3 * Binutils now supports debuginfod, an HTTP server for distributing
4 ELF/DWARF debugging information as well as source code. When built with
5 debuginfod, readelf and objdump can automatically query debuginfod
6 servers for separate debug files when they otherwise cannot be found.
7 To build binutils with debuginfod, pass --with-debuginfod to configure.
8 This requires libdebuginfod, the debuginfod client library. debuginfod
9 is distributed with elfutils, starting with version 0.178. For more
10 information see https://sourceware.org/elfutils.
12 * Add --output option to the "ar" program. This option can be used to specify
13 the output directory when extracting members from an archive.
15 * Add --keep-section option to objcopy and strip. This option keeps the
16 specified section from being removed.
20 * Add --source-comment[=<txt>] option to objdump which if present,
21 provides a prefix to source code lines displayed in a disassembly.
23 * Add --set-section-alignment <section-name>=<align> option to objcopy to allow
24 the changing of section alignments.
26 * Add --verilog-data-width option to objcopy for verilog targets to control
27 width of data elements in verilog hex format.
29 * Add support for the Armv8.1-M Mainline and M-profile Vector Extension (MVE)
32 * The separate debug info file options of readelf (--debug-dump=links
33 and --debug-dump=follow) and objdump (--dwarf=links and
34 --dwarf=follow-links) will now display and/or follow multiple links if
35 more than one are present in a file. (This usually happens when gcc's
36 -gsplit-dwarf option is used).
38 In addition objdump's --dwarf=follow-links now also affects its other
39 display options, so that for example, when combined with --syms it will
40 cause the symbol tables in any linked debug info files to also be
41 displayed. In addition when combined with --disassemble the --dwarf=
42 follow-links option will ensure that any symbol tables in the linked
43 files are read and used when disassembling code in the main file.
45 * Add support for dumping types encoded in the Compact Type Format
46 to objdump and readelf.
50 * The addr2line, c++filt, nm and objdump tools now have a limit on the
51 maximum amount of recursion that is allowed whilst demangling strings.
52 The value for this limit is defined by the DEMANGLE_RECRUSE_LIMIT
53 constant declared in the include/demangle.h header file. At the time
54 of writing this constant has the value of 2048.
56 The --no-recurse-limit option can be used to remove the limit, restoring
57 the behaviour of earlier versions of these tools. This may be needed in
58 order to dmangle truly complicated names, but it also leaves the tools
59 vulnerable to stack exhaustion from maliciously constructed mangled names.
61 * Objdump's --disassemble option can now take a parameter, specifying the
62 starting symbol for disassembly. Disassembly will continue from this
63 symbol up to the next symbol or the end of the function.
65 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 2K1000 processor which implements
66 the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE, Loongson-ext ASE,
67 Loongson-ext2 ASE and MSA ASE instructions. Add -march=gs264e option for
68 Loongson 2K1000 processor.
70 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor which
71 implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE,
72 Loongson-ext ASE and Loongson-ext2 ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464e
73 option for Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor.
75 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A1000 processor, aka Loongson3a,
76 which implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE
77 and Loongson-ext ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464 option for Loongson
78 3A1000 processor, The -march=loongson3a is an alias of -march=gs464 for
81 * The size tool now has a new output format '--format=GNU' or '-G'. The
82 results are displayed in a similar manor to the default berkeley layout,
83 except read-only data is counted in the data column, not the text column.
84 Additionally the total is only included once.
88 * Add support for disassembling netronome Flow Processor (NFP) firmware files.
90 * The AArch64 port now supports showing disassembly notes which are emitted
91 when inconsistencies are found with the instruction that may result in the
92 instruction being invalid. These can be turned on with the option -M notes
95 * The AArch64 port now emits warnings when a combination of an instruction and
96 a named register could be invalid.
