3 * Add -plugin-save-temps to store plugin intermediate files permanently.
7 * Add -z mark-plt/-z nomark-plt options to x86-64 ELF linker to mark PLT
8 entries with DT_X86_64_PLT, DT_X86_64_PLTSZ and DT_X86_64_PLTENT dynamic
9 tags. Also added --enable-mark-plt configure option to mark PLT entries
12 * Support Intel APX relocations.
14 * On RISC-V, add ld target option --[no-]check-uleb128. Should rebuild the
15 objects by binutils 2.42 and up if enabling the option and get warnings,
16 since the non-zero addend of SUB_ULEB128 shouldn't be generated from .uleb128
19 * Add support for the KVX instruction set.
21 * A new linker script sorting directive has been added: REVERSE. This reverses
22 the order of the sorting. It may be combined with either SORT_BY_NAME or
23 SORT_BY_INIT_PRIORITY.
25 * Added --warn-execstack-objects to warn about executable stacks only when an
26 input object file requests one. Also added --error-execstack and
27 --error-rxw-segments options to convert warnings about executable stacks and
30 Also added --enable-error-execstack=[yes|no] and
31 --enable-error-rwx-segments=[yes|no] configure options to set the default for
32 converting warnings into errors.
34 * On LoongArch, various linker relaxation bugs are fixed; the most notable
35 of which is BZ 30944 (incorrect .balign semantics).
37 * On LoongArch, the LoongArch ABI v2.30 (LoongArch ELF psABI v20231219) is
38 now implemented. This includes new relocation types, and changed
39 semantics for PC-relative relocations handling the higher half of 64-bit
42 * On LoongArch, link-time TLS optimization and TLS relaxation are now
47 * The linker now accepts a command line option of --remap-inputs
48 <PATTERN>=<FILE> to relace any input file that matches <PATTERN> with
49 <FILE>. In addition the option --remap-inputs-file=<FILE> can be used to
50 specify a file containing any number of these remapping directives.
52 * The linker command line option --print-map-locals can be used to include
53 local symbols in a linker map. (ELF targets only).
55 * For most ELF based targets, if the --enable-linker-version option is used
56 then the version of the linker will be inserted as a string into the .comment
59 * The linker script syntax has a new command for output sections: ASCIZ "string"
60 This will insert a zero-terminated string at the current location.
62 * Add command-line option, -z nosectionheader, to omit ELF section
67 * The linker has a new command line option to suppress the generation of any
68 warning or error messages. This can be useful when there is a need to create
69 a known non-working binary. The option is -w or --no-warnings.
71 * ld now supports zstd compressed debug sections. The new option
72 --compress-debug-sections=zstd compresses debug sections with zstd.
74 * Add --enable-default-compressed-debug-sections-algorithm={zlib,zstd}
75 that selects the default compression algorithm
76 for --enable-compressed-debug-sections.
78 * Remove support for -z bndplt (MPX prefix instructions).
82 * The ELF linker will now generate a warning message if the stack is made
83 executable. By default this warning is not issued if the user has
84 specifically requested an executable stack via the "-z execstack"
85 command line option, but the warning can be forced via the new
86 "--warn-execstack" option. Alternatively all warnings about creating
87 an executable stack can be suppressed via the "--no-warn-execstack"
90 In addition the ELF linker will also warn if it creates a memory resident
91 segment with all three of the Read, Write and eXecute permissions set, or
92 if it creates a thread local data segment with the eXecute permission set.
93 These warnings can be disabled via --no-warn-rwx-segments option and
94 re-enabled via the --warn-rwx-segments option.
96 New configure options can also control these new features:
98 --enable-warn-execstack=no
99 will disable the warnings about creating an executable stack.
101 --enable-warn-execstack=yes
102 will make --warn-execstack enabled by default.
104 --enable-warn-rwx-segments=no
105 will make --no-warn-rwx-segments enabled by default.
107 --enable-default-execstack=no
108 will stop the creation of an executable stack simply because an input file
109 is missing a .note.GNU-stack section, even on architectures where this
110 behaviour is the default.
112 * TYPE=<type> is now supported in an output section description to set the
115 * Remove (rudimentary) support for the x86-64 sub-architectures Intel L1OM and
118 * The ELF linker now supports a new --package-metadata option that allows
119 embedding a JSON payload in accordance to the Package Metadata specification.
120 If support for libjansson is enabled at build time, the linker will use it to
121 validate the input. This can be enabled with --enable-jansson.
