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