binutils/NEWS

   1 -*- text -*-
   2 * The gprof program has been given a new command line option:
   3   --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified
   4   file.
   5
   6 * The plugin target has been added to bfd. It can load the same shared objects
   7   used by gold and uses them to provide basic support for new file formats.
   8
   9 * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format
  10   for objcopy.
  11
  12 * Add --file-alignment, --heap, --image-base, --section-alignment,
  13   --stack and --subsystem command line options to objcopy, which will
  14   set PE optional header.
  15
  16 * Option --dwarf/-W of objdump is now as flexible as readelf --debug-dump/-w.
  17
  18 * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined
  19   symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries.  In the
  20   latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED
  21   entry of one of the libraries already linked.
  22
  23 * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to
  24   add absolute paths for -S.
  25
  26 * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to dlltool to allow fall-
  27   back to old import table generation with null element prefix.
  28
  29 * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to
  30   report an error when the import library is associated with
  31   multiple DLLs.
  32
  33 * Added --identify <implib> option to dlltool, which determines the
  34   name of the DLL associated with the specified <implib>.
  35
  36 * Support for PowerPC booke64 instructions has been removed.  The assembler no
  37   longer accepts -mbooke32 or -mbooke64 and the disassembler no longer accepts
  38   -Mbooke32 or -Mbooke64.  Instead, -mbooke and -Mbooke should be used.
  39
  40 Changes in 2.19:
  41
  42 * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line.
  43
  44 * Added support for "thin" archives which contain pathnames pointing to
  45   object files rather than the files themselves and which contain a
  46   flattened symbol index for all objects, and archives, which have been
  47   added to the archive.
  48
  49 * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly.
  50
  51 * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index.
  52
  53 * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port.
  54
  55 * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections.
  56
  57 Changes in 2.18:
  58
  59 * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null
  60   pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as
  61   revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
  62
  63 * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
  64   Public License.
  65
  66 * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets.  This is a message
  67   compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version.
  68
  69 * Add codepage support to the windres tool.  It now supports many new
  70   resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc).  The output generation
  71   for binary files is done now via bfd itself.  The endianess problems
  72   for different hosts are solved.  Dumps of .res files can now be
  73   re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors.
  74   Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected.
  75
  76 * Add --extract-symbol command line option to objcopy, which will
  77   strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except
  78   for its symbol table.  Files containing just symbols can be useful
  79   to some OSes.
  80
  81 Changes in 2.17:
  82
  83 * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
  84
  85 * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt.  -i disables the display of implementation
  86   specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling
  87   of types.
  88
  89 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
  90   that extra switches can be read from <file>.
  91
  92 * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
  93   debug sections.
  94
  95 * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
  96   "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
  97
  98 * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security
  99   conscious.  This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all
 100   code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt.  The old PLT
 101   and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt.
 102
 103 * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
 104   for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
 105
 106 * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
 107
 108 * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
 109   when disassembling VAX binaries.
 110
 111 * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
 112   to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
 113
 114 * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
 115   several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.
 116
 117 Changes in 2.16:
 118
 119 * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
 120
 121 * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and
 122   --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard
 123   matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but
 124   retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations.
 125
 126 * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections.  This
 127   happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered.  The
 128   command line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display
 129   the contents of the .debug_range section.
 130
 131 * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of
 132   symbols which the target considers to be special.  By default these symbols
 133   are no longer displayed.  Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping
 134   symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and
 135   between ARM and THUMB code.
 136
 137 * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
 138   import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
 139
 140 Changes in 2.15:
 141
 142 * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the
 143   disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some
 144   pseudo instruction name.  I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move",
 145   "sll" instead of "nop", etc.
 146
 147 * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on
 148   the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them.
 149
 150 * readelf can now parse archives.
 151
 152 * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
 153   format compatible with ctags tool.
 154
 155 * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing
 156   those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug.  The idea is that
 157   this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create
 158   a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the
 159   debugging info.
 160
 161 * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink
 162   section into a (presumably stripped) executable.  This allows the debug
 163   information for the file to be held in a separate file.
 164
 165 * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX
 166   single-character representation.  This can be checked by running nm
 167   with the -a switch.
 168
 169 Changes in 2.14:
 170
 171 * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
 172
 173 * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
 174
 175 * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
 176
 177 * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
 178   --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
 179
 180 * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
 181   Parallel C compiler.
 182
 183 * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other
 184   headers that declare the same.  Users of BFD should replace boolean,
 185   false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type.
 186
 187 * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
 188
 189 Changes in 2.13:
 190
 191 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
 192   and FR500 included.
 193
 194 Changes in version 2.12:
 195
 196 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
 197
 198 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
 199
 200 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
 201   lines to fit into 80 columns.
 202
 203 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings.  By Markus Kuhn.
 204
 205 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
 206
 207 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions.  Support added for
 208   displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
 209
 210 * New command line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
 211   global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
 212   by Honda Hiroki.
 213
 214 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
 215
 216 * New command line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
 217   with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
 218   description.  Only supported for ELF targets.  By Alexandre Oliva.
 219
 220 * New command line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
 221   the architecture of the output file to the given argument.  This option only
 222   makes sense, if the input target is binary.  Otherwise it is ignored.
 223   By Stefan Geuken.
 224
 225 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
 226
 227 Changes in binutils 2.11:
 228
 229 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
 230   extenstions.
 231
 232 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command line switch to objcopy.
 233   By Luciano Gemme.
 234
 235 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
 236
 237 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
 238
 239 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
 240
 241 Changes in binutils 2.10:
 242
 243 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
 244
 245 * New command line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
 246   entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
 247   file.
 248
 249 * New command line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
 250   a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
 251   disassembler.  Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
 252   raw verions.
 253
 254 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
 255   with intel syntax.
 256
 257 * New program: readelf.  This displays the contents of ELF format files,
 258   regardless of target machine.
 259
 260 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
 261   --change-section-address options.  The old --adjust-section-vma option is
 262   equivalent to --change-section-address.  The other --adjust-* options are now
 263   renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
 264
 265 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
 266
 267 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
 268   sections.
 269
 270 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
 271
 272 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
 273   --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
 274
 275 Changes in binutils 2.9:
 276
 277 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
 278   files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
 279
 280 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
 281   the VMA of the sections.
 282
 283 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
 284
 285 Changes in binutils 2.8:
 286
 287 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved.  Use
 288   the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format.  There are also new
 289   --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
 290   output.
 291
 292 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets.  For example,
 293   objdump -b i386-pc-linux.  The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
 294   so they must be in canonical form.
 295
 296 * Added new addr2line program.  This uses the debugging information to convert
 297   an address into a file name and line number within a program.
 298
 299 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 300
 301 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
 302
 303 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
 304
 305 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
 306
 307 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
 308
 309 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
 310
 311 Changes in binutils 2.7:
 312
 313 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
 314
 315 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
 316
 317 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
 318
 319 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 320
 321 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
 322
 323 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
 324
 325 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
 326
 327 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
 328
 329 Changes in binutils 2.6:
 330
 331 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
 332
 333 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
 334   file is laid out in memory.  Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
 335   generating plain binary files.
 336
 337 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
 338
 339 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX.  The tools are now built by default on AIX.
 340
 341 Changes in binutils 2.5:
 342
 343 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
 344   listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
 345
 346 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
 347   Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
 348
 349 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
 350
 351 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
 352   executables.
 353
 354 Changes in binutils 2.4:
 355
 356 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
 357   PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
 358
 359 * Support for Irix 5.
 360
 361 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
 362   ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
 363
 364 Changes in binutils 2.3:
 365
 366 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
 367   ELF and COFF files.
 368
 369 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added.  It can convert object files into
 370   Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
 371
 372 * The strings program has been added.
 373
 374 Changes in binutils 2.2:
 375
 376 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
 377   'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
 378   'cp'.
 379
 380 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
 381   (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names.  (Note: This
 382   may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
 383
 384 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
 385   the output from BSD nm.
 386
 387 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
 388
 389 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
 390
 391 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
 392
 393 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
 394
 395 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
 396
 397 Changes in binutils 2.1:
 398
 399 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
 400   should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix.  Please let us know how well this works.
 401
 402 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
 403   version), if there are any object files in the archive.  So running ranlib is
 404   now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used).  This is required
 405   for Posix.2 conformance.
 406
 407 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
 408   independently of the selected target format.  This is to encourage people to
 409   switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
 410
 411 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
 412   and/or local symbols only.  They now also support long options.
 413
 414 \f
 415 Local variables:
 416 fill-column: 79
 417 End: