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1 | -*- text -*- | |
2 | ||
3 | * DCO signed contributions are now accepted. | |
4 | ||
5 | * objcopy --decompress-debug-sections now supports zstd compressed debug | |
6 | sections. The new option --compress-debug-sections=zstd compresses debug | |
7 | sections with zstd. | |
8 | ||
9 | * addr2line and objdump --dwarf now support zstd compressed debug sections. | |
10 | ||
11 | * The dlltool program now accepts --deterministic-libraries and | |
12 | --non-deterministic-libraries as command line options to control whether or | |
13 | not it generates deterministic output libraries. If neither of these options | |
14 | are used the default is whatever was set when the binutils were configured. | |
15 | ||
16 | Changes in 2.39: | |
17 | ||
18 | * Add --no-weak/-W option to nm to make it ignore weak symbols. | |
19 | ||
20 | * Add an option to objdump and readelf to prevent attempts to access debuginfod | |
21 | servers when following links. | |
22 | ||
23 | * objcopy --weaken, --weaken-symbol, and --weaken-symbols now make ELF | |
24 | STB_GNU_UNIQUE symbols weak. | |
25 | ||
26 | * objdump now supports syntax highlighting of disassembler output for some | |
27 | architectures. Use the --disassembler-color=MODE command line flag, with | |
28 | mode being either off, color, or extended-color. | |
29 | ||
30 | Changes in 2.38: | |
31 | ||
32 | * elfedit: Add --output-abiversion option to update ABIVERSION. | |
33 | ||
34 | * Add support for the LoongArch instruction set. | |
35 | ||
36 | * Tools which display symbols or strings (readelf, strings, nm, objdump) | |
37 | have a new command line option which controls how unicode characters are | |
38 | handled. By default they are treated as normal for the tool. Using | |
39 | --unicode=locale will display them according to the current locale. | |
40 | Using --unicode=hex will display them as hex byte values, whilst | |
41 | --unicode=escape will display them as escape sequences. In addition | |
42 | using --unicode=highlight will display them as unicode escape sequences | |
43 | highlighted in red (if supported by the output device). | |
44 | ||
45 | * readelf -r dumps RELR relative relocations now. | |
46 | ||
47 | * Support for efi-app-aarch64, efi-rtdrv-aarch64 and efi-bsdrv-aarch64 has been | |
48 | added to objcopy in order to enable UEFI development using binutils. | |
49 | ||
50 | * ar: Add --thin for creating thin archives. -T is a deprecated alias without | |
51 | diagnostics. In many ar implementations -T has a different meaning, as | |
52 | specified by X/Open System Interface. | |
53 | ||
54 | Changes in 2.37: | |
55 | ||
56 | * The readelf tool has a new command line option which can be used to specify | |
57 | how the numeric values of symbols are reported. --sym-base=0|8|10|16 tells | |
58 | readelf to display the values in base 8, base 10 or base 16. A sym base of 0 | |
59 | represents the default action of displaying values under 10000 in base 10 and | |
60 | values above that in base 16. | |
61 | ||
62 | * Binutils now requires a C99 compiler and library to build. | |
63 | ||
64 | * A new format has been added to the nm program. Specifying | |
65 | --format=just-symbols (or just using -j) will tell the program to only | |
66 | display symbol names and nothing else. | |
67 | ||
68 | * A new command line --keep-section-symbols has been added to objcopy and | |
69 | strip. This stops the removal of unused section symbols when the file is | |
70 | copied. Removing these symbols saves space, but sometimes they are needed by | |
71 | other tools. | |
72 | ||
73 | * objcopy --weaken, --weaken-symbol and --weaken-symbols now make undefined | |
74 | symbols weak on targets that support weak symbols. | |
75 | ||
76 | * Readelf and objdump can now display and use the contents of .debug_sup | |
77 | sections. | |
78 | ||
79 | * Readelf and objdump will now follow links to separate debug info files by | |
80 | default. This behaviour can be stopped via the use of the new -wN or | |
81 | --debug-dump=no-follow-links options for readelf and the -WN or | |
82 | --dwarf=no-follow-links options for objdump. Also the old behaviour can be | |
83 | restored by the use of the --enable-follow-debug-links=no configure time | |
84 | option. | |
85 | ||
86 | The semantics of the =follow-links option have also been slightly changed. | |
87 | When enabled, the option allows for the loading of symbol tables and string | |
88 | tables from the separate files which can be used to enhance the information | |
89 | displayed when dumping other sections, but it does not automatically imply | |
90 | that information from the separate files should be displayed. | |
91 | ||
92 | If other debug section display options are also enabled (eg | |
93 | --debug-dump=info) then the contents of matching sections in both the main | |
94 | file and the separate debuginfo file *will* be displayed. This is because in | |
95 | most cases the debug section will only be present in one of the files. | |
96 | ||
97 | If however non-debug section display options are enabled (eg --sections) then | |
98 | the contents of matching parts of the separate debuginfo file will *not* be | |
99 | displayed. This is because in most cases the user probably only wanted to | |
100 | load the symbol information from the separate debuginfo file. In order to | |
101 | change this behaviour a new command line option --process-links can be used. | |
102 | This will allow di0pslay options to applied to both the main file and any | |
103 | separate debuginfo files. | |
104 | ||
105 | * Nm has a new command line option: --quiet. This suppresses "no symbols" | |
106 | diagnostic. | |
107 | ||
108 | Changes in 2.36: | |
109 | ||
110 | * Update elfedit and readelf with LAM_U48 and LAM_U57 support. | |
111 | ||
112 | * Nm has a new command line option: --ifunc-chars=CHARS. This specifies a | |
113 | string of one or two characters. The first character is used as the type | |
114 | character when displaying global ifunc symbols. The second character, if | |
115 | present is used when displaying local ifunc symbols. | |
116 | ||
117 | In addition a new configure time option --enable-f-for-ifunc-symbols has been | |
118 | created, which if used will change nm's default characters for ifunc symbols | |
119 | from i (both local and global) to F (global) and f (local). | |
120 | ||
121 | * The ar tool's previously unused l modifier is now used for specifying | |
122 | dependencies of a static library. The arguments of this option | |
123 | (or --record-libdeps long form option) will be stored verbatim in the | |
124 | __.LIBDEP member of the archive, which the linker may read at link time. | |
125 | ||
126 | * Readelf can now display the contents of LTO symbol table sections when asked | |
127 | to do so via the --lto-syms command line option. | |
128 | ||
129 | * Readelf now accepts the -C command line option to enable the demangling of | |
130 | symbol names. In addition the --demangle=<style>, --no-demangle, | |
131 | --recurse-limit and --no-recurse-limit options are also now availale. | |
132 | ||
133 | * Add support for the SHF_GNU_RETAIN ELF section flag. | |
134 | This flag specifies that the section should not be garbage collected by the | |
135 | linker. | |
136 | ||
137 | Changes in 2.35: | |
138 | ||
139 | * Changed readelf's display of symbol names when wide mode is not enabled. | |
140 | If the name is too long it will be truncated and the last five characters | |
141 | replaced with "[...]". The old behaviour of displaying 5 more characters but | |
142 | not indicating that truncation has happened can be restored by the use of the | |
143 | -T or --silent-truncation options. | |
144 | ||
145 | * X86 NaCl target support is removed. | |
146 | ||
147 | * The readelf tool now has a -L or --lint or --enable-checks option which turns | |
148 | on warning messages about possible problems with the file(s) being examined. | |
149 | These checks include things like zero-sized sections, which are allowed by | |
150 | the ELF standard but which nevertheless might be of concern if the user | |
151 | was expecting them to actually contain something. | |
152 | ||
153 | Changes in 2.34: | |
154 | ||
155 | * Binutils now supports debuginfod, an HTTP server for distributing | |
156 | ELF/DWARF debugging information as well as source code. When built with | |
157 | debuginfod, readelf and objdump can automatically query debuginfod | |
158 | servers for separate debug files when they otherwise cannot be found. | |
159 | To build binutils with debuginfod, pass --with-debuginfod to configure. | |
160 | This requires libdebuginfod, the debuginfod client library. debuginfod | |
161 | is distributed with elfutils, starting with version 0.178. For more | |
162 | information see https://sourceware.org/elfutils. | |
163 | ||
164 | * Add --output option to the "ar" program. This option can be used to specify | |
165 | the output directory when extracting members from an archive. | |
166 | ||
167 | * Add --keep-section option to objcopy and strip. This option keeps the | |
168 | specified section from being removed. | |
169 | ||
170 | * Add visualization of jumps inside a function by drawing an ascii character | |
171 | graph between the address and the disassembler column. Enabled via the | |
172 | --visualize-jumps command line option for objdump. Currently supported by | |
173 | the x86, x86_64, and ARM targets. The output looks something like this: | |
174 | ||
175 | c6: | | \----------> be 00 00 00 00 mov $0x0,%esi | |
176 | cb: | | /----> 48 8b 3d 00 00 00 00 mov 0x0(%rip),%rdi # d2 <main+0xd2> | |
177 | d2: | | | 31 c0 xor %eax,%eax | |
178 | d4: | | | /-- e8 00 00 00 00 callq d9 <main+0xd9> | |
179 | d9: | | | \-> bf 02 00 00 00 mov $0x2,%edi | |
180 | de: | +-----------|----- e8 00 00 00 00 callq e3 <main+0xe3> | |
181 | e3: | \-----------|----> 48 89 da mov %rbx,%rdx | |
182 | e6: | | be 00 00 00 00 mov $0x0,%esi | |
183 | eb: | \----- eb de jmp cb <main+0xcb> | |
184 | ed: \-------------------> 48 8b 16 mov (%rsi),%rdx | |
185 | ||
186 | Additional arguments to the --visualize-jumps option add colors to the | |
187 | output. | |
188 | ||
189 | Changes in 2.33: | |
190 | ||
191 | * Add --source-comment[=<txt>] option to objdump which if present, | |
192 | provides a prefix to source code lines displayed in a disassembly. | |
193 | ||
194 | * Add --set-section-alignment <section-name>=<align> option to objcopy to allow | |
