3 * Readelf now displays RELR relocations in full detail.
5 * Readelf now has a -j/--display-section option which takes the name or index
6 of a section and displays its contents according to its type. The option can
7 be used multiple times on the command line to display multiple sections.
9 * Base register 0 is now printed as "0" instead of "%r0" in s390 disassembly.
11 * When objdump or readelf are used to display the contents of a .eh_frame
12 section they will now also display the contents of the .eh_frame_hdr section,
17 * The objdump program has a new command line option -Z/--decompress which
18 changes the behaviour of the -s/--full-contents option, forcing it to
19 decompress the contents of any compressed section before they are displayed.
21 In addition when objdump is displaying sections headers (via the -h/--headers
22 command line option) it will now display "COMPRESSED" in the Flags field of
23 any compressed section.
25 * The readelf program has a new command line option --extra-sym-info which
26 extends the information displayed by the --symbols option. When enabled
27 the display will include the name of the section referenced by a symbol's
28 index field (st_shndx). In the future more information may also be displayed
29 when this option is enabled.
31 * objcopy --set-section-flags now supports "large" to set SHF_X86_64_LARGE
32 for ELF x86-64 objects.
34 * objdump --visualize-jumps is now supported on s390 architecture.
36 * The s390 disassembly now optionally includes the instruction description as
37 comment with the s390-specific disassembler option "insndesc":
38 - For objdump it can be enabled with "objdump -M insndesc ...".
39 - In gdb it can be enabled with "set disassembler-options insndesc".
43 * The MIPS port now supports the Sony Interactive Entertainment Allegrex
44 processor, used with the PlayStation Portable, which implements the MIPS
45 II ISA along with a single-precision FPU and a few implementation-specific
48 * Objdump's --private option can now be used on PE format files to display the
49 fields in the file header and section headers.
51 * New versioned release of libsframe: libsframe.so.1. This release introduces
52 versioned symbols with version node name LIBSFRAME_1.0. This release also
53 updates the ABI in an incompatible way: this includes removal of
54 sframe_get_funcdesc_with_addr API, change in the behavior of
55 sframe_fre_get_ra_offset and sframe_fre_get_fp_offset APIs.
57 * SFrame Version 2 is now the default (and only) format version supported by
58 gas, ld, readelf and objdump.
60 * Add command-line option, --strip-section-headers, to objcopy and strip to
61 remove ELF section header from ELF file.
63 * The RISC-V port now supports the following new standard extensions:
64 - Zicond (conditional zero instructions)
65 - Zfa (additional floating-point instructions)
66 - Zvbb, Zvbc, Zvkg, Zvkned, Zvknh[ab], Zvksed, Zvksh, Zvkn, Zvknc, Zvkng,
67 Zvks, Zvksc, Zvkg, Zvkt (vector crypto instructions)
69 * The RISC-V port now supports the following vendor-defined extensions:
72 * The LoongArch port now supports the following extensions:
73 - LSX (Loongson SIMD eXtension; 128-bit vectors)
74 - LASX (Loongson Advanced SIMD eXtension; 256-bit vectors)
75 - LVZ (Loongson Virtualization extension)
76 - LBT (Loongson Binary Translation extension)
78 * The LoongArch disassembly output received the following tweaks:
79 - Colored output is now supported.
80 - Some pseudo-instructions are now shown in place of the canonical forms,
81 where semantics are equivalent. A disassembler option '-M no-aliases' is
82 added to disable the new behavior.
83 - Signed immediates are no longer printed with their hex representation.
84 - Unrecognized instruction words are now shown with '.word'.
88 * Objdump has a new command line option --show-all-symbols which will make it
89 display all symbols that match a given address when disassembling. (Normally
90 only the first symbol that matches an address is shown).
92 * Add --enable-colored-disassembly configure time option to enable colored
93 disassembly output by default, if the output device is a terminal. Note,
94 this configure option is disabled by default.
96 * DCO signed contributions are now accepted.
