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Commit | Line | Data |
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252b5132 | 1 | -*- text -*- |
97a232d7 | 2 | |
6e8376fa NC |
3 | * Add --section-ordering-file <FILE> option to add extra mapping of input |
4 | sections to output sections. | |
5 | ||
d9511b64 L |
6 | * Add -plugin-save-temps to store plugin intermediate files permanently. |
7 | ||
299b91cd NC |
8 | Changes in 2.42: |
9 | ||
f68c9d09 L |
10 | * Add -z mark-plt/-z nomark-plt options to x86-64 ELF linker to mark PLT |
11 | entries with DT_X86_64_PLT, DT_X86_64_PLTSZ and DT_X86_64_PLTENT dynamic | |
12 | tags. Also added --enable-mark-plt configure option to mark PLT entries | |
13 | by default. | |
14 | ||
a6d0019e L |
15 | * Support Intel APX relocations. |
16 | ||
73d931e5 NC |
17 | * On RISC-V, add ld target option --[no-]check-uleb128. Should rebuild the |
18 | objects by binutils 2.42 and up if enabling the option and get warnings, | |
19 | since the non-zero addend of SUB_ULEB128 shouldn't be generated from .uleb128 | |
20 | directives. | |
21 | ||
6e712424 PI |
22 | * Add support for the KVX instruction set. |
23 | ||
a73c0d9b NC |
24 | * A new linker script sorting directive has been added: REVERSE. This reverses |
25 | the order of the sorting. It may be combined with either SORT_BY_NAME or | |
26 | SORT_BY_INIT_PRIORITY. | |
27 | ||
e922d1ea NC |
28 | * Added --warn-execstack-objects to warn about executable stacks only when an |
29 | input object file requests one. Also added --error-execstack and | |
30 | --error-rxw-segments options to convert warnings about executable stacks and | |
31 | segments into errors. | |
32 | ||
33 | Also added --enable-error-execstack=[yes|no] and | |
34 | --enable-error-rwx-segments=[yes|no] configure options to set the default for | |
35 | converting warnings into errors. | |
36 | ||
36176c5d XR |
37 | * On LoongArch, various linker relaxation bugs are fixed; the most notable |
38 | of which is BZ 30944 (incorrect .balign semantics). | |
39 | ||
40 | * On LoongArch, the LoongArch ABI v2.30 (LoongArch ELF psABI v20231219) is | |
41 | now implemented. This includes new relocation types, and changed | |
42 | semantics for PC-relative relocations handling the higher half of 64-bit | |
43 | offsets. | |
44 | ||
45 | * On LoongArch, link-time TLS optimization and TLS relaxation are now | |
46 | supported. | |
47 | ||
a73c0d9b NC |
48 | Changes in 2.41: |
49 | ||
fb221fba NC |
50 | * The linker now accepts a command line option of --remap-inputs |
51 | <PATTERN>=<FILE> to relace any input file that matches <PATTERN> with | |
52 | <FILE>. In addition the option --remap-inputs-file=<FILE> can be used to | |
53 | specify a file containing any number of these remapping directives. | |
54 | ||
496917ce NC |
55 | * The linker command line option --print-map-locals can be used to include |
56 | local symbols in a linker map. (ELF targets only). | |
57 | ||
2d5783fa NC |
58 | * For most ELF based targets, if the --enable-linker-version option is used |
59 | then the version of the linker will be inserted as a string into the .comment | |
60 | section. | |
61 | ||
a4d5aec7 | 62 | * The linker script syntax has a new command for output sections: ASCIZ "string" |
0d79a2a8 US |
63 | This will insert a zero-terminated string at the current location. |
64 | ||
96cc7918 KB |
65 | * Add command-line option, -z nosectionheader, to omit ELF section |
66 | header. | |
67 | ||
a72b0718 NC |
68 | Changes in 2.40: |
69 | ||
4b2e7a57 NC |
70 | * The linker has a new command line option to suppress the generation of any |
71 | warning or error messages. This can be useful when there is a need to create | |
72 | a known non-working binary. The option is -w or --no-warnings. | |
73 | ||
2cac01e3 FS |
74 | * ld now supports zstd compressed debug sections. The new option |
75 | --compress-debug-sections=zstd compresses debug sections with zstd. | |
4b2e7a57 | 76 | |
b0c295e1 ML |
77 | * Add --enable-default-compressed-debug-sections-algorithm={zlib,zstd} |
78 | that selects the default compression algorithm | |
79 | for --enable-compressed-debug-sections. | |
2cac01e3 | 80 | |
8ad93045 ML |
81 | * Remove support for -z bndplt (MPX prefix instructions). |
82 | ||
0bd09323 NC |
83 | Changes in 2.39: |
84 | ||
ba951afb | 85 | * The ELF linker will now generate a warning message if the stack is made |
65daf5be NC |
86 | executable. By default this warning is not issued if the user has |
87 | specifically requested an executable stack via the "-z execstack" | |
88 | command line option, but the warning can be forced via the new | |
89 | "--warn-execstack" option. Alternatively all warnings about creating | |
90 | an executable stack can be suppressed via the "--no-warn-execstack" | |
91 | option. | |
92 | ||
ba951afb NC |
93 | In addition the ELF linker will also warn if it creates a memory resident |
94 | segment with all three of the Read, Write and eXecute permissions set, or | |
95 | if it creates a thread local data segment with the eXecute permission set. | |
96 | These warnings can be disabled via --no-warn-rwx-segments option and | |
97 | re-enabled via the --warn-rwx-segments option. | |
98 | ||
99 | New configure options can also control these new features: | |
75bd292b | 100 | |
ba951afb NC |
101 | --enable-warn-execstack=no |
102 | will disable the warnings about creating an executable stack. | |
75bd292b | 103 | |
ba951afb NC |
104 | --enable-warn-execstack=yes |
105 | will make --warn-execstack enabled by default. | |
75bd292b | 106 | |
ba951afb NC |
107 | --enable-warn-rwx-segments=no |
108 | will make --no-warn-rwx-segments enabled by default. | |
75bd292b | 109 | |
357860e3 | 110 | --enable-default-execstack=no |
ba951afb NC |
111 | will stop the creation of an executable stack simply because an input file |
112 | is missing a .note.GNU-stack section, even on architectures where this | |
357860e3 | 113 | behaviour is the default. |
ba951afb | 114 | |
c212f39d FS |
115 | * TYPE=<type> is now supported in an output section description to set the |
116 | section type value. | |
117 | ||
f1a45585 JB |
118 | * Remove (rudimentary) support for the x86-64 sub-architectures Intel L1OM and |
119 | Intel K1OM. | |
120 | ||
9e2bb0cb LB |
121 | * The ELF linker now supports a new --package-metadata option that allows |
122 | embedding a JSON payload in accordance to the Package Metadata specification. | |
123 | If support for libjansson is enabled at build time, the linker will use it to | |
124 | validate the input. This can be enabled with --enable-jansson. | |
125 | For more details, see: https://systemd.io/ELF_PACKAGE_METADATA/ | |
126 | ||
a74e1cb3 NC |
127 | Changes in 2.38: |
128 | ||
6a91be86 L |
129 | * Add -z pack-relative-relocs/-z no pack-relative-relocs to x86 ELF |
130 | linker to pack relative relocations in the DT_RELR section. | |
131 | ||
560b3fe2 | 132 | * Add support for the LoongArch architecture. |
133 | ||
d66aeea9 L |
134 | * Add -z indirect-extern-access/-z noindirect-extern-access to x86 ELF |
135 | linker to control canonical function pointers and copy relocation. | |
6f365fda | 136 | |
a8dde0a2 L |
137 | * Add --max-cache-size=SIZE to set the the maximum cache size to SIZE |
138 | bytes. | |
139 | ||
51419248 NC |
140 | Changes in 2.37: |
141 | ||
933feaf3 AM |
142 | * arm-symbianelf support removed. |
143 | ||
68b00778 L |
144 | * Add -z report-relative-reloc to x86 ELF linker to report dynamic |
145 | relative relocations. | |
146 | ||
8ee10e86 AM |
147 | * Add -z start-stop-gc to disable special treatment of __start_*/__stop_* |
148 | references when --gc-sections. | |
149 | ||
cf893b0e FS |
150 | * Add -Bno-symbolic to cancel -Bsymbolic and -Bsymbolic-functions. |
151 | ||
055bc77a NC |
152 | Changes in 2.36: |
153 | ||
bf6d8037 HC |
154 | * Add libdep plugin, for linking dependencies of static libraries that |
155 | were recorded by ar in the __.LIBDEP archive member. | |
156 | ||
23ae20f5 NC |
157 | * Add --error-handling-script=<NAME> command line option to allow a helper |
158 | script to be invoked when an undefined symbol or a missing library is | |
159 | encountered. This option can be suppressed via the configure time | |
160 | switch: --enable-error-handling-script=no. | |
161 | ||
279d901e L |
162 | * Add -z lam-u48 to x86-64 ELF linker to generate LAM_U48 property. |
163 | ||
164 | * Add -z lam-u57 to x86-64 ELF linker to enerate LAM_U57 property. | |
165 | ||
166 | * Add -z lam-u48-report=[none|warning|error] to report missing LAM_U48 | |
167 | property. | |
168 | ||
169 | * Add -z lam-u57-report=[none|warning|error] to report missing LAM_U57 | |
170 | property. | |
171 | ||
172 | * Add -z lam-report=[none|warning|error] to report missing LAM_U48 and | |
173 | LAM_U57 properties. | |
174 | ||
b0ab0693 L |
175 | * Add -z x86-64-{baseline|v[234]} to the x86 ELF linker to mark |
176 | x86-64-{baseline|v[234]} ISA level as needed. | |
32930e4e | 177 | |
496afd17 L |
178 | * Add -z unique-symbol to avoid duplicated local symbol names. |
179 | ||
514b4e19 JD |
180 | * The creation of PE format DLLs now defaults to using a more secure set of DLL |
181 | characteristics. | |
182 | ||
5dba6f05 NA |
183 | * The linker now deduplicates the types in .ctf sections. The new |
184 | command-line option --ctf-share-types describes how to do this: | |
185 | its default value, share-unconflicted, produces the most compact | |
186 | output. | |
187 | ||
188 | * The linker now omits the "variable section" from .ctf sections by | |
189 | default, saving space. This is almost certainly what you want | |
190 | unless you are working on a project that has its own analogue | |
191 | of symbol tables that are not reflected in the ELF symtabs. | |
192 | ||
99fabbc9 JL |
193 | * Add support for the SHF_GNU_RETAIN ELF section flag. |
194 | This flag specifies that the section should not be garbage collected by the | |
195 | linker. | |
196 | ||
b115b9fd NC |
197 | Changes in 2.35: |
198 | ||
bbd19b19 L |
199 | * X86 NaCl target support is removed. |
200 | ||
37a141bf FS |
201 | * Add ELF linker command-line options, --export-dynamic-symbol and |
202 | --export-dynamic-symbol-list, to make symbols dynamic. | |
203 | ||
b32632c4 L |
204 | * Add a configure option, --enable-textrel-check=[no|yes|warning|error], |
205 | to decide what ELF linker should do by default with DT_TEXTREL in an | |
6f028f3c | 206 | executable or shared library. Default to yes for Linux/x86 targets. |
b32632c4 | 207 | |
198204a7 | 208 | * The -Map=<filename> command line option has been extended so that if |
72a3b182 NC |
209 | <filename> is a directory then <filename>/<output-filename>.map will be |
210 | created. | |
198204a7 | 211 | |
a6dbf402 L |
212 | * Add a command-line option for ELF linker, --warn-textrel, to warn that |
213 | DT_TEXTREL is set in a position-independent executable or shared object. | |
214 | ||
abf874aa CL |
215 | * Add command-line options --enable-non-contiguous-regions and |
216 | --enable-non-contiguous-regions-warnings. | |
217 | ||
fa1477dc SC |
218 | * Add command-line option --imagic for the pdp11-aout target to output format |
219 | IMAGIC (0411) for separate instruction and data spaces, and change the | |
220 | default format option for pdp11-aout to be --omagic. | |
221 | ||
16171946 FS |
222 | * Relative pathnames in INPUT() and GROUP() directives in linker scripts are |
223 | searched relative to the directory of the linker script before other search | |
224 | paths. | |
225 | ||
cae64165 RM |
226 | * Add ELF linker command-line option `-z start-stop-visibility=...' to control |
227 | the visibility of synthetic `__start_SECNAME` and `__stop_SECNAME` symbols. | |
228 | ||
f37b21b4 RM |
229 | * Add command-line option --dependency-file to write a Make-style dependency |
230 | file listing the input files consulted by the linker, like the files written | |
231 | by the compiler's -M -MP options. | |
232 | ||
ae774686 NC |
233 | Changes in 2.34: |
234 | ||
7b3c2715 AM |
235 | * The ld check for "PHDR segment not covered by LOAD segment" is more |
236 | effective, catching cases that were wrongly allowed by previous versions of | |
237 | ld. If you see this error it is likely you are linking with a bad linker | |
238 | script or the binary you are building is not intended to be loaded by a | |
239 | dynamic loader. In the latter case --no-dynamic-linker is appropriate. | |
240 | ||
595d3787 AM |
241 | * cr16c support removed. |
242 | ||
6655dba2 SB |
243 | * Add support for z80-elf. |
244 | ||
245 | * Add support for relocation of each byte or word of multibyte value to Z80 | |
246 | targets. | |
247 | ||
248 | * Add support for Zilog eZ80 (both ADL and Z80 mode) and Zilog Z180 CPUs. | |
249 | ||
60391a25 PB |
250 | Changes in 2.33: |
251 | ||
035801ce FS |
252 | * Add command-line option --no-print-map-discarded. |
253 | ||
739b5c9c TC |
254 | * The Cortex-A53 Erratum 843419 workaround now supports a choice of which |
255 | workaround to use. The option --fix-cortex-a53-843419 now takes an | |
256 | optional argument --fix-cortex-a53-843419[=full|adr|adrp] which can be | |
257 | used to force a particular workaround to be used. See --help for AArch64 | |
258 | for more details. | |
259 | ||
cd702818 SD |
260 | * Add target handlers for AArch64 for ELF GNU program properties. |
261 | ||
262 | * Add support for GNU_PROPERTY_AARCH64_FEATURE_1_BTI in ELF GNU program | |
263 | properties in the AArch64 ELF linker. | |
264 | ||
265 | * Add support for GNU_PROPERTY_AARCH64_FEATURE_1_PAC in ELF GNU program | |
266 | properties in the AArch64 ELF linker. | |
267 | ||
8bf6d176 | 268 | * Add -z force-bti for AArch64 to enable GNU_PROPERTY_AARCH64_FEATURE_1_BTI |
37c18eed SD |
269 | on output while warning about missing GNU_PROPERTY_AARCH64_FEATURE_1_BTI |
270 | on inputs and use PLTs protected with BTI. | |
271 | ||
8bf6d176 | 272 | * Add -z pac-plt for AArch64 to pick PAC enabled PLTs. |
1dbade74 | 273 | |
f48dfe41 NC |
274 | Changes in 2.32: |
275 | ||
d2ef37eb L |
276 | * Report property change in linker map file when merging GNU properties. |
277 | ||
b8891f8d AJ |
278 | * Add support for the C-SKY processor series. |
279 | ||
4f4690cd AM |
280 | * -t now doesn't report members within archives, unless -t is given twice. |
281 | A single -t is now more useful when generating a list of files that should be | |
282 | packaged for a linker bug report. For example: | |
283 | gcc hello.c -save-temps -Wl,-t | xargs realpath | sort | uniq > files | |
284 | tar cJf test.tar.xz `cat files` | |
285 | ||
719d8288 NC |
286 | Changes in 2.31: |
287 | ||
142b7a14 EB |
288 | * Speed up direct linking with DLLs for Cygwin and Mingw targets. |
289 | ||
f6aec96d L |
290 | * Add a configure option --enable-separate-code to decide whether |
291 | -z separate-code should be enabled in ELF linker by default. Default | |
292 | to yes for Linux/x86 targets. Note that -z separate-code can increase | |
293 | disk and memory size. | |
294 | ||
9176ac5b NC |
295 | Changes in 2.30: |
296 | ||
47acac12 L |
297 | * Add -z separate-code to generate separate code PT_LOAD segment. |
298 | ||
a05a5b64 | 299 | * Add "-z undefs" command-line option as the inverse of the "-z defs" option. |
97a232d7 | 300 | |
a05a5b64 | 301 | * Add -z globalaudit command-line option to force audit libraries to be run |
93ab9c0d | 302 | for every dynamic object loaded by an executable - provided that the loader |
6c19b93b | 303 | supports this functionality. |
7feec526 | 304 | |
2b94abd4 AB |
305 | * Tighten linker script grammar around file name specifiers to prevent the use |
306 | of SORT_BY_ALIGNMENT and SORT_BY_INIT_PRIORITY on filenames. These would | |
307 | previously be accepted but had no effect. | |
308 | ||
309 | * The EXCLUDE_FILE directive can now be placed within any SORT_* directive | |
310 | within input section lists. | |
311 | ||
55a09eb6 TG |
312 | Changes in 2.29: |
313 | ||
48580982 L |
314 | * Support for -z shstk in the x86 ELF linker to generate |
315 | GNU_PROPERTY_X86_FEATURE_1_SHSTK in ELF GNU program properties. | |
316 | ||
317 | * Add support for GNU_PROPERTY_X86_FEATURE_1_SHSTK in ELF GNU program | |
318 | properties in the x86 ELF linker. | |
319 | ||
ee2fdd6f | 320 | * Add support for GNU_PROPERTY_X86_FEATURE_1_IBT in ELF GNU program |
48580982 | 321 | properties in the x86 ELF linker. |
ee2fdd6f L |
322 | |
323 | * Support for -z ibtplt in the x86 ELF linker to generate IBT-enabled | |
324 | PLT. | |
325 | ||
326 | * Support for -z ibt in the x86 ELF linker to generate IBT-enabled | |
327 | PLT as well as GNU_PROPERTY_X86_FEATURE_1_IBT in ELF GNU program | |
328 | properties. | |
329 | ||
a91e1603 L |
330 | * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX. |
331 | ||
46bed679 L |
332 | * Add support for ELF GNU program properties. |
333 | ||
0220170b DD |
334 | * Add support for the Texas Instruments PRU processor. |
335 | ||
d7488716 AB |
336 | * When configuring for arc*-*-linux* targets the default linker emulation will |
337 | change if --with-cpu=nps400 is used at configure time. | |
338 | ||
77f5e65e AB |
339 | * Improve assignment of LMAs to orphan sections in some edge cases where a |
340 | mixture of both AT>LMA_REGION and AT(LMA) are used. | |
341 | ||
14ea2c1b AB |
342 | * Orphan sections placed after an empty section that has an AT(LMA) will now |
343 | take an load memory address starting from LMA. | |
344 | ||
7bdf4127 AB |
345 | * Section groups can now be resolved (the group deleted and the group members |
346 | placed like normal sections) at partial link time either using the new linker | |
347 | option --force-group-allocation or by placing FORCE_GROUP_ALLOCATION into the | |
348 | linker script. | |
349 | ||
9703a4ef TG |
350 | Changes in 2.28: |
351 | ||
8f1732fc AB |
352 | * The EXCLUDE_FILE linker script construct can now be applied outside of the |
353 | section list in order for the exclusions to apply over all input sections in | |
354 | the list. | |
355 | ||
e23eba97 | 356 | * Add support for the RISC-V architecture. |
76359541 | 357 | |
a05a5b64 | 358 | * The command-line option --no-eh-frame-hdr can now be used in ELF based |
29063f8b NC |
359 | linkers to disable the automatic generation of .eh_frame_hdr sections. |
360 | ||
0955507f TP |
361 | * Add --in-implib=<infile> to the ARM linker to enable specifying a set of |
362 | Secure Gateway veneers that must exist in the output import library specified | |
363 | by --out-implib=<outfile> and the address they must have. As such, | |
364 | --in-implib is only supported in combination with --cmse-implib. | |
365 | ||
76359541 TP |
366 | * Extended the --out-implib=<file> option, previously restricted to x86 PE |
367 | targets, to any ELF based target. This allows the generation of an import | |
368 | library for an ELF executable, which can then be used by another application | |
369 | to link against the executable. | |
370 | ||
96a84ea3 TG |
371 | Changes in 2.27: |
372 | ||
647e4d46 L |
373 | * Add a configure option --enable-relro to decide whether -z relro should |
374 | be enabled in ELF linker by default. Default to yes for all Linux | |
9194f82d AM |
375 | targets except FRV, HPPA, IA64 and MIPS. Note that -z relro can increase |
376 | disk and memory size. | |
647e4d46 | 377 | |
4c10bbaa L |
378 | * Support for -z noreloc-overflow in the x86-64 ELF linker to disable |
379 | relocation overflow check. | |
380 | ||
b8871f35 L |
