binutils/NEWS

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