binutils/NEWS

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