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