)
  67   instructions.
  68
  69 * The separate debug info file options of readelf (--debug-dump=links
  70   and --debug-dump=follow) and objdump (--dwarf=links and
  71   --dwarf=follow-links) will now display and/or follow multiple links if
  72   more than one are present in a file.  (This usually happens when gcc's
  73   -gsplit-dwarf option is used).
  74
  75   In addition objdump's --dwarf=follow-links now also affects its other
  76   display options, so that for example, when combined with --syms it will
  77   cause the symbol tables in any linked debug info files to also be
  78   displayed.  In addition when combined with --disassemble the --dwarf=
  79   follow-links option will ensure that any symbol tables in the linked
  80   files are read and used when disassembling code in the main file.
  81
  82  * Add support for dumping types encoded in the Compact Type Format
  83    to objdump and readelf.
  84
  85 Changes in 2.32:
  86
  87 * The addr2line, c++filt, nm and objdump tools now have a limit on the
  88   maximum amount of recursion that is allowed whilst demangling strings.
  89   The value for this limit is defined by the DEMANGLE_RECRUSE_LIMIT
  90   constant declared in the include/demangle.h header file.  At the time
  91   of writing this constant has the value of 2048.
  92
  93   The --no-recurse-limit option can be used to remove the limit, restoring
  94   the behaviour of earlier versions of these tools.  This may be needed in
  95   order to dmangle truly complicated names, but it also leaves the tools
  96   vulnerable to stack exhaustion from maliciously constructed mangled names.
  97
  98 * Objdump's --disassemble option can now take a parameter, specifying the
  99   starting symbol for disassembly.  Disassembly will continue from this
 100   symbol up to the next symbol or the end of the function.
 101
 102 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 2K1000 processor which implements
 103   the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE, Loongson-ext ASE,
 104   Loongson-ext2 ASE and MSA ASE instructions. Add -march=gs264e option for
 105   Loongson 2K1000 processor.
 106
 107 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor which
 108   implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE,
 109   Loongson-ext ASE and Loongson-ext2 ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464e
 110   option for Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor.
 111
 112 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A1000 processor, aka Loongson3a,
 113   which implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE
 114   and Loongson-ext ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464 option for Loongson
 115   3A1000 processor, The -march=loongson3a is an alias of -march=gs464 for
 116   compatibility.
 117
 118 * The size tool now has a new output format '--format=GNU' or '-G'.  The
 119   results are displayed in a similar manor to the default berkeley layout,
 120   except read-only data is counted in the data column, not the text column.
 121   Additionally the total is only included once.
 122
 123 Changes in 2.31:
 124
 125 * Add support for disassembling netronome Flow Processor (NFP) firmware files.
 126
 127 * The AArch64 port now supports showing disassembly notes which are emitted
 128   when inconsistencies are found with the instruction that may result in the
 129   instruction being invalid.  These can be turned on with the option -M notes
 130   to objdump.
 131
 132 * The AArch64 port now emits warnings when a combination of an instruction and
 133   a named register could be invalid.
 134
 135 * Added O modifier to ar to display member offsets inside an archive
 136
 137 Changes in 2.30:
 138
 139 * Add --debug-dump=links option to readelf and --dwarf=links option to objdump
 140   which displays the contents of any .gnu_debuglink or .gnu_debugaltlink
 141   sections.
 142
 143   Add a --debug-dump=follow-links option to readelf and a --dwarf=follow-links
 144   option to objdump which causes indirect links into separate debug info files
 145   to be followed when dumping other DWARF sections.
 146
 147 Changes in 2.29:
 148
 149 * The MIPS port now supports microMIPS eXtended Physical Addressing (XPA)
 150   instructions for assembly and disassembly.
 151
 152 * The MIPS port now supports the microMIPS Release 5 ISA for assembly and
 153   disassembly.
 154
 155 * The MIPS port now supports the Imagination interAptiv MR2 processor,
 156   which implements the MIPS32r3 ISA, the MIPS16e2 ASE as well as a couple
 157   of implementation-specific regular MIPS and MIPS16e2 ASE instructions.
 158
 159 * The SPARC port now supports the SPARC M8 processor, which implements the
 160   Oracle SPARC Architecture 2017.
 161
 162 * The MIPS port now supports the MIPS16e2 ASE for assembly and disassembly.
 163
 164 * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX.
 165
 166 * Add support for the wasm32 ELF conversion of the WebAssembly file format.
 167
 168 * Add --inlines option to objdump, which extends the --line-numbers option
 169   so that inlined functions will display their nesting information.
 170
 171 * Add --merge-notes options to objcopy to reduce the size of notes in
 172   a binary file by merging and deleting redundant notes.