122 For more details, see: https://systemd.io/ELF_PACKAGE_METADATA/
126 * Add -z pack-relative-relocs/-z no pack-relative-relocs to x86 ELF
127 linker to pack relative relocations in the DT_RELR section.
129 * Add support for the LoongArch architecture.
131 * Add -z indirect-extern-access/-z noindirect-extern-access to x86 ELF
132 linker to control canonical function pointers and copy relocation.
134 * Add --max-cache-size=SIZE to set the the maximum cache size to SIZE
139 * arm-symbianelf support removed.
141 * Add -z report-relative-reloc to x86 ELF linker to report dynamic
142 relative relocations.
144 * Add -z start-stop-gc to disable special treatment of __start_*/__stop_*
145 references when --gc-sections.
147 * Add -Bno-symbolic to cancel -Bsymbolic and -Bsymbolic-functions.
151 * Add libdep plugin, for linking dependencies of static libraries that
152 were recorded by ar in the __.LIBDEP archive member.
154 * Add --error-handling-script=<NAME> command line option to allow a helper
155 script to be invoked when an undefined symbol or a missing library is
156 encountered. This option can be suppressed via the configure time
157 switch: --enable-error-handling-script=no.
159 * Add -z lam-u48 to x86-64 ELF linker to generate LAM_U48 property.
161 * Add -z lam-u57 to x86-64 ELF linker to enerate LAM_U57 property.
163 * Add -z lam-u48-report=[none|warning|error] to report missing LAM_U48
166 * Add -z lam-u57-report=[none|warning|error] to report missing LAM_U57
169 * Add -z lam-report=[none|warning|error] to report missing LAM_U48 and
172 * Add -z x86-64-{baseline|v[234]} to the x86 ELF linker to mark
173 x86-64-{baseline|v[234]} ISA level as needed.
175 * Add -z unique-symbol to avoid duplicated local symbol names.
177 * The creation of PE format DLLs now defaults to using a more secure set of DLL
180 * The linker now deduplicates the types in .ctf sections. The new
181 command-line option --ctf-share-types describes how to do this:
182 its default value, share-unconflicted, produces the most compact
185 * The linker now omits the "variable section" from .ctf sections by
186 default, saving space. This is almost certainly what you want
187 unless you are working on a project that has its own analogue
188 of symbol tables that are not reflected in the ELF symtabs.
190 * Add support for the SHF_GNU_RETAIN ELF section flag.
191 This flag specifies that the section should not be garbage collected by the
196 * X86 NaCl target support is removed.
198 * Add ELF linker command-line options, --export-dynamic-symbol and
199 --export-dynamic-symbol-list, to make symbols dynamic.
201 * Add a configure option, --enable-textrel-check=[no|yes|warning|error],
202 to decide what ELF linker should do by default with DT_TEXTREL in an
203 executable or shared library. Default to yes for Linux/x86 targets.
205 * The -Map=<filename> command line option has been extended so that if
206 <filename> is a directory then <filename>/<output-filename>.map will be
209 * Add a command-line option for ELF linker, --warn-textrel, to warn that
210 DT_TEXTREL is set in a position-independent executable or shared object.
212 * Add command-line options --enable-non-contiguous-regions and
213 --enable-non-contiguous-regions-warnings.
215 * Add command-line option --imagic for the pdp11-aout target to output format
216 IMAGIC (0411) for separate instruction and data spaces, and change the
217 default format option for pdp11-aout to be --omagic.
219 * Relative pathnames in INPUT() and GROUP() directives in linker scripts are
220 searched relative to the directory of the linker script before other search
223 * Add ELF linker command-line option `-z start-stop-visibility=...' to control
224 the visibility of synthetic `__start_SECNAME` and `__stop_SECNAME` symbols.
226 * Add command-line option --dependency-file to write a Make-style dependency
227 file listing the input files consulted by the linker, like the files written
228 by the compiler's -M -MP options.
232 * The ld check for "PHDR segment not covered by LOAD segment" is more
233 effective, catching cases that were wrongly allowed by previous versions of
234 ld. If you see this error it is likely you are linking with a bad linker
235 script or the binary you are building is not intended to be loaded by a
236 dynamic loader. In the latter case --no-dynamic-linker is appropriate.
238 * cr16c support removed.
240 * Add support for z80-elf.
242 * Add support for relocation of each byte or word of multibyte value to Z80
245 * Add support for Zilog eZ80 (both ADL and Z80 mode) and Zilog Z180 CPUs.