98 * Added O modifier to ar to display member offsets inside an archive
102 * Add --debug-dump=links option to readelf and --dwarf=links option to objdump
103 which displays the contents of any .gnu_debuglink or .gnu_debugaltlink
106 Add a --debug-dump=follow-links option to readelf and a --dwarf=follow-links
107 option to objdump which causes indirect links into separate debug info files
108 to be followed when dumping other DWARF sections.
112 * The MIPS port now supports microMIPS eXtended Physical Addressing (XPA)
113 instructions for assembly and disassembly.
115 * The MIPS port now supports the microMIPS Release 5 ISA for assembly and
118 * The MIPS port now supports the Imagination interAptiv MR2 processor,
119 which implements the MIPS32r3 ISA, the MIPS16e2 ASE as well as a couple
120 of implementation-specific regular MIPS and MIPS16e2 ASE instructions.
122 * The SPARC port now supports the SPARC M8 processor, which implements the
123 Oracle SPARC Architecture 2017.
125 * The MIPS port now supports the MIPS16e2 ASE for assembly and disassembly.
127 * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX.
129 * Add support for the wasm32 ELF conversion of the WebAssembly file format.
131 * Add --inlines option to objdump, which extends the --line-numbers option
132 so that inlined functions will display their nesting information.
134 * Add --merge-notes options to objcopy to reduce the size of notes in
135 a binary file by merging and deleting redundant notes.
137 * Add support for locating separate debug info files using the build-id
138 method, where the separate file has a name based upon the build-id of
143 * This version of binutils fixes a problem with PowerPC VLE 16A and 16D
144 relocations which were functionally swapped, for example,
145 R_PPC_VLE_HA16A performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16D while R_PPC_VLE_HA16D
146 performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16A. This could have been fixed by
147 renumbering relocations, which would keep object files created by an
148 older version of gas compatible with a newer ld. However, that would
149 require an ABI update, affecting other assemblers and linkers that
150 create and process the relocations correctly. It is recommended that
151 all VLE object files be recompiled, but ld can modify the relocations
152 if --vle-reloc-fixup is passed to ld. If the new ld command-line
153 option is not used, ld will ld warn on finding relocations inconsistent
154 with the instructions being relocated.
156 * The nm program has a new command-line option (--with-version-strings)
157 which will display a symbol's version information, if any, after the
160 * The ARC port of objdump now accepts a -M option to specify the extra
161 instruction class(es) that should be disassembled.
163 * The --remove-section option for objcopy and strip now accepts section
164 patterns starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching
165 section. A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections
166 matched by an earlier --remove-section pattern.
168 * The --only-section option for objcopy now accepts section patterns
169 starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching section.
170 A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections matched by
171 an earlier --only-section pattern.
173 * New --remove-relocations=SECTIONPATTERN option for objcopy and strip.
174 This option can be used to remove sections containing relocations.
175 The SECTIONPATTERN is the section to which the relocations apply, not
176 the relocation section itself.
180 * Add a configure option, --enable-64-bit-archive, to force use of a
181 64-bit format when creating an archive symbol index.
183 * Add --elf-stt-common= option to objcopy for ELF targets to control
184 whether to convert common symbols to the STT_COMMON type.
188 * Add option to objcopy to insert new symbols into a file:
189 --add-symbol <name>=[<section>:]<value>[,<flags>]
191 * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures.
193 * Extend objcopy --compress-debug-sections option to support
194 --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi] for ELF
197 * Add --update-section option to objcopy.
199 * Add --output-separator option to strings.
203 * Add --data option to strings to only print strings in loadable, initialized
204 data sections. Change the default behaviour to be --all, but add a new
205 configure time option of --disable-default-strings-all to restore the old
208 * Add --include-all-whitespace to strings.
210 * Add --dump-section option to objcopy.
212 * Add support for the Andes NDS32.
216 * Objcopy now supports wildcard characters in command-line options that take
219 * Add support for Altera Nios II.
223 * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture.
225 * Add support for x64 Windows target of the delayed-load-library.
227 * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture.
231 * Add support for displaying the contents of .debug.macro sections.
233 * Add --preprocessor-arg option to windres to specify additional options
234 passed to preprocessor.
236 * Add --dwarf-start and --dwarf-end to readelf and objdump. These are used by
237 the new Emacs mode, see dwarf-mode.el.
239 * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures.
243 * Add --interleave-width option to objcopy to allowing copying a range of
244 bytes from the input to the output with the --interleave option.
246 * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family.
248 * Readelf can now display ARM unwind tables (.ARM.exidx / .ARM.extab) using
249 the -u / --unwind option.
251 * Add --dyn-syms to readelf to dump dynamic symbol table.
253 * A new tool - elfedit - has been added to directly manipulate ELF format
256 * Add to dlltool .def file feature of aliasing PE internal symbol name by
259 * Add a new command-line option -a / --addresses to addr2line to display the
260 address before function name or source filename.
262 * Add a new command-line option -p / --pretty-print to addr2line to have
263 a more human readable output.
265 * The hppa/som targets can now be compiled on any host.
269 * Add support for delay importing to dlltool. Use the --output-delaylib <file>
270 switch to create a delay-import library. The resulting app will load the dll
271 as soon as the first function is called. It will link to __delayLoadHelper2()
272 from the static delayimp library, which will import LoadLibraryA and
273 GetProcAddress from kernel32.
275 * Add a new command-line option, --insn-width=WIDTH, to objdump to specify
276 number of bytes to be displayed on a single line when disassembling
279 * Readelf can now display the relocated contents of a section as a sequence
280 of bytes via the --relocated-dump=<name|number> command-line option.
282 * The gprof program has been given a new command-line option:
283 --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified
286 * The plugin target has been added to bfd. It can load the same shared objects
287 used by gold and uses them to provide basic support for new file formats.
289 * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format
292 * Add --file-alignment, --heap, --image-base, --section-alignment,
293 --stack and --subsystem command-line options to objcopy, which will
294 set PE optional header.
296 * Option --dwarf/-W of objdump is now as flexible as readelf --debug-dump/-w.
298 * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined
299 symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries. In the
300 latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED
301 entry of one of the libraries already linked.
303 * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to
304 add absolute paths for -S.
306 * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to dlltool to allow fall-
307 back to old import table generation with null element prefix.
309 * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to
310 report an error when the import library is associated with
313 * Added --identify <implib> option to dlltool, which determines the
314 name of the DLL associated with the specified <implib>.
316 * Support for PowerPC booke64 instructions has been removed. The assembler no
317 longer accepts -mbooke32 or -mbooke64 and the disassembler no longer accepts
318 -Mbooke32 or -Mbooke64. Instead, -mbooke and -Mbooke should be used.
322 * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line.
324 * Added support for "thin" archives which contain pathnames pointing to
325 object files rather than the files themselves and which contain a
326 flattened symbol index for all objects, and archives, which have been
327 added to the archive.
329 * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly.
331 * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index.
333 * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port.
335 * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections.
339 * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null
340 pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as
341 revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
343 * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
346 * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets. This is a message
347 compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version.
349 * Add codepage support to the windres tool. It now supports many new
350 resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc). The output generation
351 for binary files is done now via bfd itself. The endianess problems
352 for different hosts are solved. Dumps of .res files can now be
353 re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors.
354 Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected.
356 * Add --extract-symbol command-line option to objcopy, which will
357 strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except
358 for its symbol table. Files containing just symbols can be useful
363 * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
365 * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt. -i disables the display of implementation
366 specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling
369 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
370 that extra switches can be read from <file>.
372 * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
375 * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
376 "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
378 * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security
379 conscious. This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all
380 code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt. The old PLT
381 and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt.
383 * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
384 for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
386 * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
388 * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
389 when disassembling VAX binaries.
