binutils/NEWS

   1 -*- text -*-
   2
   3 * Binutils now supports debuginfod, an HTTP server for distributing
   4   ELF/DWARF debugging information as well as source code. When built with
   5   debuginfod, readelf and objdump can automatically query debuginfod
   6   servers for separate debug files when they otherwise cannot be found.
   7   To build binutils with debuginfod, pass --with-debuginfod to configure.
   8   This requires libdebuginfod, the debuginfod client library. debuginfod
   9   is distributed with elfutils, starting with version 0.178. For more
  10   information see https://sourceware.org/elfutils.
  11
  12 * Add --output option to the "ar" program.  This option can be used to specify
  13   the output directory when extracting members from an archive.
  14
  15 * Add --keep-section option to objcopy and strip.  This option keeps the
  16   specified section from being removed.
  17
  18  * Add visualization of jumps inside a function by drawing an ascii character
  19    graph between the address and the disassembler column.  Enabled via the
  20    --visualize-jumps command line option for objdump.  Currently supported by
  21    the x86, x86_64, and ARM targets.  The output looks something like this:
  22
  23   c6:   |  |     \----------> be 00 00 00 00            mov    $0x0,%esi
  24   cb:   |  |           /----> 48 8b 3d 00 00 00 00      mov    0x0(%rip),%rdi        # d2 <main+0xd2>
  25   d2:   |  |           |      31 c0                     xor    %eax,%eax
  26   d4:   |  |           |  /-- e8 00 00 00 00            callq  d9 <main+0xd9>
  27   d9:   |  |           |  \-> bf 02 00 00 00            mov    $0x2,%edi
  28   de:   |  +-----------|----- e8 00 00 00 00            callq  e3 <main+0xe3>
  29   e3:   |  \-----------|----> 48 89 da                  mov    %rbx,%rdx
  30   e6:   |              |      be 00 00 00 00            mov    $0x0,%esi
  31   eb:   |              \----- eb de                     jmp    cb <main+0xcb>
  32   ed:   \-------------------> 48 8b 16                  mov    (%rsi),%rdx
  33
  34   Additional arguments to the --visualize-jumps option add colors to the
  35   output.
  36
  37 Changes in 2.33:
  38
  39 * Add --source-comment[=<txt>] option to objdump which if present,
  40   provides a prefix to source code lines displayed in a disassembly.
  41
  42 * Add --set-section-alignment <section-name>=<align> option to objcopy to allow
  43   the changing of section alignments.
  44
  45 * Add --verilog-data-width option to objcopy for verilog targets to control
  46   width of data elements in verilog hex format.
  47
  48 * Add support for the Armv8.1-M Mainline and M-profile Vector Extension (MVE)
  49   instructions.
  50
  51 * The separate debug info file options of readelf (--debug-dump=links
  52   and --debug-dump=follow) and objdump (--dwarf=links and
  53   --dwarf=follow-links) will now display and/or follow multiple links if
  54   more than one are present in a file.  (This usually happens when gcc's
  55   -gsplit-dwarf option is used).
  56
  57   In addition objdump's --dwarf=follow-links now also affects its other
  58   display options, so that for example, when combined with --syms it will
  59   cause the symbol tables in any linked debug info files to also be
  60   displayed.  In addition when combined with --disassemble the --dwarf=
  61   follow-links option will ensure that any symbol tables in the linked
  62   files are read and used when disassembling code in the main file.
  63
  64  * Add support for dumping types encoded in the Compact Type Format
  65    to objdump and readelf.
  66
  67 Changes in 2.32:
  68
  69 * The addr2line, c++filt, nm and objdump tools now have a limit on the
  70   maximum amount of recursion that is allowed whilst demangling strings.
  71   The value for this limit is defined by the DEMANGLE_RECRUSE_LIMIT
  72   constant declared in the include/demangle.h header file.  At the time
  73   of writing this constant has the value of 2048.
  74
  75   The --no-recurse-limit option can be used to remove the limit, restoring
  76   the behaviour of earlier versions of these tools.  This may be needed in
  77   order to dmangle truly complicated names, but it also leaves the tools
  78   vulnerable to stack exhaustion from maliciously constructed mangled names.
  79
  80 * Objdump's --disassemble option can now take a parameter, specifying the
  81   starting symbol for disassembly.  Disassembly will continue from this
  82   symbol up to the next symbol or the end of the function.
  83
  84 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 2K1000 processor which implements
  85   the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE, Loongson-ext ASE,
  86   Loongson-ext2 ASE and MSA ASE instructions. Add -march=gs264e option for
  87   Loongson 2K1000 processor.
  88
  89 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor which
  90   implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE,
  91   Loongson-ext ASE and Loongson-ext2 ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464e
  92   option for Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor.
  93
  94 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A1000 processor, aka Loongson3a,
  95   which implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE
  96   and Loongson-ext ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464 option for Loongson
  97   3A1000 processor, The -march=loongson3a is an alias of -march=gs464 for
  98   compatibility.
  99
 100 * The size tool now has a new output format '--format=GNU' or '-G'.  The
 101   results are displayed in a similar manor to the default berkeley layout,
 102   except read-only data is counted in the data column, not the text column.
 103   Additionally the total is only included once.
 104
 105 Changes in 2.31:
 106
 107 * Add support for disassembling netronome Flow Processor (NFP) firmware files.
 108
 109 * The AArch64 port now supports showing disassembly notes which are emitted
 110   when inconsistencies are found with the instruction that may result in the
 111   instruction being invalid.  These can be turned on with the option -M notes
 112   to objdump.
 113
 114 * The AArch64 port now emits warnings when a combination of an instruction and
 115   a named register could be invalid.
 116
 117 * Added O modifier to ar to display member offsets inside an archive
 118
 119 Changes in 2.30:
 120
 121 * Add --debug-dump=links option to readelf and --dwarf=links option to objdump
 122   which displays the contents of any .gnu_debuglink or .gnu_debugaltlink
 123   sections.
 124
 125   Add a --debug-dump=follow-links option to readelf and a --dwarf=follow-links
 126   option to objdump which causes indirect links into separate debug info files
 127   to be followed when dumping other DWARF sections.
 128
 129 Changes in 2.29:
 130
 131 * The MIPS port now supports microMIPS eXtended Physical Addressing (XPA)
 132   instructions for assembly and disassembly.
 133
 134 * The MIPS port now supports the microMIPS Release 5 ISA for assembly and
 135   disassembly.
 136
 137 * The MIPS port now supports the Imagination interAptiv MR2 processor,
 138   which implements the MIPS32r3 ISA, the MIPS16e2 ASE as well as a couple
 139   of implementation-specific regular MIPS and MIPS16e2 ASE instructions.
 140
 141 * The SPARC port now supports the SPARC M8 processor, which implements the
 142   Oracle SPARC Architecture 2017.
 143
 144 * The MIPS port now supports the MIPS16e2 ASE for assembly and disassembly.
 145
 146 * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX.
 147
 148 * Add support for the wasm32 ELF conversion of the WebAssembly file format.
 149
 150 * Add --inlines option to objdump, which extends the --line-numbers option
 151   so that inlined functions will display their nesting information.
 152
 153 * Add --merge-notes options to objcopy to reduce the size of notes in
 154   a binary file by merging and deleting redundant notes.
 155
 156 * Add support for locating separate debug info files using the build-id
 157   method, where the separate file has a name based upon the build-id of
 158   the original file.
 159
 160 Changes in 2.28:
 161
 162 * This version of binutils fixes a problem with PowerPC VLE 16A and 16D
 163   relocations which were functionally swapped, for example,
 164   R_PPC_VLE_HA16A performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16D while R_PPC_VLE_HA16D
 165   performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16A.  This could have been fixed by
 166   renumbering relocations, which would keep object files created by an
 167   older version of gas compatible with a newer ld.  However, that would
 168   require an ABI update, affecting other assemblers and linkers that
 169   create and process the relocations correctly.  It is recommended that
 170   all VLE object files be recompiled, but ld can modify the relocations
 171   if --vle-reloc-fixup is passed to ld.  If the new ld command-line
 172   option is not used, ld will ld warn on finding relocations inconsistent
 173   with the instructions being relocated.
 174
 175 * The nm program has a new command-line option (--with-version-strings)
 176   which will display a symbol's version information, if any, after the
 177   symbol's name.
 178
 179 * The ARC port of objdump now accepts a -M option to specify the extra
 180   instruction class(es) that should be disassembled.
 181
 182 * The --remove-section option for objcopy and strip now accepts section
 183   patterns starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching
 184   section.  A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections
 185   matched by an earlier --remove-section pattern.
 186
 187 * The --only-section option for objcopy now accepts section patterns
 188   starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching section.
 189   A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections matched by
 190   an earlier --only-section pattern.
 191
 192 * New --remove-relocations=SECTIONPATTERN option for objcopy and strip.
 193   This option can be used to remove sections containing relocations.
 194   The SECTIONPATTERN is the section to which the relocations apply, not
 195   the relocation section itself.
 196
 197 Changes in 2.27:
 198
 199 * Add a configure option, --enable-64-bit-archive, to force use of a
 200   64-bit format when creating an archive symbol index.
 201
 202 * Add --elf-stt-common= option to objcopy for ELF targets to control
 203   whether to convert common symbols to the STT_COMMON type.
 204
 205 Changes in 2.26:
 206
 207 * Add option to objcopy to insert new symbols into a file:
 208   --add-symbol <name>=[<section>:]<value>[,<flags>]
 209
 210 * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures.
 211
 212 * Extend objcopy --compress-debug-sections option to support
 213   --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi] for ELF
 214   targets.
 215
 216 * Add --update-section option to objcopy.
 217
 218 * Add --output-separator option to strings.
 219
 220 Changes in 2.25:
 221
 222 * Add --data option to strings to only print strings in loadable, initialized
 223   data sections.  Change the default behaviour to be --all, but add a new
 224   configure time option of --disable-default-strings-all to restore the old
 225   default behaviour.
 226
 227 * Add --include-all-whitespace to strings.
 228
 229 * Add --dump-section option to objcopy.
 230
 231 * Add support for the Andes NDS32.
 232
 233 Changes in 2.24:
 234
 235 * Objcopy now supports wildcard characters in command-line options that take
 236   section names.
 237
 238 * Add support for Altera Nios II.
 239
 240 Changes in 2.23:
 241
 242 * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture.
 243
 244 * Add support for x64 Windows target of the delayed-load-library.
 245
 246 * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture.
 247
 248 Changes in 2.22:
 249
 250 * Add support for displaying the contents of .debug.macro sections.
 251
 252 * Add --preprocessor-arg option to windres to specify additional options
 253   passed to preprocessor.
 254
 255 * Add --dwarf-start and --dwarf-end to readelf and objdump.  These are used by
 256   the new Emacs mode, see dwarf-mode.el.
 257
 258 * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures.
 259
 260 changes in 2.21:
 261
 262 * Add --interleave-width option to objcopy to allowing copying a range of
 263   bytes from the input to the output with the --interleave option.
 264
 265 * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family.
 266
 267 * Readelf can now display ARM unwind tables (.ARM.exidx / .ARM.extab) using
 268   the -u / --unwind option.
 269
 270 * Add --dyn-syms to readelf to dump dynamic symbol table.
 271
 272 * A new tool - elfedit - has been added to directly manipulate ELF format
 273   binaries.
 274
 275 * Add to dlltool .def file feature of aliasing PE internal symbol name by
 276   '== <ID>' option.
 277
 278 * Add a new command-line option -a / --addresses to addr2line to display the
 279   address before function name or source filename.
 280
 281 * Add a new command-line option -p / --pretty-print to addr2line to have
 282   a more human readable output.
 283
 284 * The hppa/som targets can now be compiled on any host.
 285
 286 Changes in 2.20:
 287
 288 * Add support for delay importing to dlltool.  Use the --output-delaylib <file>
 289   switch to create a delay-import library.  The resulting app will load the dll
 290   as soon as the first function is called.  It will link to __delayLoadHelper2()
 291   from the static delayimp library, which will import LoadLibraryA and
 292   GetProcAddress from kernel32.
 293
 294 * Add a new command-line option, --insn-width=WIDTH, to objdump to specify
 295   number of bytes to be displayed on a single line when disassembling
 296   instructions.
 297
 298 * Readelf can now display the relocated contents of a section as a sequence
 299   of bytes via the --relocated-dump=<name|number> command-line option.
 300
 301 * The gprof program has been given a new command-line option:
 302   --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified
 303   file.
 304
 305 * The plugin target has been added to bfd. It can load the same shared objects
 306   used by gold and uses them to provide basic support for new file formats.
 307
 308 * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format
 309   for objcopy.
 310
 311 * Add --file-alignment, --heap, --image-base, --section-alignment,
 312   --stack and --subsystem command-line options to objcopy, which will
 313   set PE optional header.
 314
 315 * Option --dwarf/-W of objdump is now as flexible as readelf --debug-dump/-w.
 316
 317 * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined
 318   symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries.  In the
 319   latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED
 320   entry of one of the libraries already linked.
 321
 322 * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to
 323   add absolute paths for -S.
 324
 325 * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to dlltool to allow fall-
 326   back to old import table generation with null element prefix.
 327
 328 * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to
 329   report an error when the import library is associated with
 330   multiple DLLs.
 331
 332 * Added --identify <implib> option to dlltool, which determines the
 333   name of the DLL associated with the specified <implib>.
 334
 335 * Support for PowerPC booke64 instructions has been removed.  The assembler no
 336   longer accepts -mbooke32 or -mbooke64 and the disassembler no longer accepts
 337   -Mbooke32 or -Mbooke64.  Instead, -mbooke and -Mbooke should be used.
 338
 339 Changes in 2.19:
 340
 341 * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line.
 342
 343 * Added support for "thin" archives which contain pathnames pointing to
 344   object files rather than the files themselves and which contain a
 345   flattened symbol index for all objects, and archives, which have been
 346   added to the archive.
 347
 348 * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly.
 349
 350 * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index.
 351
 352 * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port.
 353
 354 * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections.
 355
 356 Changes in 2.18:
 357
 358 * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null
 359   pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as
 360   revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
 361
 362 * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
 363   Public License.
 364
 365 * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets.  This is a message
 366   compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version.
 367
 368 * Add codepage support to the windres tool.  It now supports many new
 369   resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc).  The output generation
 370   for binary files is done now via bfd itself.  The endianess problems
 371   for different hosts are solved.  Dumps of .res files can now be
 372   re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors.
 373   Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected.
 374
 375 * Add --extract-symbol command-line option to objcopy, which will
 376   strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except
 377   for its symbol table.  Files containing just symbols can be useful
 378   to some OSes.
 379
 380 Changes in 2.17:
 381
 382 * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
 383
 384 * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt.  -i disables the display of implementation
 385   specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling
 386   of types.
 387
 388 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
 389   that extra switches can be read from <file>.
 390
 391 * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
 392   debug sections.
 393
 394 * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
 395   "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
 396
 397 * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security
 398   conscious.  This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all
 399   code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt.  The old PLT
 400   and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt.
 401
 402 * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
 403   for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
 404
 405 * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
 406
 407 * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
 408   when disassembling VAX binaries.
 409
 410 * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
 411   to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
 412
 413 * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
 414   several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.
 415
 416 Changes in 2.16:
 417
 418 * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
 419
 420 * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and
 421   --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard
 422   matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but
 423   retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations.
 424
 425 * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections.  This
 426   happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered.  The
 427   command-line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display
 428   the contents of the .debug_range section.
 429
 430 * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of
 431   symbols which the target considers to be special.  By default these symbols
 432   are no longer displayed.  Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping
 433   symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and
 434   between ARM and THUMB code.
 435
 436 * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
 437   import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
 438
 439 Changes in 2.15:
 440
 441 * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the
 442   disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some
 443   pseudo instruction name.  I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move",
 444   "sll" instead of "nop", etc.
 445
 446 * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on
 447   the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them.
 448
 449 * readelf can now parse archives.
 450
 451 * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
 452   format compatible with ctags tool.
 453
 454 * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing
 455   those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug.  The idea is that
 456   this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create
 457   a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the
 458   debugging info.
 459
 460 * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink
 461   section into a (presumably stripped) executable.  This allows the debug
 462   information for the file to be held in a separate file.
 463
 464 * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX
 465   single-character representation.  This can be checked by running nm
 466   with the -a switch.
 467
 468 Changes in 2.14:
 469
 470 * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
 471
 472 * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
 473
 474 * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
 475
 476 * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
 477   --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
 478
 479 * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
 480   Parallel C compiler.
 481
 482 * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other
 483   headers that declare the same.  Users of BFD should replace boolean,
 484   false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type.
