1: -*- text -*-
    2: * Resolved 37 coding problems in bfd including static array overruns, null
    3:   pointer dereferences and use of a malloc buffer after it has been freed, as
    4:   revealed by static analysis donated by Coverity, Inc. (http://scan.coverity.com).
    5: 
    6: * The binutils sources are now released under version 3 of the GNU General
    7:   Public License.
    8: 
    9: * A new tool "windmc" has been added for some targets.  This is a message
   10:   compiler which attempts to be compatible with the MS version.
   11: 
   12: * Add codepage support to the windres tool.  It now supports many new
   13:   resource types (e.g. MANIFEST, TOOLBAR, etc).  The output generation
   14:   for binary files is done now via bfd itself.  The endianess problems
   15:   for different hosts are solved.  Dumps of .res files can now be
   16:   re-compiled by windres without lossing resources or compilation errors.
   17:   Some problems on dialog resource translations are corrected.
   18: 
   19: * Add --extract-symbol command line option to objcopy, which will
   20:   strip everything out of an ordinary object file or executable except
   21:   for its symbol table.  Files containing just symbols can be useful
   22:   to some OSes.
   23: 
   24: Changes in 2.17:
   25: 
   26: * Add "-x NAME" to readelf in addition to "-x NUMBER".
   27: 
   28: * Add -i and -t switches to cxxfilt.  -i disables the display of implementation
   29:   specific extra demangling information (if any) and -t disables the demangling
   30:   of types.
   31: 
   32: * Add support for the "@<file>" syntax to the command lines of all tools, so
   33:   that extra switches can be read from <file>.
   34: 
   35: * Add "-W/--dwarf" to objdump to display the contents of the DWARF
   36:   debug sections.
   37: 
   38: * Add "-t/--section-details" to readelf to display section details.
   39:   "-N/--full-section-name" is deprecated.
   40: 
   41: * powerpc-linux ld now supports a variant form of PLT and GOT for the security
   42:   conscious.  This form will automatically be chosen when ld detects that all
   43:   code in regular object files was generated by gcc -msecure-plt.  The old PLT
   44:   and GOT may be forced by a new ld option, --bss-plt.
   45: 
   46: * Add "-i/--inlines" to addr2line to print enclosing scope information
   47:   for inlined function chains, back to first non-inlined function.
   48: 
   49: * Add "-N/--full-section-name" to readelf to display full section name.
   50: 
   51: * Add "-M entry:<addr>" switch to objdump to specify a function entry address
   52:   when disassembling VAX binaries.
   53: 
   54: * Add "--globalize-symbol <name>" and "--globalize-symbols <filename>" switches
   55:   to objcopy to convert local symbols into global symbols.
   56:   
   57: * gprof now allows input files to have histogram records for
   58:   several memory ranges, provided those ranges are disjoint.  
   59: 
   60: Changes in 2.16:
   61: 
   62: * Add "-g/--section-groups" to readelf to display section groups.
   63: 
   64: * objcopy recognizes two new options --strip-unneeded-symbol and
   65:   --strip-unneeded-symbols, namely for use together with the wildcard
   66:   matching the original --strip-symbol/--strip-symbols provided, but
   67:   retaining any symbols matching but needed by relocations.
   68: 
   69: * readelf can now display address ranges from .debug_range sections.  This
   70:   happens automatically when a DW_AT_range attribute is encountered.  The
   71:   command line switch --debug-dump=Ranges (or -wR) can also be used to display
   72:   the contents of the .debug_range section.
   73: 
   74: * nm and objdump now have a switch "--special-syms" to enable the displaying of
   75:   symbols which the target considers to be special.  By default these symbols
   76:   are no longer displayed.  Currently the only special symbols are the Mapping
   77:   symbols used by the ARM port to mark transitions between text and data and
   78:   between ARM and THUMB code.
   79: 
   80: * dlltool has a switch "--ext-prefix-alias <prefix>" to generate additional
   81:   import and export symbols with <preifx> prepended to them.
   82: 
   83: Changes in 2.15:
   84: 
   85: * objcopy for MIPS targets now accepts "-M no-aliases" as an option to the
   86:   disassembler to print the "raw" mips instruction mnemonic instead of some
   87:   pseudo instruction name.  I.E. print "daddu" or "or" instead of "move",
   88:   "sll" instead of "nop", etc.
   89: 
   90: * objcopy and strip can now take wildcard patterns in symbol names specified on
   91:   the command line provided that the --wildcard switch is used to enable them.
   92: 
   93: * readelf can now parse archives.
   94: 
   95: * objdump now accepts --debugging-tags to print the debug information in a
   96:   format compatible with ctags tool.
   97: 
   98: * objcopy and strip now accept --only-keep-debug to create a file containing
   99:   those sections that would be stripped out by --strip-debug.  The idea is that
  100:   this can be used in conjunction with the --add-gnu-debuglink switch to create
  101:   a two part program distribution - one a stripped executable and the other the
  102:   debugging info.
  103: 
  104: * objcopy now accepts --add-gnu-debuglink=<file> to insert a .gnu_debuglink
  105:   section into a (presumably stripped) executable.  This allows the debug
  106:   information for the file to be held in a separate file.
  107:   
  108: * BFD marks the sections .comment and .note as 'n' in the BSD/POSIX
  109:   single-character representation.  This can be checked by running nm
  110:   with the -a switch.
  111: 
  112: Changes in 2.14:
  113: 
  114: * Added --info switch to objcopy and strip.
  115: 
  116: * Support for Vitesse IQ2000 added by Red Hat.
  117: 
  118: * Added 'S' encoding to strings to allow the display of 8-bit characters.
  119: 
  120: * Added --prefix-symbols=<text>, --prefix-sections=<text> and
  121:   --prefix-alloc-sections=<text> to objcopy.
  122: 
  123: * readelf can handle the extensions to the DWARF2 spec used by the Unified
  124:   Parallel C compiler.
  125: 
  126: * BFD no longer declares a "boolean" type, to avoid clashes with other
  127:   headers that declare the same.  Users of BFD should replace boolean,
  128:   false and true, with int, 0 and 1, or define their own boolean type.
  129: 
  130: * Support for IP2K added by Denis Chertykov.
  131: 
  132: Changes in 2.13:
  133: 
  134: * Support for the Fujitsu FRV architecture added by Red Hat. Models for FR400
  135:   and FR500 included.
  136: 
  137: Changes in version 2.12:
  138: 
  139: * Support for Don Knuth's MMIX, by Hans-Peter Nilsson.
  140: 
  141: * size: Add --totals to display summary of sizes (Berkeley format only).
  142: 
  143: * readelf: Add --wide option to not break section header or segment listing
  144:   lines to fit into 80 columns.
  145: 
  146: * strings: Add --encoding to display wide character strings.  By Markus Kuhn.
  147: 
  148: * objcopy: Add --rename-section to change section names.
  149: 
  150: * readelf: Support added for DWARF 2.1 extensions.  Support added for
  151:   displaying the contents of .debug.macinfo sections.
  152: 
  153: * New command line switches added to objcopy to allow symbols to be kept as
  154:   global symbols, and also to specify files containing lists of such symbols.
  155:   by Honda Hiroki.
  156: 
  157: * Support for OpenRISC by Johan Rydberg.
  158: 
  159: * New command line switch to objcopy --alt-machine-code which creates a binary
  160:   with an alternate machine code if one is defined in the architecture
  161:   description.  Only supported for ELF targets.  By Alexandre Oliva.
  162: 
  163: * New command line switch to objcopy -B (or --binary-architecture) which sets
  164:   the architecture of the output file to the given argument.  This option only
  165:   makes sense, if the input target is binary.  Otherwise it is ignored.
  166:   By Stefan Geuken.
  167: 
  168: * Support for PDP-11 by Lars Brinkhoff.
  169: 
  170: Changes in binutils 2.11:
  171: 
  172: * Add support for ARM v5t and v5te architectures and Intel's XScale ARM
  173:   extenstions.
  174: 
  175: * Add --srec-len and --srec-forceS3 command line switch to objcopy.
  176:   By Luciano Gemme.
  177: 
  178: * Support for the MIPS32, by Anders Norlander.
  179: 
  180: * Support for the i860, by Jason Eckhardt.
  181: 
  182: * Support for CRIS (Axis Communications ETRAX series).
  183: 
  184: Changes in binutils 2.10:
  185: 
  186: * Support for 64-bit ELF on HPPA.
  187: 
  188: * New command line switch to objdump --file-start-context which shows the
  189:   entire file contents up to the source line first encountered for a given
  190:   file.
  191: 
  192: * New command line switch to objdump -M (or --disassembler-options) which takes
  193:   a parameter which can then be interpreted on a per-target basis by the
  194:   disassembler.  Used by ARM targets to select register name sets, ISA, APCS or
  195:   raw verions.
  196: 
  197: * objdump support for -mi386:intel which causes disassembly to be displayed
  198:   with intel syntax.
  199: 
  200: * New program: readelf.  This displays the contents of ELF format files,
  201:   regardless of target machine.
  202: 
  203: * objcopy now takes --change-section-lma, --change-section-vma, and
  204:   --change-section-address options.  The old --adjust-section-vma option is
  205:   equivalent to --change-section-address.  The other --adjust-* options are now
  206:   renamed to --change-*, although --adjust-* continues to work.
  207: 
  208: * objcopy has a --redefine-sym option that lets you rename symbols.
  209: 
  210: * objcopy now takes a -j/--only-section option to copy only the specified
  211:   sections.
  212: 
  213: * dlltool now supports the IMPORTS command.
  214: 
  215: * dlltool now takes --export-all-symbols, --no-export-all-symbols,
  216:   --exclude-symbols, and --no-default-excludes options.
  217: 
  218: Changes in binutils 2.9:
  219: 
  220: * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
  221:   files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
  222: 
  223: * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
  224:   the VMA of the sections.
  225: 
  226: * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
  227: 
  228: Changes in binutils 2.8:
  229: 
  230: * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved.  Use
  231:   the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format.  There are also new
  232:   --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
  233:   output.
  234: 
  235: * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets.  For example,
  236:   objdump -b i386-pc-linux.  The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
  237:   so they must be in canonical form.
  238: 
  239: * Added new addr2line program.  This uses the debugging information to convert
  240:   an address into a file name and line number within a program.
  241: 
  242: * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
  243: 
  244: * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
  245: 
  246: * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
  247: 
  248: * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
  249: 
  250: * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
  251: 
  252: * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
  253: 
  254: Changes in binutils 2.7:
  255: 
  256: * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
  257: 
  258: * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
  259: 
  260: * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
  261: 
  262: * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
  263: 
  264: * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
  265: 
  266: * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
  267: 
  268: * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
  269: 
  270: * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
  271: 
  272: Changes in binutils 2.6:
  273: 
  274: * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
  275: 
  276: * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
  277:   file is laid out in memory.  Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
  278:   generating plain binary files.
  279: 
  280: * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
  281: 
  282: * ar and ranlib now work on AIX.  The tools are now built by default on AIX.
  283: 
  284: Changes in binutils 2.5:
  285: 
  286: * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
  287:   listing, for a more useful listing of relocatable files.
  288: 
  289: * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
  290:   Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
  291: 
  292: * Added --size-sort option to nm.
  293: 
  294: * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
  295:   executables.
  296: 
  297: Changes in binutils 2.4:
  298: 
  299: * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
  300:   PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
  301: 
  302: * Support for Irix 5.
  303: 
  304: * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
  305:   ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
  306: 
  307: Changes in binutils 2.3:
  308: 
  309: * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
  310:   ELF and COFF files.
  311: 
  312: * A new program, nlmconv, has been added.  It can convert object files into
  313:   Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
  314: 
  315: * The strings program has been added.
  316: 
  317: Changes in binutils 2.2:
  318: 
  319: * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
  320:   'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
  321:   'cp'.
  322: 
  323: * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
  324:   (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names.  (Note: This
  325:   may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
  326: 
  327: * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
  328:   the output from BSD nm.
  329: 
  330: * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
  331: 
  332: * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
  333: 
  334: * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
  335: 
  336: * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
  337: 
  338: * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
  339: 
  340: Changes in binutils 2.1:
  341: 
  342: * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
  343:   should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix.  Please let us know how well this works.
  344: 
  345: * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
  346:   version), if there are any object files in the archive.  So running ranlib is
  347:   now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used).  This is required
  348:   for Posix.2 conformance.
  349: 
  350: * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
  351:   independently of the selected target format.  This is to encourage people to
  352:   switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
  353: 
  354: * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
  355:   and/or local symbols only.  They now also support long options.
  356: 
  357: ^L
  358: Local variables:
  359: fill-column: 79
  360: End: