3 * DCO signed contributions are now accepted.
5 * objcopy --decompress-debug-sections now supports zstd compressed debug
6 sections. The new option --compress-debug-sections=zstd compresses debug
9 * addr2line and objdump --dwarf now support zstd compressed debug sections.
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.
18 * Add --no-weak/-W option to nm to make it ignore weak symbols.
20 * Add an option to objdump and readelf to prevent attempts to access debuginfod
21 servers when following links.
23 * objcopy --weaken, --weaken-symbol, and --weaken-symbols now make ELF
24 STB_GNU_UNIQUE symbols weak.
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.
32 * elfedit: Add --output-abiversion option to update ABIVERSION.
34 * Add support for the LoongArch instruction set.
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).
45 * readelf -r dumps RELR relative relocations now.
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.
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.
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.
62 * Binutils now requires a C99 compiler and library to build.
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.
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
73 * objcopy --weaken, --weaken-symbol and --weaken-symbols now make undefined
74 symbols weak on targets that support weak symbols.
76 * Readelf and objdump can now display and use the contents of .debug_sup
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
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.
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.
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.
105 * Nm has a new command line option: --quiet. This suppresses "no symbols"
110 * Update elfedit and readelf with LAM_U48 and LAM_U57 support.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
145 * X86 NaCl target support is removed.
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.
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.
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.
167 * Add --keep-section option to objcopy and strip. This option keeps the
168 specified section from being removed.
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:
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
186 Additional arguments to the --visualize-jumps option add colors to the
191 * Add --source-comment[=<txt>] option to objdump which if present,
192 provides a prefix to source code lines displayed in a disassembly.
194 * Add --set-section-alignment <section-name>=<align> option to objcopy to allow
195 the changing of section alignments.
197 * Add --verilog-data-width option to objcopy for verilog targets to control
198 width of data elements in verilog hex format.
200 * Add support for the Armv8.1-M Mainline and M-profile Vector Extension (MVE)
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).
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.
216 * Add support for dumping types encoded in the Compact Type Format
217 to objdump and readelf.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
259 * Add support for disassembling netronome Flow Processor (NFP) firmware files.
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
266 * The AArch64 port now emits warnings when a combination of an instruction and
267 a named register could be invalid.
269 * Added O modifier to ar to display member offsets inside an archive
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
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.
283 * The MIPS port now supports microMIPS eXtended Physical Addressing (XPA)
284 instructions for assembly and disassembly.
286 * The MIPS port now supports the microMIPS Release 5 ISA for assembly and
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.
293 * The SPARC port now supports the SPARC M8 processor, which implements the
294 Oracle SPARC Architecture 2017.
296 * The MIPS port now supports the MIPS16e2 ASE for assembly and disassembly.
298 * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX.
300 * Add support for the wasm32 ELF conversion of the WebAssembly file format.
302 * Add --inlines option to objdump, which extends the --line-numbers option
303 so that inlined functions will display their nesting information.
305 * Add --merge-notes options to objcopy to reduce the size of notes in
306 a binary file by merging and deleting redundant notes.
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
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.
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
331 * The ARC port of objdump now accepts a -M option to specify the extra
332 instruction class(es) that should be disassembled.
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.
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.
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.
351 * Add a configure option, --enable-64-bit-archive, to force use of a
352 64-bit format when creating an archive symbol index.
354 * Add --elf-stt-common= option to objcopy for ELF targets to control
355 whether to convert common symbols to the STT_COMMON type.
359 * Add option to objcopy to insert new symbols into a file:
360 --add-symbol <name>=[<section>:]<value>[,<flags>]
362 * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures.
364 * Extend objcopy --compress-debug-sections option to support
365 --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi] for ELF
368 * Add --update-section option to objcopy.
370 * Add --output-separator option to strings.
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
379 * Add --include-all-whitespace to strings.
381 * Add --dump-section option to objcopy.
383 * Add support for the Andes NDS32.
387 * Objcopy now supports wildcard characters in command-line options that take
390 * Add support for Altera Nios II.
394 * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture.
396 * Add support for x64 Windows target of the delayed-load-library.
398 * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture.
402 * Add support for displaying the contents of .debug.macro sections.
404 * Add --preprocessor-arg option to windres to specify additional options
405 passed to preprocessor.
407 * Add --dwarf-start and --dwarf-end to readelf and objdump. These are used by
408 the new Emacs mode, see dwarf-mode.el.
410 * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures.
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.
417 * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family.
419 * Readelf can now display ARM unwind tables (.ARM.exidx / .ARM.extab) using
420 the -u / --unwind option.
422 * Add --dyn-syms to readelf to dump dynamic symbol table.
424 * A new tool - elfedit - has been added to directly manipulate ELF format
427 * Add to dlltool .def file feature of aliasing PE internal symbol name by
430 * Add a new command-line option -a / --addresses to addr2line to display the
431 address before function name or source filename.
433 * Add a new command-line option -p / --pretty-print to addr2line to have
434 a more human readable output.
436 * The hppa/som targets can now be compiled on any host.
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.
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
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.
453 * The gprof program has been given a new command-line option:
454 --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified
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.
460 * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format
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.
467 * Option --dwarf/-W of objdump is now as flexible as readelf --debug-dump/-w.
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.
474 * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to
475 add absolute paths for -S.
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.
480 * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to
481 report an error when the import library is associated with
484 * Added --identify <implib> option to dlltool, which determines the
485 name of the DLL associated with the specified <implib>.
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.
493 * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line.
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.
500 * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly.
502 * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index.
504 * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port.
506 * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections.
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).
514 * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
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.
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.
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
534 * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
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
540 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
541 that extra switches can be read from <file>.
543 * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
546 * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
547 "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
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.
554 * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
555 for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
557 * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
559 * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
560 when disassembling VAX binaries.
562 * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
563 to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
565 * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
566 several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.
570 * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
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.
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.
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.
588 * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
589 import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
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.
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.
601 * readelf can now parse archives.
603 * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
604 format compatible with ctags tool.
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
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.
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
622 * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
624 * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
626 * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
628 * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
629 --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
631 * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
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.
638 * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
642 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
645 Changes in version 2.12:
647 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
649 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
651 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
652 lines to fit into 80 columns.
654 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings. By Markus Kuhn.
656 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
658 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions. Support added for
659 displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
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.
665 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
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.
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.
676 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
678 Changes in binutils 2.11:
680 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
683 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command-line switch to objcopy.
686 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
688 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
690 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
692 Changes in binutils 2.10:
694 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
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
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
705 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
708 * New program: readelf. This displays the contents of ELF format files,
709 regardless of target machine.
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.
716 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
718 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
721 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
723 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
724 --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
726 Changes in binutils 2.9:
728 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
729 files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
731 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
732 the VMA of the sections.
734 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
736 Changes in binutils 2.8:
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
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.
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.
750 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
752 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
754 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
756 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
758 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
760 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
762 Changes in binutils 2.7:
764 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
766 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
768 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
770 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
772 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
774 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
776 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
778 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
780 Changes in binutils 2.6:
782 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
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.
788 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
790 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX. The tools are now built by default on AIX.
792 Changes in binutils 2.5:
794 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
795 listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
797 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
798 Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
800 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
802 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
805 Changes in binutils 2.4:
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).
810 * Support for Irix 5.
812 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
813 ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
815 Changes in binutils 2.3:
817 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
820 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added. It can convert object files into
821 Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
823 * The strings program has been added.
825 Changes in binutils 2.2:
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
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.)
835 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
836 the output from BSD nm.
838 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
840 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
842 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
844 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
846 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
848 Changes in binutils 2.1:
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.
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.
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.
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.
866 Copyright (C) 2012-2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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.