binutils/NEWS

   1 -*- text -*-
   2
   3 * Add support for displaying the contents of .debug.macro sections.
   4
   5 * Add --preprocessor-arg option to windres to specify additional options
   6   passed to preprocessor.
   7
   8 * Add --dwarf-start and --dwarf-end to readelf and objdump.  These are used by
   9   the new Emacs mode, see dwarf-mode.el.
  10
  11 Changes in 2.21:
  12
  13 * Add --interleave-width option to objcopy to allowing copying a range of
  14   bytes from the input to the output with the --interleave option.
  15
  16 * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family.
  17
  18 * Readelf can now display ARM unwind tables (.ARM.exidx / .ARM.extab) using
  19   the -u / --unwind option.
  20
  21 * Add --dyn-syms to readelf to dump dynamic symbol table.
  22
  23 * A new tool - elfedit - has been added to directly manipulate ELF format
  24   binaries.
  25
  26 * Add to dlltool .def file feature of aliasing PE internal symbol name by
  27   '== <ID>' option.
  28
  29 * Add a new command line option -a / --addresses to addr2line to display the
  30   address before function name or source filename.
  31
  32 * Add a new command line option -p / --pretty-print to addr2line to have
  33   a more human readable output.
  34
  35 * The hppa/som targets can now be compiled on any host.
  36
  37 Changes in 2.20:
  38
  39 * Add support for delay importing to dlltool.  Use the --output-delaylib <file>
  40   switch to create a delay-import library.  The resulting app will load the dll
  41   as soon as the first function is called.  It will link to __delayLoadHelper2()
  42   from the static delayimp library, which will import LoadLibraryA and
  43   GetProcAddress from kernel32.
  44
  45 * Add a new command line option, --insn-width=WIDTH, to objdump to specify
  46   number of bytes to be displayed on a single line when disassembling
  47   instructions.
  48
  49 * Readelf can now display the relocated contents of a section as a sequence
  50   of bytes via the --relocated-dump=<name|number> command line option.
  51
  52 * The gprof program has been given a new command line option:
  53   --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified
  54   file.
  55
  56 * The plugin target has been added to bfd. It can load the same shared objects
  57   used by gold and uses them to provide basic support for new file formats.
  58
  59 * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format
  60   for objcopy.
  61
  62 * Add --file-alignment, --heap, --image-base, --section-alignment,
  63   --stack and --subsystem command line options to objcopy, which will
  64   set PE optional header.
  65
  66 * Option --dwarf/-W of objdump is now as flexible as readelf --debug-dump/-w.
  67
  68 * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined
  69   symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries.  In the
  70   latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED
  71   entry of one of the libraries already linked.
  72
  73 * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to
  74   add absolute paths for -S.
  75
  76 * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to dlltool to allow fall-
  77   back to old import table generation with null element prefix.
  78
  79 * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to
  80   report an error when the import library is associated with
  81   multiple DLLs.
  82
  83 * Added --identify <implib> option to dlltool, which determines the
  84   name of the DLL associated with the specified <implib>.
  85
  86 * Support for PowerPC booke64 instructions has been removed.  The assembler no
  87   longer accepts -mbooke32 or -mbooke64 and the disassembler no longer accepts
  88   -Mbooke32 or -Mbooke64.  Instead, -mbooke and -Mbooke should be used.
  89
  90 Changes in 2.19:
  91
  92 * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line.
  93
  94 * Added support for "thin" archives which contain pathnames pointing to
  95   object files rather than the files themselves and which contain a
  96   flattened symbol index for all objects, and archives, which have been
  97   added to the archive.
  98
  99 * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly.
 100
 101 * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index.
 102
 103 * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port.
 104
 105 * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections.
 106
 107 Changes in 2.18:
 108
 109 * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null
 110   pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as
 111   revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
 112
 113 * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
 114   Public License.
 115
 116 * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets.  This is a message
 117   compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version.
 118
 119 * Add codepage support to the windres tool.  It now supports many new
 120   resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc).  The output generation
 121   for binary files is done now via bfd itself.  The endianess problems
 122   for different hosts are solved.  Dumps of .res files can now be
 123   re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors.
 124   Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected.
 125
 126 * Add --extract-symbol command line option to objcopy, which will
 127   strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except
 128   for its symbol table.  Files containing just symbols can be useful
 129   to some OSes.
 130
 131 Changes in 2.17:
 132
 133 * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
 134
 135 * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt.  -i disables the display of implementation
 136   specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling
 137   of types.
 138
 139 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
 140   that extra switches can be read from <file>.
 141
 142 * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
 143   debug sections.
 144
 145 * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
 146   "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
 147
 148 * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security
 149   conscious.  This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all
 150   code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt.  The old PLT
 151   and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt.
 152
 153 * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
 154   for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
 155
 156 * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
 157
 158 * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
 159   when disassembling VAX binaries.
 160
 161 * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
 162   to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
 163
 164 * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
 165   several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.
 166
 167 Changes in 2.16:
 168
 169 * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
 170
 171 * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and
 172   --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard
 173   matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but
 174   retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations.
 175
 176 * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections.  This
 177   happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered.  The
 178   command line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display
 179   the contents of the .debug_range section.
 180
 181 * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of
 182   symbols which the target considers to be special.  By default these symbols
 183   are no longer displayed.  Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping
 184   symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and
 185   between ARM and THUMB code.
 186
 187 * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
 188   import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
 189
 190 Changes in 2.15:
 191
 192 * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the
 193   disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some
 194   pseudo instruction name.  I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move",
 195   "sll" instead of "nop", etc.
 196
 197 * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on
 198   the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them.
 199
 200 * readelf can now parse archives.
 201
 202 * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
 203   format compatible with ctags tool.
 204
 205 * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing
 206   those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug.  The idea is that
 207   this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create
 208   a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the
 209   debugging info.
 210
 211 * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink
 212   section into a (presumably stripped) executable.  This allows the debug
 213   information for the file to be held in a separate file.
 214
 215 * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX
 216   single-character representation.  This can be checked by running nm
 217   with the -a switch.
 218
 219 Changes in 2.14:
 220
 221 * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
 222
 223 * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
 224
 225 * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
 226
 227 * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
 228   --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
 229
 230 * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
 231   Parallel C compiler.
 232
 233 * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other
 234   headers that declare the same.  Users of BFD should replace boolean,
 235   false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type.
 236
 237 * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
 238
 239 Changes in 2.13:
 240
 241 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
 242   and FR500 included.
 243
 244 Changes in version 2.12:
 245
 246 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
 247
 248 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
 249
 250 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
 251   lines to fit into 80 columns.
 252
 253 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings.  By Markus Kuhn.
 254
 255 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
 256
 257 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions.  Support added for
 258   displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
 259
 260 * New command line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
 261   global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
 262   by Honda Hiroki.
 263
 264 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
 265
 266 * New command line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
 267   with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
 268   description.  Only supported for ELF targets.  By Alexandre Oliva.
 269
 270 * New command line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
 271   the architecture of the output file to the given argument.  This option only
 272   makes sense, if the input target is binary.  Otherwise it is ignored.
 273   By Stefan Geuken.
 274
 275 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
 276
 277 Changes in binutils 2.11:
 278
 279 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
 280   extenstions.
 281
 282 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command line switch to objcopy.
 283   By Luciano Gemme.
 284
 285 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
 286
 287 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
 288
 289 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
 290
 291 Changes in binutils 2.10:
 292
 293 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
 294
 295 * New command line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
 296   entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
 297   file.
 298
 299 * New command line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
 300   a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
 301   disassembler.  Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
 302   raw verions.
 303
 304 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
 305   with intel syntax.
 306
 307 * New program: readelf.  This displays the contents of ELF format files,
 308   regardless of target machine.
 309
 310 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
 311   --change-section-address options.  The old --adjust-section-vma option is
 312   equivalent to --change-section-address.  The other --adjust-* options are now
 313   renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
 314
 315 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
 316
 317 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
 318   sections.
 319
 320 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
 321
 322 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
 323   --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
 324
 325 Changes in binutils 2.9:
 326
 327 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
 328   files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
 329
 330 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
 331   the VMA of the sections.
 332
 333 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
 334
 335 Changes in binutils 2.8:
 336
 337 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved.  Use
 338   the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format.  There are also new
 339   --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
 340   output.
 341
 342 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets.  For example,
 343   objdump -b i386-pc-linux.  The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
 344   so they must be in canonical form.
 345
 346 * Added new addr2line program.  This uses the debugging information to convert
 347   an address into a file name and line number within a program.
 348
 349 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 350
 351 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
 352
 353 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
 354
 355 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
 356
 357 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
 358
 359 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
 360
 361 Changes in binutils 2.7:
 362
 363 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
 364
 365 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
 366
 367 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
 368
 369 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
 370
 371 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
 372
 373 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
 374
 375 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
 376
 377 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
 378
 379 Changes in binutils 2.6:
 380
 381 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
 382
 383 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
 384   file is laid out in memory.  Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
 385   generating plain binary files.
 386
 387 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
 388
 389 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX.  The tools are now built by default on AIX.
 390
 391 Changes in binutils 2.5:
 392
 393 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
 394   listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
 395
 396 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
 397   Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
 398
 399 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
 400
 401 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
 402   executables.
 403
 404 Changes in binutils 2.4:
 405
 406 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
 407   PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
 408
 409 * Support for Irix 5.
 410
 411 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
 412   ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
 413
 414 Changes in binutils 2.3:
 415
 416 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
 417   ELF and COFF files.
 418
 419 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added.  It can convert object files into
 420   Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
 421
 422 * The strings program has been added.
 423
 424 Changes in binutils 2.2:
 425
 426 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
 427   'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
 428   'cp'.
 429
 430 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
 431   (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names.  (Note: This
 432   may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
 433
 434 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
 435   the output from BSD nm.
 436
 437 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
 438
 439 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
 440
 441 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
 442
 443 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
 444
 445 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
 446
 447 Changes in binutils 2.1:
 448
 449 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
 450   should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix.  Please let us know how well this works.
 451
 452 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
 453   version), if there are any object files in the archive.  So running ranlib is
 454   now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used).  This is required
 455   for Posix.2 conformance.
 456
 457 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
 458   independently of the selected target format.  This is to encourage people to
 459   switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
 460
 461 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
 462   and/or local symbols only.  They now also support long options.
 463
 464 \f
 465 Local variables:
 466 fill-column: 79
 467 End: