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NEWS revision 1.1.1.6
      1 -*- text -*-
      2 
      3 Changes in 2.39:
      4 
      5 * Add --no-weak/-W option to nm to make it ignore weak symbols.
      6 
      7 * Add an option to objdump and readelf to prevent attempts to access debuginfod
      8   servers when following links.
      9 
     10 * objcopy --weaken, --weaken-symbol, and --weaken-symbols now make ELF
     11   STB_GNU_UNIQUE symbols weak.
     12 
     13 * objdump now supports syntax highlighting of disassembler output for some
     14   architectures.  Use the --disassembler-color=MODE command line flag, with
     15   mode being either off, color, or extended-color.
     16 
     17 Changes in 2.38:
     18 
     19 * elfedit: Add --output-abiversion option to update ABIVERSION.
     20 
     21 * Add support for the LoongArch instruction set.
     22 
     23 * Tools which display symbols or strings (readelf, strings, nm, objdump)
     24   have a new command line option which controls how unicode characters are
     25   handled.  By default they are treated as normal for the tool.  Using
     26   --unicode=locale will display them according to the current locale.
     27   Using --unicode=hex will display them as hex byte values, whilst
     28   --unicode=escape will display them as escape sequences.  In addition
     29   using --unicode=highlight will display them as unicode escape sequences
     30   highlighted in red (if supported by the output device).
     31 
     32 * readelf -r dumps RELR relative relocations now.
     33 
     34 * Support for efi-app-aarch64, efi-rtdrv-aarch64 and efi-bsdrv-aarch64 has been
     35   added to objcopy in order to enable UEFI development using binutils.
     36 
     37 * ar: Add --thin for creating thin archives. -T is a deprecated alias without
     38   diagnostics. In many ar implementations -T has a different meaning, as
     39   specified by X/Open System Interface.
     40 
     41 Changes in 2.37:
     42 
     43 * The readelf tool has a new command line option which can be used to specify
     44   how the numeric values of symbols are reported.  --sym-base=0|8|10|16 tells
     45   readelf to display the values in base 8, base 10 or base 16.  A sym base of 0
     46   represents the default action of displaying values under 10000 in base 10 and
     47   values above that in base 16.
     48 
     49 * Binutils now requires a C99 compiler and library to build.
     50 
     51 * A new format has been added to the nm program.  Specifying
     52   --format=just-symbols (or just using -j) will tell the program to only
     53   display symbol names and nothing else.
     54 
     55 * A new command line --keep-section-symbols has been added to objcopy and
     56   strip.  This stops the removal of unused section symbols when the file is
     57   copied.  Removing these symbols saves space, but sometimes they are needed by
     58   other tools.
     59 
     60 * objcopy --weaken, --weaken-symbol and --weaken-symbols now make undefined
     61   symbols weak on targets that support weak symbols.
     62 
     63 * Readelf and objdump can now display and use the contents of .debug_sup
     64   sections.
     65 
     66 * Readelf and objdump will now follow links to separate debug info files by
     67   default.  This behaviour can be stopped via the use of the new -wN or
     68   --debug-dump=no-follow-links options for readelf and the -WN or
     69   --dwarf=no-follow-links options for objdump.  Also the old behaviour can be
     70   restored by the use of the --enable-follow-debug-links=no configure time
     71   option.
     72 
     73   The semantics of the =follow-links option have also been slightly changed.
     74   When enabled, the option allows for the loading of symbol tables and string
     75   tables from the separate files which can be used to enhance the information
     76   displayed when dumping other sections, but it does not automatically imply
     77   that information from the separate files should be displayed.
     78 
     79   If other debug section display options are also enabled (eg
     80   --debug-dump=info) then the contents of matching sections in both the main
     81   file and the separate debuginfo file *will* be displayed.  This is because in
     82   most cases the debug section will only be present in one of the files.
     83 
     84   If however non-debug section display options are enabled (eg --sections) then
     85   the contents of matching parts of the separate debuginfo file will *not* be
     86   displayed.  This is because in most cases the user probably only wanted to
     87   load the symbol information from the separate debuginfo file.  In order to
     88   change this behaviour a new command line option --process-links can be used.
     89   This will allow di0pslay options to applied to both the main file and any
     90   separate debuginfo files.
     91 
     92 * Nm has a new command line option: --quiet.  This suppresses "no symbols"
     93   diagnostic.
     94 
     95 Changes in 2.36:
     96 
     97 * Update elfedit and readelf with LAM_U48 and LAM_U57 support.
     98 
     99 * Nm has a new command line option: --ifunc-chars=CHARS.  This specifies a
    100   string of one or two characters.  The first character is used as the type
    101   character when displaying global ifunc symbols.  The second character, if
    102   present is used when displaying local ifunc symbols.
    103 
    104   In addition a new configure time option --enable-f-for-ifunc-symbols has been
    105   created, which if used will change nm's default characters for ifunc symbols
    106   from i (both local and global) to F (global) and f (local).
    107 
    108 * The ar tool's previously unused l modifier is now used for specifying
    109   dependencies of a static library. The arguments of this option
    110   (or --record-libdeps long form option) will be stored verbatim in the
    111   __.LIBDEP member of the archive, which the linker may read at link time.
    112 
    113 * Readelf can now display the contents of LTO symbol table sections when asked
    114   to do so via the --lto-syms command line option.
    115 
    116 * Readelf now accepts the -C command line option to enable the demangling of
    117   symbol names.  In addition the --demangle=<style>, --no-demangle,
    118   --recurse-limit and --no-recurse-limit options are also now availale.
    119 
    120 * Add support for the SHF_GNU_RETAIN ELF section flag.
    121   This flag specifies that the section should not be garbage collected by the
    122   linker.
    123 
    124 Changes in 2.35:
    125 
    126 * Changed readelf's display of symbol names when wide mode is not enabled.
    127   If the name is too long it will be truncated and the last five characters
    128   replaced with "[...]".  The old behaviour of displaying 5 more characters but
    129   not indicating that truncation has happened can be restored by the use of the
    130   -T or --silent-truncation options.
    131 
    132 * X86 NaCl target support is removed.
    133 
    134 * The readelf tool now has a -L or --lint or --enable-checks option which turns
    135   on warning messages about possible problems with the file(s) being examined.
    136   These checks include things like zero-sized sections, which are allowed by
    137   the ELF standard but which nevertheless might be of concern if the user
    138   was expecting them to actually contain something.
    139 
    140 Changes in 2.34:
    141 
    142 * Binutils now supports debuginfod, an HTTP server for distributing
    143   ELF/DWARF debugging information as well as source code. When built with
    144   debuginfod, readelf and objdump can automatically query debuginfod
    145   servers for separate debug files when they otherwise cannot be found.
    146   To build binutils with debuginfod, pass --with-debuginfod to configure.
    147   This requires libdebuginfod, the debuginfod client library. debuginfod
    148   is distributed with elfutils, starting with version 0.178. For more
    149   information see https://sourceware.org/elfutils.
    150 
    151 * Add --output option to the "ar" program.  This option can be used to specify
    152   the output directory when extracting members from an archive.
    153 
    154 * Add --keep-section option to objcopy and strip.  This option keeps the
    155   specified section from being removed.
    156 
    157  * Add visualization of jumps inside a function by drawing an ascii character
    158    graph between the address and the disassembler column.  Enabled via the
    159    --visualize-jumps command line option for objdump.  Currently supported by
    160    the x86, x86_64, and ARM targets.  The output looks something like this:
    161 
    162   c6:	|  |     \----------> be 00 00 00 00       	mov    $0x0,%esi
    163   cb:	|  |           /----> 48 8b 3d 00 00 00 00 	mov    0x0(%rip),%rdi        # d2 <main+0xd2>
    164   d2:	|  |           |      31 c0                	xor    %eax,%eax
    165   d4:	|  |           |  /-- e8 00 00 00 00       	callq  d9 <main+0xd9>
    166   d9:	|  |           |  \-> bf 02 00 00 00       	mov    $0x2,%edi
    167   de:	|  +-----------|----- e8 00 00 00 00       	callq  e3 <main+0xe3>
    168   e3:	|  \-----------|----> 48 89 da             	mov    %rbx,%rdx
    169   e6:	|              |      be 00 00 00 00       	mov    $0x0,%esi
    170   eb:	|              \----- eb de                	jmp    cb <main+0xcb>
    171   ed:	\-------------------> 48 8b 16             	mov    (%rsi),%rdx
    172 
    173   Additional arguments to the --visualize-jumps option add colors to the
    174   output.
    175 
    176 Changes in 2.33:
    177 
    178 * Add --source-comment[=<txt>] option to objdump which if present,
    179   provides a prefix to source code lines displayed in a disassembly.
    180 
    181 * Add --set-section-alignment <section-name>=<align> option to objcopy to allow
    182   the changing of section alignments.
    183 
    184 * Add --verilog-data-width option to objcopy for verilog targets to control
    185   width of data elements in verilog hex format.
    186 
    187 * Add support for the Armv8.1-M Mainline and M-profile Vector Extension (MVE)
    188   instructions.
    189 
    190 * The separate debug info file options of readelf (--debug-dump=links
    191   and --debug-dump=follow) and objdump (--dwarf=links and
    192   --dwarf=follow-links) will now display and/or follow multiple links if
    193   more than one are present in a file.  (This usually happens when gcc's
    194   -gsplit-dwarf option is used).
    195 
    196   In addition objdump's --dwarf=follow-links now also affects its other
    197   display options, so that for example, when combined with --syms it will
    198   cause the symbol tables in any linked debug info files to also be
    199   displayed.  In addition when combined with --disassemble the --dwarf=
    200   follow-links option will ensure that any symbol tables in the linked
    201   files are read and used when disassembling code in the main file.
    202 
    203  * Add support for dumping types encoded in the Compact Type Format
    204    to objdump and readelf.
    205 
    206 Changes in 2.32:
    207 
    208 * The addr2line, c++filt, nm and objdump tools now have a limit on the
    209   maximum amount of recursion that is allowed whilst demangling strings.
    210   The value for this limit is defined by the DEMANGLE_RECRUSE_LIMIT
    211   constant declared in the include/demangle.h header file.  At the time
    212   of writing this constant has the value of 2048.
    213 
    214   The --no-recurse-limit option can be used to remove the limit, restoring
    215   the behaviour of earlier versions of these tools.  This may be needed in
    216   order to dmangle truly complicated names, but it also leaves the tools
    217   vulnerable to stack exhaustion from maliciously constructed mangled names.
    218 
    219 * Objdump's --disassemble option can now take a parameter, specifying the
    220   starting symbol for disassembly.  Disassembly will continue from this
    221   symbol up to the next symbol or the end of the function.
    222 
    223 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 2K1000 processor which implements
    224   the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE, Loongson-ext ASE,
    225   Loongson-ext2 ASE and MSA ASE instructions. Add -march=gs264e option for
    226   Loongson 2K1000 processor.
    227 
    228 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor which
    229   implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE,
    230   Loongson-ext ASE and Loongson-ext2 ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464e
    231   option for Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor.
    232 
    233 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A1000 processor, aka Loongson3a,
    234   which implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE
    235   and Loongson-ext ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464 option for Loongson
    236   3A1000 processor, The -march=loongson3a is an alias of -march=gs464 for
    237   compatibility.
    238 
    239 * The size tool now has a new output format '--format=GNU' or '-G'.  The
    240   results are displayed in a similar manor to the default berkeley layout,
    241   except read-only data is counted in the data column, not the text column.
    242   Additionally the total is only included once.
    243 
    244 Changes in 2.31:
    245 
    246 * Add support for disassembling netronome Flow Processor (NFP) firmware files.
    247 
    248 * The AArch64 port now supports showing disassembly notes which are emitted
    249   when inconsistencies are found with the instruction that may result in the
    250   instruction being invalid.  These can be turned on with the option -M notes
    251   to objdump.
    252 
    253 * The AArch64 port now emits warnings when a combination of an instruction and
    254   a named register could be invalid.
    255 
    256 * Added O modifier to ar to display member offsets inside an archive
    257 
    258 Changes in 2.30:
    259 
    260 * Add --debug-dump=links option to readelf and --dwarf=links option to objdump
    261   which displays the contents of any .gnu_debuglink or .gnu_debugaltlink
    262   sections.
    263 
    264   Add a --debug-dump=follow-links option to readelf and a --dwarf=follow-links
    265   option to objdump which causes indirect links into separate debug info files
    266   to be followed when dumping other DWARF sections.
    267 
    268 Changes in 2.29:
    269 
    270 * The MIPS port now supports microMIPS eXtended Physical Addressing (XPA)
    271   instructions for assembly and disassembly.
    272 
    273 * The MIPS port now supports the microMIPS Release 5 ISA for assembly and
    274   disassembly.
    275 
    276 * The MIPS port now supports the Imagination interAptiv MR2 processor,
    277   which implements the MIPS32r3 ISA, the MIPS16e2 ASE as well as a couple
    278   of implementation-specific regular MIPS and MIPS16e2 ASE instructions.
    279 
    280 * The SPARC port now supports the SPARC M8 processor, which implements the
    281   Oracle SPARC Architecture 2017.
    282 
    283 * The MIPS port now supports the MIPS16e2 ASE for assembly and disassembly.
    284 
    285 * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX.
    286 
    287 * Add support for the wasm32 ELF conversion of the WebAssembly file format.
    288 
    289 * Add --inlines option to objdump, which extends the --line-numbers option
    290   so that inlined functions will display their nesting information.
    291 
    292 * Add --merge-notes options to objcopy to reduce the size of notes in
    293   a binary file by merging and deleting redundant notes.
    294 
    295 * Add support for locating separate debug info files using the build-id
    296   method, where the separate file has a name based upon the build-id of
    297   the original file.
    298 
    299 Changes in 2.28:
    300 
    301 * This version of binutils fixes a problem with PowerPC VLE 16A and 16D
    302   relocations which were functionally swapped, for example,
    303   R_PPC_VLE_HA16A performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16D while R_PPC_VLE_HA16D
    304   performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16A.  This could have been fixed by
    305   renumbering relocations, which would keep object files created by an
    306   older version of gas compatible with a newer ld.  However, that would
    307   require an ABI update, affecting other assemblers and linkers that
    308   create and process the relocations correctly.  It is recommended that
    309   all VLE object files be recompiled, but ld can modify the relocations
    310   if --vle-reloc-fixup is passed to ld.  If the new ld command-line
    311   option is not used, ld will ld warn on finding relocations inconsistent
    312   with the instructions being relocated.
    313 
    314 * The nm program has a new command-line option (--with-version-strings)
    315   which will display a symbol's version information, if any, after the
    316   symbol's name.
    317 
    318 * The ARC port of objdump now accepts a -M option to specify the extra
    319   instruction class(es) that should be disassembled.
    320 
    321 * The --remove-section option for objcopy and strip now accepts section
    322   patterns starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching
    323   section.  A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections
    324   matched by an earlier --remove-section pattern.
    325 
    326 * The --only-section option for objcopy now accepts section patterns
    327   starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching section.
    328   A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections matched by
    329   an earlier --only-section pattern.
    330 
    331 * New --remove-relocations=SECTIONPATTERN option for objcopy and strip.
    332   This option can be used to remove sections containing relocations.
    333   The SECTIONPATTERN is the section to which the relocations apply, not
    334   the relocation section itself.
    335 
    336 Changes in 2.27:
    337 
    338 * Add a configure option, --enable-64-bit-archive, to force use of a
    339   64-bit format when creating an archive symbol index.
    340 
    341 * Add --elf-stt-common= option to objcopy for ELF targets to control
    342   whether to convert common symbols to the STT_COMMON type.
    343 
    344 Changes in 2.26:
    345 
    346 * Add option to objcopy to insert new symbols into a file:
    347   --add-symbol <name>=[<section>:]<value>[,<flags>]
    348 
    349 * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures.
    350 
    351 * Extend objcopy --compress-debug-sections option to support
    352   --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi] for ELF
    353   targets.
    354 
    355 * Add --update-section option to objcopy.
    356 
    357 * Add --output-separator option to strings.
    358 
    359 Changes in 2.25:
    360 
    361 * Add --data option to strings to only print strings in loadable, initialized
    362   data sections.  Change the default behaviour to be --all, but add a new
    363   configure time option of --disable-default-strings-all to restore the old
    364   default behaviour.
    365 
    366 * Add --include-all-whitespace to strings.
    367 
    368 * Add --dump-section option to objcopy.
    369 
    370 * Add support for the Andes NDS32.
    371 
    372 Changes in 2.24:
    373 
    374 * Objcopy now supports wildcard characters in command-line options that take
    375   section names.
    376 
    377 * Add support for Altera Nios II.
    378 
    379 Changes in 2.23:
    380 
    381 * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture.
    382 
    383 * Add support for x64 Windows target of the delayed-load-library.
    384 
    385 * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture.
    386 
    387 Changes in 2.22:
    388 
    389 * Add support for displaying the contents of .debug.macro sections.
    390 
    391 * Add --preprocessor-arg option to windres to specify additional options
    392   passed to preprocessor.
    393 
    394 * Add --dwarf-start and --dwarf-end to readelf and objdump.  These are used by
    395   the new Emacs mode, see dwarf-mode.el.
    396 
    397 * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures.
    398 
    399 changes in 2.21:
    400 
    401 * Add --interleave-width option to objcopy to allowing copying a range of
    402   bytes from the input to the output with the --interleave option.
    403 
    404 * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family.
    405 
    406 * Readelf can now display ARM unwind tables (.ARM.exidx / .ARM.extab) using
    407   the -u / --unwind option.
    408 
    409 * Add --dyn-syms to readelf to dump dynamic symbol table.
    410 
    411 * A new tool - elfedit - has been added to directly manipulate ELF format
    412   binaries.
    413 
    414 * Add to dlltool .def file feature of aliasing PE internal symbol name by
    415   '== <ID>' option.
    416 
    417 * Add a new command-line option -a / --addresses to addr2line to display the
    418   address before function name or source filename.
    419 
    420 * Add a new command-line option -p / --pretty-print to addr2line to have
    421   a more human readable output.
    422 
    423 * The hppa/som targets can now be compiled on any host.
    424 
    425 Changes in 2.20:
    426 
    427 * Add support for delay importing to dlltool.  Use the --output-delaylib <file>
    428   switch to create a delay-import library.  The resulting app will load the dll
    429   as soon as the first function is called.  It will link to __delayLoadHelper2()
    430   from the static delayimp library, which will import LoadLibraryA and
    431   GetProcAddress from kernel32.
    432 
    433 * Add a new command-line option, --insn-width=WIDTH, to objdump to specify
    434   number of bytes to be displayed on a single line when disassembling
    435   instructions.
    436 
    437 * Readelf can now display the relocated contents of a section as a sequence
    438   of bytes via the --relocated-dump=<name|number> command-line option.
    439 
    440 * The gprof program has been given a new command-line option:
    441   --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified
    442   file.
    443 
    444 * The plugin target has been added to bfd. It can load the same shared objects
    445   used by gold and uses them to provide basic support for new file formats.
    446 
    447 * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format
    448   for objcopy.
    449 
    450 * Add --file-alignment, --heap, --image-base, --section-alignment,
    451   --stack and --subsystem command-line options to objcopy, which will
    452   set PE optional header.
    453 
    454 * Option --dwarf/-W of objdump is now as flexible as readelf --debug-dump/-w.
    455 
    456 * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined
    457   symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries.  In the
    458   latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED
    459   entry of one of the libraries already linked.
    460 
    461 * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to
    462   add absolute paths for -S.
    463 
    464 * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to dlltool to allow fall-
    465   back to old import table generation with null element prefix.
    466 
    467 * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to
    468   report an error when the import library is associated with
    469   multiple DLLs.
    470 
    471 * Added --identify <implib> option to dlltool, which determines the
    472   name of the DLL associated with the specified <implib>.
    473 
    474 * Support for PowerPC booke64 instructions has been removed.  The assembler no
    475   longer accepts -mbooke32 or -mbooke64 and the disassembler no longer accepts
    476   -Mbooke32 or -Mbooke64.  Instead, -mbooke and -Mbooke should be used.
    477 
    478 Changes in 2.19:
    479 
    480 * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line.
    481 
    482 * Added support for "thin" archives which contain pathnames pointing to
    483   object files rather than the files themselves and which contain a
    484   flattened symbol index for all objects, and archives, which have been
    485   added to the archive.
    486 
    487 * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly.
    488 
    489 * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index.
    490 
    491 * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port.
    492 
    493 * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections.
    494 
    495 Changes in 2.18:
    496 
    497 * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null
    498   pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as
    499   revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
    500 
    501 * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
    502   Public License.
    503 
    504 * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets.  This is a message
    505   compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version.
    506 
    507 * Add codepage support to the windres tool.  It now supports many new
    508   resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc).  The output generation
    509   for binary files is done now via bfd itself.  The endianess problems
    510   for different hosts are solved.  Dumps of .res files can now be
    511   re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors.
    512   Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected.
    513 
    514 * Add --extract-symbol command-line option to objcopy, which will
    515   strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except
    516   for its symbol table.  Files containing just symbols can be useful
    517   to some OSes.
    518 
    519 Changes in 2.17:
    520 
    521 * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
    522 
    523 * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt.  -i disables the display of implementation
    524   specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling
    525   of types.
    526 
    527 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
    528   that extra switches can be read from <file>.
    529 
    530 * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
    531   debug sections.
    532 
    533 * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
    534   "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
    535 
    536 * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security
    537   conscious.  This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all
    538   code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt.  The old PLT
    539   and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt.
    540 
    541 * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
    542   for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
    543 
    544 * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
    545 
    546 * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
    547   when disassembling VAX binaries.
    548 
    549 * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
    550   to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
    551 
    552 * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
    553   several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.
    554 
    555 Changes in 2.16:
    556 
    557 * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
    558 
    559 * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and
    560   --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard
    561   matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but
    562   retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations.
    563 
    564 * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections.  This
    565   happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered.  The
    566   command-line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display
    567   the contents of the .debug_range section.
    568 
    569 * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of
    570   symbols which the target considers to be special.  By default these symbols
    571   are no longer displayed.  Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping
    572   symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and
    573   between ARM and THUMB code.
    574 
    575 * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
    576   import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
    577 
    578 Changes in 2.15:
    579 
    580 * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the
    581   disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some
    582   pseudo instruction name.  I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move",
    583   "sll" instead of "nop", etc.
    584 
    585 * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on
    586   the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them.
    587 
    588 * readelf can now parse archives.
    589 
    590 * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
    591   format compatible with ctags tool.
    592 
    593 * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing
    594   those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug.  The idea is that
    595   this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create
    596   a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the
    597   debugging info.
    598 
    599 * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink
    600   section into a (presumably stripped) executable.  This allows the debug
    601   information for the file to be held in a separate file.
    602 
    603 * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX
    604   single-character representation.  This can be checked by running nm
    605   with the -a switch.
    606 
    607 Changes in 2.14:
    608 
    609 * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
    610 
    611 * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
    612 
    613 * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
    614 
    615 * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
    616   --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
    617 
    618 * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
    619   Parallel C compiler.
    620 
    621 * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other
    622   headers that declare the same.  Users of BFD should replace boolean,
    623   false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type.
    624 
    625 * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
    626 
    627 Changes in 2.13:
    628 
    629 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
    630   and FR500 included.
    631 
    632 Changes in version 2.12:
    633 
    634 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
    635 
    636 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
    637 
    638 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
    639   lines to fit into 80 columns.
    640 
    641 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings.  By Markus Kuhn.
    642 
    643 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
    644 
    645 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions.  Support added for
    646   displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
    647 
    648 * New command-line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
    649   global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
    650   by Honda Hiroki.
    651 
    652 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
    653 
    654 * New command-line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
    655   with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
    656   description.  Only supported for ELF targets.  By Alexandre Oliva.
    657 
    658 * New command-line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
    659   the architecture of the output file to the given argument.  This option only
    660   makes sense, if the input target is binary.  Otherwise it is ignored.
    661   By Stefan Geuken.
    662 
    663 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
    664 
    665 Changes in binutils 2.11:
    666 
    667 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
    668   extenstions.
    669 
    670 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command-line switch to objcopy.
    671   By Luciano Gemme.
    672 
    673 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
    674 
    675 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
    676 
    677 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
    678 
    679 Changes in binutils 2.10:
    680 
    681 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
    682 
    683 * New command-line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
    684   entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
    685   file.
    686 
    687 * New command-line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
    688   a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
    689   disassembler.  Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
    690   raw verions.
    691 
    692 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
    693   with intel syntax.
    694 
    695 * New program: readelf.  This displays the contents of ELF format files,
    696   regardless of target machine.
    697 
    698 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
    699   --change-section-address options.  The old --adjust-section-vma option is
    700   equivalent to --change-section-address.  The other --adjust-* options are now
    701   renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
    702 
    703 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
    704 
    705 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
    706   sections.
    707 
    708 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
    709 
    710 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
    711   --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
    712 
    713 Changes in binutils 2.9:
    714 
    715 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
    716   files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
    717 
    718 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
    719   the VMA of the sections.
    720 
    721 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
    722 
    723 Changes in binutils 2.8:
    724 
    725 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved.  Use
    726   the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format.  There are also new
    727   --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
    728   output.
    729 
    730 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets.  For example,
    731   objdump -b i386-pc-linux.  The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
    732   so they must be in canonical form.
    733 
    734 * Added new addr2line program.  This uses the debugging information to convert
    735   an address into a file name and line number within a program.
    736 
    737 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
    738 
    739 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
    740 
    741 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
    742 
    743 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
    744 
    745 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
    746 
    747 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
    748 
    749 Changes in binutils 2.7:
    750 
    751 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
    752 
    753 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
    754 
    755 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
    756 
    757 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
    758 
    759 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
    760 
    761 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
    762 
    763 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
    764 
    765 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
    766 
    767 Changes in binutils 2.6:
    768 
    769 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
    770 
    771 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
    772   file is laid out in memory.  Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
    773   generating plain binary files.
    774 
    775 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
    776 
    777 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX.  The tools are now built by default on AIX.
    778 
    779 Changes in binutils 2.5:
    780 
    781 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
    782   listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
    783 
    784 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
    785   Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
    786 
    787 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
    788 
    789 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
    790   executables.
    791 
    792 Changes in binutils 2.4:
    793 
    794 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
    795   PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
    796 
    797 * Support for Irix 5.
    798 
    799 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
    800   ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
    801 
    802 Changes in binutils 2.3:
    803 
    804 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
    805   ELF and COFF files.
    806 
    807 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added.  It can convert object files into
    808   Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
    809 
    810 * The strings program has been added.
    811 
    812 Changes in binutils 2.2:
    813 
    814 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
    815   'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
    816   'cp'.
    817 
    818 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
    819   (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names.  (Note: This
    820   may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
    821 
    822 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
    823   the output from BSD nm.
    824 
    825 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
    826 
    827 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
    828 
    829 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
    830 
    831 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
    832 
    833 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
    834 
    835 Changes in binutils 2.1:
    836 
    837 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
    838   should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix.  Please let us know how well this works.
    839 
    840 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
    841   version), if there are any object files in the archive.  So running ranlib is
    842   now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used).  This is required
    843   for Posix.2 conformance.
    844 
    845 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
    846   independently of the selected target format.  This is to encourage people to
    847   switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
    848 
    849 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
    850   and/or local symbols only.  They now also support long options.
    851 
    852 
    854 Copyright (C) 2012-2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
    855 
    856 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
    857 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
    858 notice and this notice are preserved.
    859 
    860 Local variables:
    861 fill-column: 79
    862 End:
    863