 173
 174 * Add support for locating separate debug info files using the build-id
 175   method, where the separate file has a name based upon the build-id of
 176   the original file.
 177
 178 Changes in 2.28:
 179
 180 * This version of binutils fixes a problem with PowerPC VLE 16A and 16D
 181   relocations which were functionally swapped, for example,
 182   R_PPC_VLE_HA16A performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16D while R_PPC_VLE_HA16D
 183   performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16A.  This could have been fixed by
 184   renumbering relocations, which would keep object files created by an
 185   older version of gas compatible with a newer ld.  However, that would
 186   require an ABI update, affecting other assemblers and linkers that
 187   create and process the relocations correctly.  It is recommended that
 188   all VLE object files be recompiled, but ld can modify the relocations
 189   if --vle-reloc-fixup is passed to ld.  If the new ld command-line
 190   option is not used, ld will ld warn on finding relocations inconsistent
 191   with the instructions being relocated.
 192
 193 * The nm program has a new command-line option (--with-version-strings)
 194   which will display a symbol's version information, if any, after the
 195   symbol's name.
 196
 197 * The ARC port of objdump now accepts a -M option to specify the extra
 198   instruction class(es) that should be disassembled.
 199
 200 * The --remove-section option for objcopy and strip now accepts section
 201   patterns starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching
 202   section.  A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections
 203   matched by an earlier --remove-section pattern.
 204
 205 * The --only-section option for objcopy now accepts section patterns
 206   starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching section.
 207   A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections matched by
 208   an earlier --only-section pattern.
 209
 210 * New --remove-relocations=SECTIONPATTERN option for objcopy and strip.
 211   This option can be used to remove sections containing relocations.
 212   The SECTIONPATTERN is the section to which the relocations apply, not
 213   the relocation section itself.
 214
 215 Changes in 2.27:
 216
 217 * Add a configure option, --enable-64-bit-archive, to force use of a
 218   64-bit format when creating an archive symbol index.
 219
 220 * Add --elf-stt-common= option to objcopy for ELF targets to control
 221   whether to convert common symbols to the STT_COMMON type.
 222
 223 Changes in 2.26:
 224
 225 * Add option to objcopy to insert new symbols into a file:
 226   --add-symbol <name>=[<section>:]<value>[,<flags>]
 227
 228 * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures.
 229
 230 * Extend objcopy --compress-debug-sections option to support
 231   --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi] for ELF
 232   targets.
 233
 234 * Add --update-section option to objcopy.
 235
 236 * Add --output-separator option to strings.
 237
 238 Changes in 2.25:
 239
 240 * Add --data option to strings to only print strings in loadable, initialized
 241   data sections.  Change the default behaviour to be --all, but add a new
 242   configure time option of --disable-default-strings-all to restore the old
 243   default behaviour.
 244
 245 * Add --include-all-whitespace to strings.
 246
 247 * Add --dump-section option to objcopy.
 248
 249 * Add support for the Andes NDS32.
 250
 251 Changes in 2.24:
 252
 253 * Objcopy now supports wildcard characters in command-line options that take
 254   section names.
 255
 256 * Add support for Altera Nios II.
 257
 258 Changes in 2.23:
 259
 260 * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture.
 261
 262 * Add support for x64 Windows target of the delayed-load-library.
 263
 264 * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture.
 265
 266 Changes in 2.22:
 267
 268 * Add support for displaying the contents of .debug.macro sections.
 269
 270 * Add --preprocessor-arg option to windres to specify additional options
 271   passed to preprocessor.
 272
 273 * Add --dwarf-start and --dwarf-end to readelf and objdump.  These are used by
 274   the new Emacs mode, see dwarf-mode.el.
 275
 276 * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures.
 277
 278 changes in 2.21:
 279
 280 * Add --interleave-width option to objcopy to allowing copying a range of
 281   bytes from the input to the output with the --interleave option.
 282
 283 * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family.
 284
 285 * Readelf can now display ARM unwind tables (.ARM.exidx / .ARM.extab) using
 286   the -u / --unwind option.
 287
 288 * Add --dyn-syms to readelf to dump dynamic symbol table.
 289
 290 * A new tool - elfedit - has been added to directly manipulate ELF format
 291   binaries.
 292
 293 * Add to dlltool .def file feature of aliasing PE internal symbol name by
 294   '== <ID>' option.
 295
 296 * Add a new command-line option -a / --addresses to addr2line to display the
 297   address before function name or source filename.
 298
 299 * Add a new command-line option -p / --pretty-print to addr2line to have
 300   a more human readable output.
 301
 302 * The hppa/som targets can now be compiled on any host.