98 * objcopy --decompress-debug-sections now supports zstd compressed debug
99 sections. The new option --compress-debug-sections=zstd compresses debug
102 * addr2line and objdump --dwarf now support zstd compressed debug sections.
104 * The dlltool program now accepts --deterministic-libraries and
105 --non-deterministic-libraries as command line options to control whether or
106 not it generates deterministic output libraries. If neither of these options
107 are used the default is whatever was set when the binutils were configured.
109 * readelf and objdump now have a newly added option --sframe which dumps the
114 * Add --no-weak/-W option to nm to make it ignore weak symbols.
116 * Add an option to objdump and readelf to prevent attempts to access debuginfod
117 servers when following links.
119 * objcopy --weaken, --weaken-symbol, and --weaken-symbols now make ELF
120 STB_GNU_UNIQUE symbols weak.
122 * objdump now supports syntax highlighting of disassembler output for some
123 architectures. Use the --disassembler-color=MODE command line flag, with
124 mode being either off, color, or extended-color.
128 * elfedit: Add --output-abiversion option to update ABIVERSION.
130 * Add support for the LoongArch instruction set.
132 * Tools which display symbols or strings (readelf, strings, nm, objdump)
133 have a new command line option which controls how unicode characters are
134 handled. By default they are treated as normal for the tool. Using
135 --unicode=locale will display them according to the current locale.
136 Using --unicode=hex will display them as hex byte values, whilst
137 --unicode=escape will display them as escape sequences. In addition
138 using --unicode=highlight will display them as unicode escape sequences
139 highlighted in red (if supported by the output device).
141 * readelf -r dumps RELR relative relocations now.
143 * Support for efi-app-aarch64, efi-rtdrv-aarch64 and efi-bsdrv-aarch64 has been
144 added to objcopy in order to enable UEFI development using binutils.
146 * ar: Add --thin for creating thin archives. -T is a deprecated alias without
147 diagnostics. In many ar implementations -T has a different meaning, as
148 specified by X/Open System Interface.
152 * The readelf tool has a new command line option which can be used to specify
153 how the numeric values of symbols are reported. --sym-base=0|8|10|16 tells
154 readelf to display the values in base 8, base 10 or base 16. A sym base of 0
155 represents the default action of displaying values under 10000 in base 10 and
156 values above that in base 16.
158 * Binutils now requires a C99 compiler and library to build.
160 * A new format has been added to the nm program. Specifying
161 --format=just-symbols (or just using -j) will tell the program to only
162 display symbol names and nothing else.
164 * A new command line --keep-section-symbols has been added to objcopy and
165 strip. This stops the removal of unused section symbols when the file is
166 copied. Removing these symbols saves space, but sometimes they are needed by
169 * objcopy --weaken, --weaken-symbol and --weaken-symbols now make undefined
170 symbols weak on targets that support weak symbols.
172 * Readelf and objdump can now display and use the contents of .debug_sup
175 * Readelf and objdump will now follow links to separate debug info files by
176 default. This behaviour can be stopped via the use of the new -wN or
177 --debug-dump=no-follow-links options for readelf and the -WN or
178 --dwarf=no-follow-links options for objdump. Also the old behaviour can be
179 restored by the use of the --enable-follow-debug-links=no configure time
182 The semantics of the =follow-links option have also been slightly changed.
183 When enabled, the option allows for the loading of symbol tables and string
184 tables from the separate files which can be used to enhance the information
185 displayed when dumping other sections, but it does not automatically imply
186 that information from the separate files should be displayed.
188 If other debug section display options are also enabled (eg
189 --debug-dump=info) then the contents of matching sections in both the main
190 file and the separate debuginfo file *will* be displayed. This is because in
191 most cases the debug section will only be present in one of the files.
193 If however non-debug section display options are enabled (eg --sections) then
194 the contents of matching parts of the separate debuginfo file will *not* be
195 displayed. This is because in most cases the user probably only wanted to
196 load the symbol information from the separate debuginfo file. In order to
197 change this behaviour a new command line option --process-links can be used.