249 * Add command-line option --no-print-map-discarded.
251 * The Cortex-A53 Erratum 843419 workaround now supports a choice of which
252 workaround to use. The option --fix-cortex-a53-843419 now takes an
253 optional argument --fix-cortex-a53-843419[=full|adr|adrp] which can be
254 used to force a particular workaround to be used. See --help for AArch64
257 * Add target handlers for AArch64 for ELF GNU program properties.
259 * Add support for GNU_PROPERTY_AARCH64_FEATURE_1_BTI in ELF GNU program
260 properties in the AArch64 ELF linker.
262 * Add support for GNU_PROPERTY_AARCH64_FEATURE_1_PAC in ELF GNU program
263 properties in the AArch64 ELF linker.
265 * Add -z force-bti for AArch64 to enable GNU_PROPERTY_AARCH64_FEATURE_1_BTI
266 on output while warning about missing GNU_PROPERTY_AARCH64_FEATURE_1_BTI
267 on inputs and use PLTs protected with BTI.
269 * Add -z pac-plt for AArch64 to pick PAC enabled PLTs.
273 * Report property change in linker map file when merging GNU properties.
275 * Add support for the C-SKY processor series.
277 * -t now doesn't report members within archives, unless -t is given twice.
278 A single -t is now more useful when generating a list of files that should be
279 packaged for a linker bug report. For example:
280 gcc hello.c -save-temps -Wl,-t | xargs realpath | sort | uniq > files
281 tar cJf test.tar.xz `cat files`
285 * Speed up direct linking with DLLs for Cygwin and Mingw targets.
287 * Add a configure option --enable-separate-code to decide whether
288 -z separate-code should be enabled in ELF linker by default. Default
289 to yes for Linux/x86 targets. Note that -z separate-code can increase
290 disk and memory size.
294 * Add -z separate-code to generate separate code PT_LOAD segment.
296 * Add "-z undefs" command-line option as the inverse of the "-z defs" option.
298 * Add -z globalaudit command-line option to force audit libraries to be run
299 for every dynamic object loaded by an executable - provided that the loader
300 supports this functionality.
302 * Tighten linker script grammar around file name specifiers to prevent the use
303 of SORT_BY_ALIGNMENT and SORT_BY_INIT_PRIORITY on filenames. These would
304 previously be accepted but had no effect.
306 * The EXCLUDE_FILE directive can now be placed within any SORT_* directive
307 within input section lists.
311 * Support for -z shstk in the x86 ELF linker to generate
312 GNU_PROPERTY_X86_FEATURE_1_SHSTK in ELF GNU program properties.
314 * Add support for GNU_PROPERTY_X86_FEATURE_1_SHSTK in ELF GNU program
315 properties in the x86 ELF linker.
317 * Add support for GNU_PROPERTY_X86_FEATURE_1_IBT in ELF GNU program
318 properties in the x86 ELF linker.
320 * Support for -z ibtplt in the x86 ELF linker to generate IBT-enabled
323 * Support for -z ibt in the x86 ELF linker to generate IBT-enabled
324 PLT as well as GNU_PROPERTY_X86_FEATURE_1_IBT in ELF GNU program
327 * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX.
329 * Add support for ELF GNU program properties.
331 * Add support for the Texas Instruments PRU processor.
333 * When configuring for arc*-*-linux* targets the default linker emulation will
334 change if --with-cpu=nps400 is used at configure time.
336 * Improve assignment of LMAs to orphan sections in some edge cases where a
337 mixture of both AT>LMA_REGION and AT(LMA) are used.
339 * Orphan sections placed after an empty section that has an AT(LMA) will now
340 take an load memory address starting from LMA.
342 * Section groups can now be resolved (the group deleted and the group members
343 placed like normal sections) at partial link time either using the new linker
344 option --force-group-allocation or by placing FORCE_GROUP_ALLOCATION into the
349 * The EXCLUDE_FILE linker script construct can now be applied outside of the
350 section list in order for the exclusions to apply over all input sections in
353 * Add support for the RISC-V architecture.
355 * The command-line option --no-eh-frame-hdr can now be used in ELF based
356 linkers to disable the automatic generation of .eh_frame_hdr sections.
358 * Add --in-implib=<infile> to the ARM linker to enable specifying a set of
359 Secure Gateway veneers that must exist in the output import library specified
360 by --out-implib=<outfile> and the address they must have. As such,
361 --in-implib is only supported in combination with --cmse-implib.
363 * Extended the --out-implib=<file> option, previously restricted to x86 PE
364 targets, to any ELF based target. This allows the generation of an import
365 library for an ELF executable, which can then be used by another application
366 to link against the executable.
370 * Add a configure option --enable-relro to decide whether -z relro should
371 be enabled in ELF linker by default. Default to yes for all Linux
372 targets except FRV, HPPA, IA64 and MIPS. Note that -z relro can increase
373 disk and memory size.
375 * Support for -z noreloc-overflow in the x86-64 ELF linker to disable
376 relocation overflow check.
378 * Add -z common/-z nocommon options for ELF targets to control whether to
379 convert common symbols to the STT_COMMON type during a relocatable link.
381 * Support for -z nodynamic-undefined-weak in the x86 ELF linker, which
382 avoids dynamic relocations against undefined weak symbols in executable.
384 * The NOCROSSREFSTO command was added to the linker script language.
386 * Add --no-apply-dynamic-relocs to the AArch64 linker to do not apply link-time
387 values for dynamic relocations.
391 * Add --fix-stm32l4xx-629360 to the ARM linker to enable a link-time
392 workaround for a bug in the bus matrix / memory controller for some of
393 the STM32 Cortex-M4 based products (STM32L4xx)
395 * Add a configure option --enable-compressed-debug-sections={all,ld} to
396 decide whether DWARF debug sections should be compressed by default.
398 * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures.
400 * Experimental support for linker garbage collection (--gc-sections)
401 has been enabled for COFF and PE based targets.
403 * New command-line option for ELF targets to compress DWARF debug
404 sections, --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi].
406 * New command-line option, --orphan-handling=[place|warn|error|discard], to
407 adjust how orphan sections are handled. The default is 'place' which gives
408 the current behaviour, 'warn' and 'error' issue a warning or error
409 respectively when orphan sections are found, and 'discard' will discard all
412 * Add support for LLVM plugin.
414 * Add --print-memory-usage option to report memory blocks usage.
416 * Add --require-defined option, it's like --undefined except the new symbol
417 must be defined by the end of the link.
421 * PE binaries now once again contain real timestamps by default. To disable
422 the inclusion of a timestamp in a PE binary, use the --no-insert-timestamp
425 * Replace support for openrisc and or32 with support for or1k.
427 * Add support for the --build-id command-line option to COFF based targets.
429 * x86/x86_64 pe-coff now supports the --build-id option.
431 * Add support for the Andes NDS32.
435 * Add LOG2CEIL() builtin function to the linker script language
437 * Add support for the Texas Instruments MSP430X processor.
439 * Add support for Altera Nios II.
441 * Add support for the V850E3V5 architecture.
443 * Add support for the Imagination Technologies Meta processor.
445 * --enable-new-dtags no longer generates old dtags in addition to new dtags.
447 * Remove linker support for MIPS ECOFF targets.
449 * Add ALIGN_WITH_INPUT to the linker script language to force the alignment of
450 an output section to use the maximum alignment of all its input sections.
454 * Enable compressed debug section feature for x86/x86_64 pe-coff.
456 * Add support for the 64-bit ARM architecture: AArch64.
458 * Added SORT_NONE to the linker script language to disable section sorting.
460 * Add a linker-provided symbol when producing ELF output, '__ehdr_start'
461 to point to the ELF file header (and nearby program headers) in the
462 program's memory image.
464 * Add support for S12X processor.
466 * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture.
468 * Add support for the Freescale XGATE architecture.
470 * Add option -f FILE on AIX (for response file).
472 * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture.
474 * Add support for the Adapteva EPIPHANY architecture.
478 * --copy-dt-needed-entries is no longer enabled by default. Instead
479 --no-copy-dt-needed-entries is the default.
481 * INPUT_SECTION_FLAGS has been added to the linker script language
482 to allow selection of input sections by section header section flags.
484 * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures.
486 * Added SORT_BY_INIT_PRIORITY to the linker script language to permit
487 sorting sections by numerical value of the GCC init_priority attribute
488 encoded in the section name.
492 * Linker script expression evaluation is somewhat more sane. This may
493 break scripts that depend on quirks of the old expression evaluation.
495 * Turn off underscoring for x86_64 PE+-COFF targets. For old behavior the
496 option --enable-leading-mingw64-underscores can be used on configure of
499 * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family.
501 * --add-needed renamed to --copy-dt-needed-entries in order to avoid confusion
502 with --as-needed option.
504 * Extend .def file syntax by '== <ID>' for imports and exports. This allows
505 to alias the import/export table name written in PE image.
507 * Add --exclude-all-symbols option to PE based linkers. This prevents all
508 symbols from automatically being exported.
510 * Add support for the Renesas RX processor.
512 * Add support for alpha-vms target.
516 * GNU/Linux targets now support the STB_GNU_UNIQUE symbol binding. This is a
517 GNU extension to the standard set of ELF symbol bindings. The binding will
518 be passed on to the dynamic linker which will make sure that in the entire
519 process there is just one symbol with the given name and type in use.
521 * PE targets now support a GNU extension to allow the alignment of common
522 common symbols to be specified. This support uses custom options in
523 the .drectve section, which will be disregarded by the native tools.
525 * PE targets now add primitive support for ELF version scripts; symbols
526 are not versioned, but the local and global symbol visibility directives
527 are respected when filtering symbols in auto-export mode.
529 * New option --no-export-dynamic to undo the effect of the -E and
530 --export-dynamic options.
532 * ELF: --warn-alternate-em option to warn if an object has alternate
535 * New script function REGION_ALIAS to add alias names to memory regions.
537 * PE targets no longer make use of the long section names PE extension to
538 the COFF format when generating executable images, by default. The old
539 (slightly non-conformant) behaviour can still be invoked by using the
540 new '--enable-long-section-names' command-line option. It is also enabled
541 automatically in the presence of un-stripped debug information, as GDB
542 needs to be able to find the debug info sections by their full names.
544 * For GNU/Linux systems the linker will now avoid processing any relocations
545 made against symbols of the STT_GNU_IFUNC type and instead emit them into
546 the resulting binary for processing by the loader.
548 * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined
549 symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries. In the
550 latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED
551 entry of one of the libraries already linked.
553 * Add a new command-line option, -Ttext-segment ADDR, for ELF targets
554 to set the address of the first byte of the text segment.
556 * Add support for Sunplus score architecture.
558 * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to ld for PE targets to
559 allow fallback to old import table generation with null element prefix.
561 * Windows PE systems now support a new --exclude-modules-for-implib option,
562 allowing users to partition object files and archive members between a DLL
563 and its associated import library as they are generated during linking.
565 * Add support for Lattice Mico32 (lm32) architecture.
567 * Add CR16 ELF --embedded-relocs (used to embedded relocations into binaries
568 for Embedded-PIC code) option.
570 * Add to the PE/PE+ targets the support of two different kinds of
571 pseudo-relocations. They can be selected by the switches
572 --enable-runtime-pseudo-reloc-v1 and --enable-runtime-pseudo-reloc-v2.
573 For the switch --enable-runtime-pseudo-reloc it uses for 32-bit
574 runtime pseudo relocation version one, for 64-bit the version two.
578 * Linker scripts support a new INSERT command that makes it easier to
579 augment the default script.
581 * Linker script input section filespecs may now specify a file within an
582 archive by writing "archive:file".
584 * The --sort-common switch now has an optional argument which specifies the
585 direction of sorting.
587 * The M68K linker now supports multiple GOT generation schemes controlled via
588 the --got=<type> command-line option.
590 * The ARM EABI linker will now generate stubs for function calls to symbols
591 that are too far away. The placement of the stubs is controlled by a new
592 linker command-line option: --stub-group-size=N.
596 * Linker sources now released under version 3 of the GNU General Public
599 * ELF: New --build-id option to generate a unique per-binary identifier
600 embedded in a note section.
602 * Added support for National Semicondutor CompactRISC (ie CR16) target.
604 * -l:foo now searches the library path for a filename called foo,
605 without converting it to libfoo.a or libfoo.so.
607 * Add a new command-line option '--default-script=FILE' or '-dT FILE'
608 which specifies a replacement for the built in, default linker
611 * ELF: Add -Bsymbolic-functions, --dynamic-list-cpp-new, which puts C++
612 operator new and delete on the dynamic list, and --dynamic-list-data,
613 builtin list for --dynamic-list, which puts global data symbols on the
616 * Add support for x86_64 PE+ target.
618 * Add support for Score target.
620 * ELF: Add --dynamic-list option to specify a list of global symbols
621 whose references shouldn't be bound to the definition within the
622 shared library, or a list of symbols which should be added to the
623 symbol table in the executable.
625 * The default output section LMA has changed for allocatable sections from
626 being equal to VMA, to keeping the difference between LMA and VMA the same as
627 the previous output section in the same region. This is a more useful
628 default when using overlays and other cases where you specify an LMA
629 differing from the VMA for some sections.
631 * New switch: --print-gc-sections to list any sections removed by garabge
634 * ARM: Added --vfp11-denorm-fix option to work around an erratum in current
639 * Support for the Infineon XC16X has been added by KPIT Cummins Infosystems.
641 * Modify the Linux linker search order to better match ld.so search order.
642 Look for DT_NEEDED libraries in paths specified by ld.so.conf before
643 searching the default directories, rather than vice versa.
644 Use $prefix/etc/ld.so.conf if it exists, otherwise /etc/ld.so.conf.
646 * PE-COFF: Forward exports from DLL's can now be specified in .def files
647 passed directly to ld.
649 * Support for the Z80 processor family has been added.
651 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command line, so that extra
652 switches can be read from <file>.
656 * Support for the R_ARM_V4BX relocation as defined in the ARM AAELF
657 specification has been added via the --fix-v4bx command-line option.
659 * New linker script construct AS_NEEDED(), which sets the --as-needed flag
660 for input files listed inside of it.
662 * A new command-line option, --sysroot, can be used to override the
663 default sysroot location. It only applies to toolchains that were
664 configured using --with-sysroot.
666 * New linker script functions: ORIGIN() and LENGTH() which return information
667 about a specified memory region.
669 * Port to MAXQ processor contributed by HCL Tech.
671 * Added SEGMENT_START to the linker script language to permit the user to
672 override the base address for a segment from the command-line.
674 * ELF: --warn-shared-textrel option to warn if adding a DT_TEXTREL to a shared
677 * Added SORT_BY_NAME and SORT_BY_ALIGNMENT to the linker script
678 language to permit sorting sections by section name or section
681 * Added a new linker command-line switch, --sort-section name|alignment,
682 to sort sections by section name or maximum alignment.
684 * ELF: --add-needed/--no-add-needed options to control if a DT_NEEDED tag
685 should be added when a shared library comes from DT_NEEDED tags.
687 * Support for the crx-elf target added.
689 * Support for the sh-symbianelf target added.
691 * A new linker command-line switch has been added which allows the hash table
692 size to be set to a suitable prime value near to its argument. This switch
693 is --hash-size=<NUMBER>. Also if the switch --reduce-memory-overheads is
694 used, and --hash-size has not been used, then the default value will be set
697 * Linker map files are now generated with an O(N) algorithm for finding symbols
698 that are defined in each section. This uses about 40% more memory for
699 symbols than the old O(N^2) algorithm. You can use the new
700 --reduce-memory-overheads option to select the old algorithm; this option
701 might also be used in the future to select similar tradeoffs.
705 * ELF: --as-needed/--no-as-needed options to control if a DT_NEEDED tag should
706 be added only when a shared library is referenced.
708 * PE: --large-address-aware option to indicate executables support virtual
709 addresses greater than 2 gigabytes.
711 * DWARF 2 support for i386pe added.
713 * The linker script operator DEFINED() will now yield 1 only for a symbol that
714 is defined before the statement where DEFINED is used.
716 * The MIPS --embedded-relocs (used to embed relocations into binaries for
717 Embedded-PIC code) is deprecated and will be removed in a future release.
719 * cr16c support added by NSC.
721 * m32r Linux (ELF) support added by Renesas.
723 * Improved linker's handling of unresolved symbols. The switch
724 --unresolved-symbols=<method> has been added to tell the linker when it
725 should report them and the switch --warn-unresolved-symbols has been added to
726 make reports be issued as warning messages rather than errors.
730 * Added support for Xtensa architecture.
732 * Added --with-sysroot configure switch to specify a target system root, for
733 linking against a target filesystem image.
735 * Added --accept-unknown-linker-format to restore old linker behaviour (pre
736 2.14) of silently accepting and linking in any files in an unknown binary
739 * Added --no-omagic to undo the effects of the -N option.
741 * Support for Texas Instruments TMS320C4x and TMS320C3x series of
742 DSP's contributed by Michael Hayes and Svein E. Seldal.
744 * Added --with-lib-path configure switch to specify default value for
747 * ARM port to QNX operating system added by Graeme Peterson.
749 * IP2K support added by Denis Chertykov.
753 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
756 Changes in version 2.13:
758 * DEC VAX ELF support, by Matt Thomas.
760 Changes in version 2.12:
762 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
764 * Support for the OpenRISC 32-bit embedded processor by OpenCores.
