binutils/NEWS

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