198 This will allow di0pslay options to applied to both the main file and any
199 separate debuginfo files.
201 * Nm has a new command line option: --quiet. This suppresses "no symbols"
206 * Update elfedit and readelf with LAM_U48 and LAM_U57 support.
208 * Nm has a new command line option: --ifunc-chars=CHARS. This specifies a
209 string of one or two characters. The first character is used as the type
210 character when displaying global ifunc symbols. The second character, if
211 present is used when displaying local ifunc symbols.
213 In addition a new configure time option --enable-f-for-ifunc-symbols has been
214 created, which if used will change nm's default characters for ifunc symbols
215 from i (both local and global) to F (global) and f (local).
217 * The ar tool's previously unused l modifier is now used for specifying
218 dependencies of a static library. The arguments of this option
219 (or --record-libdeps long form option) will be stored verbatim in the
220 __.LIBDEP member of the archive, which the linker may read at link time.
222 * Readelf can now display the contents of LTO symbol table sections when asked
223 to do so via the --lto-syms command line option.
225 * Readelf now accepts the -C command line option to enable the demangling of
226 symbol names. In addition the --demangle=<style>, --no-demangle,
227 --recurse-limit and --no-recurse-limit options are also now availale.
229 * Add support for the SHF_GNU_RETAIN ELF section flag.
230 This flag specifies that the section should not be garbage collected by the
235 * Changed readelf's display of symbol names when wide mode is not enabled.
236 If the name is too long it will be truncated and the last five characters
237 replaced with "[...]". The old behaviour of displaying 5 more characters but
238 not indicating that truncation has happened can be restored by the use of the
239 -T or --silent-truncation options.
241 * X86 NaCl target support is removed.
243 * The readelf tool now has a -L or --lint or --enable-checks option which turns
244 on warning messages about possible problems with the file(s) being examined.
245 These checks include things like zero-sized sections, which are allowed by
246 the ELF standard but which nevertheless might be of concern if the user
247 was expecting them to actually contain something.
251 * Binutils now supports debuginfod, an HTTP server for distributing
252 ELF/DWARF debugging information as well as source code. When built with
253 debuginfod, readelf and objdump can automatically query debuginfod
254 servers for separate debug files when they otherwise cannot be found.
255 To build binutils with debuginfod, pass --with-debuginfod to configure.
256 This requires libdebuginfod, the debuginfod client library. debuginfod
257 is distributed with elfutils, starting with version 0.178. For more
258 information see https://sourceware.org/elfutils.
260 * Add --output option to the "ar" program. This option can be used to specify
261 the output directory when extracting members from an archive.
263 * Add --keep-section option to objcopy and strip. This option keeps the
264 specified section from being removed.
266 * Add visualization of jumps inside a function by drawing an ascii character
267 graph between the address and the disassembler column. Enabled via the
268 --visualize-jumps command line option for objdump. Currently supported by
269 the x86, x86_64, and ARM targets. The output looks something like this:
271 c6: | | \----------> be 00 00 00 00 mov $0x0,%esi
272 cb: | | /----> 48 8b 3d 00 00 00 00 mov 0x0(%rip),%rdi # d2 <main+0xd2>
273 d2: | | | 31 c0 xor %eax,%eax
274 d4: | | | /-- e8 00 00 00 00 callq d9 <main+0xd9>
275 d9: | | | \-> bf 02 00 00 00 mov $0x2,%edi
276 de: | +-----------|----- e8 00 00 00 00 callq e3 <main+0xe3>
277 e3: | \-----------|----> 48 89 da mov %rbx,%rdx
278 e6: | | be 00 00 00 00 mov $0x0,%esi
279 eb: | \----- eb de jmp cb <main+0xcb>
280 ed: \-------------------> 48 8b 16 mov (%rsi),%rdx
282 Additional arguments to the --visualize-jumps option add colors to the
287 * Add --source-comment[=<txt>] option to objdump which if present,
288 provides a prefix to source code lines displayed in a disassembly.
