This is the beta release of binutils 2.9.5.0.8 for Linux, which is
based on binutils 1999 0821 plus various changes. It is purely for
Linux, although it has been tested on Solaris/Sparc and Solaris/x86
from time to time.

I am planning to make the public release soon. Please test it as much
as you can.

Please report any bugs related to binutils 2.9.5.0.8 to hjl@lucon.org.

For arm-linux targets, there are some important differences in behaviour 
between these tools and binutils 2.9.1.0.x.  The linker emulation name has 
changed from elf32arm{26} to armelf_linux{26}.  Also, the "-p" flag must be 
passed with the linker when working with object files (or static libraries) 
created using older versions of the assembler.  If this flag is omitted the 
linker will silently generate bad output when given old input files.

To get the correct behaviour from gcc, amend the *link section of your specs 
file as follows:

*link:
%{h*} %{version:-v}    %{b} %{Wl,*:%*}    %{static:-Bstatic}    %{shared:-shared
}    %{symbolic:-Bsymbolic}    %{rdynamic:-export-dynamic}    %{!dynamic-linker:
-dynamic-linker /lib/ld-linux.so.2}    -X    %{mbig-endian:-EB} %{mapcs-26:-m ar
melf_linux26} %{!mapcs-26:-m armelf_linux} -p


Changes from binutils 2.9.5.0.7:

1. Update from binutils 1999 0821.
2. Some MIPS changes.

Changes from binutils 2.9.5.0.6:

1. Update from binutils 1999 0813.
2. i370 update.

Changes from binutils 2.9.5.0.5:

1. Update from binutils 1999 0809. An ELF/Sparc ld bug is fixed.

Changes from binutils 2.9.5.0.4:

1. Update from binutils 1999 0806. A Solaris/Sparc gas bug is fixed.
2. Remove mips gas patches from binutils 2.9.1.0.25.

Changes from binutils 2.9.5.0.3:

1. Update from binutils 1999 0801.
2. Support for real mode x86 gcc.

Changes from binutils 2.9.4.0.8:

1. Update from binutils 1999 0719. A libc 5 related bug fix.
2. Fix a typo in mips gas.

Changes from binutils 2.9.4.0.7:

1. Update from binutils 1999 0710. A weak symbol bug

http://egcs.cygnus.com/ml/egcs-bugs/1999-07/msg00129.html

is fixed.

Changes from binutils 2.9.4.0.6:

1. Update from binutils 1999 0626.

Changes from binutils 2.9.4.0.5:

1. Update from binutils 1999 0620.
2. Remove my fwait fix and use the one in cvs.
3. Use "--only-section=section" instead of "--extract-section=section".
   for objcopy.

Changes from binutils 2.9.4.0.4:

1. Update from binutils 1999 0612.
2. Remove various temporary fixes of mine since those bugs are fixed
   now.

Changes from binutils 2.9.4.0.3:

1. Update from binutils 1999 0611.
2. Remove my ELF/Alpha bfd changes.
3. Use the local symbol copy fix in binutils 1999 0611.

Changes from binutils 2.9.4.0.2:

1. Update from binutils 1999 0607.
2. Remove my Sparc hacks.
3. Fix local symbol copy.

Changes from binutils 2.9.4.0.1:

1. Update from binutils 1999 0606.
2. Restore relocation overflow checking in binutils 2.9.1.0.25 so that
   Linux kernel can build.
3. Fix i370 for the new gas.

Changes from binutils 1999 0605:

1. Fix a -Bsymbolic bug for Linux/alpha.
2. Add ELF/i370.
3. Fix 8/16-bit relocations for i386.
4. Add --redefine-sym=old_form=new_form to objcopy.
5. Add "-j section" for objcopy.
6. Fix i386 disassembler for fwait.
7. Fix a Sparc asm bug.
8. Add Ada demangle support.
9. Fix MIPS/ELF bugs.
10. Add some vxworks suppport.
11. Fix a.out assembler.

The file list:

1. binutils-2.9.5.0.8.tar.gz. Source code.
2. binutils-2.9.5.0.7-2.9.5.0.8.diff.gz. Patch against the previous
   beta source code.
3. binutils-2.9.5.0.8-1.src.rpm. Source RPM.
4. binutils-2.9.5.0.8-1.i386.rpm. X86 inary RPM for RedHat 6.0.
5. binutils-2.9.5.0.8-1.alpha.rpm. Alpha binary RPM for RedHat 6.0.

There are also bzip2 versions of tar and diff files.

The primary ftp sites for the beta Linux binutils are:

1. ftp://ftp.valinux.com/pub/support/hjl/binutils

Thanks.


H.J. Lu
hjl@lucon.org
08/21/99