3 * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX.
5 * Add support for the wasm32 ELF conversion of the WebAssembly file format.
7 * Add --inlines option to objdump, which extends the --line-numbers option
8 so that inlined functions will display their nesting information.
10 * Add --merge-notes options to objcopy to reduce the size of notes in
11 a binary file by merging and deleting redundant notes.
13 * Add support for locating separate debug info files using the build-id
14 method, where the separate file has a name based upon the build-id of
19 * This version of binutils fixes a problem with PowerPC VLE 16A and 16D
20 relocations which were functionally swapped, for example,
21 R_PPC_VLE_HA16A performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16D while R_PPC_VLE_HA16D
22 performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16A. This could have been fixed by
23 renumbering relocations, which would keep object files created by an
24 older version of gas compatible with a newer ld. However, that would
25 require an ABI update, affecting other assemblers and linkers that
26 create and process the relocations correctly. It is recommended that
27 all VLE object files be recompiled, but ld can modify the relocations
28 if --vle-reloc-fixup is passed to ld. If the new ld command line
29 option is not used, ld will ld warn on finding relocations inconsistent
30 with the instructions being relocated.
32 * The nm program has a new command line option (--with-version-strings)
33 which will display a symbol's version information, if any, after the
36 * The ARC port of objdump now accepts a -M option to specify the extra
37 instruction class(es) that should be disassembled.
39 * The --remove-section option for objcopy and strip now accepts section
40 patterns starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching
41 section. A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections
42 matched by an earlier --remove-section pattern.
44 * The --only-section option for objcopy now accepts section patterns
45 starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching section.
46 A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections matched by
47 an earlier --only-section pattern.
49 * New --remove-relocations=SECTIONPATTERN option for objcopy and strip.
50 This option can be used to remove sections containing relocations.
51 The SECTIONPATTERN is the section to which the relocations apply, not
52 the relocation section itself.
56 * Add a configure option, --enable-64-bit-archive, to force use of a
57 64-bit format when creating an archive symbol index.
59 * Add --elf-stt-common= option to objcopy for ELF targets to control
60 whether to convert common symbols to the STT_COMMON type.
64 * Add option to objcopy to insert new symbols into a file:
65 --add-symbol <name>=[<section>:]<value>[,<flags>]
67 * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures.
69 * Extend objcopy --compress-debug-sections option to support
70 --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi] for ELF
73 * Add --update-section option to objcopy.
75 * Add --output-separator option to strings.
79 * Add --data option to strings to only print strings in loadable, initialized
80 data sections. Change the default behaviour to be --all, but add a new
81 configure time option of --disable-default-strings-all to restore the old
84 * Add --include-all-whitespace to strings.
86 * Add --dump-section option to objcopy.
88 * Add support for the Andes NDS32.
92 * Objcopy now supports wildcard characters in command line options that take
95 * Add support for Altera Nios II.
99 * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture.
101 * Add support for x64 Windows target of the delayed-load-library.
103 * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture.
107 * Add support for displaying the contents of .debug.macro sections.
109 * Add --preprocessor-arg option to windres to specify additional options
110 passed to preprocessor.
112 * Add --dwarf-start and --dwarf-end to readelf and objdump. These are used by
113 the new Emacs mode, see dwarf-mode.el.
115 * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures.
119 * Add --interleave-width option to objcopy to allowing copying a range of
120 bytes from the input to the output with the --interleave option.
122 * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family.
124 * Readelf can now display ARM unwind tables (.ARM.exidx / .ARM.extab) using
125 the -u / --unwind option.
127 * Add --dyn-syms to readelf to dump dynamic symbol table.
129 * A new tool - elfedit - has been added to directly manipulate ELF format
132 * Add to dlltool .def file feature of aliasing PE internal symbol name by
135 * Add a new command line option -a / --addresses to addr2line to display the
136 address before function name or source filename.
138 * Add a new command line option -p / --pretty-print to addr2line to have
139 a more human readable output.
141 * The hppa/som targets can now be compiled on any host.
145 * Add support for delay importing to dlltool. Use the --output-delaylib <file>
146 switch to create a delay-import library. The resulting app will load the dll
147 as soon as the first function is called. It will link to __delayLoadHelper2()
148 from the static delayimp library, which will import LoadLibraryA and
149 GetProcAddress from kernel32.
151 * Add a new command line option, --insn-width=WIDTH, to objdump to specify
152 number of bytes to be displayed on a single line when disassembling
155 * Readelf can now display the relocated contents of a section as a sequence
156 of bytes via the --relocated-dump=<name|number> command line option.
158 * The gprof program has been given a new command line option:
159 --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified
162 * The plugin target has been added to bfd. It can load the same shared objects
163 used by gold and uses them to provide basic support for new file formats.
165 * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format
168 * Add --file-alignment, --heap, --image-base, --section-alignment,
169 --stack and --subsystem command line options to objcopy, which will
170 set PE optional header.
172 * Option --dwarf/-W of objdump is now as flexible as readelf --debug-dump/-w.
174 * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined
175 symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries. In the
176 latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED
177 entry of one of the libraries already linked.
179 * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to
180 add absolute paths for -S.
182 * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to dlltool to allow fall-
183 back to old import table generation with null element prefix.
185 * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to
186 report an error when the import library is associated with
189 * Added --identify <implib> option to dlltool, which determines the
190 name of the DLL associated with the specified <implib>.
192 * Support for PowerPC booke64 instructions has been removed. The assembler no
193 longer accepts -mbooke32 or -mbooke64 and the disassembler no longer accepts
194 -Mbooke32 or -Mbooke64. Instead, -mbooke and -Mbooke should be used.
198 * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line.
200 * Added support for "thin" archives which contain pathnames pointing to
201 object files rather than the files themselves and which contain a
202 flattened symbol index for all objects, and archives, which have been
203 added to the archive.
205 * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly.
207 * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index.
209 * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port.
211 * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections.
215 * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null
216 pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as
217 revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
219 * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
222 * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets. This is a message
223 compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version.
225 * Add codepage support to the windres tool. It now supports many new
226 resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc). The output generation
227 for binary files is done now via bfd itself. The endianess problems
228 for different hosts are solved. Dumps of .res files can now be
229 re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors.
230 Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected.
232 * Add --extract-symbol command line option to objcopy, which will
233 strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except
234 for its symbol table. Files containing just symbols can be useful
239 * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
241 * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt. -i disables the display of implementation
242 specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling
245 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
246 that extra switches can be read from <file>.
248 * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
251 * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
252 "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
254 * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security
255 conscious. This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all
256 code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt. The old PLT
257 and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt.
259 * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
260 for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
262 * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
264 * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
265 when disassembling VAX binaries.
267 * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
268 to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
270 * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
271 several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.
275 * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
277 * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and
278 --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard
279 matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but
280 retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations.
282 * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections. This
283 happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered. The
284 command line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display
285 the contents of the .debug_range section.
287 * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of
288 symbols which the target considers to be special. By default these symbols
289 are no longer displayed. Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping
290 symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and
291 between ARM and THUMB code.
293 * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
294 import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
298 * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the
299 disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some
300 pseudo instruction name. I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move",
301 "sll" instead of "nop", etc.
303 * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on
304 the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them.
306 * readelf can now parse archives.
308 * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
309 format compatible with ctags tool.
311 * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing
312 those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug. The idea is that
313 this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create
314 a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the
317 * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink
318 section into a (presumably stripped) executable. This allows the debug
319 information for the file to be held in a separate file.
321 * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX
322 single-character representation. This can be checked by running nm
327 * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
329 * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
331 * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
333 * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
334 --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
336 * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
339 * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other
340 headers that declare the same. Users of BFD should replace boolean,
341 false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type.
343 * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
347 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
350 Changes in version 2.12:
352 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
354 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
356 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
357 lines to fit into 80 columns.
359 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings. By Markus Kuhn.
361 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
363 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions. Support added for
364 displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
366 * New command line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
367 global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
370 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
372 * New command line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
373 with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
374 description. Only supported for ELF targets. By Alexandre Oliva.
376 * New command line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
377 the architecture of the output file to the given argument. This option only
378 makes sense, if the input target is binary. Otherwise it is ignored.
381 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
383 Changes in binutils 2.11:
385 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
388 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command line switch to objcopy.
391 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
393 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
395 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
397 Changes in binutils 2.10:
399 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
401 * New command line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
402 entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
405 * New command line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
406 a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
407 disassembler. Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
410 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
413 * New program: readelf. This displays the contents of ELF format files,
414 regardless of target machine.
416 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
417 --change-section-address options. The old --adjust-section-vma option is
418 equivalent to --change-section-address. The other --adjust-* options are now
419 renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
421 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
423 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
426 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
428 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
429 --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
431 Changes in binutils 2.9:
433 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
434 files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
436 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
437 the VMA of the sections.
439 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
441 Changes in binutils 2.8:
443 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved. Use
444 the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format. There are also new
445 --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
448 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets. For example,
449 objdump -b i386-pc-linux. The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
450 so they must be in canonical form.
452 * Added new addr2line program. This uses the debugging information to convert
453 an address into a file name and line number within a program.
455 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
457 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
459 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
461 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
463 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
465 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
467 Changes in binutils 2.7:
469 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
471 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
473 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
475 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
477 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
479 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
481 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
483 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
485 Changes in binutils 2.6:
487 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
489 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
490 file is laid out in memory. Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
491 generating plain binary files.
493 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
495 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX. The tools are now built by default on AIX.
497 Changes in binutils 2.5:
499 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
500 listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
502 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
503 Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
505 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
507 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
510 Changes in binutils 2.4:
512 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
513 PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
515 * Support for Irix 5.
517 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
518 ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
520 Changes in binutils 2.3:
522 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
525 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added. It can convert object files into
526 Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
528 * The strings program has been added.
530 Changes in binutils 2.2:
532 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
533 'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
536 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
537 (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names. (Note: This
538 may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
540 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
541 the output from BSD nm.
543 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
545 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
547 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
549 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
551 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
553 Changes in binutils 2.1:
555 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
556 should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix. Please let us know how well this works.
558 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
559 version), if there are any object files in the archive. So running ranlib is
560 now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used). This is required
561 for Posix.2 conformance.
563 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
564 independently of the selected target format. This is to encourage people to
565 switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
567 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
568 and/or local symbols only. They now also support long options.
571 Copyright (C) 2012-2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
573 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
574 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
575 notice and this notice are preserved.