766 * Support for -z nocopyreloc in the x86 ELF linker, which disables
767 production of copy relocs. Warning: using this option may result in
768 non-sharable applications.
770 * Support for -z combreloc in the ELF linker, which puts dynamic
771 relocations against the same symbol together, so that dynamic linker
772 can use an one-entry symbol lookup cache.
774 * Support for ELF SHF_MERGE section merging, by Jakub Jelinek.
776 Changes in version 2.11:
778 * Support for AMD x86-64 architecture, by Jan Hubicka, SuSE Labs.
780 * Support added for eliminating duplicate DWARF2 debug information by
781 having the compiler generate the information in sections called
782 .gnu.linkonce.wi.XXXX where XXXX is a checksum for the contents. The
783 linker then merges these sections together into the normal .debug_info
786 * The native ELF linker now searches the directories in DT_RUNPATH or
787 DT_RPATH of a shared library for shared libraries needed by it.
789 * TI C54x support, by Timothy Wall.
791 * Added command-line switch --section-start to set the start address of any
794 * Added ability to emit full relocation information in linked executables,
795 enabled by --emit-relocs. Some post-linkage optimization tools need
796 this information in order to be able to correctly identify and perform
797 symbol relative addressing in the event of changes in section contents
798 (instructions being added or deleted, extending data sections, etc.)
800 * Support for i860, by Jason Eckhardt (preliminary, alpha quality).
802 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
804 * Support for PDP-11 and 2.11BSD a.out format, by Lars Brinkhoff.
806 Changes in version 2.10:
808 * Added AT> to the linker script language to allow load-time allocation of
809 sections into regions.
811 * Added garbage collection of unused sections, enabled by --gc-sections.
812 It does require a bit of backend support; currently implemented are
813 arm-elf, avr-elf, d10v-elf, fr30-elf, i386-elf, m32r-elf, m68k-elf,
814 mcore-elf, mips-elf, mn10300-elf, ppc-elf, sh-elf, sparc-elf, and v850-elf.
815 Others will ignore the option.
817 * Added SORT to the linker script language to permit sorting sections by file
818 name or section name.
820 * Added EXTERN to the linker script language as an equivalent to the -u
823 * Added ASSERT to the linker script language.
825 * Added EXCLUDE_FILE to the linker script language for further control over
828 * Added -O option to optimize linker output (as of this writing, this only
829 affects ELF shared library generation).
831 * The -e option now accepts a number as well as a symbol name.
833 * Added --no-undefined option to disallow undefined symbols when creating a
836 * The linker now issues a warning, not an error, for an undefined symbol when
837 using -Bsymbolic; use the new --no-undefined option to get the old
840 * Added --demangle and --no-demangle options.
842 Changes in version 2.9:
844 * Added SQUAD to the linker script language.
846 * New option --no-warn-mismatch.
848 * The MEMORY command now parses the attributes to determine where sections that
849 are not placed in a specific memory region are placed.
851 Changes in version 2.8:
853 * Linker scripts may now contain shell wildcard characters for file and section
856 * The linker now supports symbol versions in ELF.
858 * The NOCROSSREFS command was added to the linker script language.
860 * The LOADADDR expression was added to the linker script language.
862 * MAX and MIN functions were added to the linker script language.
864 * The OVERLAY construct was added to the linker script language.
866 * New option --warn-section-align to warn when the address of an output section
867 changes due to alignment of an input section.
869 * New options --filter/-F and --auxiliary/-f.
871 Changes in version 2.7:
873 * New option --cref to print out a cross reference table.
875 * New option --wrap SYMBOL.
877 * New option --no-whole-archive, to turn off the effect of --whole-archive.
879 * Input sections assigned to the output section /DISCARD/ in the linker script
880 are not included in the output file.
882 * The SunOS and ELF linkers now merge stabs debugging information which uses
883 the N_BINCL and N_EINCL stab types. This reduces the amount of debugging
884 information generated.
886 Changes in version 2.6:
888 * When an ELF section name is representable as a C identifier (this is not true
889 of most ELF section names), the linker will automatically define symbols
890 __start_SECNAME and __stop_SECNAME, where SECNAME is the section name, at the
891 beginning and the end of the section. This is used by glibc.
893 Addendum: Current versions of the linker (at least for version 2.18 onwards
894 and possibly much earlier as well) place two restrictions on this feature: The
895 symbols are only implemented for orphaned sections, not for explicitly placed
896 sections and they are PROVIDEd rather than being defined.
898 * When an ELF section named .gnu.warning is encountered in an input file, the
899 contents of the section are displayed as an error message, and the section is
900 not copied into the output file. This is used by glibc.
902 * When an ELF section named .gnu.warning.SYMBOL is encountered in an input
903 file, and the symbol SYMBOL is referenced by some object file, the contents of
904 the section are displayed as an error message. The section is not copied into
905 the output file, unless doing a relocatable or shared link. This is used by
908 * New options -split-by-reloc and -split-by-file.
910 * The linker now supports linking PIC compiled code on SPARC SunOS. It can
911 also create SPARC SunOS shared libraries, and, like the native SunOS linker,
912 will do so whenever there is an undefined symbol in the link and neither the -e
913 nor the -r option was used.
915 * The -rpath option may be used on SunOS to set the list of directories to be
916 searched at run time. This overrides the default of building the list from the
919 * The COFF linker now combines debugging information for structs, unions, and
920 enums, so that even if the same type is defined in multiple input files it will
921 only be defined once in the output file. The --traditional-format switch will
922 prevent this optimization.
924 Changes in version 2.5:
926 * The linker now supports linking against SunOS shared libraries. It still can
927 not link SunOS PIC (Position Independent Code) files, so it can not be used to
928 generate shared libraries.
930 * The linker now supports linking against ELF shared libraries for the i386
931 (UnixWare) and SPARC (Solaris). It can also link ELF PIC files, and can be
932 used to generate shared libraries. Shared library generation is not well
933 tested; please report any problems encountered. The linker is now enabled for
936 * Eric Youngdale has contributed Linux support code, including linking against
937 Linux a.out shared libraries. The linker produces Linux QMAGIC binaries.
939 * The ELF backend has been converted to the new linker code. To use the new
940 ELF linker, each particular target requires a relocation function. So far,
941 this function has been written for i386 (UnixWare), SPARC (Solaris) MIPS (Irix
942 5), and HPPA ELF targets.
944 * The -( (--start-group) and -) (--end-group) options have been added to
945 support searching a group of archives as though they were a single archive.
946 This can also be used in a linker script, as GROUP ( files ).
948 * When a file is named on the command line, and the linker does not recognize
949 it as an object file, the linker will now treat the file as a linker script
950 file. A linker script named in this way augments, but does not replace, the
951 default linker script.
953 * The -warn-once option was added. It causes the linker to only warn once per
954 undefined symbol, rather than once per reference.
956 * The COFF backend has been converted to the new linker code. As with ELF, to
957 use the new linker, each particular target requires a relocation function. So
958 far, this function has been written for the i386, m68k, a29k and SH targets.
960 * The -V flag was made a synonym for -v, for SVR4 compatibility. The old -V
961 behaviour is available via --verbose.
963 Changes in version 2.4:
965 * New linker code, by Steve Chamberlain and Ian Taylor. For a.out and ecoff
966 formats (so far), this should result in considerable savings in time
967 and memory used while linking; slightly poorer performance than
968 before for formats not converted yet.
970 * Command-line parsing is no longer done with flex. This means
971 oddball characters in filenames won't get treated as argument
974 * HP-PA ELF support, by Jeff Law. (No SOM support yet.)
976 * Mach i386 support, by David Mackenzie.
978 * Irix 4 shared libraries are now supported (Irix 5 uses ELF, and ELF shared
979 libraries are not yet supported).
981 * COFF shared libraries (as on SCO) should work as well.
983 * The linker is disabled for Solaris. (Actually, it was in 2.3 also, I just
984 forgot to note it.) Some of their C library routines don't work when
985 statically linked, and the GNU linker doesn't support dynamic linking yet.
987 Changes in version 2.3:
989 * Weak symbols are now supported.
991 * ELF support has been added. The linker has been bootstrapped on
992 UnixWare and Solaris.
994 * Alpha OSF/1 support has been added (non dynamic linking only).
996 Changes in version 2.2:
998 * The `bfd' library has been updated to reduce a.out-format string
999 table size. The effect of this is that files linked from many input
1000 files with duplicate symbols (`-g' debugging records, or identical
1001 static symbols) should be much smaller.
1003 Changes in version 2.1:
1005 * The ld -ySYMBOL flag (to trace references to SYMBOL) is now implemented.
1007 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the
1008 other utilities should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix.
1011 Copyright (C) 2012-2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1013 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
1014 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
1015 notice and this notice are preserved.