381 | * Add -z common/-z nocommon options for ELF targets to control whether to |
382 | convert common symbols to the STT_COMMON type during a relocatable link. | |
383 | ||
aec6b87e L |
384 | * Support for -z nodynamic-undefined-weak in the x86 ELF linker, which |
385 | avoids dynamic relocations against undefined weak symbols in executable. | |
386 | ||
cdf96953 MF |
387 | * The NOCROSSREFSTO command was added to the linker script language. |
388 | ||
1f56df9d JW |
389 | * Add --no-apply-dynamic-relocs to the AArch64 linker to do not apply link-time |
390 | values for dynamic relocations. | |
391 | ||
7feec526 TG |
392 | Changes in 2.26: |
393 | ||
a504d23a LA |
394 | * Add --fix-stm32l4xx-629360 to the ARM linker to enable a link-time |
395 | workaround for a bug in the bus matrix / memory controller for some of | |
396 | the STM32 Cortex-M4 based products (STM32L4xx) | |
81c23f82 | 397 | |
6c3bc0f8 NC |
398 | * Add a configure option --enable-compressed-debug-sections={all,ld} to |
399 | decide whether DWARF debug sections should be compressed by default. | |
400 | ||
886a2506 NC |
401 | * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures. |
402 | ||
0f088b2a KT |
403 | * Experimental support for linker garbage collection (--gc-sections) |
404 | has been enabled for COFF and PE based targets. | |
405 | ||
a05a5b64 | 406 | * New command-line option for ELF targets to compress DWARF debug |
ea556d25 L |
407 | sections, --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi]. |
408 | ||
a05a5b64 | 409 | * New command-line option, --orphan-handling=[place|warn|error|discard], to |
c005eb9e AB |
410 | adjust how orphan sections are handled. The default is 'place' which gives |
411 | the current behaviour, 'warn' and 'error' issue a warning or error | |
412 | respectively when orphan sections are found, and 'discard' will discard all | |
413 | orphan sections. | |
3ea60775 | 414 | |
b0619670 L |
415 | * Add support for LLVM plugin. |
416 | ||
3604cb1f TG |
417 | * Add --print-memory-usage option to report memory blocks usage. |
418 | ||
0a618243 AB |
419 | * Add --require-defined option, it's like --undefined except the new symbol |
420 | must be defined by the end of the link. | |
421 | ||
c50415e2 TG |
422 | Changes in 2.25: |
423 | ||
eeb14e5a LZ |
424 | * PE binaries now once again contain real timestamps by default. To disable |
425 | the inclusion of a timestamp in a PE binary, use the --no-insert-timestamp | |
a05a5b64 | 426 | command-line option. |
eeb14e5a | 427 | |
73589c9d CS |
428 | * Replace support for openrisc and or32 with support for or1k. |
429 | ||
a05a5b64 | 430 | * Add support for the --build-id command-line option to COFF based targets. |
61e2488c JT |
431 | |
432 | * x86/x86_64 pe-coff now supports the --build-id option. | |
433 | ||
35c08157 KLC |
434 | * Add support for the Andes NDS32. |
435 | ||
58ca03a2 TG |
436 | Changes in 2.24: |
437 | ||
2e53f7d6 NC |
438 | * Add LOG2CEIL() builtin function to the linker script language |
439 | ||
13761a11 NC |
440 | * Add support for the Texas Instruments MSP430X processor. |
441 | ||
36591ba1 SL |
442 | * Add support for Altera Nios II. |
443 | ||
78c8d46c NC |
444 | * Add support for the V850E3V5 architecture. |
445 | ||
a3c62988 NC |
446 | * Add support for the Imagination Technologies Meta processor. |
447 | ||
b1b00fcc MF |
448 | * --enable-new-dtags no longer generates old dtags in addition to new dtags. |
449 | ||
e8044f35 RS |
450 | * Remove linker support for MIPS ECOFF targets. |
451 | ||
1eec346e NC |
452 | * Add ALIGN_WITH_INPUT to the linker script language to force the alignment of |
453 | an output section to use the maximum alignment of all its input sections. | |
454 | ||
af18cb59 TG |
455 | Changes in 2.23: |
456 | ||
8d55a8a0 KT |
457 | * Enable compressed debug section feature for x86/x86_64 pe-coff. |
458 | ||
da2bb560 NC |
459 | * Add support for the 64-bit ARM architecture: AArch64. |
460 | ||
eda680f8 L |
461 | * Added SORT_NONE to the linker script language to disable section sorting. |
462 | ||
62655c7b RM |
463 | * Add a linker-provided symbol when producing ELF output, '__ehdr_start' |
464 | to point to the ELF file header (and nearby program headers) in the | |
465 | program's memory image. | |
466 | ||
6927f982 NC |
467 | * Add support for S12X processor. |
468 | ||
b9c361e0 JL |
469 | * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture. |
470 | ||
f6c1a2d5 NC |
471 | * Add support for the Freescale XGATE architecture. |
472 | ||
a72173de TG |
473 | * Add option -f FILE on AIX (for response file). |
474 | ||
99c513f6 DD |
475 | * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture. |
476 | ||
cfb8c092 NC |
477 | * Add support for the Adapteva EPIPHANY architecture. |
478 | ||
a7142d94 TG |
479 | Changes in 2.22: |
480 | ||
d064f206 NC |
481 | * --copy-dt-needed-entries is no longer enabled by default. Instead |
482 | --no-copy-dt-needed-entries is the default. | |
483 | ||
ae17ab41 | 484 | * INPUT_SECTION_FLAGS has been added to the linker script language |
cfb8c092 | 485 | to allow selection of input sections by section header section flags. |
ae17ab41 | 486 | |
69f56ae1 | 487 | * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures. |
90b3661c | 488 | |
02ecc8e9 | 489 | * Added SORT_BY_INIT_PRIORITY to the linker script language to permit |
cfb8c092 NC |
490 | sorting sections by numerical value of the GCC init_priority attribute |
491 | encoded in the section name. | |
02ecc8e9 | 492 | |
44f45767 TG |
493 | Changes in 2.21: |
494 | ||
5fec8599 L |
495 | * Linker script expression evaluation is somewhat more sane. This may |
496 | break scripts that depend on quirks of the old expression evaluation. | |
497 | ||
17f73277 KT |
498 | * Turn off underscoring for x86_64 PE+-COFF targets. For old behavior the |
499 | option --enable-leading-mingw64-underscores can be used on configure of | |
500 | bfd. | |
501 | ||
40b36596 JM |
502 | * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family. |
503 | ||
ddbb8a31 NC |
504 | * --add-needed renamed to --copy-dt-needed-entries in order to avoid confusion |
505 | with --as-needed option. | |
506 | ||
7fcab871 KT |
507 | * Extend .def file syntax by '== <ID>' for imports and exports. This allows |
508 | to alias the import/export table name written in PE image. | |
509 | ||
a72173de | 510 | * Add --exclude-all-symbols option to PE based linkers. This prevents all |
2927aaca NC |
511 | symbols from automatically being exported. |
512 | ||
c7927a3c NC |
513 | * Add support for the Renesas RX processor. |
514 | ||
75875724 TG |
515 | * Add support for alpha-vms target. |
516 | ||
81c23f82 TG |
517 | Changes in 2.20: |
518 | ||
3e7a7d11 NC |
519 | * GNU/Linux targets now support the STB_GNU_UNIQUE symbol binding. This is a |
520 | GNU extension to the standard set of ELF symbol bindings. The binding will | |
521 | be passed on to the dynamic linker which will make sure that in the entire | |
522 | process there is just one symbol with the given name and type in use. | |
ce11ba6c | 523 | |
c1711530 DK |
524 | * PE targets now support a GNU extension to allow the alignment of common |
525 | common symbols to be specified. This support uses custom options in | |
526 | the .drectve section, which will be disregarded by the native tools. | |
527 | ||
09e2aba4 DK |
528 | * PE targets now add primitive support for ELF version scripts; symbols |
529 | are not versioned, but the local and global symbol visibility directives | |
530 | are respected when filtering symbols in auto-export mode. | |
531 | ||
267e2722 CD |
532 | * New option --no-export-dynamic to undo the effect of the -E and |
533 | --export-dynamic options. | |
534 | ||
a0c402a5 L |
535 | * ELF: --warn-alternate-em option to warn if an object has alternate |
536 | ELF machine code. | |
537 | ||
4a93e180 NC |
538 | * New script function REGION_ALIAS to add alias names to memory regions. |
539 | ||
88183869 DK |
540 | * PE targets no longer make use of the long section names PE extension to |
541 | the COFF format when generating executable images, by default. The old | |
542 | (slightly non-conformant) behaviour can still be invoked by using the | |
3efd345c DK |
543 | new '--enable-long-section-names' command-line option. It is also enabled |
544 | automatically in the presence of un-stripped debug information, as GDB | |
545 | needs to be able to find the debug info sections by their full names. | |
88183869 | 546 | |
d8045f23 NC |
547 | * For GNU/Linux systems the linker will now avoid processing any relocations |
548 | made against symbols of the STT_GNU_IFUNC type and instead emit them into | |
549 | the resulting binary for processing by the loader. | |
550 | ||
28024d9d L |
551 | * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined |
552 | symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries. In the | |
553 | latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED | |
554 | entry of one of the libraries already linked. | |
555 | ||
a05a5b64 | 556 | * Add a new command-line option, -Ttext-segment ADDR, for ELF targets |
258795f5 L |
557 | to set the address of the first byte of the text segment. |
558 | ||
c3b7224a NC |
559 | * Add support for Sunplus score architecture. |
560 | ||
ce11ba6c KT |
561 | * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to ld for PE targets to |
562 | allow fallback to old import table generation with null element prefix. | |
563 | ||
e1c37eb5 DK |
564 | * Windows PE systems now support a new --exclude-modules-for-implib option, |
565 | allowing users to partition object files and archive members between a DLL | |
566 | and its associated import library as they are generated during linking. | |
567 | ||
84e94c90 NC |
568 | * Add support for Lattice Mico32 (lm32) architecture. |
569 | ||
62655c7b | 570 | * Add CR16 ELF --embedded-relocs (used to embedded relocations into binaries |
7251ccbf SR |
571 | for Embedded-PIC code) option. |
572 | ||
6cb442d3 KT |
573 | * Add to the PE/PE+ targets the support of two different kinds of |
574 | pseudo-relocations. They can be selected by the switches | |
575 | --enable-runtime-pseudo-reloc-v1 and --enable-runtime-pseudo-reloc-v2. | |
576 | For the switch --enable-runtime-pseudo-reloc it uses for 32-bit | |
577 | runtime pseudo relocation version one, for 64-bit the version two. | |
578 | ||
6e33da12 TG |
579 | Changes in 2.19: |
580 | ||
66c103b7 AM |
581 | * Linker scripts support a new INSERT command that makes it easier to |
582 | augment the default script. | |
583 | ||
967928e9 | 584 | * Linker script input section filespecs may now specify a file within an |
66c103b7 | 585 | archive by writing "archive:file". |
967928e9 | 586 | |
de7dd2bd NC |
587 | * The --sort-common switch now has an optional argument which specifies the |
588 | direction of sorting. | |
589 | ||
7fb9f789 | 590 | * The M68K linker now supports multiple GOT generation schemes controlled via |
a05a5b64 | 591 | the --got=<type> command-line option. |
7fb9f789 | 592 | |
66c103b7 AM |
593 | * The ARM EABI linker will now generate stubs for function calls to symbols |
594 | that are too far away. The placement of the stubs is controlled by a new | |
a05a5b64 | 595 | linker command-line option: --stub-group-size=N. |
726150b7 | 596 | |
7c3d153f NC |
597 | Changes in 2.18: |
598 | ||
f96b4a7b NC |
599 | * Linker sources now released under version 3 of the GNU General Public |
600 | License. | |
601 | ||
c0065db7 RM |
602 | * ELF: New --build-id option to generate a unique per-binary identifier |
603 | embedded in a note section. | |
604 | ||
3d3d428f | 605 | * Added support for National Semicondutor CompactRISC (ie CR16) target. |
a19bcec6 | 606 | |
bcb674cf RS |
607 | * -l:foo now searches the library path for a filename called foo, |
608 | without converting it to libfoo.a or libfoo.so. | |
609 | ||
a05a5b64 | 610 | * Add a new command-line option '--default-script=FILE' or '-dT FILE' |
14be8564 L |
611 | which specifies a replacement for the built in, default linker |
612 | script. | |
613 | ||
40b36307 L |
614 | * ELF: Add -Bsymbolic-functions, --dynamic-list-cpp-new, which puts C++ |
615 | operator new and delete on the dynamic list, and --dynamic-list-data, | |
616 | builtin list for --dynamic-list, which puts global data symbols on the | |
617 | dynamic list. | |
618 | ||
99ad8390 NC |
619 | * Add support for x86_64 PE+ target. |
620 | ||
1c0d3aa6 NC |
621 | * Add support for Score target. |
622 | ||
55255dae L |
623 | * ELF: Add --dynamic-list option to specify a list of global symbols |
624 | whose references shouldn't be bound to the definition within the | |
625 | shared library, or a list of symbols which should be added to the | |
626 | symbol table in the executable. | |
627 | ||
dc0b6aa0 AM |
628 | * The default output section LMA has changed for allocatable sections from |
629 | being equal to VMA, to keeping the difference between LMA and VMA the same as | |
630 | the previous output section in the same region. This is a more useful | |
631 | default when using overlays and other cases where you specify an LMA | |
632 | differing from the VMA for some sections. | |
633 | ||
c17d87de NC |
634 | * New switch: --print-gc-sections to list any sections removed by garabge |
635 | collection. | |
636 | ||
c6dd86c6 | 637 | * ARM: Added --vfp11-denorm-fix option to work around an erratum in current |
f96b4a7b | 638 | VFP11 coprocessors. |
c6dd86c6 | 639 | |
c17d87de | 640 | Changes in 2.17: |
cf88bb9f | 641 | |
d70c5fc7 NC |
642 | * Support for the Infineon XC16X has been added by KPIT Cummins Infosystems. |
643 | ||
dfcffada AM |
644 | * Modify the Linux linker search order to better match ld.so search order. |
645 | Look for DT_NEEDED libraries in paths specified by ld.so.conf before | |
646 | searching the default directories, rather than vice versa. | |
647 | Use $prefix/etc/ld.so.conf if it exists, otherwise /etc/ld.so.conf. | |
c1446dba | 648 | |
4b5bd4e7 DS |
649 | * PE-COFF: Forward exports from DLL's can now be specified in .def files |
650 | passed directly to ld. | |
651 | ||
3c9b82ba NC |
652 | * Support for the Z80 processor family has been added. |
653 | ||
3e8a519c MM |
654 | * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command line, so that extra |
655 | switches can be read from <file>. | |
656 | ||
957d91c1 NC |
657 | Changes in 2.16: |
658 | ||
319850b4 JB |
659 | * Support for the R_ARM_V4BX relocation as defined in the ARM AAELF |
660 | specification has been added via the --fix-v4bx command-line option. | |
661 | ||
b717d30e JJ |
662 | * New linker script construct AS_NEEDED(), which sets the --as-needed flag |
663 | for input files listed inside of it. | |
664 | ||
e2243057 RS |
665 | * A new command-line option, --sysroot, can be used to override the |
666 | default sysroot location. It only applies to toolchains that were | |
667 | configured using --with-sysroot. | |
668 | ||
3ec57632 NC |
669 | * New linker script functions: ORIGIN() and LENGTH() which return information |
670 | about a specified memory region. | |
671 | ||
7499d566 NC |
672 | * Port to MAXQ processor contributed by HCL Tech. |
673 | ||
ba916c8a MM |
674 | * Added SEGMENT_START to the linker script language to permit the user to |
675 | override the base address for a segment from the command-line. | |
676 | ||
8fdd7217 NC |
677 | * ELF: --warn-shared-textrel option to warn if adding a DT_TEXTREL to a shared |
678 | object. | |
679 | ||
bcaa7b3e L |
680 | * Added SORT_BY_NAME and SORT_BY_ALIGNMENT to the linker script |
681 | language to permit sorting sections by section name or section | |
682 | maximum alignment. | |
683 | ||
a05a5b64 | 684 | * Added a new linker command-line switch, --sort-section name|alignment, |
bcaa7b3e L |
685 | to sort sections by section name or maximum alignment. |
686 | ||
8fdd7217 NC |
687 | * ELF: --add-needed/--no-add-needed options to control if a DT_NEEDED tag |
688 | should be added when a shared library comes from DT_NEEDED tags. | |
14b3c463 | 689 | |
1fe1f39c NC |
690 | * Support for the crx-elf target added. |
691 | ||
1a320fbb | 692 | * Support for the sh-symbianelf target added. |
1fe1f39c | 693 | |
a05a5b64 | 694 | * A new linker command-line switch has been added which allows the hash table |
2d643429 NC |
695 | size to be set to a suitable prime value near to its argument. This switch |
696 | is --hash-size=<NUMBER>. Also if the switch --reduce-memory-overheads is | |
697 | used, and --hash-size has not been used, then the default value will be set | |
698 | to 1021. | |
699 | ||
35835446 JR |
700 | * Linker map files are now generated with an O(N) algorithm for finding symbols |
701 | that are defined in each section. This uses about 40% more memory for | |
702 | symbols than the old O(N^2) algorithm. You can use the new | |
703 | --reduce-memory-overheads option to select the old algorithm; this option | |
704 | might also be used in the future to select similar tradeoffs. | |
705 | ||
2d643429 | 706 | Changes in 2.15: |
14b3c463 | 707 | |
8fdd7217 NC |
708 | * ELF: --as-needed/--no-as-needed options to control if a DT_NEEDED tag should |
709 | be added only when a shared library is referenced. | |
c0065db7 | 710 | |
8fdd7217 | 711 | * PE: --large-address-aware option to indicate executables support virtual |
26d2d8a2 BF |
712 | addresses greater than 2 gigabytes. |
713 | ||
1b169501 BF |
714 | * DWARF 2 support for i386pe added. |
715 | ||
c894ddfb HPN |
716 | * The linker script operator DEFINED() will now yield 1 only for a symbol that |
717 | is defined before the statement where DEFINED is used. | |
718 | ||
7a7f4e42 CD |
719 | * The MIPS --embedded-relocs (used to embed relocations into binaries for |
720 | Embedded-PIC code) is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. | |
721 | ||
0949843d NC |
722 | * cr16c support added by NSC. |
723 | ||
6edf0760 NC |
724 | * m32r Linux (ELF) support added by Renesas. |
725 | ||
560e09e9 NC |
726 | * Improved linker's handling of unresolved symbols. The switch |
727 | --unresolved-symbols=<method> has been added to tell the linker when it | |
728 | should report them and the switch --warn-unresolved-symbols has been added to | |
729 | make reports be issued as warning messages rather than errors. | |
730 | ||
43c58ae6 CD |
731 | Changes in 2.14: |
732 | ||
e8fd7476 NC |
733 | * Added support for Xtensa architecture. |
734 | ||
9c8ebd6a DJ |
735 | * Added --with-sysroot configure switch to specify a target system root, for |
736 | linking against a target filesystem image. | |
737 | ||
312b768e NC |
738 | * Added --accept-unknown-linker-format to restore old linker behaviour (pre |
739 | 2.14) of silently accepting and linking in any files in an unknown binary | |
740 | file format. | |
741 | ||
63fd3b82 NC |
742 | * Added --no-omagic to undo the effects of the -N option. |
743 | ||
004d9caf NC |
744 | * Support for Texas Instruments TMS320C4x and TMS320C3x series of |
745 | DSP's contributed by Michael Hayes and Svein E. Seldal. | |
c0065db7 | 746 | |
8e523c23 NC |
747 | * Added --with-lib-path configure switch to specify default value for |
748 | LIB_PATH. | |
749 | ||
7e392df6 NC |
750 | * ARM port to QNX operating system added by Graeme Peterson. |
751 | ||
cf88bb9f NC |
752 | * IP2K support added by Denis Chertykov. |
753 | ||
2cbb2eef NC |
754 | Changes in 2.13: |
755 | ||
756 | * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400 | |
757 | and FR500 included. | |
7d553a40 | 758 | |
37020578 JT |
759 | Changes in version 2.13: |
760 | ||
761 | * DEC VAX ELF support, by Matt Thomas. | |
762 | ||
9a66911f NC |
763 | Changes in version 2.12: |
764 | ||
49fda6c8 HPN |
765 | * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson. |
766 | ||
3b16e843 NC |
767 | * Support for the OpenRISC 32-bit embedded processor by OpenCores. |
768 | ||
8bd621d8 AM |
769 | * Support for -z nocopyreloc in the x86 ELF linker, which disables |
770 | production of copy relocs. Warning: using this option may result in | |
771 | non-sharable applications. | |
5b343f5a | 772 | |
db6751f2 JJ |
773 | * Support for -z combreloc in the ELF linker, which puts dynamic |
774 | relocations against the same symbol together, so that dynamic linker | |
775 | can use an one-entry symbol lookup cache. | |
776 | ||
777 | * Support for ELF SHF_MERGE section merging, by Jakub Jelinek. | |
778 | ||
9a66911f NC |
779 | Changes in version 2.11: |
780 | ||
b8355149 JH |
781 | * Support for AMD x86-64 architecture, by Jan Hubicka, SuSE Labs. |
782 | ||
18e03609 NC |
783 | * Support added for eliminating duplicate DWARF2 debug information by |
784 | having the compiler generate the information in sections called | |
785 | .gnu.linkonce.wi.XXXX where XXXX is a checksum for the contents. The | |
786 | linker then merges these sections together into the normal .debug_info | |
787 | section. | |
252b5132 | 788 | |
ec4eb78a L |
789 | * The native ELF linker now searches the directories in DT_RUNPATH or |
790 | DT_RPATH of a shared library for shared libraries needed by it. | |
791 | ||
2d30b3da TW |
792 | * TI C54x support, by Timothy Wall. |
793 | ||
a05a5b64 | 794 | * Added command-line switch --section-start to set the start address of any |
c0065db7 | 795 | specified section. |
176355da | 796 | |
a712da20 NC |
797 | * Added ability to emit full relocation information in linked executables, |
798 | enabled by --emit-relocs. Some post-linkage optimization tools need | |
799 | this information in order to be able to correctly identify and perform | |
800 | symbol relative addressing in the event of changes in section contents | |
801 | (instructions being added or deleted, extending data sections, etc.) | |
802 | ||
22b36938 JE |
803 | * Support for i860, by Jason Eckhardt (preliminary, alpha quality). |
804 | ||
5bcac8a4 HPN |
805 | * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series). |
806 | ||
500800ca NC |
807 | * Support for PDP-11 and 2.11BSD a.out format, by Lars Brinkhoff. |
808 | ||
919e4093 AM |
809 | Changes in version 2.10: |
810 | ||
c0065db7 | 811 | * Added AT> to the linker script language to allow load-time allocation of |
5948916f TW |
812 | sections into regions. |
813 | ||
c0065db7 | 814 | * Added garbage collection of unused sections, enabled by --gc-sections. |
252b5132 | 815 | It does require a bit of backend support; currently implemented are |
4667035e AM |
816 | arm-elf, avr-elf, d10v-elf, fr30-elf, i386-elf, m32r-elf, m68k-elf, |
817 | mcore-elf, mips-elf, mn10300-elf, ppc-elf, sh-elf, sparc-elf, and v850-elf. | |
987fd5b4 | 818 | Others will ignore the option. |
252b5132 RH |
819 | |
820 | * Added SORT to the linker script language to permit sorting sections by file | |
821 | name or section name. | |
822 | ||
823 | * Added EXTERN to the linker script language as an equivalent to the -u | |
824 | command-line option. | |
825 | ||
826 | * Added ASSERT to the linker script language. | |
827 | ||
277c9afe ILT |
828 | * Added EXCLUDE_FILE to the linker script language for further control over |
829 | wildcard file names. | |
830 | ||
252b5132 | 831 | * Added -O option to optimize linker output (as of this writing, this only |
500800ca | 832 | affects ELF shared library generation). |
252b5132 RH |
833 | |
834 | * The -e option now accepts a number as well as a symbol name. | |
835 | ||
2575273d ILT |
836 | * Added --no-undefined option to disallow undefined symbols when creating a |
837 | shared library. | |
838 | ||
9b1d3b78 ILT |
839 | * The linker now issues a warning, not an error, for an undefined symbol when |
840 | using -Bsymbolic; use the new --no-undefined option to get the old | |
841 | behaviour. | |
842 | ||
252b5132 RH |
843 | * Added --demangle and --no-demangle options. |
844 | ||
845 | Changes in version 2.9: | |
846 | ||
847 | * Added SQUAD to the linker script language. | |
848 | ||
849 | * New option --no-warn-mismatch. | |
850 | ||
851 | * The MEMORY command now parses the attributes to determine where sections that | |
852 | are not placed in a specific memory region are placed. | |
853 | ||
854 | Changes in version 2.8: | |
855 | ||
856 | * Linker scripts may now contain shell wildcard characters for file and section | |
857 | names. | |
858 | ||
859 | * The linker now supports symbol versions in ELF. | |
860 | ||
861 | * The NOCROSSREFS command was added to the linker script language. | |
862 | ||
863 | * The LOADADDR expression was added to the linker script language. | |
864 | ||
865 | * MAX and MIN functions were added to the linker script language. | |
866 | ||
867 | * The OVERLAY construct was added to the linker script language. | |
868 | ||
869 | * New option --warn-section-align to warn when the address of an output section | |
870 | changes due to alignment of an input section. | |
871 | ||
872 | * New options --filter/-F and --auxiliary/-f. | |
873 | ||
874 | Changes in version 2.7: | |
875 | ||
876 | * New option --cref to print out a cross reference table. | |
877 | ||
878 | * New option --wrap SYMBOL. | |
879 | ||
880 | * New option --no-whole-archive, to turn off the effect of --whole-archive. | |
881 | ||
882 | * Input sections assigned to the output section /DISCARD/ in the linker script | |
883 | are not included in the output file. | |
884 | ||
885 | * The SunOS and ELF linkers now merge stabs debugging information which uses | |
886 | the N_BINCL and N_EINCL stab types. This reduces the amount of debugging | |
887 | information generated. | |
888 | ||
889 | Changes in version 2.6: | |
890 | ||
891 | * When an ELF section name is representable as a C identifier (this is not true | |
45f111cc NC |
892 | of most ELF section names), the linker will automatically define symbols |
893 | __start_SECNAME and __stop_SECNAME, where SECNAME is the section name, at the | |
894 | beginning and the end of the section. This is used by glibc. | |
895 | ||
896 | Addendum: Current versions of the linker (at least for version 2.18 onwards | |
897 | and possibly much earlier as well) place two restrictions on this feature: The | |
898 | symbols are only implemented for orphaned sections, not for explicitly placed | |
899 | sections and they are PROVIDEd rather than being defined. | |
252b5132 RH |
900 | |
901 | * When an ELF section named .gnu.warning is encountered in an input file, the | |
902 | contents of the section are displayed as an error message, and the section is | |
903 | not copied into the output file. This is used by glibc. | |
904 | ||
905 | * When an ELF section named .gnu.warning.SYMBOL is encountered in an input | |
906 | file, and the symbol SYMBOL is referenced by some object file, the contents of | |
907 | the section are displayed as an error message. The section is not copied into | |
1049f94e | 908 | the output file, unless doing a relocatable or shared link. This is used by |
252b5132 RH |
909 | glibc. |
910 | ||
911 | * New options -split-by-reloc and -split-by-file. | |
912 | ||
913 | * The linker now supports linking PIC compiled code on SPARC SunOS. It can | |
914 | also create SPARC SunOS shared libraries, and, like the native SunOS linker, | |
915 | will do so whenever there is an undefined symbol in the link and neither the -e | |
916 | nor the -r option was used. | |
917 | ||
918 | * The -rpath option may be used on SunOS to set the list of directories to be | |
919 | searched at run time. This overrides the default of building the list from the | |
920 | -L options. | |
921 | ||
922 | * The COFF linker now combines debugging information for structs, unions, and | |
923 | enums, so that even if the same type is defined in multiple input files it will | |
924 | only be defined once in the output file. The --traditional-format switch will | |
925 | prevent this optimization. | |
926 | ||
927 | Changes in version 2.5: | |
928 | ||
929 | * The linker now supports linking against SunOS shared libraries. It still can | |
930 | not link SunOS PIC (Position Independent Code) files, so it can not be used to | |
07f3b6ad | 931 | generate shared libraries. |
252b5132 RH |
932 | |
933 | * The linker now supports linking against ELF shared libraries for the i386 | |
934 | (UnixWare) and SPARC (Solaris). It can also link ELF PIC files, and can be | |
935 | used to generate shared libraries. Shared library generation is not well | |
936 | tested; please report any problems encountered. The linker is now enabled for | |
937 | Solaris again. | |
938 | ||
939 | * Eric Youngdale has contributed Linux support code, including linking against | |
940 | Linux a.out shared libraries. The linker produces Linux QMAGIC binaries. | |
941 | ||
942 | * The ELF backend has been converted to the new linker code. To use the new | |
943 | ELF linker, each particular target requires a relocation function. So far, | |
944 | this function has been written for i386 (UnixWare), SPARC (Solaris) MIPS (Irix | |
945 | 5), and HPPA ELF targets. | |
946 | ||
947 | * The -( (--start-group) and -) (--end-group) options have been added to | |
948 | support searching a group of archives as though they were a single archive. | |
949 | This can also be used in a linker script, as GROUP ( files ). | |
950 | ||
951 | * When a file is named on the command line, and the linker does not recognize | |
952 | it as an object file, the linker will now treat the file as a linker script | |
953 | file. A linker script named in this way augments, but does not replace, the | |
954 | default linker script. | |
955 | ||
956 | * The -warn-once option was added. It causes the linker to only warn once per | |
957 | undefined symbol, rather than once per reference. | |
958 | ||
959 | * The COFF backend has been converted to the new linker code. As with ELF, to | |
960 | use the new linker, each particular target requires a relocation function. So | |
961 | far, this function has been written for the i386, m68k, a29k and SH targets. | |
962 | ||
963 | * The -V flag was made a synonym for -v, for SVR4 compatibility. The old -V | |
964 | behaviour is available via --verbose. | |
965 | ||
966 | Changes in version 2.4: | |
967 | ||
968 | * New linker code, by Steve Chamberlain and Ian Taylor. For a.out and ecoff | |
969 | formats (so far), this should result in considerable savings in time | |
970 | and memory used while linking; slightly poorer performance than | |
971 | before for formats not converted yet. | |
972 | ||
973 | * Command-line parsing is no longer done with flex. This means | |
974 | oddball characters in filenames won't get treated as argument | |
975 | separators. | |
976 | ||
977 | * HP-PA ELF support, by Jeff Law. (No SOM support yet.) | |
978 | ||
979 | * Mach i386 support, by David Mackenzie. | |
980 | ||
981 | * Irix 4 shared libraries are now supported (Irix 5 uses ELF, and ELF shared | |
982 | libraries are not yet supported). | |
983 | ||
984 | * COFF shared libraries (as on SCO) should work as well. | |
985 | ||
986 | * The linker is disabled for Solaris. (Actually, it was in 2.3 also, I just | |
987 | forgot to note it.) Some of their C library routines don't work when | |
988 | statically linked, and the GNU linker doesn't support dynamic linking yet. | |
989 | ||
990 | Changes in version 2.3: | |
991 | ||
992 | * Weak symbols are now supported. | |
993 | ||
994 | * ELF support has been added. The linker has been bootstrapped on | |
995 | UnixWare and Solaris. | |
996 | ||
997 | * Alpha OSF/1 support has been added (non dynamic linking only). | |
998 | ||
999 | Changes in version 2.2: | |
1000 | ||
1001 | * The `bfd' library has been updated to reduce a.out-format string | |
1002 | table size. The effect of this is that files linked from many input | |
1003 | files with duplicate symbols (`-g' debugging records, or identical | |
1004 | static symbols) should be much smaller. | |
1005 | ||
1006 | Changes in version 2.1: | |
1007 | ||
1008 | * The ld -ySYMBOL flag (to trace references to SYMBOL) is now implemented. | |
1009 | ||
1010 | * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the | |
1011 | other utilities should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix. | |
1012 | ||
1013 | \f | |
fd67aa11 | 1014 | Copyright (C) 2012-2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc. |
5bf135a7 NC |
1015 | |
1016 | Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification, | |
1017 | are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright | |
1018 | notice and this notice are preserved. | |
1019 | ||
252b5132 RH |
1020 | Local variables: |
1021 | fill-column: 79 | |
1022 | End: |