 303
 304 Changes in 2.20:
 305
 306 * Add support for delay importing to dlltool.  Use the --output-delaylib <file>
 307   switch to create a delay-import library.  The resulting app will load the dll
 308   as soon as the first function is called.  It will link to __delayLoadHelper2()
 309   from the static delayimp library, which will import LoadLibraryA and
 310   GetProcAddress from kernel32.
 311
 312 * Add a new command-line option, --insn-width=WIDTH, to objdump to specify
 313   number of bytes to be displayed on a single line when disassembling
 314   instructions.
 315
 316 * Readelf can now display the relocated contents of a section as a sequence
 317   of bytes via the --relocated-dump=<name|number> command-line option.
 318
 319 * The gprof program has been given a new command-line option:
 320   --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified
 321   file.
 322
 323 * The plugin target has been added to bfd. It can load the same shared objects
 324   used by gold and uses them to provide basic support for new file formats.
 325
 326 * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format
 327   for objcopy.
 328
 329 * Add --file-alignment, --heap, --image-base, --section-alignment,
 330   --stack and --subsystem command-line options to objcopy, which will
 331   set PE optional header.
 332
 333 * Option --dwarf/-W of objdump is now as flexible as readelf --debug-dump/-w.
 334
 335 * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined
 336   symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries.  In the
 337   latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED
 338   entry of one of the libraries already linked.
 339
 340 * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to
 341   add absolute paths for -S.
 342
 343 * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to dlltool to allow fall-
 344   back to old import table generation with null element prefix.
 345
 346 * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to
 347   report an error when the import library is associated with
 348   multiple DLLs.
 349
 350 * Added --identify <implib> option to dlltool, which determines the
 351   name of the DLL associated with the specified <implib>.
 352
 353 * Support for PowerPC booke64 instructions has been removed.  The assembler no
 354   longer accepts -mbooke32 or -mbooke64 and the disassembler no longer accepts
 355   -Mbooke32 or -Mbooke64.  Instead, -mbooke and -Mbooke should be used.
 356
 357 Changes in 2.19:
 358
 359 * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line.
 360
 361 * Added support for "thin" archives which contain pathnames pointing to
 362   object files rather than the files themselves and which contain a
 363   flattened symbol index for all objects, and archives, which have been
 364   added to the archive.
 365
 366 * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly.
 367
 368 * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index.
 369
 370 * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port.
 371
 372 * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections.
 373
 374 Changes in 2.18:
 375
 376 * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null
 377   pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as
 378   revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
 379
 380 * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
 381   Public License.
 382
 383 * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets.  This is a message
 384   compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version.
 385
 386 * Add codepage support to the windres tool.  It now supports many new
 387   resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc).  The output generation
 388   for binary files is done now via bfd itself.  The endianess problems
 389   for different hosts are solved.  Dumps of .res files can now be
 390   re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors.
 391   Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected.
 392
 393 * Add --extract-symbol command-line option to objcopy, which will
 394   strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except
 395   for its symbol table.  Files containing just symbols can be useful
 396   to some OSes.
 397
 398 Changes in 2.17:
 399
 400 * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
 401
 402 * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt.  -i disables the display of implementation
 403   specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling
 404   of types.
 405
 406 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
 407   that extra switches can be read from <file>.
 408
 409 * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
 410   debug sections.
 411
 412 * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
 413   "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
 414
 415 * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security
 416   conscious.  This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all
 417   code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt.  The old PLT
 418   and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt.
 419
 420 * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
 421   for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
 422
 423 * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
 424
 425 * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
 426   when disassembling VAX binaries.
 427
 428 * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
 429   to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
 430
 431 * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
 432   several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.
 433
 434 Changes in 2.16:
 435
 436 * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
 437
 438 * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and
 439   --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard
 440   matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but
 441   retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations.
 442
 443 * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections.  This
 444   happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered.  The
 445   command-line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display
 446   the contents of the .debug_range section.
 447
 448 * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of
 449   symbols which the target considers to be special.  By default these symbols
 450   are no longer displayed.  Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping
 451   symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and
 452   between ARM and THUMB code.
 453
 454 * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
 455   import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
 456
 457 Changes in 2.15:
 458
 459 * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the
 460   disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some
 461   pseudo instruction name.  I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move",
 462   "sll" instead of "nop", etc.
 463
 464 * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on
 465   the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them.
 466
 467 * readelf can now parse archives.
 468
 469 * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
 470   format compatible with ctags tool.
 471
 472 * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing
 473   those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug.  The idea is that
 474   this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create
 475   a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the
 476   debugging info.
 477
 478 * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink
 479   section into a (presumably stripped) executable.  This allows the debug
 480   information for the file to be held in a separate file.
 481
 482 * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX
 483   single-character representation.  This can be checked by running nm
 484   with the -a switch.
 485
 486 Changes in 2.14:
 487
 488 * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
 489
 490 * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
 491
 492 * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
 493
 494 * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
 495   --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
 496
 497 * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
 498   Parallel C compiler.
 499
 500 * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other
 501   headers that declare the same.  Users of BFD should replace boolean,
 502   false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type.
 503
 504 * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
 505
 506 Changes in 2.13:
 507
 508 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
 509   and FR500 included.
 510
 511 Changes in version 2.12:
 512
 513 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
 514
 515 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
 516
 517 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
 518   lines to fit into 80 columns.
 519
 520 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings.  By Markus Kuhn.
 521
 522 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
 523
 524 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions.  Support added for
 525   displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
 526
 527 * New command-line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
 528   global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
 529   by Honda Hiroki.
 530
 531 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
 532
 533 * New command-line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
 534   with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
 535   description.  Only supported for ELF targets.  By Alexandre Oliva.
 536
 537 * New command-line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
 538   the architecture of the output file to the given argument.  This option only
 539   makes sense, if the input target is binary.  Otherwise it is ignored.
 540   By Stefan Geuken.
 541
 542 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
 543
 544 Changes in binutils 2.11:
 545
 546 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
 547   extenstions.
 548
 549 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command-line switch to objcopy.
 550   By Luciano Gemme.
 551
 552 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
 553
 554 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
 555
 556 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
 557
 558 Changes in binutils 2.10:
 559
 560 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
 561
 562 * New command-line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
 563   entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
 564   file.
 565
 566 * New command-line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
 567   a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
 568   disassembler.  Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
 569   raw verions.
 570
 571 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
 572   with intel syntax.
 573
 574 * New program: readelf.  This displays the contents of ELF format files,
 575   regardless of target machine.
 576
 577 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
 578   --change-section-address options.  The old --adjust-section-vma option is
 579   equivalent to --change-section-address.  The other --adjust-* options are now
 580   renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
 581
 582 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
 583
 584 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
 585   sections.
 586
 587 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
 588
 589 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
 590   --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
 591
 592 Changes in binutils 2.9:
 593
 594 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
 595   files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
 596
 597 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
 598   the VMA of the sections.
 599
 600 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
 601
 602 Changes in binutils 2.8:
 603
 604 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved.  Use
 605   the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format.  There are also new
 606   --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
 607   output.
 608
 609 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets.  For example,
 610   objdump -b i386-pc-linux.  The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
 611   so they must be in canonical form.
 612
 613 * Added new addr2line program.  This uses the debugging information to convert
 614   an address into a file name and line number within a program.
 615
 616 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 617
 618 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
 619
 620 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
 621
 622 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
 623
 624 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
 625
 626 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
 627
 628 Changes in binutils 2.7:
 629
 630 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
 631
 632 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
 633
 634 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
 635
 636 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 637
 638 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
 639
 640 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
 641
 642 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
 643
 644 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
 645
 646 Changes in binutils 2.6:
 647
 648 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
 649
 650 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
 651   file is laid out in memory.  Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
 652   generating plain binary files.
 653
 654 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
 655
 656 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX.  The tools are now built by default on AIX.
 657
 658 Changes in binutils 2.5:
 659
 660 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
 661   listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
 662
 663 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
 664   Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
 665
 666 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
 667
 668 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
 669   executables.
 670
 671 Changes in binutils 2.4:
 672
 673 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
 674   PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
 675
 676 * Support for Irix 5.
 677
 678 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
 679   ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
 680
 681 Changes in binutils 2.3:
 682
 683 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
 684   ELF and COFF files.
 685
 686 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added.  It can convert object files into
 687   Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
 688
 689 * The strings program has been added.
 690
 691 Changes in binutils 2.2:
 692
 693 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
 694   'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
 695   'cp'.
 696
 697 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
 698   (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names.  (Note: This
 699   may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
 700
 701 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
 702   the output from BSD nm.
 703
 704 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
 705
 706 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
 707
 708 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
 709
 710 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
 711
 712 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
 713
 714 Changes in binutils 2.1:
 715
 716 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
 717   should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix.  Please let us know how well this works.
 718
 719 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
 720   version), if there are any object files in the archive.  So running ranlib is
 721   now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used).  This is required
 722   for Posix.2 conformance.
 723
 724 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
 725   independently of the selected target format.  This is to encourage people to
 726   switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
 727
 728 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
 729   and/or local symbols only.  They now also support long options.
 730
 731 \f
 732 Copyright (C) 2012-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 733
 734 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
 735 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
 736 notice and this notice are preserved.
 737
 738 Local variables:
 739 fill-column: 79
 740 End: