binutils/NEWS

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