binutils-gdb/ld/NEWS

-*- text -*-

Changes in version 2.8:

* Linker scripts may now contain shell wildcard characters for file and section
  names.

* The NOCROSSREFS command was added to the linker script language.

* The LOADADDR expression was added to the linker script language.

* MAX and MIN functions were added to the linker script language.

* The OVERLAY construct was added to the linker script language.

* New option --warn-section-align to warn when the address of an output section
  changes due to alignment of an input section.

Changes in version 2.7:

* New option --cref to print out a cross reference table.

* New option --wrap SYMBOL.

* New option --no-whole-archive, to turn off the effect of --whole-archive.

* Input sections assigned to the output section /DISCARD/ in the linker script
  are not included in the output file.

* The SunOS and ELF linkers now merge stabs debugging information which uses
  the N_BINCL and N_EINCL stab types.  This reduces the amount of debugging
  information generated.

Changes in version 2.6:

* When an ELF section name is representable as a C identifier (this is not true
of most ELF section names), the linker will automatically define symbols
__start_SECNAME and __stop_SECNAME, where SECNAME is the section name, at the
beginning and the end of the section.  This is used by glibc.

* When an ELF section named .gnu.warning is encountered in an input file, the
contents of the section are displayed as an error message, and the section is
not copied into the output file.  This is used by glibc.

* When an ELF section named .gnu.warning.SYMBOL is encountered in an input
file, and the symbol SYMBOL is referenced by some object file, the contents of
the section are displayed as an error message.  The section is not copied into
the output file, unless doing a relocateable or shared link.  This is used by
glibc.

* New options -split-by-reloc and -split-by-file.

* The linker now supports linking PIC compiled code on SPARC SunOS.  It can
also create SPARC SunOS shared libraries, and, like the native SunOS linker,
will do so whenever there is an undefined symbol in the link and neither the -e
nor the -r option was used.

* The -rpath option may be used on SunOS to set the list of directories to be
searched at run time.  This overrides the default of building the list from the
-L options.

* The COFF linker now combines debugging information for structs, unions, and
enums, so that even if the same type is defined in multiple input files it will
only be defined once in the output file.  The --traditional-format switch will
prevent this optimization.

Changes in version 2.5:

* The linker now supports linking against SunOS shared libraries.  It still can
not link SunOS PIC (Position Independent Code) files, so it can not be used to
generate shared libaries.

* The linker now supports linking against ELF shared libraries for the i386
(UnixWare) and SPARC (Solaris).  It can also link ELF PIC files, and can be
used to generate shared libraries.  Shared library generation is not well
tested; please report any problems encountered.  The linker is now enabled for
Solaris again.

* Eric Youngdale has contributed Linux support code, including linking against
Linux a.out shared libraries.  The linker produces Linux QMAGIC binaries.

* The ELF backend has been converted to the new linker code.  To use the new
ELF linker, each particular target requires a relocation function.  So far,
this function has been written for i386 (UnixWare), SPARC (Solaris) MIPS (Irix
5), and HPPA ELF targets.

* The -( (--start-group) and -) (--end-group) options have been added to
support searching a group of archives as though they were a single archive.
This can also be used in a linker script, as GROUP ( files ).

* When a file is named on the command line, and the linker does not recognize
it as an object file, the linker will now treat the file as a linker script
file.  A linker script named in this way augments, but does not replace, the
default linker script.

* The -warn-once option was added.  It causes the linker to only warn once per
undefined symbol, rather than once per reference.

* The COFF backend has been converted to the new linker code.  As with ELF, to
use the new linker, each particular target requires a relocation function.  So
far, this function has been written for the i386, m68k, a29k and SH targets.

* The -V flag was made a synonym for -v, for SVR4 compatibility.  The old -V
behaviour is available via --verbose.

Changes in version 2.4:

* New linker code, by Steve Chamberlain and Ian Taylor.  For a.out and ecoff
  formats (so far), this should result in considerable savings in time
  and memory used while linking; slightly poorer performance than
  before for formats not converted yet.

* Command-line parsing is no longer done with flex.  This means
  oddball characters in filenames won't get treated as argument
  separators.

* HP-PA ELF support, by Jeff Law.  (No SOM support yet.)

* Mach i386 support, by David Mackenzie.

* Irix 4 shared libraries are now supported (Irix 5 uses ELF, and ELF shared
  libraries are not yet supported).

* COFF shared libraries (as on SCO) should work as well.

* The linker is disabled for Solaris.  (Actually, it was in 2.3 also, I just
  forgot to note it.)  Some of their C library routines don't work when
  statically linked, and the GNU linker doesn't support dynamic linking yet.

Changes in version 2.3:

* Weak symbols are now supported.

* ELF support has been added.  The linker has been bootstrapped on
  UnixWare and Solaris.

* Alpha OSF/1 support has been added (non dynamic linking only).

Changes in version 2.2:

* The `bfd' library has been updated to reduce a.out-format string
  table size.  The effect of this is that files linked from many input
  files with duplicate symbols (`-g' debugging records, or identical
  static symbols) should be much smaller.

Changes in version 2.1:

* The ld -ySYMBOL flag (to trace references to SYMBOL) is now implemented.

* There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the
  other utilities should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix.


Local variables:
fill-column: 79
End:
-												note that pa support is elf only

											
										
										
											1994-04-05 20:55:56 +02:00
+								-*- text -*-
-												improve format

											
										
										
											1996-12-31 20:12:03 +01:00
+								Changes in version 2.8:
-													* fnmatch.h, fnmatch.c: New files.
	* ldlex.l: Remove unused definition of FILENAME.  Add definition
	of WILDCHAR.  In SCRIPT mode, accept any sequence of WILDCHAR as a
	NAME.
	* ldgram.y (file_NAME_list): Accept '*' and '?' specially.
	(input_section_spec): Accept '?' specially.
	(statement): Change exp to mustbe_exp in length and FILL cases.
	(section): Call ldlex_script before section statements, and call
	ldlex_popstate after them.
	* ldlang.c: Include "fnmatch.h".
	(wildcardp): New static function.
	(wild_section): Permit the section name to be a wildcard.
	(wild_file): New static function, broken out of wild.
	(wild): Call wild_file.  Permit the file name to be a wildcard.
	(open_input_bfds): Don't call lookup_name for a wildcard pattern.
	* Makefile.in: Rebuild dependencies.
 	(CFILES): Add fnmatch.c.
	(HFILES): Add fnmatch.h.
	(OFILES): Add fnmatch.o.
	* ld.texinfo: Document that file and section names can now be
	wildcard patterns.

	* ldlang.c (lang_place_orphans): Correct condition: place a common
	section if not relocateable or if common definitions are forced.

											
										
										
											1996-07-29 23:33:26 +02:00
 								* Linker scripts may now contain shell wildcard characters for file and section
 								  names.
-													* ld.h (check_nocrossrefs): Declare.
	* ldlang.h (struct lang_nocrossref): Define.
	(struct lang_nocrossrefs): Define.
	(nocrossref_list): Declare.
	(lang_add_nocrossref): Declare.
	* ldlex.l: Recognize NOCROSSREFS keyword.
	* ldgram.y (%union): Add nocrossref field.
	(NOCROSSREFS): New terminal.
	(ifile_p1): Recognize NOCROSSREFS.
	(nocrossref_list): New nonterminal.
	* ldlang.c (nocrossref_list): Define.
	(lang_add_nocrossref): New function.
	* ldmain.c (main): If nocrossref_list is not NULL, call
	check_nocrossrefs.
	(warning_callback): Free symbols if there is no place to store
	them.
	(notice): Call add_cref if nocrossref_list is not NULL.
	* ldcref.c: Include "ldexp.h" and "ldlang.h".
	(check_nocrossrefs): New function.
	(check_nocrossref): New static function.
	(struct check_refs_info): Define.
	(check_refs, check_reloc_refs): New static functions.
	* Makefile.in: Rebuild dependencies.
	* ld.texinfo (Option Commands): Document NOCROSSREFS.

											
										
										
											1996-08-01 19:35:49 +02:00
+								* The NOCROSSREFS command was added to the linker script language.
-													* ldgram.y (LOADADDR): New terminal.
	(exp): Handle LOADADDR.
	* ldlex.l: Recognize LOADADDR.
	* ldexp.c (exp_print_token): Add LOADADDR.
	(fold_name): Implement LOADADDR.
	* ldlang.c (exp_init_os): Treat LOADADDR like ADDR.
	* ld.texinfo (Arithmetic Functions): Document LOADADDR.

											
										
										
											1996-08-02 21:01:58 +02:00
+								* The LOADADDR expression was added to the linker script language.
-												improve format

											
										
										
											1996-12-31 20:12:03 +01:00
+								* MAX and MIN functions were added to the linker script language.
 								* The OVERLAY construct was added to the linker script language.
 								* New option --warn-section-align to warn when the address of an output section
 								  changes due to alignment of an input section.
 								Changes in version 2.7:
-													* fnmatch.h, fnmatch.c: New files.
	* ldlex.l: Remove unused definition of FILENAME.  Add definition
	of WILDCHAR.  In SCRIPT mode, accept any sequence of WILDCHAR as a
	NAME.
	* ldgram.y (file_NAME_list): Accept '*' and '?' specially.
	(input_section_spec): Accept '?' specially.
	(statement): Change exp to mustbe_exp in length and FILL cases.
	(section): Call ldlex_script before section statements, and call
	ldlex_popstate after them.
	* ldlang.c: Include "fnmatch.h".
	(wildcardp): New static function.
	(wild_section): Permit the section name to be a wildcard.
	(wild_file): New static function, broken out of wild.
	(wild): Call wild_file.  Permit the file name to be a wildcard.
	(open_input_bfds): Don't call lookup_name for a wildcard pattern.
	* Makefile.in: Rebuild dependencies.
 	(CFILES): Add fnmatch.c.
	(HFILES): Add fnmatch.h.
	(OFILES): Add fnmatch.o.
	* ld.texinfo: Document that file and section names can now be
	wildcard patterns.

	* ldlang.c (lang_place_orphans): Correct condition: place a common
	section if not relocateable or if common definitions are forced.

											
										
										
											1996-07-29 23:33:26 +02:00
 								* New option --cref to print out a cross reference table.
 								* New option --wrap SYMBOL.
 								* New option --no-whole-archive, to turn off the effect of --whole-archive.
 								* Input sections assigned to the output section /DISCARD/ in the linker script
 								  are not included in the output file.
 								* The SunOS and ELF linkers now merge stabs debugging information which uses
 								  the N_BINCL and N_EINCL stab types.  This reduces the amount of debugging
 								  information generated.
-												improve format

											
										
										
											1996-12-31 20:12:03 +01:00
+								Changes in version 2.6:
-												mention COFF linker improvement

											
										
										
											1995-09-18 19:39:04 +02:00
 								* When an ELF section name is representable as a C identifier (this is not true
 								of most ELF section names), the linker will automatically define symbols
 								__start_SECNAME and __stop_SECNAME, where SECNAME is the section name, at the
 								beginning and the end of the section.  This is used by glibc.
 								* When an ELF section named .gnu.warning is encountered in an input file, the
 								contents of the section are displayed as an error message, and the section is
 								not copied into the output file.  This is used by glibc.
-												mention creating SunOS shared libraries

											
										
										
											1995-09-28 17:41:31 +01:00
+								* When an ELF section named .gnu.warning.SYMBOL is encountered in an input
 								file, and the symbol SYMBOL is referenced by some object file, the contents of
 								the section are displayed as an error message.  The section is not copied into
 								the output file, unless doing a relocateable or shared link.  This is used by
 								glibc.
-												mention COFF linker improvement

											
										
										
											1995-09-18 19:39:04 +02:00
+								* New options -split-by-reloc and -split-by-file.
-												mention creating SunOS shared libraries

											
										
										
											1995-09-28 17:41:31 +01:00
+								* The linker now supports linking PIC compiled code on SPARC SunOS.  It can
-													* fnmatch.h, fnmatch.c: New files.
	* ldlex.l: Remove unused definition of FILENAME.  Add definition
	of WILDCHAR.  In SCRIPT mode, accept any sequence of WILDCHAR as a
	NAME.
	* ldgram.y (file_NAME_list): Accept '*' and '?' specially.
	(input_section_spec): Accept '?' specially.
	(statement): Change exp to mustbe_exp in length and FILL cases.
	(section): Call ldlex_script before section statements, and call
	ldlex_popstate after them.
	* ldlang.c: Include "fnmatch.h".
	(wildcardp): New static function.
	(wild_section): Permit the section name to be a wildcard.
	(wild_file): New static function, broken out of wild.
	(wild): Call wild_file.  Permit the file name to be a wildcard.
	(open_input_bfds): Don't call lookup_name for a wildcard pattern.
	* Makefile.in: Rebuild dependencies.
 	(CFILES): Add fnmatch.c.
	(HFILES): Add fnmatch.h.
	(OFILES): Add fnmatch.o.
	* ld.texinfo: Document that file and section names can now be
	wildcard patterns.

	* ldlang.c (lang_place_orphans): Correct condition: place a common
	section if not relocateable or if common definitions are forced.

											
										
										
											1996-07-29 23:33:26 +02:00
+								also create SPARC SunOS shared libraries, and, like the native SunOS linker,
 								will do so whenever there is an undefined symbol in the link and neither the -e
 								nor the -r option was used.
 								* The -rpath option may be used on SunOS to set the list of directories to be
 								searched at run time.  This overrides the default of building the list from the
 								-L options.
-												mention COFF linker improvement

											
										
										
											1995-09-18 19:39:04 +02:00
 								* The COFF linker now combines debugging information for structs, unions, and
 								enums, so that even if the same type is defined in multiple input files it will
 								only be defined once in the output file.  The --traditional-format switch will
 								prevent this optimization.
-												improve format

											
										
										
											1996-12-31 20:12:03 +01:00
+								Changes in version 2.5:
-												Add some news.

											
										
										
											1994-09-15 19:05:24 +02:00
 								* The linker now supports linking against SunOS shared libraries.  It still can
 								not link SunOS PIC (Position Independent Code) files, so it can not be used to
 								generate shared libaries.
 								* The linker now supports linking against ELF shared libraries for the i386
 								(UnixWare) and SPARC (Solaris).  It can also link ELF PIC files, and can be
 								used to generate shared libraries.  Shared library generation is not well
 								tested; please report any problems encountered.  The linker is now enabled for
 								Solaris again.
 								* Eric Youngdale has contributed Linux support code, including linking against
 								Linux a.out shared libraries.  The linker produces Linux QMAGIC binaries.
 								* The ELF backend has been converted to the new linker code.  To use the new
-												mention COFF linker improvement

											
										
										
											1995-09-18 19:39:04 +02:00
+								ELF linker, each particular target requires a relocation function.  So far,
 								this function has been written for i386 (UnixWare), SPARC (Solaris) MIPS (Irix
 ), and HPPA ELF targets.
-												Add some news.

											
										
										
											1994-09-15 19:05:24 +02:00
 								* The -( (--start-group) and -) (--end-group) options have been added to
 								support searching a group of archives as though they were a single archive.
 								This can also be used in a linker script, as GROUP ( files ).
 								* When a file is named on the command line, and the linker does not recognize
 								it as an object file, the linker will now treat the file as a linker script
 								file.  A linker script named in this way augments, but does not replace, the
 								default linker script.
 								* The -warn-once option was added.  It causes the linker to only warn once per
 								undefined symbol, rather than once per reference.
-												mention COFF linker improvement

											
										
										
											1995-09-18 19:39:04 +02:00
+								* The COFF backend has been converted to the new linker code.  As with ELF, to
 								use the new linker, each particular target requires a relocation function.  So
 								far, this function has been written for the i386, m68k, a29k and SH targets.
 								* The -V flag was made a synonym for -v, for SVR4 compatibility.  The old -V
 								behaviour is available via --verbose.
-												improve format

											
										
										
											1996-12-31 20:12:03 +01:00
+								Changes in version 2.4:
-												note that pa support is elf only

											
										
										
											1994-04-05 20:55:56 +02:00
 								* New linker code, by Steve Chamberlain and Ian Taylor.  For a.out and ecoff
 								  formats (so far), this should result in considerable savings in time
 								  and memory used while linking; slightly poorer performance than
 								  before for formats not converted yet.
 								* Command-line parsing is no longer done with flex.  This means
 								  oddball characters in filenames won't get treated as argument
 								  separators.
 								* HP-PA ELF support, by Jeff Law.  (No SOM support yet.)
 								* Mach i386 support, by David Mackenzie.
-												Add some news.

											
										
										
											1994-09-15 19:05:24 +02:00
+								* Irix 4 shared libraries are now supported (Irix 5 uses ELF, and ELF shared
 								  libraries are not yet supported).
 								* COFF shared libraries (as on SCO) should work as well.
 								* The linker is disabled for Solaris.  (Actually, it was in 2.3 also, I just
 								  forgot to note it.)  Some of their C library routines don't work when
 								  statically linked, and the GNU linker doesn't support dynamic linking yet.
-												improve format

											
										
										
											1996-12-31 20:12:03 +01:00
+								Changes in version 2.3:
-												note that pa support is elf only

											
										
										
											1994-04-05 20:55:56 +02:00
 								* Weak symbols are now supported.
 								* ELF support has been added.  The linker has been bootstrapped on
 								  UnixWare and Solaris.
 								* Alpha OSF/1 support has been added (non dynamic linking only).
-												improve format

											
										
										
											1996-12-31 20:12:03 +01:00
+								Changes in version 2.2:
-												note that pa support is elf only

											
										
										
											1994-04-05 20:55:56 +02:00
 								* The `bfd' library has been updated to reduce a.out-format string
 								  table size.  The effect of this is that files linked from many input
 								  files with duplicate symbols (`-g' debugging records, or identical
 								  static symbols) should be much smaller.
-												improve format

											
										
										
											1996-12-31 20:12:03 +01:00
+								Changes in version 2.1:
-												New file.

											
										
										
											1993-05-17 21:45:17 +02:00
 								* The ld -ySYMBOL flag (to trace references to SYMBOL) is now implemented.
 								* There is now support for writing ECOFF files, so ld and the
 								  other utilities should work on Risc/Ultrix and Irix.
-												note that pa support is elf only

											
										
										
											1994-04-05 20:55:56 +02:00
 								Local variables:
 								fill-column: 79
 								End: