binutils/NEWS

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