3 Changes in binutils 2.9:
5 * Added windres program, which can be used to manipulate resources in WIN32
6 files as used on Windows 95 and Windows NT.
8 * The objcopy --gap-fill and --pad-to options operate on the LMA rather than
9 the VMA of the sections.
11 * Added S modifier to ar to not build a symbol table.
13 Changes in binutils 2.8:
15 * The objdump disassembly format has been changed, and hopefully improved. Use
16 the new --prefix-addresses option to get the old format. There are also new
17 --disassemble-zeroes and --no-show-raw-insn options which affect disassembler
20 * Formats may now be specified as configuration triplets. For example,
21 objdump -b i386-pc-linux. The triplets are not passed through config.sub,
22 so they must be in canonical form.
24 * Added new addr2line program. This uses the debugging information to convert
25 an address into a file name and line number within a program.
27 * Added --change-leading-char argument to objcopy.
29 * Added --weaken argument to objcopy.
31 * objdump --dynamic-reloc now works on ELF executables and shared libraries.
33 * Added --adjust-vma option to objdump.
35 * Added -C/--demangle option to objdump.
37 * Added -p/--preserve-dates option to strip and objcopy.
39 Changes in binutils 2.7:
41 * Added --enable-shared and --enable-commonbfdlib options to configure.
43 * Added --debugging argument to objdump and objcopy.
45 * Added --defined-only argument to nm.
47 * Added --remove-leading-char argument to objcopy.
49 * The objdump --line-numbers option is now meaningful with --reloc.
51 * Added --line-numbers option to nm.
53 * Added --endian/-EB/-EL option to objdump.
55 * Added support for Alpha OpenVMS/AXP.
57 Changes in binutils 2.6:
59 * Added -N/--strip-symbol and -K/--keep-symbol arguments to strip and objcopy.
61 * Added several arguments to objcopy to provide some control over how the new
62 file is laid out in memory. Also added binary output format to BFD to permit
63 generating plain binary files.
65 * Added --start-address and --stop-address options to objdump.
67 * ar and ranlib now work on AIX. The tools are now built by default on AIX.
69 Changes in binutils 2.5:
71 * Changed objdump -dr to dump the relocs interspersed with the assembly
72 listing, for a more useful listing of relocateable files.
74 * Changed objdump -d/--disassemble to only disassemble SEC_CODE sections.
75 Added -D/--disassemble-all option to disassemble all sections.
77 * Added --size-sort option to nm.
79 * strip and objcopy should now be able to handle dynamically linked ELF
82 Changes in binutils 2.4:
84 * Support for HP-PA (by Jeff Law), i386 Mach (by David Mackenzie), RS/6000 and
85 PowerPC (except ar and ranlib; by Ian Taylor).
89 * Programs `strip' and `objcopy' will not attempt to write dynamically linked
90 ELF output files, since BFD currently can't create them properly.
92 Changes in binutils 2.3:
94 * A new --stabs argument has been added to objdump to dump stabs sections in
97 * A new program, nlmconv, has been added. It can convert object files into
98 Novell NetWare Loadable Modules.
100 * The strings program has been added.
102 Changes in binutils 2.2:
104 * The 'copy' program has been renamed to 'objcopy', for consistency with
105 'objdump', and because 'copy' might more plausibly be used as a synonym for
108 * The new stand-alone program c++filt is a filter that converts encoded
109 (mangled) C++ assembly-level identifiers to user-level names. (Note: This
110 may get moved to the gcc distribution.)
112 * nm -o on an archive now prefixes each line with the archive name, matching
113 the output from BSD nm.
115 * ar (and ld) can now read (but not write) BSD4.4-style archives.
117 * New support for H8500, Z8000, and the Hitach SH.
119 * Dis-assembler interface changed to allow sharing with gdb.
121 * There is new Elf code, but it is not yet ready for general use.
123 * There is the beginnings of a test suite.
125 Changes in binutils 2.1:
127 * There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the other utilities
128 should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix. Please let us know how well this works.
130 * ar now automatically creates a symbol table (a __.SYMDEF member, in the BSD
131 version), if there are any object files in the archive. So running ranlib is
132 now redundant (unless the non-standard q command is used). This is required
133 for Posix.2 conformance.
135 * The archive-reading code now reads both BSD-style and SYSV-style archives
136 independently of the selected target format. This is to encourage people to
137 switch to SYSV-format, which has a number of advantages.
139 * The strip and copy programs now have options to remove debug-symbols only
140 and/or local symbols only. They now also support long options.