3 * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
5 * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions. Support added for
6 displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
8 * New command line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
9 global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
12 * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
14 * New command line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
15 the architecture of the output file to the given argument. This option only
16 makes sense, if the input target is binary. Otherwise it is ignored.
19 * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
21 Changes in binutils 2.11:
23 * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
26 * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command line switch to objcopy.
29 * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
31 * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
33 * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
35 Changes in binutils 2.10:
37 * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
39 * New command line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
40 entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
43 * New command line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
44 a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
45 disassembler. Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
48 * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
51 * New program: readelf. This displays the contents of ELF format files,
52 regardless of target machine.
54 * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
55 --change-section-address options. The old --adjust-section-vma option is
56 equivalent to --change-section-address. The other --adjust-* options are now
57 renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
59 * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
61 * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
64 * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
66 * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
67 --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
69 Changes in binutils 2.9:
71 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
72 files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
74 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
75 the VMA of the sections.
77 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
79 Changes in binutils 2.8:
81 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved. Use
82 the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format. There are also new
83 --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
86 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets. For example,
87 objdump -b i386-pc-linux. The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
88 so they must be in canonical form.
90 * Added new addr2line program. This uses the debugging information to convert
91 an address into a file name and line number within a program.
93 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
95 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
97 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
99 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
101 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
103 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
105 Changes in binutils 2.7:
107 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
109 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
111 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
113 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
115 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
117 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
119 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
121 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
123 Changes in binutils 2.6:
125 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
127 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
128 file is laid out in memory. Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
129 generating plain binary files.
131 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
133 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX. The tools are now built by default on AIX.
135 Changes in binutils 2.5:
137 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
138 listing, for a more useful listing of relocateable files.
140 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
141 Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
143 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
145 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
148 Changes in binutils 2.4:
150 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
151 PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
153 * Support for Irix 5.
155 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
156 ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
158 Changes in binutils 2.3:
160 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
163 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added. It can convert object files into
164 Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
166 * The strings program has been added.
168 Changes in binutils 2.2:
170 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
171 'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
174 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
175 (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names. (Note: This
176 may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
178 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
179 the output from BSD nm.
181 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
183 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
185 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
187 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
189 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
191 Changes in binutils 2.1:
193 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
194 should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix. Please let us know how well this works.
196 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
197 version), if there are any object files in the archive. So running ranlib is
198 now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used). This is required
199 for Posix.2 conformance.
201 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
202 independently of the selected target format. This is to encourage people to
203 switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
205 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
206 and/or local symbols only. They now also support long options.