391 * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
392 to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
394 * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
395 several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.
399 * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
401 * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and
402 --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard
403 matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but
404 retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations.
406 * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections. This
407 happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered. The
408 command-line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display
409 the contents of the .debug_range section.
411 * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of
412 symbols which the target considers to be special. By default these symbols
413 are no longer displayed. Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping
414 symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and
415 between ARM and THUMB code.
417 * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
418 import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
422 * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the
423 disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some
424 pseudo instruction name. I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move",
425 "sll" instead of "nop", etc.
427 * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on
428 the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them.
430 * readelf can now parse archives.
432 * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
433 format compatible with ctags tool.
435 * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing
436 those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug. The idea is that
437 this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create
438 a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the
441 * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink
442 section into a (presumably stripped) executable. This allows the debug
443 information for the file to be held in a separate file.
445 * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX
446 single-character representation. This can be checked by running nm
451 * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
453 * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
455 * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
457 * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
458 --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
460 * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
463 * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other
464 headers that declare the same. Users of BFD should replace boolean,
465 false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type.
467 * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
471 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
474 Changes in version 2.12:
476 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
478 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
480 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
481 lines to fit into 80 columns.
483 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings. By Markus Kuhn.
485 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
487 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions. Support added for
488 displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
490 * New command-line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
491 global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
494 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
496 * New command-line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
497 with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
498 description. Only supported for ELF targets. By Alexandre Oliva.
500 * New command-line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
501 the architecture of the output file to the given argument. This option only
502 makes sense, if the input target is binary. Otherwise it is ignored.
505 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
507 Changes in binutils 2.11:
509 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
512 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command-line switch to objcopy.
515 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
517 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
519 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
521 Changes in binutils 2.10:
523 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
525 * New command-line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
526 entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
529 * New command-line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
530 a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
531 disassembler. Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
534 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
537 * New program: readelf. This displays the contents of ELF format files,
538 regardless of target machine.
540 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
541 --change-section-address options. The old --adjust-section-vma option is
542 equivalent to --change-section-address. The other --adjust-* options are now
543 renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
545 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
547 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
550 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
552 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
553 --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
555 Changes in binutils 2.9:
557 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
558 files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
560 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
561 the VMA of the sections.
563 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
565 Changes in binutils 2.8:
567 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved. Use
568 the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format. There are also new
569 --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
572 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets. For example,
573 objdump -b i386-pc-linux. The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
574 so they must be in canonical form.
576 * Added new addr2line program. This uses the debugging information to convert
577 an address into a file name and line number within a program.
579 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
581 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
583 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
585 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
587 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
589 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
591 Changes in binutils 2.7:
593 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
595 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
597 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
599 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
601 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
603 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
605 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
607 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
609 Changes in binutils 2.6:
611 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
613 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
614 file is laid out in memory. Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
615 generating plain binary files.
617 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
619 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX. The tools are now built by default on AIX.
621 Changes in binutils 2.5:
623 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
624 listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
626 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
627 Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
629 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
631 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
634 Changes in binutils 2.4:
636 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
637 PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
639 * Support for Irix 5.
641 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
642 ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
644 Changes in binutils 2.3:
646 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
649 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added. It can convert object files into
650 Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
652 * The strings program has been added.
654 Changes in binutils 2.2:
656 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
657 'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
660 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
661 (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names. (Note: This
662 may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
664 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
665 the output from BSD nm.
667 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
669 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
671 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
673 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
675 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
677 Changes in binutils 2.1:
679 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
680 should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix. Please let us know how well this works.
682 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
683 version), if there are any object files in the archive. So running ranlib is
684 now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used). This is required
685 for Posix.2 conformance.
687 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
688 independently of the selected target format. This is to encourage people to
689 switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
691 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
692 and/or local symbols only. They now also support long options.
695 Copyright (C) 2012-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
697 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
698 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
699 notice and this notice are preserved.