195 | the changing of section alignments. | |
196 | ||
197 | * Add --verilog-data-width option to objcopy for verilog targets to control | |
198 | width of data elements in verilog hex format. | |
199 | ||
200 | * Add support for the Armv8.1-M Mainline and M-profile Vector Extension (MVE) | |
201 | instructions. | |
202 | ||
203 | * The separate debug info file options of readelf (--debug-dump=links | |
204 | and --debug-dump=follow) and objdump (--dwarf=links and | |
205 | --dwarf=follow-links) will now display and/or follow multiple links if | |
206 | more than one are present in a file. (This usually happens when gcc's | |
207 | -gsplit-dwarf option is used). | |
208 | ||
209 | In addition objdump's --dwarf=follow-links now also affects its other | |
210 | display options, so that for example, when combined with --syms it will | |
211 | cause the symbol tables in any linked debug info files to also be | |
212 | displayed. In addition when combined with --disassemble the --dwarf= | |
213 | follow-links option will ensure that any symbol tables in the linked | |
214 | files are read and used when disassembling code in the main file. | |
215 | ||
216 | * Add support for dumping types encoded in the Compact Type Format | |
217 | to objdump and readelf. | |
218 | ||
219 | Changes in 2.32: | |
220 | ||
221 | * The addr2line, c++filt, nm and objdump tools now have a limit on the | |
222 | maximum amount of recursion that is allowed whilst demangling strings. | |
223 | The value for this limit is defined by the DEMANGLE_RECRUSE_LIMIT | |
224 | constant declared in the include/demangle.h header file. At the time | |
225 | of writing this constant has the value of 2048. | |
226 | ||
227 | The --no-recurse-limit option can be used to remove the limit, restoring | |
228 | the behaviour of earlier versions of these tools. This may be needed in | |
229 | order to dmangle truly complicated names, but it also leaves the tools | |
230 | vulnerable to stack exhaustion from maliciously constructed mangled names. | |
231 | ||
232 | * Objdump's --disassemble option can now take a parameter, specifying the | |
233 | starting symbol for disassembly. Disassembly will continue from this | |
234 | symbol up to the next symbol or the end of the function. | |
235 | ||
236 | * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 2K1000 processor which implements | |
237 | the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE, Loongson-ext ASE, | |
238 | Loongson-ext2 ASE and MSA ASE instructions. Add -march=gs264e option for | |
239 | Loongson 2K1000 processor. | |
240 | ||
241 | * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor which | |
242 | implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE, | |
243 | Loongson-ext ASE and Loongson-ext2 ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464e | |
244 | option for Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor. | |
245 | ||
246 | * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A1000 processor, aka Loongson3a, | |
247 | which implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE | |
248 | and Loongson-ext ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464 option for Loongson | |
249 | 3A1000 processor, The -march=loongson3a is an alias of -march=gs464 for | |
250 | compatibility. | |
251 | ||
252 | * The size tool now has a new output format '--format=GNU' or '-G'. The | |
253 | results are displayed in a similar manor to the default berkeley layout, | |
254 | except read-only data is counted in the data column, not the text column. | |
255 | Additionally the total is only included once. | |
256 | ||
257 | Changes in 2.31: | |
258 | ||
259 | * Add support for disassembling netronome Flow Processor (NFP) firmware files. | |
260 | ||
261 | * The AArch64 port now supports showing disassembly notes which are emitted | |
262 | when inconsistencies are found with the instruction that may result in the | |
263 | instruction being invalid. These can be turned on with the option -M notes | |
264 | to objdump. | |
265 | ||
266 | * The AArch64 port now emits warnings when a combination of an instruction and | |
267 | a named register could be invalid. | |
268 | ||
269 | * Added O modifier to ar to display member offsets inside an archive | |
270 | ||
271 | Changes in 2.30: | |
272 | ||
273 | * Add --debug-dump=links option to readelf and --dwarf=links option to objdump | |
274 | which displays the contents of any .gnu_debuglink or .gnu_debugaltlink | |
275 | sections. | |
276 | ||
277 | Add a --debug-dump=follow-links option to readelf and a --dwarf=follow-links | |
278 | option to objdump which causes indirect links into separate debug info files | |
279 | to be followed when dumping other DWARF sections. | |
280 | ||
281 | Changes in 2.29: | |
282 | ||
283 | * The MIPS port now supports microMIPS eXtended Physical Addressing (XPA) | |
284 | instructions for assembly and disassembly. | |
285 | ||
286 | * The MIPS port now supports the microMIPS Release 5 ISA for assembly and | |
287 | disassembly. | |
288 | ||
289 | * The MIPS port now supports the Imagination interAptiv MR2 processor, | |
290 | which implements the MIPS32r3 ISA, the MIPS16e2 ASE as well as a couple | |
291 | of implementation-specific regular MIPS and MIPS16e2 ASE instructions. | |
292 | ||
293 | * The SPARC port now supports the SPARC M8 processor, which implements the | |
294 | Oracle SPARC Architecture 2017. | |
295 | ||
296 | * The MIPS port now supports the MIPS16e2 ASE for assembly and disassembly. | |
297 | ||
298 | * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX. | |
299 | ||
300 | * Add support for the wasm32 ELF conversion of the WebAssembly file format. | |
301 | ||
302 | * Add --inlines option to objdump, which extends the --line-numbers option | |
303 | so that inlined functions will display their nesting information. | |
304 | ||
305 | * Add --merge-notes options to objcopy to reduce the size of notes in | |
306 | a binary file by merging and deleting redundant notes. | |
307 | ||
308 | * Add support for locating separate debug info files using the build-id | |
309 | method, where the separate file has a name based upon the build-id of | |
310 | the original file. | |
311 | ||
312 | Changes in 2.28: | |
313 | ||
314 | * This version of binutils fixes a problem with PowerPC VLE 16A and 16D | |
315 | relocations which were functionally swapped, for example, | |
316 | R_PPC_VLE_HA16A performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16D while R_PPC_VLE_HA16D | |
317 | performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16A. This could have been fixed by | |
318 | renumbering relocations, which would keep object files created by an | |
319 | older version of gas compatible with a newer ld. However, that would | |
320 | require an ABI update, affecting other assemblers and linkers that | |
321 | create and process the relocations correctly. It is recommended that | |
322 | all VLE object files be recompiled, but ld can modify the relocations | |
323 | if --vle-reloc-fixup is passed to ld. If the new ld command-line | |
324 | option is not used, ld will ld warn on finding relocations inconsistent | |
325 | with the instructions being relocated. | |
326 | ||
327 | * The nm program has a new command-line option (--with-version-strings) | |
328 | which will display a symbol's version information, if any, after the | |
329 | symbol's name. | |
330 | ||
331 | * The ARC port of objdump now accepts a -M option to specify the extra | |
332 | instruction class(es) that should be disassembled. | |
333 | ||
334 | * The --remove-section option for objcopy and strip now accepts section | |
335 | patterns starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching | |
336 | section. A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections | |
337 | matched by an earlier --remove-section pattern. | |
338 | ||
339 | * The --only-section option for objcopy now accepts section patterns | |
340 | starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching section. | |
341 | A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections matched by | |
342 | an earlier --only-section pattern. | |
343 | ||
344 | * New --remove-relocations=SECTIONPATTERN option for objcopy and strip. | |
345 | This option can be used to remove sections containing relocations. | |
346 | The SECTIONPATTERN is the section to which the relocations apply, not | |
347 | the relocation section itself. | |
348 | ||
349 | Changes in 2.27: | |
350 | ||
351 | * Add a configure option, --enable-64-bit-archive, to force use of a | |
352 | 64-bit format when creating an archive symbol index. | |
353 | ||
354 | * Add --elf-stt-common= option to objcopy for ELF targets to control | |
355 | whether to convert common symbols to the STT_COMMON type. | |
356 | ||
357 | Changes in 2.26: | |
358 | ||
359 | * Add option to objcopy to insert new symbols into a file: | |
360 | --add-symbol <name>=[<section>:]<value>[,<flags>] | |
361 | ||
362 | * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures. | |
363 | ||
364 | * Extend objcopy --compress-debug-sections option to support | |
365 | --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi] for ELF | |
366 | targets. | |
367 | ||
368 | * Add --update-section option to objcopy. | |
369 | ||
370 | * Add --output-separator option to strings. | |
371 | ||
372 | Changes in 2.25: | |
373 | ||
374 | * Add --data option to strings to only print strings in loadable, initialized | |
375 | data sections. Change the default behaviour to be --all, but add a new | |
376 | configure time option of --disable-default-strings-all to restore the old | |
377 | default behaviour. | |
378 | ||
379 | * Add --include-all-whitespace to strings. | |
380 | ||
381 | * Add --dump-section option to objcopy. | |
382 | ||
383 | * Add support for the Andes NDS32. | |
384 | ||
385 | Changes in 2.24: | |
386 | ||
387 | * Objcopy now supports wildcard characters in command-line options that take | |
388 | section names. | |
389 | ||
390 | * Add support for Altera Nios II. | |
391 | ||
392 | Changes in 2.23: | |
393 | ||
394 | * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture. | |
395 | ||
396 | * Add support for x64 Windows target of the delayed-load-library. | |
397 | ||
398 | * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture. | |
399 | ||
400 | Changes in 2.22: | |
401 | ||
402 | * Add support for displaying the contents of .debug.macro sections. | |
403 | ||
404 | * Add --preprocessor-arg option to windres to specify additional options | |
405 | passed to preprocessor. | |
406 | ||
407 | * Add --dwarf-start and --dwarf-end to readelf and objdump. These are used by | |
408 | the new Emacs mode, see dwarf-mode.el. | |
409 | ||
410 | * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures. | |
411 | ||
412 | changes in 2.21: | |
413 | ||
414 | * Add --interleave-width option to objcopy to allowing copying a range of | |
415 | bytes from the input to the output with the --interleave option. | |
416 | ||
417 | * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family. | |
418 | ||
419 | * Readelf can now display ARM unwind tables (.ARM.exidx / .ARM.extab) using | |
420 | the -u / --unwind option. | |
421 | ||
422 | * Add --dyn-syms to readelf to dump dynamic symbol table. | |
423 | ||
424 | * A new tool - elfedit - has been added to directly manipulate ELF format | |
425 | binaries. | |
426 | ||
427 | * Add to dlltool .def file feature of aliasing PE internal symbol name by | |
428 | '== <ID>' option. | |
429 | ||
430 | * Add a new command-line option -a / --addresses to addr2line to display the | |
431 | address before function name or source filename. | |
432 | ||
433 | * Add a new command-line option -p / --pretty-print to addr2line to have | |
434 | a more human readable output. | |
435 | ||
436 | * The hppa/som targets can now be compiled on any host. | |
437 | ||
438 | Changes in 2.20: | |
439 | ||
440 | * Add support for delay importing to dlltool. Use the --output-delaylib <file> | |
441 | switch to create a delay-import library. The resulting app will load the dll | |
442 | as soon as the first function is called. It will link to __delayLoadHelper2() | |
443 | from the static delayimp library, which will import LoadLibraryA and | |
444 | GetProcAddress from kernel32. | |
445 | ||
446 | * Add a new command-line option, --insn-width=WIDTH, to objdump to specify | |
447 | number of bytes to be displayed on a single line when disassembling | |
448 | instructions. | |
449 | ||
450 | * Readelf can now display the relocated contents of a section as a sequence | |
451 | of bytes via the --relocated-dump=<name|number> command-line option. | |
452 | ||
453 | * The gprof program has been given a new command-line option: | |
454 | --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified | |
455 | file. | |
456 | ||
457 | * The plugin target has been added to bfd. It can load the same shared objects | |
458 | used by gold and uses them to provide basic support for new file formats. | |
459 | ||
460 | * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format | |
461 | for objcopy. | |
462 | ||
463 | * Add --file-alignment, --heap, --image-base, --section-alignment, | |
464 | --stack and --subsystem command-line options to objcopy, which will | |
465 | set PE optional header. | |
466 | ||
467 | * Option --dwarf/-W of objdump is now as flexible as readelf --debug-dump/-w. | |
468 | ||
469 | * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined | |
470 | symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries. In the | |
471 | latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED | |
472 | entry of one of the libraries already linked. | |
473 | ||
474 | * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to | |
475 | add absolute paths for -S. | |
476 | ||
477 | * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to dlltool to allow fall- | |
478 | back to old import table generation with null element prefix. | |
479 | ||
480 | * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to | |
481 | report an error when the import library is associated with | |
482 | multiple DLLs. | |
483 | ||
484 | * Added --identify <implib> option to dlltool, which determines the | |
485 | name of the DLL associated with the specified <implib>. | |
486 | ||
487 | * Support for PowerPC booke64 instructions has been removed. The assembler no | |
488 | longer accepts -mbooke32 or -mbooke64 and the disassembler no longer accepts | |
489 | -Mbooke32 or -Mbooke64. Instead, -mbooke and -Mbooke should be used. | |
490 | ||
491 | Changes in 2.19: | |
492 | ||
493 | * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line. | |
494 | ||
495 | * Added support for "thin" archives which contain pathnames pointing to | |
496 | object files rather than the files themselves and which contain a | |
497 | flattened symbol index for all objects, and archives, which have been | |
498 | added to the archive. | |
499 | ||
500 | * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly. | |
501 | ||
502 | * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index. | |
503 | ||
504 | * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port. | |
505 | ||
506 | * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections. | |
507 | ||
508 | Changes in 2.18: | |
509 | ||
510 | * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null | |
511 | pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as | |
512 | revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com). | |
513 | ||
514 | * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General | |
515 | Public License. | |
516 | ||
517 | * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets. This is a message | |
518 | compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version. | |
519 | ||
520 | * Add codepage support to the windres tool. It now supports many new | |
521 | resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc). The output generation | |
522 | for binary files is done now via bfd itself. The endianess problems | |
523 | for different hosts are solved. Dumps of .res files can now be | |
524 | re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors. | |
525 | Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected. | |
526 | ||
527 | * Add --extract-symbol command-line option to objcopy, which will | |
528 | strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except | |
529 | for its symbol table. Files containing just symbols can be useful | |
530 | to some OSes. | |
531 | ||
532 | Changes in 2.17: | |
533 | ||
534 | * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER". | |
535 | ||
536 | * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt. -i disables the display of implementation | |
537 | specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling | |
538 | of types. | |
539 | ||
540 | * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so | |
541 | that extra switches can be read from <file>. | |
542 | ||
543 | * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF | |
544 | debug sections. | |
545 | ||
546 | * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details. | |
547 | "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated. | |
548 | ||
549 | * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security | |
550 | conscious. This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all | |
551 | code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt. The old PLT | |
552 | and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt. | |
553 | ||
554 | * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information | |
555 | for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function. | |
556 | ||
557 | * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name. | |
558 | ||
559 | * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address | |
560 | when disassembling VAX binaries. | |
561 | ||
562 | * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches | |
563 | to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols. | |
564 | ||
565 | * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for | |
566 | several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint. | |
567 | ||
568 | Changes in 2.16: | |
569 | ||
570 | * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups. | |
571 | ||
572 | * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and | |
573 | --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard | |
574 | matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but | |
575 | retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations. | |
576 | ||
577 | * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections. This | |
578 | happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered. The | |
579 | command-line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display | |
580 | the contents of the .debug_range section. | |
581 | ||
582 | * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of | |
583 | symbols which the target considers to be special. By default these symbols | |
584 | are no longer displayed. Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping | |
585 | symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and | |
586 | between ARM and THUMB code. | |
587 | ||
588 | * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional | |
589 | import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them. | |
590 | ||
591 | Changes in 2.15: | |
592 | ||
593 | * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the | |
594 | disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some | |
595 | pseudo instruction name. I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move", | |
596 | "sll" instead of "nop", etc. | |
597 | ||
598 | * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on | |
599 | the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them. | |
600 | ||
601 | * readelf can now parse archives. | |
602 | ||
603 | * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a | |
604 | format compatible with ctags tool. | |
605 | ||
606 | * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing | |
607 | those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug. The idea is that | |
608 | this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create | |
609 | a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the | |
610 | debugging info. | |
611 | ||
612 | * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink | |
613 | section into a (presumably stripped) executable. This allows the debug | |
614 | information for the file to be held in a separate file. | |
615 | ||
616 | * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX | |
617 | single-character representation. This can be checked by running nm | |
618 | with the -a switch. | |
619 | ||
620 | Changes in 2.14: | |
621 | ||
622 | * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip. | |
623 | ||
624 | * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat. | |
625 | ||
626 | * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters. | |
627 | ||
628 | * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and | |
629 | --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy. | |
630 | ||
631 | * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified | |
632 | Parallel C compiler. | |
633 | ||
634 | * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other | |
635 | headers that declare the same. Users of BFD should replace boolean, | |
636 | false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type. | |
637 | ||
638 | * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov. | |
639 | ||
640 | Changes in 2.13: | |
641 | ||
642 | * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400 | |
643 | and FR500 included. | |
644 | ||
645 | Changes in version 2.12: | |
646 | ||
647 | * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson. | |
648 | ||
649 | * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only). | |
650 | ||
651 | * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing | |
652 | lines to fit into 80 columns. | |
653 | ||
654 | * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings. By Markus Kuhn. | |
655 | ||
656 | * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names. | |
657 | ||
658 | * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions. Support added for | |
659 | displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections. | |
660 | ||
661 | * New command-line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as | |
662 | global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols. | |
663 | by Honda Hiroki. | |
664 | ||
665 | * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg. | |
666 | ||
667 | * New command-line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary | |
668 | with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture | |
669 | description. Only supported for ELF targets. By Alexandre Oliva. | |
670 | ||
671 | * New command-line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets | |
672 | the architecture of the output file to the given argument. This option only | |
673 | makes sense, if the input target is binary. Otherwise it is ignored. | |
674 | By Stefan Geuken. | |
675 | ||
676 | * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff. | |
677 | ||
678 | Changes in binutils 2.11: | |
679 | ||
680 | * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM | |
681 | extenstions. | |
682 | ||
683 | * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command-line switch to objcopy. | |
684 | By Luciano Gemme. | |
685 | ||
686 | * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander. | |
687 | ||
688 | * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt. | |
689 | ||
690 | * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series). | |
691 | ||
692 | Changes in binutils 2.10: | |
693 | ||
694 | * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA. | |
695 | ||
696 | * New command-line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the | |
697 | entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given | |
698 | file. | |
699 | ||
700 | * New command-line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes | |
701 | a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the | |
702 | disassembler. Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or | |
703 | raw verions. | |
704 | ||
705 | * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed | |
706 | with intel syntax. | |
707 | ||
708 | * New program: readelf. This displays the contents of ELF format files, | |
709 | regardless of target machine. | |
710 | ||
711 | * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and | |
712 | --change-section-address options. The old --adjust-section-vma option is | |
713 | equivalent to --change-section-address. The other --adjust-* options are now | |
714 | renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work. | |
715 | ||
716 | * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols. | |
717 | ||
718 | * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified | |
719 | sections. | |
720 | ||
721 | * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command. | |
722 | ||
723 | * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols, | |
724 | --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options. | |
725 | ||
726 | Changes in binutils 2.9: | |
727 | ||
728 | * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32 | |
729 | files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT. | |
730 | ||
731 | * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than | |
732 | the VMA of the sections. | |
733 | ||
734 | * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table. | |
735 | ||
736 | Changes in binutils 2.8: | |
737 | ||
738 | * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved. Use | |
739 | the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format. There are also new | |
740 | --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler | |
741 | output. | |
742 | ||
743 | * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets. For example, | |
744 | objdump -b i386-pc-linux. The triplets are not passed through config.sub, | |
745 | so they must be in canonical form. | |
746 | ||
747 | * Added new addr2line program. This uses the debugging information to convert | |
748 | an address into a file name and line number within a program. | |
749 | ||
750 | * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy. | |
751 | ||
752 | * Added --weaken argument to objcopy. | |
753 | ||
754 | * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries. | |
755 | ||
756 | * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump. | |
757 | ||
758 | * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump. | |
759 | ||
760 | * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy. | |
761 | ||
762 | Changes in binutils 2.7: | |
763 | ||
764 | * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure. | |
765 | ||
766 | * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy. | |
767 | ||
768 | * Added --defined-only argument to nm. | |
769 | ||
770 | * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy. | |
771 | ||
772 | * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc. | |
773 | ||
774 | * Added --line-numbers option to nm. | |
775 | ||
776 | * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump. | |
777 | ||
778 | * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP. | |
779 | ||
780 | Changes in binutils 2.6: | |
781 | ||
782 | * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy. | |
783 | ||
784 | * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new | |
785 | file is laid out in memory. Also added binary output format to BFD to permit | |
786 | generating plain binary files. | |
787 | ||
788 | * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump. | |
789 | ||
790 | * ar and ranlib now work on AIX. The tools are now built by default on AIX. | |
791 | ||
792 | Changes in binutils 2.5: | |
793 | ||
794 | * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly | |
795 | listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files. | |
796 | ||
797 | * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections. | |
798 | Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections. | |
799 | ||
800 | * Added --size-sort option to nm. | |
801 | ||
802 | * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF | |
803 | executables. | |
804 | ||
805 | Changes in binutils 2.4: | |
806 | ||
807 | * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and | |
808 | PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor). | |
809 | ||
810 | * Support for Irix 5. | |
811 | ||
812 | * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked | |
813 | ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly. | |
814 | ||
815 | Changes in binutils 2.3: | |
816 | ||
817 | * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in | |
818 | ELF and COFF files. | |
819 | ||
820 | * A new program, nlmconv, has been added. It can convert object files into | |
821 | Novell NetWare Loadable Modules. | |
822 | ||
823 | * The strings program has been added. | |
824 | ||
825 | Changes in binutils 2.2: | |
826 | ||
827 | * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with | |
828 | 'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for | |
829 | 'cp'. | |
830 | ||
831 | * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded | |
832 | (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names. (Note: This | |
833 | may get moved to the gcc distribution.) | |
834 | ||
835 | * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching | |
836 | the output from BSD nm. | |
837 | ||
838 | * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives. | |
839 | ||
840 | * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH. | |
841 | ||
842 | * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb. | |
843 | ||
844 | * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use. | |
845 | ||
846 | * There is the beginnings of a test suite. | |
847 | ||
848 | Changes in binutils 2.1: | |
849 | ||
850 | * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities | |
851 | should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix. Please let us know how well this works. | |
852 | ||
853 | * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD | |
854 | version), if there are any object files in the archive. So running ranlib is | |
855 | now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used). This is required | |
856 | for Posix.2 conformance. | |
857 | ||
858 | * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives | |
859 | independently of the selected target format. This is to encourage people to | |
860 | switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages. | |
861 | ||
862 | * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only | |
863 | and/or local symbols only. They now also support long options. | |
864 | ||
865 | \f | |
866 | Copyright (C) 2012-2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc. | |
867 | ||
868 | Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification, | |
869 | are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright | |
870 | notice and this notice are preserved. | |
871 | ||
872 | Local variables: | |
873 | fill-column: 79 | |
874 | End: |