290 * Add --set-section-alignment <section-name>=<align> option to objcopy to allow
291 the changing of section alignments.
293 * Add --verilog-data-width option to objcopy for verilog targets to control
294 width of data elements in verilog hex format.
296 * Add support for the Armv8.1-M Mainline and M-profile Vector Extension (MVE)
299 * The separate debug info file options of readelf (--debug-dump=links
300 and --debug-dump=follow) and objdump (--dwarf=links and
301 --dwarf=follow-links) will now display and/or follow multiple links if
302 more than one are present in a file. (This usually happens when gcc's
303 -gsplit-dwarf option is used).
305 In addition objdump's --dwarf=follow-links now also affects its other
306 display options, so that for example, when combined with --syms it will
307 cause the symbol tables in any linked debug info files to also be
308 displayed. In addition when combined with --disassemble the --dwarf=
309 follow-links option will ensure that any symbol tables in the linked
310 files are read and used when disassembling code in the main file.
312 * Add support for dumping types encoded in the Compact Type Format
313 to objdump and readelf.
317 * The addr2line, c++filt, nm and objdump tools now have a limit on the
318 maximum amount of recursion that is allowed whilst demangling strings.
319 The value for this limit is defined by the DEMANGLE_RECRUSE_LIMIT
320 constant declared in the include/demangle.h header file. At the time
321 of writing this constant has the value of 2048.
323 The --no-recurse-limit option can be used to remove the limit, restoring
324 the behaviour of earlier versions of these tools. This may be needed in
325 order to dmangle truly complicated names, but it also leaves the tools
326 vulnerable to stack exhaustion from maliciously constructed mangled names.
328 * Objdump's --disassemble option can now take a parameter, specifying the
329 starting symbol for disassembly. Disassembly will continue from this
330 symbol up to the next symbol or the end of the function.
332 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 2K1000 processor which implements
333 the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE, Loongson-ext ASE,
334 Loongson-ext2 ASE and MSA ASE instructions. Add -march=gs264e option for
335 Loongson 2K1000 processor.
337 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor which
338 implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE,
339 Loongson-ext ASE and Loongson-ext2 ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464e
340 option for Loongson 3A2000/3A3000 processor.
342 * The MIPS port now supports the Loongson 3A1000 processor, aka Loongson3a,
343 which implements the MIPS64r2 ISA, the Loongson-mmi ASE, Loongson-cam ASE
344 and Loongson-ext ASE instructions. Add -march=gs464 option for Loongson
345 3A1000 processor, The -march=loongson3a is an alias of -march=gs464 for
348 * The size tool now has a new output format '--format=GNU' or '-G'. The
349 results are displayed in a similar manor to the default berkeley layout,
350 except read-only data is counted in the data column, not the text column.
351 Additionally the total is only included once.
355 * Add support for disassembling netronome Flow Processor (NFP) firmware files.
357 * The AArch64 port now supports showing disassembly notes which are emitted
358 when inconsistencies are found with the instruction that may result in the
359 instruction being invalid. These can be turned on with the option -M notes
362 * The AArch64 port now emits warnings when a combination of an instruction and
363 a named register could be invalid.
365 * Added O modifier to ar to display member offsets inside an archive
369 * Add --debug-dump=links option to readelf and --dwarf=links option to objdump
370 which displays the contents of any .gnu_debuglink or .gnu_debugaltlink
373 Add a --debug-dump=follow-links option to readelf and a --dwarf=follow-links
374 option to objdump which causes indirect links into separate debug info files
375 to be followed when dumping other DWARF sections.
379 * The MIPS port now supports microMIPS eXtended Physical Addressing (XPA)
380 instructions for assembly and disassembly.
382 * The MIPS port now supports the microMIPS Release 5 ISA for assembly and
385 * The MIPS port now supports the Imagination interAptiv MR2 processor,
386 which implements the MIPS32r3 ISA, the MIPS16e2 ASE as well as a couple
387 of implementation-specific regular MIPS and MIPS16e2 ASE instructions.
389 * The SPARC port now supports the SPARC M8 processor, which implements the
390 Oracle SPARC Architecture 2017.
392 * The MIPS port now supports the MIPS16e2 ASE for assembly and disassembly.
394 * Add support for ELF SHF_GNU_MBIND and PT_GNU_MBIND_XXX.
396 * Add support for the wasm32 ELF conversion of the WebAssembly file format.
398 * Add --inlines option to objdump, which extends the --line-numbers option
399 so that inlined functions will display their nesting information.
401 * Add --merge-notes options to objcopy to reduce the size of notes in
402 a binary file by merging and deleting redundant notes.
404 * Add support for locating separate debug info files using the build-id
405 method, where the separate file has a name based upon the build-id of
410 * This version of binutils fixes a problem with PowerPC VLE 16A and 16D
411 relocations which were functionally swapped, for example,
412 R_PPC_VLE_HA16A performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16D while R_PPC_VLE_HA16D
413 performed like R_PPC_VLE_HA16A. This could have been fixed by
414 renumbering relocations, which would keep object files created by an
415 older version of gas compatible with a newer ld. However, that would
416 require an ABI update, affecting other assemblers and linkers that
417 create and process the relocations correctly. It is recommended that
418 all VLE object files be recompiled, but ld can modify the relocations
419 if --vle-reloc-fixup is passed to ld. If the new ld command-line
420 option is not used, ld will ld warn on finding relocations inconsistent
421 with the instructions being relocated.
423 * The nm program has a new command-line option (--with-version-strings)
424 which will display a symbol's version information, if any, after the
427 * The ARC port of objdump now accepts a -M option to specify the extra
428 instruction class(es) that should be disassembled.
430 * The --remove-section option for objcopy and strip now accepts section
431 patterns starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching
432 section. A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections
433 matched by an earlier --remove-section pattern.
435 * The --only-section option for objcopy now accepts section patterns
436 starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching section.
437 A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections matched by
438 an earlier --only-section pattern.
440 * New --remove-relocations=SECTIONPATTERN option for objcopy and strip.
441 This option can be used to remove sections containing relocations.
442 The SECTIONPATTERN is the section to which the relocations apply, not
443 the relocation section itself.
447 * Add a configure option, --enable-64-bit-archive, to force use of a
448 64-bit format when creating an archive symbol index.
450 * Add --elf-stt-common= option to objcopy for ELF targets to control
451 whether to convert common symbols to the STT_COMMON type.
455 * Add option to objcopy to insert new symbols into a file:
456 --add-symbol <name>=[<section>:]<value>[,<flags>]
458 * Add support for the ARC EM/HS, and ARC600/700 architectures.
460 * Extend objcopy --compress-debug-sections option to support
461 --compress-debug-sections=[none|zlib|zlib-gnu|zlib-gabi] for ELF
464 * Add --update-section option to objcopy.
466 * Add --output-separator option to strings.
470 * Add --data option to strings to only print strings in loadable, initialized
471 data sections. Change the default behaviour to be --all, but add a new
472 configure time option of --disable-default-strings-all to restore the old
475 * Add --include-all-whitespace to strings.
477 * Add --dump-section option to objcopy.
479 * Add support for the Andes NDS32.
483 * Objcopy now supports wildcard characters in command-line options that take
486 * Add support for Altera Nios II.
490 * Add support for the VLE extension to the PowerPC architecture.
492 * Add support for x64 Windows target of the delayed-load-library.
494 * Add support for the Renesas RL78 architecture.
498 * Add support for displaying the contents of .debug.macro sections.
500 * Add --preprocessor-arg option to windres to specify additional options
501 passed to preprocessor.
503 * Add --dwarf-start and --dwarf-end to readelf and objdump. These are used by
504 the new Emacs mode, see dwarf-mode.el.
506 * Add support for the Tilera TILEPro and TILE-Gx architectures.
510 * Add --interleave-width option to objcopy to allowing copying a range of
511 bytes from the input to the output with the --interleave option.
513 * Add support for the TMS320C6000 (TI C6X) processor family.
515 * Readelf can now display ARM unwind tables (.ARM.exidx / .ARM.extab) using
516 the -u / --unwind option.
518 * Add --dyn-syms to readelf to dump dynamic symbol table.
520 * A new tool - elfedit - has been added to directly manipulate ELF format
523 * Add to dlltool .def file feature of aliasing PE internal symbol name by
526 * Add a new command-line option -a / --addresses to addr2line to display the
527 address before function name or source filename.
529 * Add a new command-line option -p / --pretty-print to addr2line to have
530 a more human readable output.
532 * The hppa/som targets can now be compiled on any host.
536 * Add support for delay importing to dlltool. Use the --output-delaylib <file>
537 switch to create a delay-import library. The resulting app will load the dll
538 as soon as the first function is called. It will link to __delayLoadHelper2()
539 from the static delayimp library, which will import LoadLibraryA and
540 GetProcAddress from kernel32.
542 * Add a new command-line option, --insn-width=WIDTH, to objdump to specify
543 number of bytes to be displayed on a single line when disassembling
546 * Readelf can now display the relocated contents of a section as a sequence
547 of bytes via the --relocated-dump=<name|number> command-line option.
549 * The gprof program has been given a new command-line option:
550 --external-symbols-table=<filename> which reads in symbols from a specified
553 * The plugin target has been added to bfd. It can load the same shared objects
554 used by gold and uses them to provide basic support for new file formats.
556 * The verilog memory hex dump file format is now supported as an output format
559 * Add --file-alignment, --heap, --image-base, --section-alignment,
560 --stack and --subsystem command-line options to objcopy, which will
561 set PE optional header.
563 * Option --dwarf/-W of objdump is now as flexible as readelf --debug-dump/-w.
565 * --as-needed now links in a dynamic library if it satisfies undefined
566 symbols in regular objects, or in other dynamic libraries. In the
567 latter case the library is not linked if it is found in a DT_NEEDED
568 entry of one of the libraries already linked.
570 * Added --prefix=PREFIX and --prefix-strip=LEVEL switches to objdump to
571 add absolute paths for -S.
573 * Add new option --use-nul-prefixed-import-tables to dlltool to allow fall-
574 back to old import table generation with null element prefix.
576 * Added --identify-strict switch to cause --identify <implib> to
577 report an error when the import library is associated with
580 * Added --identify <implib> option to dlltool, which determines the
581 name of the DLL associated with the specified <implib>.
583 * Support for PowerPC booke64 instructions has been removed. The assembler no
584 longer accepts -mbooke32 or -mbooke64 and the disassembler no longer accepts
585 -Mbooke32 or -Mbooke64. Instead, -mbooke and -Mbooke should be used.
589 * Added -wL switch to dump decoded contents of .debug_line.
591 * Added support for "thin" archives which contain pathnames pointing to
592 object files rather than the files themselves and which contain a
593 flattened symbol index for all objects, and archives, which have been
594 added to the archive.
596 * Added -F switch to objdump to include file offsets in the disassembly.
598 * Added -c switch to readelf to allow string dumps of archive symbol index.
600 * Support for SSE5 has been added to the i386 port.
602 * Added -p switch to readelf to allow string dumps of sections.
606 * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null
607 pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as
608 revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
610 * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
613 * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets. This is a message
614 compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version.
616 * Add codepage support to the windres tool. It now supports many new
617 resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc). The output generation
618 for binary files is done now via bfd itself. The endianess problems
619 for different hosts are solved. Dumps of .res files can now be
620 re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors.
621 Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected.
623 * Add --extract-symbol command-line option to objcopy, which will
624 strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except
625 for its symbol table. Files containing just symbols can be useful
630 * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
632 * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt. -i disables the display of implementation
633 specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling
636 * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
637 that extra switches can be read from <file>.
639 * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
642 * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
643 "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
645 * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security
646 conscious. This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all
647 code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt. The old PLT
648 and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt.
650 * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
651 for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
653 * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
655 * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
656 when disassembling VAX binaries.
658 * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
659 to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
661 * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
662 several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.
666 * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
668 * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and
669 --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard
670 matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but
671 retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations.
673 * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections. This
674 happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered. The
675 command-line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display
676 the contents of the .debug_range section.
678 * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of
679 symbols which the target considers to be special. By default these symbols
680 are no longer displayed. Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping
681 symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and
682 between ARM and THUMB code.
684 * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
685 import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
689 * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the
690 disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some
691 pseudo instruction name. I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move",
692 "sll" instead of "nop", etc.
694 * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on
695 the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them.
697 * readelf can now parse archives.
699 * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
700 format compatible with ctags tool.
702 * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing
703 those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug. The idea is that
704 this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create
705 a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the
708 * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink
709 section into a (presumably stripped) executable. This allows the debug
710 information for the file to be held in a separate file.
712 * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX
713 single-character representation. This can be checked by running nm
718 * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
720 * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
722 * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
724 * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
725 --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
727 * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
730 * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other
731 headers that declare the same. Users of BFD should replace boolean,
732 false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type.
734 * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
738 * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
741 Changes in version 2.12:
743 * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
745 * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
747 * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
748 lines to fit into 80 columns.
750 * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings. By Markus Kuhn.
752 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
754 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions. Support added for
755 displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
757 * New command-line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
758 global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
761 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
763 * New command-line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
764 with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
765 description. Only supported for ELF targets. By Alexandre Oliva.
767 * New command-line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
768 the architecture of the output file to the given argument. This option only
769 makes sense, if the input target is binary. Otherwise it is ignored.
772 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
774 Changes in binutils 2.11:
776 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
779 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command-line switch to objcopy.
782 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
784 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
786 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
788 Changes in binutils 2.10:
790 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
792 * New command-line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
793 entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
796 * New command-line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
797 a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
798 disassembler. Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
801 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
804 * New program: readelf. This displays the contents of ELF format files,
805 regardless of target machine.
807 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
808 --change-section-address options. The old --adjust-section-vma option is
809 equivalent to --change-section-address. The other --adjust-* options are now
810 renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
812 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
814 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
817 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
819 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
820 --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
822 Changes in binutils 2.9:
824 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
825 files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
827 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
828 the VMA of the sections.
830 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
832 Changes in binutils 2.8:
834 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved. Use
835 the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format. There are also new
836 --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
839 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets. For example,
840 objdump -b i386-pc-linux. The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
841 so they must be in canonical form.
843 * Added new addr2line program. This uses the debugging information to convert
844 an address into a file name and line number within a program.
846 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
848 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
850 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
852 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
854 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
856 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
858 Changes in binutils 2.7:
860 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
862 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
864 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
866 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
868 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
870 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
872 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
874 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
876 Changes in binutils 2.6:
878 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
880 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
881 file is laid out in memory. Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
882 generating plain binary files.
884 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
886 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX. The tools are now built by default on AIX.
888 Changes in binutils 2.5:
890 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
891 listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
893 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
894 Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
896 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
898 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
901 Changes in binutils 2.4:
903 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
904 PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
906 * Support for Irix 5.
908 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
909 ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
911 Changes in binutils 2.3:
913 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
916 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added. It can convert object files into
917 Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
919 * The strings program has been added.
921 Changes in binutils 2.2:
923 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
924 'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
927 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
928 (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names. (Note: This
929 may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
931 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
932 the output from BSD nm.
934 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
936 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
938 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
940 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
942 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
944 Changes in binutils 2.1:
946 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
947 should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix. Please let us know how well this works.
949 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
950 version), if there are any object files in the archive. So running ranlib is
951 now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used). This is required
952 for Posix.2 conformance.
954 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
955 independently of the selected target format. This is to encourage people to
956 switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
958 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
959 and/or local symbols only. They now also support long options.
962 Copyright (C) 2012-2024 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
964 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
965 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
966 notice and this notice are preserved.