bfd/TODO

   1 Things that still need to be handled: -*- Text -*-
   2
   3  o - change the memory usage to reflect the message which follows the
   4      page break.
   5  o - implement bfd_abort, which should close the bfd but not alter the
   6      filesystem.
   7  o - update the bfd doc; write a how-to-write-a-backend doc.
   8  o - change reloc handling as per Steve's suggestion.
   9      (more details please.....)
  10 \f
  11 Changing the way bfd uses memory.  The new convention is simple:
  12
  13  o - bfd will never write into user-supplied memory, nor attempt to
  14      free it.
  15  o - closing a bfd may reclaim all bfd-allocated memory associated
  16      with that bfd.
  17  - - bfd_target_list will be the one exception; you must reclaim the
  18      returned vector yourself.
  19
  20 Interface implications are minor (get_symcount_upper_bound will go
  21 away; bfd_cannicalize_symtab will allocate its own memory, etc).
  22
  23 Certain operations consume a lot of memory; for them manual
  24 reclaimation is available:
  25
  26  o - bfd_canonicalize_symtab will return a pointer to a
  27      null-terminated vector of symbols.  Subsequent calls may or may
  28      not return the same pointer.
  29      bfd_canonicalize_relocs will do the same; returning a pointer to
  30      an array of arelocs.  Calling this function will read symbols in
  31      too.
  32
  33  o - bfd_reclaim_relocs will free the memory used by these relocs.
  34      the symbols will be untouched.
  35      bfd_reclaim_symtab (ne bfd_reclaim_symbol_table) will free the
  36      memory allocated by canonialize_symtab.
  37      Since relocations point to symbols, any relocations obtained by a
  38      call to bfd_canonicalize_relocs will be reclaimed as well.
  39
  40  o - if you don't call the reclaim_ functions, the memory will be
  41      reclaimed at bfd_close time.