binutils/NEWS

   1 -*- text -*-
   2
   3 Changes in binutils 2.10:
   4
   5 * New command line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
   6   entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
   7   file.
   8
   9 * New command line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
  10   a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
  11   disassembler.  Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
  12   raw verions.
  13
  14 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
  15   with intel syntax.
  16
  17 * New program: readelf.  This displays the contents of ELF format files,
  18   regardless of target machine.
  19
  20 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
  21   --change-section-address options.  The old --adjust-section-vma option is
  22   equivalent to --change-section-address.  The other --adjust-* options are now
  23   renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
  24
  25 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
  26
  27 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
  28   --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
  29
  30 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
  31   sections.
  32
  33 Changes in binutils 2.9:
  34
  35 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
  36   files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
  37
  38 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
  39   the VMA of the sections.
  40
  41 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
  42
  43 Changes in binutils 2.8:
  44
  45 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved.  Use
  46   the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format.  There are also new
  47   --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
  48   output.
  49
  50 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets.  For example,
  51   objdump -b i386-pc-linux.  The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
  52   so they must be in canonical form.
  53
  54 * Added new addr2line program.  This uses the debugging information to convert
  55   an address into a file name and line number within a program.
  56
  57 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
  58
  59 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
  60
  61 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
  62
  63 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
  64
  65 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
  66
  67 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
  68
  69 Changes in binutils 2.7:
  70
  71 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
  72
  73 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
  74
  75 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
  76
  77 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
  78
  79 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
  80
  81 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
  82
  83 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
  84
  85 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
  86
  87 Changes in binutils 2.6:
  88
  89 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
  90
  91 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
  92   file is laid out in memory.  Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
  93   generating plain binary files.
  94
  95 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
  96
  97 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX.  The tools are now built by default on AIX.
  98
  99 Changes in binutils 2.5:
 100
 101 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
 102   listing, for a more useful listing of relocateable files.
 103
 104 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
 105   Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
 106
 107 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
 108
 109 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
 110   executables.
 111
 112 Changes in binutils 2.4:
 113
 114 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
 115   PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
 116
 117 * Support for Irix 5.
 118
 119 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
 120   ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
 121
 122 Changes in binutils 2.3:
 123
 124 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
 125   ELF and COFF files.
 126
 127 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added.  It can convert object files into
 128   Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
 129
 130 * The strings program has been added.
 131
 132 Changes in binutils 2.2:
 133
 134 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
 135   'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
 136   'cp'.
 137
 138 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
 139   (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names.  (Note: This
 140   may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
 141
 142 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
 143   the output from BSD nm.
 144
 145 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
 146
 147 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
 148
 149 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
 150
 151 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
 152
 153 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
 154
 155 Changes in binutils 2.1:
 156
 157 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
 158   should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix.  Please let us know how well this works.
 159
 160 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
 161   version), if there are any object files in the archive.  So running ranlib is
 162   now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used).  This is required
 163   for Posix.2 conformance.
 164
 165 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
 166   independently of the selected target format.  This is to encourage people to
 167   switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
 168
 169 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
 170   and/or local symbols only.  They now also support long options.
 171
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