 485
 486 * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
 487
 488 Changes in 2.13:
 489
 490 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
 491   and FR500 included.
 492
 493 Changes in version 2.12:
 494
 495 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
 496
 497 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
 498
 499 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
 500   lines to fit into 80 columns.
 501
 502 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings.  By Markus Kuhn.
 503
 504 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
 505
 506 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions.  Support added for
 507   displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
 508
 509 * New command-line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
 510   global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
 511   by Honda Hiroki.
 512
 513 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
 514
 515 * New command-line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
 516   with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
 517   description.  Only supported for ELF targets.  By Alexandre Oliva.
 518
 519 * New command-line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
 520   the architecture of the output file to the given argument.  This option only
 521   makes sense, if the input target is binary.  Otherwise it is ignored.
 522   By Stefan Geuken.
 523
 524 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
 525
 526 Changes in binutils 2.11:
 527
 528 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
 529   extenstions.
 530
 531 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command-line switch to objcopy.
 532   By Luciano Gemme.
 533
 534 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
 535
 536 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
 537
 538 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
 539
 540 Changes in binutils 2.10:
 541
 542 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
 543
 544 * New command-line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
 545   entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
 546   file.
 547
 548 * New command-line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
 549   a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
 550   disassembler.  Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
 551   raw verions.
 552
 553 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
 554   with intel syntax.
 555
 556 * New program: readelf.  This displays the contents of ELF format files,
 557   regardless of target machine.
 558
 559 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
 560   --change-section-address options.  The old --adjust-section-vma option is
 561   equivalent to --change-section-address.  The other --adjust-* options are now
 562   renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
 563
 564 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
 565
 566 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
 567   sections.
 568
 569 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
 570
 571 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
 572   --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
 573
 574 Changes in binutils 2.9:
 575
 576 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
 577   files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
 578
 579 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
 580   the VMA of the sections.
 581
 582 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
 583
 584 Changes in binutils 2.8:
 585
 586 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved.  Use
 587   the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format.  There are also new
 588   --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
 589   output.
 590
 591 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets.  For example,
 592   objdump -b i386-pc-linux.  The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
 593   so they must be in canonical form.
 594
 595 * Added new addr2line program.  This uses the debugging information to convert
 596   an address into a file name and line number within a program.
 597
 598 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 599
 600 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
 601
 602 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
 603
 604 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
 605
 606 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
 607
 608 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
 609
 610 Changes in binutils 2.7:
 611
 612 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
 613
 614 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
 615
 616 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
 617
 618 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 619
 620 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
 621
 622 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
 623
 624 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
 625
 626 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
 627
 628 Changes in binutils 2.6:
 629
 630 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
 631
 632 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
 633   file is laid out in memory.  Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
 634   generating plain binary files.
 635
 636 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
 637
 638 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX.  The tools are now built by default on AIX.
 639
 640 Changes in binutils 2.5:
 641
 642 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
 643   listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
 644
 645 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
 646   Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
 647
 648 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
 649
 650 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
 651   executables.
 652
 653 Changes in binutils 2.4:
 654
 655 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
 656   PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
 657
 658 * Support for Irix 5.
 659
 660 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
 661   ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
 662
 663 Changes in binutils 2.3:
 664
 665 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
 666   ELF and COFF files.
 667
 668 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added.  It can convert object files into
 669   Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
 670
 671 * The strings program has been added.
 672
 673 Changes in binutils 2.2:
 674
 675 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
 676   'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
 677   'cp'.
 678
 679 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
 680   (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names.  (Note: This
 681   may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
 682
 683 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
 684   the output from BSD nm.
 685
 686 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
 687
 688 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
 689
 690 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
 691
 692 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
 693
 694 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
 695
 696 Changes in binutils 2.1:
 697
 698 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
 699   should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix.  Please let us know how well this works.
 700
 701 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
 702   version), if there are any object files in the archive.  So running ranlib is
 703   now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used).  This is required
 704   for Posix.2 conformance.
 705
 706 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
 707   independently of the selected target format.  This is to encourage people to
 708   switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
 709
 710 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
 711   and/or local symbols only.  They now also support long options.
 712
 713 \f
 714 Copyright (C) 2012-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 715
 716 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
 717 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
 718 notice and this notice are preserved.
 719
 720 Local variables:
 721 fill-column: 79
 722 End: